Fastest Premier League Manager Sackings

The quickest sacking in Premier League history is a brutal 39 days, which Ange Postecoglou* suffered during a winless stint as Nottingham Forest boss in 2025.

But Postecoglou isn’t alone in losing his Premier League job within 100 days in office.

In fact, eight permanent managers have been sacked within three months of taking charge of a Premier League club.

Combined, they earned just 45 points from 70 games – a truly miserable return.

So, who are the unlucky eight who were sacked within weeks of their appointment? And which ones upset the football odds with their exit?

Let’s take a look!

*Some publications claim Sam Allardyce holds the record for the shortest managerial stint before being sacked. Read on to discover why this isn’t the case!

Ange Postecoglou, Nottingham Forest (39 Days)

Points won: 1

Season: 2025-26

Postecoglou’s stint at Nottingham Forest was doomed to failure before it began. Much like Brian Clough’s infamous 44 days at Leeds United, Forest fans never took to the new boss.

They were already furious that the popular Nuno Espirito Santo had been sacked. There was plenty of unrest and uncertainty at the City Ground.

Postecoglou’s employment started with a 3-0 defeat at high-flying Arsenal and ended with a 3-0 loss to Chelsea. Along they way, Forest lost to Sunderland and Newcastle, exited the League Cup to Swansea, fell to a 3-2 Europa League defeat against FC Midtjylland, and scraped a draw with Burnley.

The one high point of Postecoglou's reign was a 2-2 draw at Real Betis in the Europa League – a competition he won the previous season when Tottenham manager.

The Midtjylland defeat led to home fans chanting “sacked in the morning” as Postecoglou walked down the tunnel. He was notified of his termination 18 minutes after defeat to Chelsea.

Les Reed, Charlton Athletic (40 Days)

Points won: 4

Season: 2006-07

The era of assistants stepping into the shoes of sacked managers is pretty much over in the Premier League. These days, managers come with a loyal backroom staff who usually depart at the same time they’re booted out.

Back in 2006, Les Reed was working as Iain Dowie’s assistant at Charlton when the boss was sacked. Reed was promoted as Charlton’s board sought to restructure the coaching staff.

It took Reed four games to secure his only win as Addicks manager – a 1-0 result over Blackburn courtesy of Talal El Karkouri’s last-minute goal.

Charlton then lost four on the bounce, scoring just once and exiting the League Cup to Wycombe.

Reed was sacked on Christmas Eve after a 2-0 loss at Middlesbrough. Alan Pardew replaced him but failed to keep Charlton up.

Javi Gracia, Leeds United (69 Days)

Points won: 11

Season: 2022-23

Leeds United were in a real mess when Javi Gracia arrived at Elland Road tasked with delivering survival from the Premier League. The fanbase was still hurting from Marcelo Bielsa’s sacking a year ago, and was desperately trying to forget the Jesse Marsch era.

Gracia was the board’s third- or fourth-choice candidate to succeed Marsch. He promised resolute, plain football – a 1-0 win over Southampton in his first game in charge looked positive.

But the scale of the challenge to prise Leeds out of the relegation zone was too much. Gracia claimed just two further wins but supposedly lost the dressing room after an infamous breakdown in team spirit during a 5-1 loss at Crystal Palace.

Leeds suffered humiliating defeats to Liverpool and Bournemouth before Gracia was finally put out of his misery, with Allardyce coming in to try and save the day. (Spoiler: he didn't!)

Rene Meulensteen, Fulham (75 Days)

Points won: 10

Season: 2013-14

Another assistant manager promoted to the top job, Rene Meulensteen felt it was his time to shine when succeeding Martin Jol. Meulensteen had been credited as being the mastermind behind some of Manchester United’s success when working under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Now, the Dutchman was ready to go it alone – but the scale of the task at hand was enormous. Meulensteen took over at Craven Cottage in December 2013, with Fulham 19th in the table. He was sacked in mid-February after claiming just three Premier League wins.

The writing was on the wall after a 3-0 home defeat to Southampton saw Fulham slump to the bottom of the Premier League.

Felix Magath replaced Meulensteen but Fulham still went down.

Still, the 75 days Meulensteen enjoyed as Cottagers boss was far longer than the 16 he got at Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in 2013.

Frank de Boer, Crystal Palace (77 Days)

Points won: 0

Season: 2017-18

Some managers walk away from a quick sacking having won a game or two in charge of their club. Frank de Boer is not one of those. He was appointed in the summer of 2017 after Allardyce had saved Palace from relegation the previous season.

The job was simple: stay clear of the relegation zone and achieve mid-table safety.

But De Boer's relationship with the Palace board went downhill almost immediately. He had very little to spend in the transfer window, landing Jairo Riedewald from his former club Ajax and then signing Mamadou Sakho on deadline day.

De Boer suffered four Premier League defeats, during which his team failed to score a single goal. His only bright moment was a 2-1 League Cup win over Ipswich. The 3-0 home loss to Huddersfield Town on the opening day of the season put him under pressure from the start.

Bob Bradley, Swansea (85 Days)

Points won: 8

Season: 2016-17

Being the first American manager in Premier League came with plenty of media hype when Bob Bradley landed in south Wales. His mission was to stop the wobble Swansea had suffered at the beginning of the season. This wasn’t a panic appointment.

But 85 days later, Bradley’s was a panic sacking as Swansea sweated over their Premier League future.

Bradley’s team just didn’t click but the rot had already set in. A disastrous summer transfer window and worsening team spirit meant the task at hand was too great.

Bradley earned just eight points while in charge of Swansea. Due to an international break, Bradley had two weeks to prepare his team for Premier League action that October. It took almost two months for him to secure his first of two wins – a ridiculous 5-4 result over Palace.

The defeats began to stack up and Swansea eventually sacked Bradley after a 4-1 Boxing Day defeat to West Ham.

During his time in charge, Swansea conceded more goals than any other team (29).

Quique Sánchez Flores, Watford (85 Days)

Points won: 8

Season: 2019-20

Watford have a reputation for burning through managers but even they did well to axe Quique Sánchez Flores in just 85 days.

Flores had already enjoyed a successful one-season stint at Vicarage Road in the 2015-16 campaign, where he led the Hornets to a mid-table Premier League finish and the FA Cup semi-finals.

Three years later, he returned to the club following Javi Gracia’s sacking after a disappointing start to the season.

Flores was tasked with resurrecting team morale but, with the transfer window closed, he was dealing with a mismatched squad.

He lasted 12 games, during which time he won just one league outing (at fellow strugglers Norwich). Watford laboured in front of goal and Flores was eventually sacked after a defeat at Southampton in late November. Watford were relegated that season, finishing a point behind 17th-placed Aston Villa.

Nathan Jones, Southampton (94 Days)

Points won: 3

Season: 2022-23

Nathan Jones will go down as Southampton’s worst ever manager – and not just because of the bad results. His confident, combative nature ended up costing him, as Saints fans turned against him almost immediately.

Jones quit Luton to take over from Ralph Hasenhüttl at St Mary’s and initially faced scepticism from the press and supporters. He hit back, striking a confident air that occasionally tilted into arrogance.

Saints supporters – already fearful of relegation – weren’t willing to get behind the manager. His Premier League reign began with four straight defeats, before a win over Everton acted as a stay of execution. Southampton then lost three more league games before Jones was booted out.

He did secure some FA Cup wins and led Saints to the League Cup semi-finals – but the league form was so dire that club bosses had to act.

Betting on Premier League managers

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What about Sam Allardyce?

Sam Allardyce officially holds the record for the shortest manager reign in Premier League history, among those appointed as permanent managers. The list doesn’t include caretaker or stand-in managers.

Allardyce took charge for Leeds United for four games at the end of the 2022-23 season and failed to stave off relegation. He lasted just 30 days at Elland Road.

He was paid £500,000 for the month-long job, with a £2.5m bonus on the table had he kept Leeds up.

However, Allardyce doesn’t make our list of the fastest Premier League sackings, because he wasn’t sacked at the end of his tenure. His contract was simply not renewed and both the club and manager went their separate ways.

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