Premier League: Caretaker managers who failed to impress

• Caretaker managers are usually appointed as short-time replacements for the already-sacked manager.
• But as history has proven sometimes their brief period usually doesn’t save the sinking ship.
• We’ve chosen to look at some interim managers that failed to address the teams’ immediate problems.

Caretaker managers are usually appointed as short-time replacements for the already-sacked manager. But as history has proven sometimes their brief period usually doesn’t save the sinking ship.

We’ve chosen to look at some interim managers that failed to address teams’ immediate problems in light of Tottenham‘s decision to fire interim manager Cristian Stellini this week following the club’s embarrassing loss at Newcastle over the weekend.

Joe Kinnear

Joe Kinnear. |PHOTO: Sky Sports|

Following Kevin Keegan’s resignation from his position at St James’ Park in 2008/09, Joe Kinnear was chosen as the Magpies’ manager until the conclusion of the season. Keegan made an early impression, albeit not quite for the correct reasons, with an astounding foul-mouthed diatribe directed at the assembled journalists.

Kinnear was a peculiar hire because, at the time of his transfer to Newcastle, he hadn’t worked in the Premier League in nearly ten years and had been unemployed for nearly four years.

He led Newcastle into a relegation battle by winning just five of his 26 games before stepping down due to health issues.

Amazingly, he unexpectedly came back to Newcastle in 2013 for a second stint as Director of Football. Again, he garnered more attention off the field than on it, including a notorious talkSPORT interview in which Kinnear made a number of untrue claims about his own career.

His list of exaggerated accomplishments includes recruiting Tim Krul, a Dutch goalkeeper who came to Newcastle two years before Kinnear, and winning the LMA Manager of the Year award multiple times (he actually only won it once, in 1994).

Cristian Stellini

Cristian Stellini. |PHOTO: The Mirror|

Just a few weeks after temporarily succeeding Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini was fired as interim manager of Tottenham.

Following Sunday’s humiliating loss at Newcastle, the north Londoners ended Stellini’s tenure as interim manager since he had failed to lead an improvement in the team’s performance while serving as Conte’s assistant.

Spurs were humiliated 6-1 by their top-four rivals at St. James’ Park thanks to a performance that saw them give up five goals in the first 21 minutes.

Stellini struggled to produce consistent results and managed just one victory in his four league games, failing to make any meaningful adjustments to the tactical strategy. Spurs are now six points outside the top four despite having played more games than the teams directly above them after consecutive losses to Bournemouth and Newcastle.

Terry Connor

After Mick McCarthy was fired from his position as Wolves’ senior leader during the 2011–12 season, Terry Connor was given the position on an interim basis.

A draw at Newcastle in his first match proved to be a false dawn as Wolves fell into the Championship. He took over with the team in 18th place in the standings.

Under Connor’s leadership, Wolves went on to drop seven straight Premier League matches and ended up inside the bottom three.

With only four points from his 13 games in charge and no victories, Connor’s Wolves team ended last in the Premier League standings with just 25 points overall.

He is the only manager in Premier League history with a victory percentage of zero after overseeing 10 or more games.

Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer was an interim coach for Newcastle. |PHOTO: Chronicle Live|

Shearer unexpectedly took over as interim manager of Newcastle United in April 2009 after declining coaching and assistant manager positions there. Shearer declared after accepting the position: “I love this club, and I don’t want them to fail. I’ll exert every effort to prevent that.

He was given permission to take an eight-week hiatus from his duties on Match of the Day so that he could cover the season’s last eight games.

His team fell to Chelsea 2-0 in his debut game in command of his old team at St. James’ Park.

Thereafter, the Magpies only managed one victory and only five of a potential 24 points under Shearer.

After 16 years, Newcastle was duly relegated from the Premier League.

When the season came to a close, Shearer was passed over for the managing role; Chris Hughton was then named as interim manager and guided Newcastle back up on the first try.