The 10 shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history | OneFootball

Highlights

It's a tough gig being a football manager. Don't get us wrong, a lot of people would kill to be in such a position of power. A great wage, the chance to establish a philosophy and play style in a club, and ultimately a chance to manage some of the world's most talented ballers out there. However, the job has its undeniable pressures.

This can lead to some rather difficult managerial stints. Every season in every professional league across the globe, head coaches come and go. Sometimes managers are sacked because of poor performance, sometimes they are poached by rival teams because they are doing so well, and sometimes they just walk away from the job because it's just not worth the stress.

In the top flight of English football, the most-watched soccer league in the world, there is a huge amount of pressure on managers. With that being the case, there are some examples where coaches have barely got their feet under the desk before being asked to pack their bags and leave. Along that line of thinking, we have formulated a list of the 10 shortest managerial reigns in Premier League history. Enjoy.

10 Claudio Ranieri, Fulham

106 days - 14 November 2018 to 28 February 2019

Claudio Ranieri will be forever remembered for leading Leicester City to the most incredible title win in Premier League history. After leaving the Foxes in 2017, however, he spent a season in France with Nantes before returning to England in November 2018.

At Craven Cottage with Fulham, the Italian arrived to replace Slavisa Jokanovic, who had been dismissed after taking five points from 12 matches. The newly promoted club wouldn't really improve under Ranieri, though, and so he left in February of the next year, after just over 100 days in charge. From 16 league games, he won three, drew three, and lost the remaining 10 outings.

9 Tony Adams, Portsmouth

106 days - 28 October 2008 to 8 February 2009

From one managerial Premier League winner to a player who won it twice during his time as Arsenal captain: Tony Adams. Despite having that winning feeling many a time during his playing days, he sadly couldn't recreate anything close to this success during his brief time on the South Coast.

During his tenure at Portsmouth, he had just two wins in 15 league games, which certainly wasn't helped by the sale of Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe. He had big boots to fill following Harry Redknapp, and unfortunately, it just didn't work out for the rather inexperienced manager.

8 Colin Todd, Derby County

98 days - 8 October 2002 to January 14 2002

Sometimes when legends come back to the club they were made at, it works out tremendously. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for Derby County icon Colin Todd.

As a player, he won the old First Division twice with the Rams during a seven-year spell. But as a manager, he lasted just three months, bottom of the table, losing 11 of the 17 games he oversaw. At least his time in charge was so short, his legacy remains... as a player at least.

7 Nathan Jones, Southampton

95 days - 10 November 2022 to 12 February 2023

Our most recent addition to the list is Nathan Jones of Southampton, who had an unbelievably torrid time during his time with the Saints. It was a big step up for Jones to begin with, arriving from Luton Town with the sole task of keeping his new side up.

They possessed some talented players such as James Ward Prowse, Kyle Walker-Peters and Romeo Lavia - yet the football he played was nothing short of dire. The pressure evidently got to him, and he showed this in some of his bizarre press conferences. He left having lost seven of his eight Premier League games but somehow managed to beat Manchester City in the League Cup, preventing them from potentially winning the quadruple.

91 days - 24 February 2012 to 30 June 2012

When Mick McCarthy departed Wolves in 2012, his assistant Terry Connor took over. This, unfortunately, proved to be a horrendous call as the team won just one game and picked up four points in 13 woeful matches under the new manager.

This left them on 25 points in the Premier League by the end of the season, subsequently relegating them to the Championship. Interestingly enough, he wasn't sacked but rather demoted back to assistant manager the following term but left only a few months later.

85 days - 7 September 2019 to 1 December 2019

Quique Sanchez Flores has had two bights of the cherry as Watford manager but it's safe to say his first spell was far more successful. He helped the Hornets to a comfortable mid-table finish in 2016, returning to the club three years later.

This time around, it's fair to say his tenure was nothing short of an utter failure. His worst moment had to be a 7-0 thumping from Manchester City and a defeat to the Saints which sent them down. He won just one of his 10 league games in charge.

4 Bob Bradley, Swansea City

84 days - 3 October 2016 to 27 December 2016

American coaches in the United Kingdom tend to be met with a fair bit of scepticism and when Swansea City turned Bob Bradley, he did little to help fix that bias. Indeed, his penchant for Americanisms – such as calling away fixtures “road games” and describing a penalty as a "PK'' – did little to endear him to his own fans.

But the main issue was simply results-based. Eight points from 33 were enough to send him packing, as he lasted just under three months during his horrendous time in Wales.

3 Frank de Boer, Crystal Palace

77 days - 26 June 2017 to 11 September 2017

Frank de Boer needed a rebound after a miserable time in Italy with Inter Milan which lasted a grand total of just 85 days. Off the back of that, though, he somehow managed to go eight days worse at Crystal Palace!

The Dutchman was meant to implement exciting, cultured football into the Eagles, but he ultimately made them look more like Pigeons. He was gone after 77 days and is regarded as one of the Premier League's worst-ever managers, having lost all four of his league games in charge without even scoring once.

2 Rene Meulensteen, Fulham

75 days - 1 December 2013 to 14 February 2014

Just missing out on the top spot, is the second Fulham manager to make this list, Rene Meulensteen. Widely regarded as a great coach, impressing during his time as part of the staff at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, he struggled in the hot seat at Craven Cottage.

In the end, the Dutchman lasted just 75 days, winning only three of his 13 league games in charge. Unsuccessful spells in Israel with Maccabi Haifa and Kerala Blasters of the Indian Super League since then suggest he's probably best off as an assistant rather than being a head coach.

1 Les Reed, Charlton Athletic

41 days - 14 November 2006 to 24 December 2006

Taking the not-so-very coveted title of the top spot (by a long way as well) is former Charlton Athletic boss Les Reed. He arrived in November 2006 but was gone before Christmas Day, cruelly getting the sack on the 24th.

Reed lasted less than six weeks on the job, overseeing just eight games, which included only one league victory and a League Cup defeat by League Two outfit Wycombe Wanderers. Ironically, he wrote a book on coaching, The Official FA Guide to Basic Team Coaching, which was published around two years before he became arguably the worst Premier League manager of all time.