10 Premier League Clubs Who’ve Spent the Most on Manager Payouts [Ranked]

Ange Postecoglou was fired as Nottingham Forest manager last week, less than 20 minutes after his club was thrashed 3-0 at home by Chelsea. It was the third managerial dismissal in the Premier League this season, and the second at Forest, despite only eight games played.

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who had a spat with ex-head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who is now in charge of West Ham United, has been quick to act this season, with former Tottenham Hotspur manager Postecoglou sacked after only 39 days in the job, paying the price for a winless start under his stewardship, which had already sown enough seeds of doubt in Marinakis’ mind to prompt him to make a decision.

The Premier League has big stakes. For any team outside the so-called ‘big six’, even if they have had the worst seasons in the Premier League era, as Manchester United did last season, they are just too big to collapse and fall through the trap door. Those teams make judgments based on who will assist them qualify for European football, specifically the Champions League.

For the remainder, while the odds may be longer for some, avoiding relegation is the top priority. The financial cost of slipping out of the Premier League is high, and it can be disastrous if a fast return to the promised land is not possible. Despite parachute payouts that soften the landing over a three-year sliding scale, losing up to 40% of revenue is not uncommon.

That is why fast choices are made on managers’ futures, and the cost of sacking those who haven’t met the minimum standards is viewed as an essential investment in order to maintain the significant revenue streams that come with Premier League membership. Severance pay can be costly, but it is often a drop in the ocean when compared to the cost of relegation or the impact of missing out on lucrative Champions League revenue on the balance sheet and ability to spend and strengthen within the confines of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations (PSR).

The more managers and backroom staff are laid off, the more severance compensation is handed out. It also demonstrates a lack of strategy and frequently casts doubt on the decision-making of owners or those responsible with carrying out the order to fire a leader and make a change.

So, who has led the Premier League in terms of money spent on paying off unsuccessful managers’ contracts over the last five years?

Chelsea (£40 million) – Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino

The managerial merry-go-round at Stamford Bridge is nothing new under the current Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership group, who have been in power since May 2022; it has been a Chelsea fixture for quite some time, dating back to the days of Roman Abramovich. With so much invested, returns on the field are anticipated, and if managers fail to produce, patience is limited.

Frank Lampard’s sacking in 2021 earned him around £2 million in severance pay, a relatively small sum, but when current England manager Thomas Tuchel was fired early in the Boehly/Clearlake project after the two parties failed to agree on club strategy, the cost of sacking the German and his backroom team was in the region of £15 million.

Then came Graham Potter. We have not considered the cost of remuneration for hiring managers in this research. If we did, we’d be adding £21.5 million to the list of squandered money, which is what the Blues paid Brighton & Hove Albion for his services in September 2022.

Potter lasted only seven months and 31 matches at Chelsea before being fired due to poor results, with approximately £13 million paid in compensation to the former Ostersunds manager, who has since been hired and fired by West Ham United and has recently taken on the role of head coach of the Swedish national team.

Then came Mauricio Pochettino. While having a two-year contract, sacking the current United States national team manager cost the club approximately £10 million. For the time being, Enzo Maresca is outperforming his predecessors, but the money spent firing CEOs does not reflect good on ownership.

Tottenham Hotspur (£38 million – Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte, Ange Postecoglou)

Jose Mourinho claims two players deserve the Ballon d’Or – Dembele and Lamine Yamal

The Daniel Levy era at Spurs has over for a few weeks now, and while his tenure as chairman resulted in a world-class stadium and a robust finance sheet, making sound managerial decisions was not a strong feature of leadership over the last five years.

Jose Mourinho’s departure in 2021 cost the club £16 million, while another Portuguese manager, Nuno Espirito Santo’s brief tenure cost them roughly £14 million in compensation for four months of work.

Then came Antonio Conte, whose 2018 dismissal at Chelsea cost the club more than £25 million, though a significantly smaller payoff was due when he left in 2023, this time £4 million, the same amount owed to Australian manager Ange Postecoglou when he was fired at the end of last season.

Manchester United (£24.5 million – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag)

The prospect of sacking has been hovering over current manager Ruben Amorim’s head like the Sword of Damacles for some time now, but given the amount already spent on sacking managers, it’s little wonder they’ve granted the former Sporting CP boss extra time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a club legend during his playing days, will step down as manager in 2021 after 168 games in over three years. His departure from the dugout, as well as that of his coaching staff, cost the club approximately £10 million.

Erik ten Hag’s entrance at Old Trafford was viewed as the start of a successful new era after impressing as Ajax manager. However, his departure 12 months ago cost the club £14.5 million, which was enhanced by the fact that he was given a very unusual contract extension after winning the FA Cup a few months before.

Everton (£20.6 million – Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche)

Everton received €5 million in compensation from Real Madrid when Carlo Ancelotti departed Goodison Park for the Santiago Bernabeu in 2021, but firing managers has proven to be an expensive business for a club that has struggled financially in recent years.

Rafa Benitez was an unpopular appointment among many Evertonians from the outset, and his departure in 2022 cost the club roughly £10.5 million, which was classified as a ‘operation extraordinary cost’ in the 2021/22 accounting year.

Then followed Lampard, whose salary was listed as £7.1 million in the club’s records for 2022/23. The specific figures relating to Dyche and his staff’s departure last season have not yet been made public, although they will appear in the 2024/25 financials. A reasonable estimate would be approximately £3 million.

Wolverhampton Wanderers (£13.5 million – Nuno Espirito Santo, Bruno Lage, Julen Lopetegui, Gary O’Neil)

Nuno left Molineux in May 2021 after four years in command, at the end of a Premier League season by mutual consent. However, with two years remaining, he was entitled to a severance payout from the club, presumably worth over £3 million.

His replacement, Bruno Lage, left in October 2022 with just under two years remaining on his contract, and industry analysts predicted that another £3 million would be the expected consequence on a similar term.

Then came Julen Lopetegui, who became the highest-paid manager in Wolverhampton Wanderers history when he replaced Lage. However, the Spanish manager, who is currently in charge of the Qatar national team, resigned after just over a year of his three-year contract. While no amount was given for his departure, the club’s finances for that period said that “operational cost savings were largely offset by the departure of the previous head coach and his coaching team.”

Using that and a broader look at the books, the price for Lopetegui’s severance payment is roughly £4 million when staff costs are included. His successor, Gary O’Neil, was said to be on identical terms, with a little lower severance package. With this in mind, a sum of nearly £3.5 million, given the length of his remaining contract, which was approximately 18 months.

Nottingham Forest – (£10.5 million; Chris Hughton, Steve Cooper, Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou)

Chris Hughton’s 2021 departure as manager of a failing Forest club in the Championship cost roughly £1 million, with the former Brighton manager still on his contract for around a year.

Steve Cooper arrived, costing £1.5 million from Swansea City, but we’re not counting it here. However, his departure from Forest in December 2023 cost the club approximately £3 million, based on his remaining two years.

Nuno’s September dismissal, whose relationship with Marinakis had worsened around the end of last season, will have cost the club roughly £6 million based on the duration of the contract and understood salary, while Postecoglou’s brief rule resulted in a severance pay of around £3.5 million.

West Ham United (£8.5 million – David Moyes, Julen Lopetegui, Graham Potter)

It was previously decided that David Moyes will leave the London Stadium at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Moyes, who had provided European glory to the Hammers by winning the UEFA Europa Conference League in June 2023, had watched his team struggle on the pitch in 2023/24, and it was reported that he would leave his job when his contract expired in May 2024. As a result, the current Everton manager received no pay.

Lopetegui, Moyes’ replacement, left in January 2025, but his contract included a pre-agreed clause that entitled him to approximately £3.5 million if he was fired, which equated to 12 months’ pay.

Potter signed a two-and-a-half-year contract in January, but with two years remaining, a compensation of roughly £5 million is expected.

Newcastle United (£8 million – Steve Bruce)

When Newcastle United’s ownership changed from Mike Ashley to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) in late 2021, Steve Bruce knew what was coming.

Bruce’s relationship with the Magpies fans had deteriorated, and with the PIF looking to stamp their authority on the team and make a statement, the former Hull City, Birmingham City, and Aston Villa manager was fired a fortnight after the new owners seized control.

Bruce, whose managerial career included spells at 13 clubs, did, however, go away well compensated, earning almost £8 million.

Aston Villa (£7 million – Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard)

Dean Smith’s departure from Villa Park in 2021, after being the man to return them to Premier League football after a spell in the Championship, would have cost Villa around £2 million. It also paved the way for the expensive hiring of Steven Gerrard from Glasgow Rangers, with the Liverpool legend having been in situ as manager of the Scottish side, with £4.5 million required to lure him away.

Gerrard departed after 11 months. While the actual cost of his dismissal was not itemised in the reports, the estimate was around £5 million, with a pre-agreed severance of approximately 12 months pay.

Leeds United (£6.5 million – Marcelo Bielsa, Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia)