New manager bounces: truth or myth? The Peterborough United numbers are here....

Peterborough United will be hoping the fabled ‘new manager bounce’ doesn’t come into play at Hayes Lane on Saturday.

Hosts Bromley surprisingly sacked their double promotion winning boss Andy Woodman on Tuesday, just 10 games into the first League One campaign in the club’s history.

Chris Turner after his appointment as Posh manager in January, 1991. Photo David Lowndes.

placeholder image — Chris Turner after his appointment as Posh manager in January, 1991. Photo David Lowndes.

Woodman was the third League One manager to be dismissed this season after Michael Duff at Wycombe and Luke Williams at Posh. Wycombe hadn’t won any of their six League One games when Duff was sacked and promptly picked up 10 points from four games under his replacement Tom Hounsell. who now has the job permanently.

Robbie Savage of course replaced Williams and enjoyed a spectacular start with a 3-1 win at Leicester City. He’s so far picked up four points from his three games in charge.

Keith Alexander enjoyed an impressive start to his reign as Posh manager.

New manager bounces don’t tend to last too long. The PT looked at the first five Football League games in charge of every Posh manager and Chris Turner had the best record by picking up 13 points after assuming control in January 1991. His ‘bounce’ pretty much lasted for a season-and-a-half.

But he is the exception among Posh bosses with only Keith Alexander (2006, 11 points) and Graham Westley (2015, 10 points) also collecting a double figure points return in their first five games, and they were both sacked later in their initial seasons at London Road.

The most successful Posh manager of them all Darren Ferguson picked up just four points in his first five games as Posh boss in 2007. His other spells yielded immediate returns of seven points (2011), four points (2019) and nine points (2023).

Others to pick up nine points in their opening five Football League matches in charge of Posh were Jim Iley (1969), Steve Bleasdale (2006) and Grant McCann (2016) and Luke Williams (2025), none of whom will be fondly remembered.

We have only counted Football League games and all totals were based on three points for a win.

Last season Posh collected 25 points from the first 12 Football League games under Williams which was a record bettered only by Turner who picked up 28 points in his first 12 matches.

Graham Westley’s tenure in the London Road hotseat also started superbly with 25 points in 12 games before his most effective player, Conor Washington, was sold from under him in January and Posh collapsed in a heap.