Simon Read: Another fund manager leaves? So what?

Investors are becoming used to regular fund management changes with several significant City heavyweights moving on in recent times. In September it was Fidelity's Sanjeev Shah who announced he was standing down as manager of the hugely popular Special Situations fund he had, in turn, inherited from Anthony Bolton five years previously. His place in the managerial hot seat has been taken by Alex Wright.

Last month it was the turn of Neil Woodford to reveal he is leaving Invesco Perpetual, the investment firm he's been at for more than a quarter of a century. He's being replaced by Mark Barnett.

This week it was reported that Graham French is stepping down from M&G Investment after 25 years at the firm. Randeep Somel is taking on the lead manager role at the M&G Global Basics fund set up by Graham.

If you're an investor these moves are important to take note of. If you invest in any of the funds affected - or even if you don't - you should take another look at them. In all the above instances the new person in charge has been promoted from within, suggesting that there won't be much change in the funds' investment criteria.

But as all these figures manage millions of pounds of savers' money, it's important to know about – and understand – them. In the past I've compared them to star footballers, but in hindsights they're more akin to football managers.

When the likes of, say, Jose Mourinho moves clubs it can have a crucial effect on future performance. The same is true of the mega fund managers. So do keep an eye on performance league tables to see who really is earning their big salaries and who may be worth backing with your own nest egg.