The 14 shortest managerial spells in football history | OneFootball

The job of a football manager is a thankless and ruthless task. When it's all going well, they're on top of the world, but the minute things turn sour, they're on borrowed time. Especially in recent years, football clubs seem much quicker to jump the gun and their coaches aren't given anywhere near enough time to implement their vision.

Watford became known for their tendency to chop and change managers the minute things took a turn for the worse, but they are far from the only team who have cut ties with a manager not too long after hiring them. In fact, only one of their wild managerial reigns makes the list of the 13 shortest in football history.

Whether it was due to a disastrous start, second thoughts or a clash of personalities, these 13 managers were barely at their clubs for a cup of coffee before they were heading out of the door.

14 Brian Clough - Leeds United - 1974

44 days

Before he became known as one of the best managers in English football history due to his success at Nottingham Forest, Brian Clough had a pretty torrid time at Leeds United. He was brought in to replace Don Revie, who'd previously led the Yorkshire side to a league title the year before, but things couldn't have gone much worse.

He was let go after just 44 days and seven games in charge of the Lilywhites. Fortunately, that didn't stop him from going to Forest and winning a pair of European trophies, solidifying his status as their greatest-ever manager.

13 Les Reed - Charlton Athletic - 2006

41 days

Replacing club icon Alan Curbishley was never going to be easy, but Les Reed had a shocking time at Charlton Athletic. Taking over in 2006, he lasted just 41 days and eight games before he was sacked on Christmas Eve. Picking up just one win in that time, he was nicknamed Les Miserables and even oversaw his team lose to League Two Wycombe Wanderers.

Reed was replaced by Alan Pardew shortly afterwards, but the damage was done and the Addicks were relegated at the end of the season, never returning to the Premier League till this day.

40 days

Not too long after being sacked by Aston Villa, Alex McLeish was hired by Nottingham Forest with the intention of guiding them to the English top flight. It's safe to say that's not quite how things played out, though, and he ended up leaving the Midlands team after just 40 days.

A clash of heads with the club's owners about their transfer policy led to McLeish leaving the club by mutual consent. He joined in December 2012 and left in February 2013, and it took Forest another nine years to finally realise their ambition and return to the Premier League.

11

33 days

After losing the First Division playoff final five months earlier, Steve Coppell left Crystal Palace to take charge at Manchester City in October 1996. The Cityzens weren't quite the behemoths that they would become years later and were more familiar with floundering in the middle of the Premier League table when he came in.

That didn't make the reign any less stressful for Coppell, though, who left City after just 33 days, citing stress as the main reason. Almost immediately, he rejoined Palace, this time as a chief scout, but was once again manager of the Eagles by February 1997.

29 days

Fighting relegation at the bottom of League Two, with their status as an EFL club on the line, Forest Green Rovers took a huge gamble promoting player/coach Troy Deeney to first-team manager. Well, it's safe to say that it didn't quite pay off either. The results were poor, he threw players under the bus publicly and the fans were sick of the former Watford man almost immediately.

Less than a month after he was handed the job as manager, he was let go as Forest Green scrambled to find a solution to their troubles in League Two.

9 Paul Hart - Queens Park Rangers - 2009/10

28 days

After a terrible reign in charge of Portsmouth was cut short after just 13 games and two wins, Paul Hart was hired by Queens Park Rangers in December 2009. We're not quite sure what they saw from his spell in Hampshire that convinced the club he was the man for the job, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn't.

Exactly four weeks after he was hired, Hart departed QPR in a move that was deemed to be mutual consent. He won just once during his five matches in charge and, aside from a brief spell in charge of Swindon, he was never a full-time manager again.

8 Gennaro Gattuso - Fiorentina - 2021

22 days

Shortly after he was let go by Napoli following two years in charge of the Naples-based team, Gennaro Gattuso was appointed manager of Fiorentina. The legendary player hadn't really seen all that much success as a manager, and that wasn't going to change at the Italian side as just 22 days after he was announced as manager, and two weeks before his contact was actually due to begin, the former AC Milan man agreed to rescind the deal with the club.

Instead, he spent a year away from the game before joining Valencia in 2022, while Fiorentina decided to hire Vincenzo Italiano instead, who's still in charge almost three years later, so that worked out quite nicely for them.

7 Micky Adams - Swansea City - 1997

13 days

In the mid-1990s, Swansea City went on a wild run of chopping and changing managers, with six men taking charge at the Welsh club over the course of 18 months. Micky Adams was one of the worst of the bunch, though. After he was sacked as player-manager at Fulham, he made a very quick return to work, joining Swansea as player-manager.

Unfortunately, that spell was even worse than his time with the Cottagers. Less than two weeks after Adams took the job, he quit, citing the club's failed promises in terms of a transfer budget as his main reason. He lost all three of his games in charge, but walked into another gig almost immediately, joining Brentford not long after.

6 Martin Ling - Cambridge United - 2009

9 days

After the previous manager quit at Cambridge United due to issues with the club's chairman, Martin Ling was appointed in 2009. He quickly discovered that his predecessor likely had a point and he lasted just nine days before he also made the decision to leave the club, citing his issues with the man in charge, George Rolls.

Interestingly, 16 days after he quit, Ling came back to Cambridge once Rolls had left the club. He eventually spent a couple of years in charge at the club, something not many would have seen coming after that initial nightmare spell.

5 Billy McKinlay - Watford - 2014

8 days

After he was appointed as a coach by Watford boss Oscar Garcia, Billy McKinlay was promoted to manager following the former Brighton man's departure. It was his first stint as a manager and it wouldn't last long. Despite going unbeaten during his two games in charge, winning one and drawing the other, McKinlay was let go by the Hornets as they brought in Slavisa Jokanovic.

It felt harsh at the time, but the former defensive midfielder did eventually guide Watford to promotion and back to the Premier League, so in hindsight, it was the right call.

4 Kevin Cullis - Swansea City - 1996

7 days

Another one of Swansea's shockingly short reigns during the 1990s, Kevin Cullis was barely at the club for a week before he was already heading out of the door. He took charge of just two games during that spell and lost both before he was either let go or walked away from the Swansea job.

Cullis had no experience whatsoever playing or coaching at that level and it showed immediately. In just his second game in charge, Swansea found themselves 4-0 down at half-time and the players decided to take control of the match themselves in the second half, ignoring him and that spelled the end of his time in charge. He's never managed a football team again, showing just how embarrassing this was for both himself and the club.

3 Dave Bassett - Crystal Palace - 1984

4 days

In the summer of 1984, Dave Bassett decided to leave Wimbledon and accepted a job offer from Crystal Palace. Just 72 hours later, though, he changed his mind and decided to return to his former club. Bassett hadn't even signed a contract with the Eagles before reversing his choice, admitting he changed his mind once he thought deeply on the situation.

He returned to Wimbledon and spent a further three years with the club before he resigned during the summer of 1987.

2 Marcelo Bielsa - Lazio - 2016

2 days

After an impressive career that saw him take charge of teams like Argentina, Athletic Bilbao and Marseille, Marcelo Bielsa was appointed manager at Lazio in 2016 and the reign was over so quickly, you'd be forgiven for not noticing it ever happened. Just 48 hours after joining the club, the coach sensationally quit the Serie A side.

He cited the fact that the club had failed to recruit the players he'd requested by the deadline he'd given them, so he'd decided to walk away. Lazio were understandably furious and tried to sue him for close to £50m. Just a couple of years later, he became a cult hero at Leeds United, so things panned out well.

1 Leroy Rosenior - Torquay United - 2007

10 minutes

This is surely a record that will never, ever be broken. Appointed as Torquay United manager in 2007, Leroy Rosenior likely hadn't even met his squad before he was let go. The Englishman, who'd previously spent four years in charge of the club, was appointed just as a consortium took over Torquay.

Turns out, they decided they wanted to hire their own man, and they swiftly let Rosenior go just 10 minutes after he was hired. That's pretty absurd. He never managed a club again and considering the way he was messed around, it's not hard to see why.