Home » Mauricio Pochettino: 12 of football’s ludicrously short managerial reigns with the Chelsea boss next in line

Mauricio Pochettino: 12 of football’s ludicrously short managerial reigns with the Chelsea boss next in line

Mauricio Pochettino could very soon join the list of shortest managerial reigns after a disastrous run of results at Chelsea, with his fate now hanging only after six league games in charge this season.

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The Blues lost three while winning only one in the last five games in the Premier League, with the heavily invested side in the summer now sitting in the bottom half of the English top flight (14th).

There have been rumors that the London-based club’s board is now looking at a replacement for Pochettino.

The former Tottenham Hotspur boss’ days at Stamford Bridge are numbered, whether he likes it or admits it.

In fact, numerous managers have been getting axed even before the 10th game of the new season. Don’t be shocked; some could not even last more than one game in charge.

Here we are, with the list of 12 managers who have the shortest stints with the clubs.

Brian Clough, Leeds, 1974 (44 days)

P7 W1 D3 L3

The short but infamous stint they made a film (and book) about. Brian Howard Clough arrived at Elland Road to take over from Don’ The Don’ Revie, who’d led Leeds to the league title the previous season and moved on to the England job.

Clough made enemies of everyone he encountered from the outset and was sacked after taking four points from a possible 12. He went to Nottingham Forest and set about winning two European Cups. 

Les Reed, Charlton, 2006 (41 days)

P8 W1 D1 L6

Reed’s 41-day stint as manager at The Valley saw him win just once and oversee a League Cup defeat to League Two Wycombe Wanderers. The man they nicknamed Les Misérables was sacked on Christmas Eve and replaced by Alan Pardew. He later did quite all right as Southampton’s astute head of football development, mind, earning the south coast club approximately £86bn from transfers to Liverpool alone (ish). 

Alex McLeish, Nottingham Forest, 2012/13 (40 days)

P7 W1 D2 L4

Fresh from taking Birmingham down into the Championship, McLeish replaced Sean O’Driscoll with the brief of taking Forest into the Premier League. He lasted 40 days, and a disagreement with the Kuwaiti owners over the transfer policy led to his departure “by mutual consent”.

Steve Coppell, Manchester City, 1996 (33 days)

P6 W2 D1 L3

Coppell took the top job at Manchester City in between spells in charge at Crystal Palace. City was synonymous with epic underachievement back then, but Coppell packed it in after six games, citing stress. 

Paul Hart, QPR, 2009/10 (28 days)

P5 W1 D2 L2

Only ever a stop-gap appointment, yet few expected Hart to be done and dusted at Loftus Road in less than a month – bar, perhaps, the itchy-fingered owner Flavio Briatore. Hart was another who left by “mutual consent.” 

Micky Adams, Swansea, 1997 (13 days)

P3 W0 D0 L3

Swansea went through six managers inside 18 months in the 1990s, with Adams lasting less than two weeks. He walked away after promised transfer funds failed to materialize – although astonishingly, he wasn’t the club’s shortest-serving manager during that period. 

Martin Ling, Cambridge United, 2009 (9 days)

P0 W0 D0 L0 

Taking the job after his predecessor quit following “issues” with the chairman, Ling took over at the Conference club and lasted all of nine days. Ironically, he, too, had irreconcilable differences with the man at the top. Someone did not learn from other’s mistakes, we might say.

Kevin Cullis, Swansea, 1996 (8 days)

P2 W0 D0 L2

He was in and out at Swansea in just over a week and two games. Cullis was either unceremoniously sacked or he resigned, depending on whom you listen to. 

Billy McKinlay, Watford (8 days)

P2 W1 D1 L0

It all happened so quickly. First, he was appointed first-team to coach to Oscar Garcia, then got given the gig full-time three days later when the Spaniard stepped down for health reasons. So, having relinquished his role as assistant manager for Northern Ireland and overseeing two unbeaten matches, he was promptly binned off for Slavisa Jokanovic.

Dave Bassett, Crystal Palace, 1984 (4 days)

P0 W0 D0 L0

A change of heart, before the decision to leave.

In the job so short a length of time, Bassett had yet to sign a contract at Palace before changing his mind and heading back to Wimbledon. 

Marcelo Bielsa, Lazio (2 days)

P0 W0 D0 L0

On July 6, 2016, Bielsa was announced as the new manager of Serie A side Lazio, only to resign two days later on July 8. He was annoyed by what he saw as broken promises in the transfer market, so quit before he’d even got started. A furious Lazio tried to sue him for €50m. 

Leroy Rosenior, Torquay, 2007 (10 minutes)

P0 W0 D0 L0

Well, we save the best (or should we say, the fastest?) for last. To this day, Rosenior’s record of 10 minutes in charge before getting sacked is still unbeatable.

Imagine you signed a contract to take over the club, and when the ink was just dry, you saw the exit…

Rosenior previously managed Torquay for four years and guided them to promotion to League 1 in 2004, but his second spell did not go well.

He was appointed as manager of the relegated League Two club last Thursday, only for chairman Mike Bateson to agree to sell 51% of the club to a consortium immediately – and Rosenior has reportedly claimed that the first act of the new owners was to relieve him of his duties after having signed him 600 seconds ago.