Do your Managers outperform?

A long FT article (linked above from Jan 27) examines the performance of English football teams (think soccer here in the USA). The article makes a good management read. But I will summarize the main points in case you don't have time (it is quite long):

1) 90% of football club performance can be tracked to the players. That is the salary level payed for these "employees", whether it be in Yankee height, or Oakland low, can predict most of the success of the team. Makes sense, more payroll = more talent, and the more you win.

2) That leave 10% for the Manager's (think CEO) effect. Some Managers outperform, while some under-perform, just like in the real economy.

I believe, but will not site, comparable studies exist for competitive business (afterall most pro sports leagues operate in a type of Cartel arrangement). In any event, my conclusions would be:

A) The CEO pays for positions, not individuals. But if your overall pay is average for your industry, you should expect average performance, financially and customer-wise. If you can afford to pay more, then the customer related performance should go up.

B) Then again, a very talented manager can make much more than his/her 10% difference, driving an average crew to outperform it's pay grade by a long shot.

Prescription - Hire good managers, pay-up for staff, or a bit of both. But for success' sake, at least do one of these.