The FIVE Shortest Managerial Reigns Of The Premier League Era

David Tully

1 year ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Southampton, spurs, West Ham, wolves

After Nathan Jones was sacked by Southampton having spent just 95 days in the hot seat, we thought it would be a good idea to look back at the shortest spells in charge of Premier League teams.

Jones is actually just seventh on the list so he won’t be making the top five in this post.

There is at least one household name who we will be mentioning but, for the most part, the managers we are profiling won’t be familiar to everybody.

Press the next page as we count down the shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history.

5) Quique Sanchez Flores (Watford) – 86 Days

The Spaniard had already had a spell in charge of the Hornets before being reappointed in September 2019.

While many felt that Flores lost his job pretty harshly first time around, that wasn’t really the case with his second stint in the dugout at Vicarage Road.

He was in charge for an 8-0 defeat to Manchester City, as well as losing to relegation-threatened Southampton. He lost his job having picked up only one win in three months.

4) Bob Bradley (Swansea City) – 84 Days

The 2016/17 season was a pretty chaotic one for Swansea. They had sacked Francesco Guidolin after only 25 matches in charge before turning to Bradley.

Nobody expected the American to be in the running for the job and he was very much a left-field candidate.

Bradley failed to convince the locals, and the game was up pretty quickly, having secured only eight points in 11 games.

3) Frank de Boer (Crystal Palace) – 77 Days

The warning signs were there before Palace decided to appoint the Dutchman as Sam Allardyce’s successor in the summer of 2017.

De Boer had been sacked by Inter Milan after 85 days and he arrived at Selhurst Park tasked with changing the team’s style of play.

Needless to say that it didn’t work. De Boer lost his first four matches in charge, with his team not scoring a single goal. He was given his marching orders very quickly.

2) Rene Meulensteen (Fulham) – 75 Days

The Dutchman had built his reputation as a coach at Manchester United under Alex Ferguson but he had never really shown any talent for being the no.1.

Meulensteen’s track record as a manager was pretty poor so it was a surprise when he was given the responsibility to replace Martin Jol in December 2013.

After three victories in 13 matches, he was sacked, with Felix Magath taking his position in the dugout.

1) Les Reed (Charlton Athletic) – 41 Days

The Addicks had some problems, to say the least, in replacing Alan Curbishley, who left The Valley in 2006 after nearly fifteen years in charge.

Iain Dowie was the chosen successor but he lasted just a few months in the role, so Charlton’s hierarchy turned to Reed for help.

He’d been assistant to Curbishley and Dowie, but his skills just weren’t suited to being manager. After one league win, he was removed from his position.