Ranking the 5 worst managers in Barcelona history

Quique Setien is arguably one of Barcelona's worst managers in history.
Quique Setien is arguably one of Barcelona's worst managers in history.

#3 Gerardo Martino

Gerardo Martino is now the head coach of Mexico.
Gerardo Martino is now the head coach of Mexico.

Gerardo 'Tata' Martino was appointed at the helm of Barcelona ahead of the 2013-14 season.

The former Newell's Old Boys manager earned a reputation for being one of the most talented managers in the game during his time in the Argentine domestic league. Martino was so impressive that Barcelona decided against promoting a manager from the junior set-up to give the Argentine a chance to prove himself at the biggest stage.

However, things didn't pan out according to script for Barcelona and Martino, despite a flying start to his managerial career at Camp Nou. In the early days of the 2013-14 season, Barcelona were in pole position in the La Liga table, and were in contention for a continental treble.

Things, however, unravelled rather quickly in the second half of the season. Barcelona blew their lead to hand Atletico Madrid their first league title in almost 20 years. The Blaugrana also crashed out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals that season, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid.

Following his year-long stint as Barcelona manager, Martino said in an interview:

"My Barça tenure was an utter failure. Normally failure means not winning. My view on that is different. If Barça had played their own style but not won the title, it wouldn't have been a failure. But we didn't win, and we didn't play well either."

#2 Laszlo Kubala

Laszlo Kubala's statue outside Camp Nou
Laszlo Kubala's statue outside Camp Nou

Laszlo Kubala was one of the greatest players to have donned the colours of Barcelona in the 20th century, winning 13 major trophies.

Barcelona celebrated the extraordinary playing career of Kubala by installing a towering bronze statue of him right outside Camp Nou. In 212 official appearances for Barcelona, the Hungarian-born former Spanish international scored 146 goals. Kubala also won four league titles and five domestic cups during his 11-year-long spell at Barcelona.

However, his success as a player didn't translate to his managerial career, as he hugely underperformed in two different spells. He remained trophyless in his first spell at Barcelona, which lasted for the better part of two years. However, his second spell was even more disappointing.

Kubala failed to secure a trophy in his second managerial stint at Barcelona as well, which lasted only six months. In his second spell at the club, Kubala only remained in charge for 13 matches, winning seven and losing six.


#1 Quique Setien

Quique Setien
Quique Setien

Quique Setien is regarded by many as the worst Barcelona manager in recent years, lasting only seven months at the job.

The Spaniard inherited an underperforming squad from Ernesto Valverde, but was tipped to be the man to turn around Barcelona's fortunes. Setien was an exponent of the Cruyffian philosophy, and his attacking style of play was deemed to be the perfect fit at Camp Nou.

Setien was a largely unknown entity when he was appointed at the helm of Barcelona, but was hugely impressive during his spell at Real Betis.

However, he never managed to replicate that success during his seven-month-long stint at Camp Nou. Setien went trophyless in his Barcelona stint, recording 16 wins, four draws and five losses in 25 games as manager. His last game in charge perfectly summed up his managerial term in Catalonia.

Barcelona endured an 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League. Quique Setien was relieved of his position just three days later, and was succeeded by Ronald Koeman.

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