TOP FIVE Managers To Have Taken Charge Of The Most Premier League Games

David Tully

1 year ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News

Following our look at the shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history last month, we will now be profiling the managers who have taken charge of the most matches.

Becoming a manager in the top flight of English football is hard enough, but to stay in charge of a team for a number of years is an even bigger feat.

On our list today there are two managers who were in the dugout for more than 800 matches with the same club. In contrast, there is one coach in our top five who has managed no less than eight different sides.

Press the next page as we count down the five managers with the most Premier League games under their belt.

5) Sam Allardyce (8 Clubs) – 537 Games

‘Big Sam’ spent six years managing Bolton Wanderers in the English top flight but, after leaving the Trotters, he was hired by seven different teams who had spells in the Premier League.

Following a brief stint at Newcastle, he was recruited by West Ham, where he got the Hammers promoted. He was sacked four years into his tenure at the end of the 2014/15 season.

From then on, Allardyce became known for saving teams from relegation, taking on jobs at Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Everton. He didn’t, though, manage to save West Brom from the drop during his last spell in charge back in 2021.

4) Harry Redknapp (5 Clubs) – 641 Games

After spending nearly seven years at West Ham, Redknapp parted ways with the Hammers in the summer of 2001. He then took on the task of getting Portsmouth promoted to the Premier League.

He did achieve his aim, although he was controversially sacked in November 2004. Just a month later, he made the shock move to rivals Southampton but he failed to stop them from being relegated.

Redknapp made a successful return to Pompey within twelve months, winning the FA Cup in 2008 before landing a job at Tottenham. He had four pretty good years at White Hart Lane. His last job in the Premier League was with QPR where he spent three and a half seasons.

3) David Moyes (4 Clubs) – 646 Games*

The vast majority of the Scot’s time in the Premier League has been with Everton. He was appointed by the Toffees in 2002 and spent eleven years at Goodison Park.

Moyes eventually left the Merseyside club to take charge of Manchester United, after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, but it proved to be ill-fated spell, lasting less than a season with the Red Devils.

A disappointing time at Sunderland, which saw the Black Cats relegated, followed, and he was also in charge of West Ham for an interim period before being reappointed on a permanent basis in December 2019.

2) Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) – 810 Games

The legendary manager actually took charge of his first United game six years before the start of the Premier League so his position on this list is purely down to the fact that we are only considering the modern era.

Ferguson is unquestionably the greatest manager in the history of English football, winning 13 league titles over a twenty-year period. It’s an era of dominance that no club has replicated before or since.

When you consider he also picked up TWENTY FIVE other trophies during his time at Old Trafford, it is an astonishing achievement.

1) Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) – 828 Games

The honour of the most Premier League games goes to the French professor, who spent 22 years in charge of the Gunners.

Wenger is widely regarded by many as the man who brought a new level of professionalism to the game in England, and his methods proved very successful in the early years, including three league titles in his first eight campaigns.

The highlight was, of course, the “Invincibles” season of 2003/04 when Arsenal went unbeaten. In later years, titles did dry up and he left the Emirates in 2018.