This season (Season 10) we introduced the idea of contracts for new managers, with the aim of making the Top 100 experience a little bit more fun, competitive and realistic.

The idea is not particularly new, but more of an extension of the idea we ran with for a while previously – manager stipulations.

Basically, with stipulations, managers set themselves targets each season, and stated publicly that if they didn’t achieve them they would resign. Some did, and some didn’t. They are not enforceable.

As in the real world of football management, new managers negotiate, are offered, and accept contracts when they take over at a club. They are usually for a period of a year (season) or more, but usually no more than four or five at most, depending on the club and manager.

I can’t think of a real life example where a manager signs a contract with a new club, and it is explicitly stated that it is part of his contract to achieve promotion, but I think it’s fair to say that whether any such clause is ever written into a contract or not, the expectation among fans, and board, are always there.

And we can deduce from when things don’t go according to plan – i.e., when the manager gets sacked – what those expectations were, if they weren’t already clear.

So here are the contracts that have been negotiated, offered and accepted to date in Season 10 in Top 100.

Remember, that these are meant to be fun, to add a little realism, and to encourage a little extra competitiveness to our game. They are not enforceable (unless a manager finishes in the bottom three and is automatically sacked).

If a manager fails to achieve their contractual target? Yes, they are expected to resign. Yes, they could stay on, if that’s what they wanted to do, and they were otherwise seen to be doing a good job, are active, etc.

If they don’t resign, and they are not doing an otherwise good job and/or are not active, they can not expect to get another job when they do eventually get sacked.

Key: Green = Target achieved, Red = Relegated, Grey = Sacked or Resigned