The stories behind the shortest managerial reigns in football

“The Manager is the most important person in the club. If not, why is he sacked when things are not going well?” – Arsene Wenger at an LMA fundraiser in 2008.

Arsene Wenger hits the nail right on the head. If the failure of a team is down to the manager, then it follows that whatever success the club achieves is also down to the manager’s capabilities. That is why it is important to hire the right man to lead your club forward.

The managers who appear on this list were perhaps, according to their respective chairmen, not the right men to lead the club. Being sacked in this industry is not the worst thing that could happen, but these managers have the dubious distinction of having held the reins of a club for the shortest duration.

Simply put, these managers below were in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to suffer the ignominy of being sacked in a ridiculously short span of time.

On that note, we take a look at what led to their premature sacking, the stories behind the shortest managerial reigns in football.

10) Rene Meulensteen

When and where: Anzhi Makhachkala, 2013

Duration for which he was manager: 16 days

What happened?

Rene Meulensteen was the first-team coach at Manchester United under Sir Alex, but left by mutual consent following David Moyes’ appointment as manager. Since Moyes wanted to bring in his own coaching staff and Meulensteen did not wish to take up a nominal role, he left to take charge of Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala.

Meulensteen joined one of the richest clubs in the world, with a huge transfer budget and plenty of superstars to work with – what could possibly go wrong?

A lot, actually. As it turned out, the club had spent close to $180 million in 2012 on transfer fees and inflated salaries, and so were looking to trim their budget to $50 million for 2013. The club also lost its first 4 matches of the 2013 Russian League even after spending close to $50 million on summer signings and Meulensteen’s position was already untenable

This seemed to be the final straw for owner Suleiman Kerimov, who decided to sack the manager, shift focus to younger, cheaper players and bring in a new manager to work with the youngsters. In addition, the entire first-team, including a number of superstars, was put on sale, so as to ease the wage budget.

9) Luigi Delneri

When and where: Porto FC in 2004

Duration for which he was manager: 15 days

What happened?

Following Jose Mourinho’s departure to Chelsea after leading the club to the most successful season in its history, Porto appointed Luigi Delneri as their new coach. Delneri was, at the time, regarded as one of the best young coaches around, and President Jorge Pinto da Costa had high hopes from Delneri.

Delneri joined in June 2004 and started taking charge of the training sessions. All was good until the day Delneri showed up late to training. Imagine, the manager coming in late for training!

Delneri’s excuse was that he missed his hometown in Italy and had decided to go their for a few days, because of which he was late for a training session. Rumour has it that Delneri made multiple trips to Italy before the season had even started!

Suffice to say that his kind of behaviour did not go down too well with the President and Delneri was shown the door, a full 15 days after he was hired.

And thus, Porto, the then reigning Champions of Europe, started the 2004 season with no manager. Talk about a fall from glory!

8) Micky Adams

When and where: Swansea City, 1997

Duration for which he was manager: 13 days

What happened?

To understand Adams’ short tenure at Swansea, we must look back at Micheal “Micky” Adams’ tenure at Fulham FC. Adams joined the Cottagers in 1996, when they were languishing in the third division of English Football.

With this brilliant management and reliance on youth, free transfers and the players available to him, he got Fulham promoted to Division 2 and was rewarded with a 5-year contract.

He was told by the board that he could be “the Alex Ferguson of Fulham”. 4 months later, he was sacked by the same board.

Adams immediately applied for the vacant seat at Swansea, and after being given assurances about the transfer budget available to him, he set about building his team. Sadly, it turned out that the owners had given false assurances about there being money available, and Adams promptly walked out on the club after 3 matches and 13 days in charge.

7) Martin Ling

When and where: Cambridge United, 2009

Duration for which he was manager: 9 days

What happened?

In the 2008-09 season, Cambridge United, under boss Gary Brabin, finished second in the Conference National – the lowest division in the English league system – but lost in the promotion playoffs. Brabin was awarded the Manager of the Season award for his exploits, but a few days later he left because of a falling out with the chairman, George Rolls.

Enter Martin Ling. Ling came in with a 3-year plan to rejuvenate the club, but after just 9 days in to his reign, left the club citing “irreconcilable differences” with the, you guessed it, chairman George Rolls.

We await the day George Rolls gets the award for being “the most impossible man to work with in football”.

6) Kevin Cullis

When and where: Swansea City, 1996

Duration for which he was manager: 7 days

What happened?

Kevin Cullis never played professional football in his life, and his only previous managerial experience was as youth coach of non-league club Cradley Town. But despite his seemingly shallow CV, he was appointed Manager of Swansea in 1996.

Cullis’ managerial record at Swansea reads 2 games played, 2 games lost. A more accurate description would be that he was manager for one-and-a-half games, as in the second match, the players ignored his half-time team-talk and took matters into their own hands. Cullis understood his standing at the club, and resigned soon, lasting a total of 7 days.

There’s more. Cullis was jailed for 9 months after being convicted of fraud and deception. No, not for pretending to be a manager, but for pretending to be a highly-paid marketing consultant.

A sign of Cullis’ zero internet footprint is the fact that not even Google can find a decent image of the man!

5) Jack Crompton

25th May 1963. Manchester United’s Denis Law (R) and trainer Jack Crompton travel home from London by train after United defeated Leicester City 3-1 in the FA Cup Final.

When and where: Luton Town, 1962

Duration for which he was manager: 7 days

What happened?

Jack Crompton was a Manchester United goalkeeper between 1945 and 1956, and made 191 appearances for the Red Devils. He retired after the 1955-56 season, 2 years before the Munich Air disaster. Initially, Luton Town hired him as a trainer, but following the Munich tragedy, Crompton returned to Manchester United to help out the club.

In 1962, Crompton felt ready to be a manager and Luton Town again came calling. But just 7 days into his tenure, Crompton realised he wasn’t cut out for management and resigned, returning to his coaching position at Manchester United.

4) Jorg Berger

When and where: Arminia Bielefeld, 2009

Duration for which he was manager: 5 days

What happened?

Arminia Bielefeld were part of the Bundesliga in the 2008-09 season, but in danger of getting relegated with just one match to go. They simply had to win to avoid relegation, and to make matters worse, their manager was sacked a day before the last game of the season.

Who could the club turn in such turbulent times? Jorg Berger, who was known as the “fireman” of the Bundesliga on account of his knack of avoiding relegation, was the answer, and he was brought in for one game, to save the club.

Sadly, Berger’s magic did not work, and after the club lost the game and got relegated, he was relieved of his duties after just 5 days in charge.

3) Dave Bassett

When and where: Crystal Palace, 1984

Duration for which he was manager: 3 days

What happened?

To understand why Dave Bassett resigned from his position of manager of Crystal Palace after just 3 days in 1984, we need to understand what happened before and after that.

Dave Bassett’s time at Wimbledon in the 80′s is the stuff of legend. After being hired as manager of Wimbledon in January 1981, Bassett led the team, who were in the 4th division, to the 3rd division. The next season, fortunes changed for worse as the club was once again relegated to the 4th Division. But Bassett was not done, and under him Wimbledon secured back-to-back promotions in 1982 and 1983 and made it to the 2nd Division of the English Football League.

After the 1983-84 season, Bassett agreed to leave Wimbledon and join Crystal Palace, who were also in the 2nd Division at the time. But barely 72 hours into his reign as Palace manager, Bassett had a change of heart, left Palace and returned to Wimbledon, saying: “I gave it some serious thought, but in the end it just did not feel right. We have unfinished business, and I didn’t really want to leave here.”

In hindsight, Bassett made the right decision as he once again led Wimbledon to promotion to the first division at the end of the 1985-86 season, their 3rd promotion in 4 seasons.

2) Bill Lambton

When and where: Scunthorpe United, 1959

Duration for which he was manager: 3 days

What happened?

Bill Lambton was a professional footballer in the 40′s, although the term “professional football” is a very loose one indeed. He played in only 3 matches in the Football League, as his career coincided with the Second World War.

Lambton is infamous for his 4-month managerial reign at Leeds United, where his unconventional training methods led to him being the butt of all jokes.

Jack Charlton, a Leeds United legend and brother of Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton, had this to say of Lambton:

“An ex Army guy called Bill Lambton took over from Raich Carter. Bill was a nice enough man, but he wasn’t a player, he wasn’t a coach, he wasn’t anything. If you ever saw Bill walking about he always had a piece of paper in his hand – nobody ever found out what was written on that paper, but it made him look as though he was doing something.

“Bill was a fitness fanatic. I remember one windy day, when we complained about the balls being too hard during a training session. Bill told us that anyone worth his salt ought to be able to kick balls in his bare feet and never feel it, so one of the lads said, ‘Well, go on then.’ Now Bill wasn’t a pro, he’d probably never kicked a ball in anger in his life, and yet here he was running up to kick the ball in his bare feet, and of course you could see him wincing afterwards. This is the manager who’s just been appointed, and he’s making a fool of himself in front of his players. He finished up hobbling off the pitch, with all of us laughing at him. Bill never recovered from that day.”

This explains a lot about Lambton’s ill-fated reign at Scunthorpe, which lasted only 3 days.

1) Leroy Rosenior

When and where: Torquay United, 2007

Duration for which he was manager: 10 minutes

What happened?

A lot can happen in 10 minutes. A cup of coffee can be brewed in 10 minutes, a music video can last 10 minutes and you can finish cleaning up your room in 10 minutes.

A manager can be hired and fired in 10 minutes, too.

That is the story of Leroy Rosenior, who was signed by Torquay in May 2007 by chairman Mike Bateson. Immediately after signing Rosenoir, Bateson received an offer from a consortium to buy a 51% stake in the club, thereby making them the majority owners and decision-makers.

Bateson complied, and the consortium, headed by Chris Boyce and now the official owners of the club, informed Rosenoir that they would be bringing in their own man, and that his services were no longer required.

From a new manager to a sacked manager, all in the space of 600 seconds. Whatever did Rosenoir do to invite such a fate?

Here’s a summarised infographic that you can share with your friends!