Remi Garde’s sacking came as a major shock on Tuesday evening – shock to those of us who thought he had left Aston Villa a month ago.
The Frenchman’s spell at Aston Villa goes down as the worst in the club’s history.
He shares some illustrious company in that regard.
Roy Hodgson (Liverpool)
The man who brought Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky to Anfield had the shortest managerial reign in the history of Liverpool Football Club. 31 games brought 13 wins, a League Cup defeat to Northampton Town, and a barrage of puke football that the Anfield faithful could never forgive.
By mid-January, Liverpool were close to the bottom of the league and Hodgson would become the first manager in the history of the club to be sacked in the middle of the season.
He would be replaced by Kenny Dalglish, the man that Reds fans wanted installed at Hodgson’s expense in the first place. Hodgson would repair his reputation at West Brom and, currently, with England
Les Reed (Charlton)
A full 41 days in charge of Charlton Athletic in late 2006, and a by-word for managerial failure. Iain Dowie hardly tore up any trees at The Valley but his replacement Les Reed was arguably the least suited manager of a Premier League club in history.
Reed managed seven matches in charge of the Addicks in an era before Massimo Cellino had invaded English shores, changing his managers as often as his socks, winning just one match.
A League Cup defeat to League Two Wycombe Wanderers made it a very unhappy Christmas for the future Southampton executive director – Reed would resign on Christmas Eve.
David Moyes (Manchester United)
Deserves to be on this list for Marouane Fellaini alone.
But, not to be glib, Moyes left United with 57 points from 34 Premier League games in charge – 27 points fewer than in the previous, Premier League-winning campaign under Alex Ferguson.
Things were never pretty under Moyes, who always looked far smaller than the job. He was like a man mentally travelling back to his happy place at Goodison Park every thirty seconds, his eyes full of fear at getting found out.
Like Hodgson, there’s a good manager in there somewhere, but a similarly ill-fated spell in Spain with Real Sociedad means he’ll probably next be seen in the Championship. Those Steve McClaren comparisons aren’t going away any time soon.
Mike Walker (Everton)
A dark shadow falls across the face of Everton fan, and JOE.ie editor, Paddy McKenna at the very mention of this name.
While he did manage Norwich City to a victory over Bayern Munich in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup, his time at Everton coincided with the club’s worst run of form in the post-War era. Narrowly avoided relegation on the last day of the 1993/94 season with a 3-2 win over Wimbledon (having been 2-1 down at half-time), things only got uglier for Walker and Everton the following season.
One of the club’s worst starts to a season saw the Toffees fail to win in 12 games, and Walker was sacked in November 1994 to be replaced by Joe Royle. Seven months later, they would win the FA Cup, beating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley thanks to Paul Rideout’s header.
Jacques Santini (Tottenham)
The Frenchman would last just 13 games at the start of the 2004/05 season, during which Tottenham would only score six league goals. He claimed to resign for personal reasons, but the rumours suggest that he didn’t get on with sporting director Frank Arnesen and could not communicate properly with his squad (as Santini could not speak English).
Spurs have had some poor managers over the years, with neither Christian Gross nor Juande Ramos covering themselves in glory, but Santini had the shortest reign of any manager in the club’s history and his replacement Martin Jol proved far better suited to Premier League management.
John Carver (Newcastle)
While he may have kept Newcastle United in the Premier League, that was more down to a fine run of form before Alan Pardew’s departure for Crystal Palace than anything that came during Carver’s time at the club.
Carver makes this list for confidently stating he was the best coach in the Premier League, immediately following the club’s eighth successive defeat in the top flight.
Four points from the Magpies’ last three games saved their status but not Carver’s job. He was replaced by Steve McClaren, an insult in itself.
Paul Jewell (Derby)
The worst team in Premier League history, the Derby County of 2007/08 would only amass 11 points all season and their relegation was confirmed as early as 29 March. Jewell took over from Billy Davies in November but at least his predecessor had won a game.
Jewell failed to win a single match in charge of the Rams, drawing five and losing 19 of his 24 games as manager.
His reputation would never truly recover and a once promising young manager – he was has not troubled a dugout since leaving Ipswich in 2012.
Terry Connor (Wolves)
Taking over from Mick McCarthy, the writing was already on the wall for Wolves in 2011/12 when the club failed to appoint Alan Curbishley and instead put McCarthy’s assistant Terry Connor in charge.
Proving the old Brian Kidd-ism that a top class assistant does not necessarily make a good manager, Connor’s Wolves side failed to win a single game out of a dozen and they were relegated with three games of the season still to play.
Connor would later join up with McCarthy again at Ipswich.
Remi Garde (Aston Villa)
While Villa’s demise has been inevitable since Martin O’Neill left the club on the cusp of the 2010/11 season, Garde’s appointment seemed to be off from the start.
He would go on to record the lowest win rate of any manager in the history of the club (10%), with Villa winning only two of Garde’s 20 games in charge.
Regardless, Garde should be able to shake off his Villa experience. Successful at Lyon, his time in Birmingham saw him take charge of a Villa side ruined by an apathetic owner and a scattershot approach to transfers.
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