The Worst Managerial Appointments Ever

After Tranmere brought to an end the short-lived and spectacularly unsucessful tenure of John Barnes as the club's manager, the lads look at some of the other worst ever managerial appointments.

Terry Fenwick

The former England defender had already endured a torrid spell as manager of Portsmouth before he answered struggling Northampton's call-to-arms in 2003.

Just seven games later and he was dismissed after five defeats and only two draws.

His spell had seen him take a side in 15th, five points from the drop zone, to 23rd and just a point off the bottom of the league. They eventually finished bottom and dropped down to League Two.




Paul Jewell

Jewell isn't a bad manager, in fact, he's had some great success. However, his record at Derby County means he cannot fail to qualify for the worst managerial tenures at a club.

Appointed with the club fighting relegation from the Premier League, he led the Rams to a club record 21 league games without a win as they dropped to the Championship.

It took him 10 months to achieve his first league victory at Pride Park, one of just 12 wins in 58 games, and he left the club in 2009 with County battling relegation for a second successive season.





Lubos Kubik

To say the former Czech Republic international was a surprise choice as manager of League Two Torquay would be an understatement.

However, through his friendship with then Gulls owner Chris Roberts, Kubik assumed the reins at Plainmoor with the Devon club in relegation trouble.

After registering just two wins in 15 matches though, he left the club after a couple of months with Torquay further entrenched in the drop zone, where they would remain for the rest of the season to end their 79-year stay in the Football League.


Paul Merson

If the dimissal of Walsall manager Colin Lee appeared bizarre, the appointment of Merson as his replacement was even more shocking.

The Saddlers were successfully fighting the drop with four games remaining when Merson was handed the reins.

He lost his first game 5-0, the first of three successive defeats which left the club in the relegation zone. A final day win wasn't enough to keep them up, but Merson was still given the role permenantly.

The Black Country club were fighting the drop from League One the following year before ultimately finishing in mid-table.

Another relegation battle ensued in 2005/6 and Merson left the club battling the drop, just a point above the drop zone describing his own managerial abilities as "sh*t."

It was to prove an unsuccessful fight against relegation, with Walsall dropping down to the basement division for the first time since 1995.


Steve Claridge

You have to be a pretty poor manager to be sacked without even playing a game. However, that's the fate Claridge suffered after taking the helm at Millwall in the summer of 2005.

After a change in the boardroom, he was relieved of his job just 35 days after taking charge with chairman Theo Paphitis citing that he felt the club would go down under Claridge.

It was the start of a disastrous season for the Lions where they did indeed take the drop from the Championship, even without Claridge.


Carlton Palmer

During a press-conferece during his time at Stockport County, Palmer told the assembled media that he would one day be England manager. However his managerial skills proved worse than his predictions.

Under his control, the Hatters were relegated from the Championship in 2002.

A struggle in mid-table followed the next season, and after a poor start to the 2003/4 campaign he was dismissed and County ended the season being relegated.





Nigel Spackman

Spackman joined Barnsley in 2001 declaring, in a dig at former club and local rivals Sheffield United, it was great to be manager of a "proper" club. Unfortunately for the Reds, they hadn't employed a proper manager.

In his nine month spell at Oakwell, Spackman lost half of his games and a disastrous transfer policy left the club fighting a battle against relegation from the Championship they would eventually lose.

The Tykes were relegated to the third tier for the first time in 21 years, fell into administration, and took four years to reclaim their spot in the Championship.




And finally, Turls assesses the Nottingham Forest reign of...

David Platt

David Platt is an insult to the word failure, he has to go down as one of the worst managerial decisions ever.

Why? He managed to spunk a shedload of cash on a bunch of overweight/old/talentless/lazy players who couldn't give a monkeys about whether the team won or lost.

Admittedly, every manager has bad signings but I struggle to think of a single player he signed that actually went on to achieve anything.

His abysmal tenure at Nottingham Forest meant that every other manager that followed had no money to spend because we were broke and the chairman didn't want to trust a manager again.

Totally bereft of tactical knowledge, completely lacking in any for of man-management techniques, he paved the way for us to get relegated to the third tier of English football - which made us the first team in history to have won the European Cup and be relegated into the third tier of our respective league.