The football manager has the most strenuous job in the sport. Ask Arsene Wenger. Even if it’s the players who are doing the talking on the football pitch the result is directly attributed to the work of a manager.
Transfers, tactics, team talks and various other responsibilities are thrust upon anyone who takes up this role. This goes double for managers at the best clubs in the world. Tha administration is responsible for picking the best man/woman for the job.
But sometimes they do get it wrong and these clubs were definitely way off when picking the following managers for the job:
#6. Bob Bradley – Swansea City
Starting us off is one of the most recent managers to have tried his hand at managing in the Premier League. Swansea came under new ownership in the summer and had appointed Francesco Guidolin towards the end of last season.
The Welsh club survived by the skin of their teeth and it was thanks in no small part to the Italian. Despite a poor start to this campaign, the club were in no means playing badly. Their early fixture schedule was not very and having to play the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea in their first few games.
But the owners showed no mercy and got rid of the Italian. In his place, they appointed American Bob Bradley. It was a very controversial appointment considering he did not have a great C.V to begin with and it was his first ever job in England.
Also Read: Charting the slow and painful decline of Swansea City
Unsurprisingly the manager failed to make much of an impact and only worsened the situation at the club. He only lasted 85 days in charge winning just two games in that period. It was arguably one of the worst spells a manager has had in the Premier League and he never deserved the job in the first place.
#5. Gary Neville – Valencia
Punditry is one of the most well-paid jobs in football but it is also one that is heavily questionable professions. On more than one occasion, the experts who try and analyse the game get it wrong.
Gary Neville in that respect does more than a decent job with analysis. But when he decided to try his hand at management last season he would have no idea what he was getting into.
Valencia were rotting in the bottom half of the La Liga table when the Manchester United legend took over. It was a strange choice given he had not prior experience in management and doubts over his appointment were confirmed just a few months in.
His first game in charge was against Lyon and that ended in defeat which knocked them out of the Champions League. His next high profile fixture was one against Barcelona and it was one he would never forget.
His side lost that game 7-0. Neville later explained it was one of the most painful experiences in his career. Fans began to protest and asked for his sacking. After a few more painful pills of bad results, Neville was finally sacked and he went back to his comfortable day time job.
#4. Roy Hodgson – Liverpool
Roy Hodgson is a manager who’s reputation has been tainted of late. He earned a brilliant reputation with Fulham helping them to a Europa League final. They went very close to winning it as well but lost to Atletico Madrid in Extra Time to a Diego Forlan winner.
Hodgson took Fulham from the brink of relegation to just 17th. Not too impressive but he managed to stabilize the club next season with a few smart signings. But when he was given the Liverpool job in 2010 several eyebrows were raised.
This would be his first ever high profile job in management. It was a huge risk that eventually did not pay off. Results were so poor under the Englishman that he lasted only 6 months in the job.
Kenny Dalglish was chosen as his successor and he went on to sign arguably their best player this decade – Luis Suarez. Hodgson led Englan to their worst ever defeat in International tournaments, a 2-1 loss against Iceland.
#3. Tata Martino – Barcelona
Any manager trying to succeed Pep Guardiola at Barcelona has his work cut out for him. But Tata Martino did an especially good job of ruiniing Barcelona’s season.
Although the Catalans did relatively well under Tata Martino, it’s safe to say his predecessor had already set up the club’ s identity and style of play. The Argentine manager failed to maximize the talented squad he had at his disposal.
Tata Martino has arguably been their worst manager in the last 15 years or so. The likes of Frank Rijkaard, Pep and even Luis Enrique have done something substantial at the club. Then again when you have Leo Messi, you have Leo Messi.
Under Martino Barcelona did not win a single major honour, ending up with only the Spanish Super cup!
#2. Rafa Benitez – Real Madrid
What Rafa Benitez achieved with Liverpool cannot be understated but ever since his departure from the Reds his career has been on a downward spiral. He had a very brief spell with Napoli, then moving to Chelsea as interim manager which was highly controversial.
He then spent three very average seasons with Napoli not being able to help a side that was filled quality to win the Serie A title. Once his time with Napoli came to an end nobody predicted Los Blancos would be his next destination.
There were huge protests from the fans against his appointment and for good reason for it too. Real Madrid got off to a decent start but the style of football did not appease the supporters.
Benitez preferred a more defensive approach to the game which also reportedly caused a rift in the dressing room. Ronaldo and co. were left unhappy with Benitez’ style and it culminated in a 4-0 humiliation at the Bernabeu at the hands of arch-rivals Barcelona.
Safe to say he did not last long after that and Madrid appointed Zinedine Zidane as his successor.
#1. David Moyes – Manchester United
David Moyes is now a meme on the internet. If that isn’t proof enough how poor the Scotsman’s time was with the Red Devils nothing ever will be. Sir Alex Ferguson had the right to chose his successor after the legacy he enjoyed at Manchester United.
The long-time Everton manager was nicknamed ‘The Chosen One’ by the Old Trafford faithful when he took over. That soon changed to ‘The Wrong one’ and he was sacked even before his first season ended.
He inherited the very same time Sir Alex left behind after winning the title in his last season. But United struggled to even get near the top four throughout the entire campaign. They ended up finishing 7th, their worst ever finish in Premier League history.
To Moyes’ credit, he did try to turn it around with the signing of Juan Mata but unfortunately, it wasn’t of much help. He is now at Sunderland after a failed spell in Spain but has not really been able to do a very good job there either.
