Worst Premier League managers in history

When thinking of unsuccessful spells at the head of Premier League teams, some might name Frank Lampard as the worst manager ever. But these people will not have heard of just how bad the worst football managers in the Premier League had it.

Managing a top Premier League side is no walk in the park. Here we take a look at the worst Premier League managers, exploring just what went wrong during their time at their respective clubs.

10th Place: Les Reed

Football consultant Les Reed was put in charge of Charlton Athletic back in 2006 but ended up getting the boot just over a month after taking the job. His firing made the headlines as one of the most brutal dismissals since the club decided to part ways with him on Christmas Eve. Even the League Managers’ Association commented on it, stating that it was unacceptable to treat managers this way.

His six-week spell resulted in a single win and during his tenure, the club was even eliminated from the League Cup by Wycombe Wanderers, a League Two club.

9th Place: Tony Adams

After having enjoyed a career as a player, captaining both Arsenal and England, Tony Adams tried his hand at management. He joined Portsmouth as an assistant manager to Harry Redknapp and took the top job once the manager moved to Tottenham Hotspurs.

He managed the side for a single season with very disappointing results, even though his team had won the FA Cup the previous year. Adams only won two of the 15 Premier League games he managed, and the team had a single point above the relegation zone by the time he left. Portsmouth would recover and avoid relegation that year thanks to the talents of players like Peter Crouch and David James.

8th Place: Remi Garde

The former Lyon and Arsenal player managed his former French side for three seasons, before eventually moving to Aston Villa for the 2015-2016 season. He took over with Villa at the bottom of the table and five months later, the club was still scraping the bottom of the list, which led to his sacking.

Many of Aston Villa’s players at the time commented on the Frenchman’s strict discipline, including an incident where he dismissed Jack Grealish from the training grounds simply because he was smiling. He had also removed him from the first team for partying after the club suffered a 4-0 loss to Everton.

7th Place: Jan Siewert

Huddersfield had been struggling for some time when Jan Siewert took the top job. The club had somehow managed to hold onto their recent promotion to the Premier League, but punters all warned that it was only a matter of time before they’d find themselves back in the Championship.

Jan Siewert joined from Borussia Dortmund II in 2019 and only managed to win a single game out of 19 before getting sacked. During that time, Huddersfield were relegated and even got knocked out of the EFL Cup in the first round by Lincoln City.

6th Place: Steve Wigley

Wigley had enjoyed a career as a player for clubs like Nottingham Forest, Birmingham City and Portsmouth, before eventually becoming one of the country’s best youth coaches. He had some experience in management, having taken the helm of Aldershot Town and serving as an assistant manager at Nottingham Forest and Southampton.

But a short while after signing on as an assistant, Southampton promoted him to manager. His success with youths didn’t prove to be of much help, though, and he suffered through 13 defeats and a single win during this time at the club. That one win was against the club’s rivals Portsmouth, who Wigley used to play for back in the day.

5th Place: Alan Pardew

Pardew used to play as a midfielder for several English sides, eventually finishing his career at Reading. He remained with the club serving as caretaker and eventually taking the role of manager. His success with the team drew the attention of West Ham, and he guided the club to promotion. He even managed to get to ninth place in the Premier League and made it to an FA Cup final.

Despite his success at West Ham and clubs like Crystal Palace, he had a disastrous run with West Brom. He only won a single game during his time there and after a streak of 10 winless games, he was eventually sacked.

4th Place: Mick McCarthy

McCarthy played for clubs like Manchester City and Celtic during his career as a player and even formed part of the Republic of Ireland national team. He would eventually go on to have a rather successful career as a manager, but his time with Sunderland was incredibly rough.

He was appointed in 2003 and managed to achieve promotion for the club that same year, but the Premier League proved to be too much to handle. McCarthy’s side ended up with just 16 points above the relegation zone and 10 games left to play, leading to his dismissal in March 2006.

3rd Place: Terry Connor

Terry Connor had been with Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1999, serving as a coach for youths, reserves and first time, before being appointed assistant manager in 2008. He served as an assistant to Mick McCarthy and eventually took over once McCarthy was dismissed in 2012.

Unfortunately, the top job would prove to be too much for Connor. When he took charge, Wolves were 18th in the Premier League and relegation seemed like a very real threat. He started well, drawing 2-2 against Newcastle United. However, his side would go on to suffer seven consecutive defeats and they were relegated after a 2-0 loss to Manchester City. Wolves finished at the bottom of the table with just 25 total points.

2nd Place: Paul Jewell

Jewell had enjoyed a rather successful spell at Wigan Athletic, guiding the team to the Premier League and making sure they managed to avoid relegation in the following season. Although he resigned from his position due to health reasons, he would join Derby County in the following season.

In his 13 months at Derby County, his side were relegated to the Championship after suffering through 21 games without a victory. They only managed to get one win in the season and accumulated a mere 11 points. He would eventually leave the following season.

1st Place: Frank De Boer

De Boer had a great career playing for sides like Barcelona, Galatasaray and Ajax before moving into management. He started with his former side Ajax and enjoyed six strong seasons there before moving to Inter Milan. Things didn’t work out very well at the Italian club and he eventually moved to Crystal Palace.

If things were bad at Inter Milan, they only got worse once he moved to England. The club lost the first four Premier League games without scoring a single goal. De Boer was eventually sacked, stating that the players wouldn’t adapt to his possession style of play. José Mourinho would eventually refer to him as the worst manager in Premier League history.