Investor Reactions to a Change in Coach in European Football

The appointment of a new coach is often a turning point in the development of a football club’s game. However, apart from the development of its game, the change affects the club’s economic prospects as well. For investors, the coach is the club’s manager who is responsible for its sporting and financial performance. Other studies have intensively investigated the impact of the results of specific games on share prices, see e.g. Ashton et al. (2011). While there are several investigations into game results, the relationship between the change in a club’s coach and the reaction of share prices and especially the related trade volume has rarely been probed. This paper investigates the statistical significance of the daily trade volume of a listed European football club following a change in its coach. The findings show that the appointment of a new coach has an immediate impact on investors’ interests through a change in the trading volume.