José Mourinho booked his place yesterday on the managerial gravy train that has carried tens of millions of pounds out of football and into the bank accounts of unemployed coaches. The modern manager has advisers who make sure that when the crunch comes and the door is shown, there is a get-out clause that allows them at least to walk away with a cheque generous enough to ease the embarrassment of unemployment.

Mourinho’s blockbuster £12 million is thought to be the highest payoff yet for a manager in Britain, outstripping by some distance the £6 million controversially paid out to Sven-Göran Eriksson when he left his job as England head coach. There is a long and growing list of those whose severance pay is measured in millions of pounds. Martin Jol, Tottenham Hotspur’s manager, could be next in line to go, but it is thought that his contract will guarantee him a payoff close to £4 million.

Few managers can command such a sum, although David O’Leary took an estimated £4 million from Leeds United, arguably one of the most profligate employers in any industry at one point. Graeme Souness is believed to have left Newcastle United with £3 million – although this is a club at which Mike Ashley, the new owner, also paid the much-disliked Freddy Shepherd £1 million compensation to give up his post as chairman this year.

Jean Tigana managed to get £2.5 million in compensation and damages after his unhappy spell as manager at Fulham, while Alan Pardew picked up the ideal redundancy package: he left West Ham United with £1 million and moved straight to Charlton Athletic and a new regular pay packet.

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However, it does not always go the manager’s way. Claudio Ranieri, Mourinho’s predecessor, held out for a £6 million severance package when he realised he was being usurped as head coach at Chelsea. But Roman Abramovich stood firm and Ranieri was forced to leave with “only” £2 million.

Steve McClaren, Eriksson’s successor, is on a £2.5 million salary but a new severance structure means that the England head coach will not now be able to leave with such a hefty package as the Swede if he fails to take the national team to the European Championship finals and is given his P45.