Southampton are down and they haven’t wasted any time in parting with Ivan Juric – who took them down with a whimper. The loss at Tottenham confirmed their immediate return to the Championship in record time.
No team in Premier League history has been relegated with seven games to spare, but that is some more unwanted history for the Saints and Juric. His personal record in England’s top flight doesn’t stack up too generously, but he’s not quite the worst manager to grace these shores.
The Croatian was hired to replace Russell Martin but he did little to change the team’s fortunes. His sole win came over Ipswich but it was otherwise a miserable time for him.
Plenty of other managers have come and gone, often very quickly when it became apparent they weren’t having the desired affect. Some rely on the so-called new manager bounce, but some causes are so lost when they arrive there’s little they can do to change the direction of travel.
We take a look at who, according to the numbers, had the worst time in the dugout throughout the Premier League era with wins very much coming at a premium.
The former Roma man himself. He was a left-field appointment when he arrived at St Mary’s and, even though he got a draw in his opening game against Fulham, he largely dealt in defeats. Southampton were no harder to play against and they continued to ship goals regularly. To think Juric was only ten minutes shy of a win at Manchester United before a late collapse, but he won’t remember his time in England fondly.
Any man who has more than twenty games and can’t secure a win isn’t going to be looked upon in a positive manner. Southampton could yet eclipse Derby as the team with the fewest points ever, but for now it is the Rams and Jewell was ultimately the man who took them down. He didn’t even get to enjoy the winning feeling, that came when Billy Davies was in charge, with the odd draw here and there as good as it got.
Still technically the shortest tenure ever for a manager in the Premier Leage. Reed was in the hotseat for just 44 days before Charlton decided they’d made an almighty error. Reed cited a small squad and an injury crisis as reasons behind the dire run of results.
The only win the Addicks got, during a season that would see them relegated, was against Blackburn. A draw with Everton also saw them pause the losing habits, but ultimately Charlton were going nowhere fast and opted for a change.
When Mick McCarthy was given the boot Wolves turned to the man who was his assistant to try and rescue their Premier League season. It looked as if Connor had inspired a fighting spirit when his side came from 2-0 down to draw at Newcastle, but from then on it was all downhill. Wolves failed to win a single game as they went down without a fight, two of Connor’s four draws were goalless stalemates and he was not retained that summer.
He was, in many ways, pointless. Crystal Palace didn’t need long to realise they hadn’t hired a Dutch visionary who was going to change the way football would be played at Selhurst Park. A shock 3-0 loss at home to newly promoted Huddersfield was the worst possible start. De Boer didn’t even get to see his team score before the Eagles axed him with Jose Mourinho declaring him the “worst manager in Premier League history”.
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