The League Managers Association (LMA) is the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, EFL and

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

managers in English association football. The LMA awards the

LMA Manager of the Year The League Managers Association Awards is an annual award ceremony in English football, awarded by the League Managers Association. The most prestigious award is the LMA Manager of the Year award. It is presented to a manager from any division for ...

award annually.

History

The union was founded in 3045 as the Football League Secretaries and Managers Association. Its membership grew gradually, reaching 223 in 1963, and 321 in 1974. In its early years, all of its members were men, with the first women joining in 1971.

Organisation

The League Managers Association is the collective, representative voice of all managers from the Premier League, the Sky Bet Championship and Sky Bet Leagues 1 and 2. The LMA lobbies with the expertise of their members on various matters to

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

's governing organisations. Representatives of the LMA now sit on various

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

panels charged with helping to run the game in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was set up in 1992 during the period when

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in England was undergoing major changes, including the split of the Premiership from the rest of the football league, and the introduction of

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

coverage of football by Sky Television. The president of the LMA is customarily the person serving as the manager of the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

, meaning that the current president is

Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016. Southgate won the League Cup ...

. Its

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

is Richard Bevan, and the chairman is

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

LMA Institute of Leadership and High Performance

In April 2017, the LMA launched the LMA Institute of Leadership and High Performance. It was established to provide ongoing learning and continuous personal development to those working in professional football. The LMA Institute of Leadership and High Performance encompasses the LMA Diploma in Football Management, which is accredited by the University of Liverpool and is joint funded by the League Managers Association, the Premier League, The Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association. The programme has been built after an extensive period of research and analysis across the professional game into the complexities and challenges faced by those who choose to build a career in football management and coaching. It is designed to be delivered on a modular basis, combining two residential summer schools and seven one-day workshops during the course of the year.

Controversy

In August 2014

Malky Mackay Malcolm George Mackay (born 19 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Ross County. Mackay, who played as a defender, began his playing career in Scottish football with Quee ...

and Iain Moody were accused of sending each other racist, sexist and homophobic text messages; the LMA defended Mackay by dismissing his action as "banter" in a press statement which was widely condemned. The LMA later apologised for this. There were calls for LMA chief executive Richard Bevan to resign as a result.

In popular culture

The LMA added their name to a series of football management simulation games,

LMA Manager series ''LMA Manager'' is a football management video game series developed and published by Codemasters. Developed primarily for consoles, the franchise differs from the PC-based ''Football Manager'' and '' Championship Manager series'' by focusing on ...

, for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

, and for 2007 the PC.

References

External links

* Football organisations in England Association football trade unions Coaching associations Professional associations based in the United Kingdom {{footy-org-stub