IT'S official. Managing a professional football club can be seriously bad for your health.

But help is at hand to ensure that no more soccer bosses fall victim to the high-stress levels which doctors believe contributed to Gerard Houllier's recent brush with death.

From next month all 92 managers in the Premiership and Football League will be able to benefit from individually prescribed programmes set by the Wellness Centre aimed at reducing stress levels.

The initiative has come from John Barnwell, chief executive of the League Managers' Association, who has become increasingly concerned by the number of stress-related illnesses suffered by his members.

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce was one of nine bosses who volunteered to act as guinea pigs in a six-month trial during which the stress levels were monitored at various times during the working week.

Barnwell's pioneering venture was well advanced before Liverpool boss Houllier was rushed into hospital for emergency heart surgery. But the Frenchman's ordeal added impetus to a project sparked off by the heart attack suffered by Joe Kinnear.

Barnwell said: ''The pilot scheme confirmed the need for a programme designed to prevent stress-related illness.''

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