5 caretaker managers who did well in the Premier League

#5 Glenn Roeder (Newcastle United)

Glenn Roeder saved Newcastle from a relegation battle as caretaker in 2006

Newcastle United appeared to be in deep trouble midway through the 2005/06 season – despite having a deadly pairing of Michael Owen and Alan Shearer spearheading the team following the signing of Owen in the summer transfer window, Graeme Souness’s reign began to veer wildly off course, to the point where the Magpies were on a 6-match winless streak by early February.

The Scottish boss was unsurprisingly fired, and some eyebrows were raised when Glenn Roeder – a former Newcastle player and West Ham manager who’d been out of the game for 2 years – was appointed as caretaker boss. But with Shearer appointed as his assistant, he oversaw a dramatic revival.

When Roeder took over, Newcastle were hovering just above a relegation battle – sitting 6 points away from the drop zone in 15th spot – but he had an immediate effect, as the Magpies won 4 of their first 5 games under him, with Shearer breaking Jackie Milburn’s record of 200 goals for the club in the process.

Of the 15 games Roeder oversaw, Newcastle managed to win a remarkable 10 of them and only lost 3, and the Magpies climbed all the way up to an excellent 7th place finish, earning a spot in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Unsurprisingly, Roeder was offered the job on a permanent basis in the summer following his successful run as caretaker, but – you guessed it – the following season went badly as the Magpies finished 13th under the new ownership of Mike Ashley, and in May 2007 Roeder resigned less than a year after being appointed permanent manager.