Top Five Harshest Sackings In Premier League History

Recently, the Premier League has become an increasingly harsh place for managers. Clubs such as Chelsea, Tottenham and especially Watford have become infamous for how little time they give managers to transform the clubs and implement their style on the team. When Gary O’Neil was sacked by Bournemouth after guiding them to safety in 2023, there were a lot of people calling it one of the harshest sackings ever, however with the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that it was the correct move. The managerial sackings on this list however, have not since been justified with a new appointment.

Jose Mourinho - Tottenham Hotspur

Mauricio Pochettino was sacked by Tottenham in November 2019 and was replaced by managerial legend Jose Mourinho, who had been out of football for almost a year after leaving Manchester United in 2018. Most Tottenham fans were excited by the appointment, as Mourinho was a natural trophy winner and it showed a statement of ambition from the club to appoint him. He quickly got off to a winning start in both the league and the Champions League, as he won 3-2 against West Ham three days after signing, and three days later, Tottenham beat Olympiacos in Europe.

In Pochettino’s last season in charge, Spurs finished fourth, so when Mourinho finished sixth, there were already rumours that he might leave. It was the first time that the club had finished outside of the top four since 2014/15, and with another trophyless season for Tottenham, the pressure was already starting to build on Mourinho.

🚨Tottenham confirm that they have hired Jose Mourinho as head coach until the end of the 2022/23 season 🚨 pic.twitter.com/7iU55JTJXs

— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 20, 2019

Tottenham started the 2020/21 season really well and at the beginning of December, they saw themselves at the top of the Premier League following a 2-0 win over Arsenal. However their form started to slip, and with the side in seventh, Mourinho was sacked on the 19th of April. The sacking was harsh, as Tottenham have only finished inside the top four once since the 2020/21 season, and the sacking took place just days before a cup final.

Mourinho had managed to get Tottenham, a team that have struggled for trophies in the past, into the EFL Cup final against Manchester City. Despite City’s dominance in England, many thought the game could be close because of Mourinho’s ability to take underdogs to trophy triumphs, however he never got the chance. If he had lost the cup final and then been sacked, then he wouldn’t have made the list, but he wasn’t even given the opportunity by the club to try.

Sam Allardyce - Blackburn Rovers

Sam Allardyce has had plenty of managerial sackings in his career, most of which have been pretty deserved after poor runs of form, however in 2010, he was sacked from his position at Blackburn for seemingly no reason. He joined the club in December 2008 with the club in 19th with just three wins, however Big Sam was able to turn the club’s fortunes around with a couple of January signings. That season they finished 15th and Allardyce was given the opportunity to carry on for another year.

The 2009/10 season started poorly for Allardyce, however he managed to turn the side’s form around with wins over Wolves and Aston Villa. Despite losing a couple of important players during the summer transfer window, Allardyce was able to sign a number of free transfers that ended up being incredibly shrewd signings. Blackburn ended the season in an impressive 10th place and reached a League Cup semi final, only to be defeated over the two legs by Aston Villa.

Gaël Givet: "In 2010 with Blackburn, we were going to play Man Utd. During the talk, Sam Allardyce showed us images from the films Gladiator and 300 to motivate us and to make us warriors on the pitch. After 30 minutes, we were down 3-0. In the end, we lost 7-1. pic.twitter.com/rqoKdaZn9l

— Manuel Menacho (@MenachoManuel1) July 10, 2021

With how he had done so far, you would think that Allardyce had exceeded expectations and had a bit of leeway with how the next season went. With the club undergoing a take over, there was little business done in the summer transfer window other than a few loan deals. These ended up being quite important as Mame Biram Diouf, who joined on loan from Manchester United, ended up being their top goalscorer in the 2010/11 season. Once the takeover was completed, Allardyce was sacked and was replaced by one of his coaches, who had links to the new owners. The club were in 13th when he was sacked, which wasn’t bad considering how little backing he had got in the transfer window. Under their new manager, they finished the season even worse off, in 15th, and were relegated the following year.

Carlo Ancelotti - Chelsea

Carlo Ancelotti joined Chelsea at the start of the 2009/10, having left AC Milan at the end of the previous season after eight years at the club. He arrived in England with a lot of hype as many fans had seen what had been built at the club by Mourniho and saw the potential that they had under Ancelotti. They were right to do so, as the Italian helped secure their first league and cup double, securing the Premier League on the final day with an 8-0 win over Wigan and beating Portsmouth 1-0 in the FA Cup final. In the league that season, they scored over 100 goals, with Didier Drogba netting 37 in all competitions.

The following season started really well for Chelsea and Ancelotti, scoring 14 and conceding none from their opening three matches. They were top of the league from the opening day of the season up until November, but a period of six games without a win over the festive period saw them slip all the way down to fifth. Ancelotti made it clear in January that Chelsea could not retain the title, however a strong second half of the season saw them just three points of league leaders Manchester United with three games to go. Ultimately the Blues were unable to overtake United and finished second in the league.

ON THIS DAY In 2009, @chelseafc appointed #BPL title-winning boss Carlo Ancelotti http://t.co/yZv3PW5D6k pic.twitter.com/CUgJg2vOOc

— Premier League (@premierleague) June 1, 2014

Ancelotti was sacked just hours after their final game of the season, despite finishing first and second in his two seasons at the club and managing two major trophies and the FA Community Shield. Since leaving the club, he has won four league titles, three Champions Leagues, two domestic cups and a handful of other trophies at PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Chelsea have had a few half decent seasons, but they had the chance to hold onto one of the best managers of all time.

Claudio Ranieri - Leicester City

The story of Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City is a well known one. He joined the English club off the back of just four games in charge of the Greek national team and there was a lot of skepticism from the English media after his appointment. Leicester had only just survived relegation the previous season, but under Ranieri they made history as they won the Premier League for the first time. The club’s defensive organisation and fast counter attacks caught teams off guard and helped them retain top spot in the league from January until the final day, losing just one game in the process.

🏆 Sometimes - as we found out 25 years ago - fairytales comes true. Congratulations #Leicester, well done #Ranieri! pic.twitter.com/Y2XmjkxKeB

— Sampdoria English (@sampdoria_en) May 2, 2016

In his second season in charge, Ranieri did not do as well. It started off with a loss to newly promoted Hull City before drawing at home to Arsenal. Throughout the whole season, the club’s highest league position at the end of a matchday was ninth. Towards the end of February, Leicester were in terrible form, having not won in seven league matches, losing six of them, and not having even scored in any of those games. The club were one point above the relegation zone and the board decided that Ranieri needed to go. Leicester picked up a bit of form after that and managed to finish 12th that season, and while they have had some success since he left, they have also had a season in the Championship.

Ranieri’s dismissal wasn’t the harshest one on the list, however he had just one the league in the biggest underdog story of all time, before losing his best midfielder and not getting that much in the way of a replacement. On top of that, he didn’t perform too badly in the Champions League, reaching the quarter finals.

Sir Bobby Robson - Newcastle

When Sir Bobby Robson joined Newcastle in 1999, he was already a legend in English football, having guided Ipswich to FA Cup glory in 1978 and England to a Euros semi final in 1996. Newcastle were in the relegation zone when he took charge, having not won a single match, but he managed to turn their form around, finishing 11th in the league. He also helped the Magpies to an FA Cup semi final, where they were beaten by Chelsea. He initially signed on a one year deal, but following his excellent first year, he extended his stay on Tyneside.

They finished 11th again the following season before Robson helped them to a fourth place finish in the 2001/02 season. This led to Newcastle being involved in the qualifying rounds for the following season’s Champions League. They reached the main competition but were knocked out in the second group stage. Robson continued to improve Newcastle as they finished third in the 2002/03 season, above the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea.

It’s 21 years to the day since Sir Bobby Robson fulfilled a lifelong dream by stepping onto the turf as Newcastle gaffer.

His team responded in style as @alanshearer scored five in an 8-0 win.

Fairytale stuff.pic.twitter.com/YLvwF8Tg78

— A Funny Old Game (@sid_lambert) September 19, 2020

They were knocked out of Champions League qualifying in 2003/04 by Partizan Belgrade and instead took part in the UEFA Cup, where they reached the semi final, losing to Marseille. In the league that season, they finished fifth, another impressive showing from Robson.

The start of the 2004/05 season was poor, as Newcastle failed to win any of their opening four games. There was an agreement in place that Robson, who was 71 at the time, would retire at the end of the season, but Robson later revealed that the agreement was on the basis that he wouldn’t be sacked during the 2004/05 campaign. However, just four games into the season, he was dismissed to the surprise of everyone. In 2005, Robson openly criticised Newcastle Chairman, Freddy Shepherd’s running of the club and claimed that while at the helm of the Magpies, he didn’t get a say on anything away from the pitch, including transfers.

Robson was one of Newcastle United’s best managers ever, and he had to do it all while dealing with mismanagement at the top of the club. Since he left, only Eddie Howe has managed to replicate Robson’s success.