10 worst managers of all time

The manager is arguably the most important part of a modern football club. He is expected to recruit, train and enforce the club’s aspiration on the pitch. It is an onerous task.We, subject to mostly top level football, are used to seeing good managers, the bad ones are weeded out as quickly as possible, so it is easy to forget that it is one of the hardest jobs in the world and that there are far more failures in this profession than success stories.Here's a list of some of the most outrageous failures in football management to complement every other article you've read about the best managers in the world.

#1 Terry Connor

Terry Connor is, possibly, the worst manager in the history of football management. The man was so shellacked by being a Premier League manager, it was heart breaking.

Terry Connor became a manager, for the only time in his life, after Mick McCarthy was fired from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2012. He was promoted from the role of assistant manager. Looking back, he probably reproaches himself for being wild enough to accept that promotion. In his 13 games as manager, the club managed only 4 points, winning none of the games. Wolves plummeted to the bottom of the table. They were so shaken by his reign of chaos, that their descent continued long after he had been replaced.

Connor is now back in his comfort zone serving as an assistant to Mick McCarthy at Ipswich. He looks comfortable enough to not want to come back and attempt to rectify that 0% win rate he set as manager.

#2 Lawrie Sanchez

Lawrie Sanchez, like many managers before him, promised a lot before ultimately fizzling out in the intensity of the premier league.

Sanchez started out with Wycombe Wanderers before building his rockstar reputation with Northern Ireland. His exploits soon earned him a position at premier league club, Fulham.

For the first time, playing at a level that merited his reputation, Sanchez soon proved his hype to be wrong. Fulham descended down the table faster than a fat girl who sat down too fast. He managed 24 games, managing to win only 4 and drawing 8. He was fired after only eight months in the job.

It would be four years before he was offered a chance at redemption. His chance of redeeming his lost reputation came at the hands of Barnet. He failed to last even one year getting fired after managing to win only 29% of his games.

He managed at one more club after Barnet, Apollon Smyrni, where he again failed to last more than a year.

#3 Paul Jewell

Jewell was considered a fine manager for lower level teams with EPL aspirations, but one fateful stint at Derby County was enough to taint his career in the darkest of hues.

Jewell started off well helping Bradford City and Wigan Athletic gain promotion to the top division and building a sturdy reputation along the way till his promising career met its untimely demise at Derby.

Under his watchful eye (which could have been wandering, in hindsight), Derby set the record for the lowest points accrued in a season, managing only 11 points from the 38 games. Derby managed only one win in the campaign, and that too didn't come under Jewell. Despite the abject humiliation of the season, Jewell was allowed to keep his job.

The following season, he recorded his first win as Derby manager, almost 10 months after taking over. He resigned at the end of the season taking his win percentage to a pitiful 20.69%

His only job after the Derby debacle came at Ipswich, where he failed to last more than a year.

#4 Michael Knighton

Michael Knighton experienced the Football Manager (the game) experience well before Football Manager was made. Knighton is a businessman who bought Carlisle United, in 1992, and then took over as manager just because he could.

His initial investment in the club as owner helped them up to League 2 from the bottom of the Football league. Buoyed by his success, and judging by how easy it looked, presumably, he sacked popular manager Mervin Day in 1997, after a mediocre start to the season, and appointed himself as the manager. What ensued can, at best, be described as comical.

Carlisle were immediately relegated to League 3 but undaunted by this failure he continued till his position became untenable and he had to step down. Unsurprisingly, he ended up being one of the most hated figures in Carlisle and eventually was forced out of the club after leading them into administration.

During his 1-year reign, he managed 68 games winning only 19 of them. His win percentage stands at a lowly 27.94%

#5 Tony Adams

The Arsenal legend has found it hard to find his footing in the football world post retirement. The once daunting center back has become a model aspiring managers should stay away from if they are to build a successful career in management.

Adams started his management career with Wycombe Wanderers in 2003. He oversaw their relegation to League 2 and had to quit in 12 months. His next assignment came at premier league side Portsmouth after Harry Redknapp resigned from the post.

Portsmouth have an arsenal of catastrophic managerial reigns in their history and Adams' reign ranks as possibly the worst. In his 16 games in charge of Pompey, he managed to win only 2 matches, managing a paltry total of 10 points in the process. And to think this man believes he is entitled to take over from Wenger when he retires!

Any sympathy he could garner for his performance as manager is obliterated when the strength of his team is realized. The likes of Peter Crouch, Glenn Johnson, Jermaine Defoe, Jermaine Pennant and Lassana Diarra all played under him at Portsmouth.

Adams tried reviving his career as manager with Azerbaijani side Gabala FC, but like with previous jobs, he failed at this too.

#6 Brian Kidd

Brian Kidd is often lauded for being a good coach and has been an important figure in the backrooms of some of the most successful clubs. The one thing he is not particularly famous for is his management skill, which has proved to be spectacularly bad despite all his experience in football.

His longest tenure as manager came at Blackburn where he managed 44 games. It was a surprising decision to hire him, especially after his failures with Barrow and Preston North End, where he managed a combined 23 games winning only 5 in the process.

His stint at Blackburn yielded only 12 wins, a paltry 27.27% of his matches. Despite the ignominy of his record as manager, he has found success in football as a coach. He currently serves as assistant manager at Manchester City.

#7 David Platt

Platt is another successful coach who could never make it as a manager. For those with short memories, Platt is the man who served as assistant to Roberto Mancini en route to City's first title win in 44 years. Those cursed with longer memories will remember him as the man who sunk Nottingham Forest and set them on a trajectory to the farthest corners of the football league, something they still haven't recovered from.

Platt, after a highly successful career as a player, was first hired as a manager by Sampdoria. His stint didn't last very long as he was forced to step down for not having the appropriate coaching qualifications, but not before setting them on course for their first relegation in 17 years.

His next managerial position came at Nottingham Forest in 1999. He survived for two years, two horrible years for which he is still vilified for damaging the club beyond recognition.

Forest had just been relegated when he took over and he was tasked with the job of securing promotion in his first season. He spent several million pounds on players to do just that. Forest finished the season 14th, an unexpected and shocking finish given their lofty ambitions at the start of the season. He was given another chance, and yet again he failed.

By the time Platt left, the club was mired in huge debts incurred due to his reckless spending habits and lost in the nether regions of the table. He is still seen, at Forest, as a villain and the reason for their struggles to this day.

#8 Bryan Robson

Yet another brilliant player who failed to translate his success as a player to that as a manager.

Robson started his managerial career brilliantly helping Middlesbrough win the division one title and leading them to the Premier League. His leadership of the team was awe-inspiring and promised of a future as a top level manager. Unfortunately for him, his brilliance as manager ended with his relationship to ‘Boro.

Subsequent postings as manager only served to highlight his shortcomings and failed to propel his managerial reputation. His record post ‘Boro is as follows:

7 wins in 28 for Bradford City
19 wins in 81 for West Brom
14 wins in 38 for Sheffield United
2 wins in 7 for Thailand

#9 Alan Ball Jr.

Alan Ball, world cup winner with England, failed miserably in his career as a manager. He oversaw 4 relegations and led one club into administration. He is possibly the worst manager of the managers who lasted more than 500 games.

Of the clubs that suffered relegation at his hands were Portsmouth, Stoke, Exeter and Manchester City. His career as manager spanned 6 clubs and 666 games. He managed to win only 217 games. He managed a win percentage of 30 or more at only two clubs.

Despite his achievement as player, he will forever be remembered for his outrageously bad record as manager.

#10 Claude Anelka

Nicolas Anelka's older brother hasn't quite understood this football lark like his brother. Short of the kind of talent his brother possesses, he opted to get into management.

Now, unlike most managers, he tried to cut his way through to managerial stardom. He paid £200,000 to become manager of Scottish side Raith Rovers. Given his eagerness of being manager and propensity to splash cash if need be in order to become one, it was natural to assume that he might actually be good at it. But how wrong would that assumption turn out to be!

In his 8 games in charge of the Rovers, he lost 7 and drew 1. He was subsequently fired. His only other job as manager came at AC St. Luis in the United States where he failed to last more than 6 months.

Edited by Staff Editor