FIFTY-six football managers were sacked after an average service of 15 months this season.

The LMA released its end-of-season report, which detailed that there were 70 managerial changes across the Premier League and Football League during the 2015-16 campaign.

The 56 dismissals - there were 14 resignations - was earlier this month described as the “worst ever” by LMA chief executive Richard Bevan.

The next highest in the past 11 seasons was 47 last term and then 46 in 2006-07.

Bevan will also be alarmed by the average length of service at a club.

The average tenure for the 56 dismissed managers this season was one year 113 days - or little more than 15 months.

The 11 Premier League bosses sacked had an average of two years seven days in the job, but in League One, where 14 managers lost their jobs, the average tenure was less than a year - at 354 days.

The average tenure of managers currently in office is below two years across all four leagues.

It is one year 332 days in the Premier League, but that figure is skewed as Arsene Wenger has been Arsenal boss for approaching 20 years since his appointment in October 1996.

Ex-Saints midfielder Paul Tisdale of Exeter is the next longest-serving boss, with approaching 10 years of service, while Eddie Howe’s second spell at Bournemouth, which stands at less than four years, makes the top 10.

Saints boss Ronald Koeman, who was appointed on June 16 2014, is the fifth longest-serving manager in the top flight behind Wenger (appointed Oct 1996), Howe (Oct 2012), Mark Hughes (May 2013) and Mauricio Pochettino (May 2014).

Former Saints to be dismissed in 2015/16 were Nigel Adkins and Paul Sturrock.

Adkins got the boot after failing to take Sheffield United out of League 1, while Sturrock was sacked by Yeovil before Christmas.