Managers Who Have Had the Most Premier League Jobs

14 October 2020 15:15

Being a Premier League manager is a tough old grind, particularly in the modern day.

You're constantly under pressure to deliver results, you usually have more money at your disposal than you know what to do with and the second anything goes wrong on the field, it's your fault and you're out of the door.

But despite those terrible, terrible work conditions, there's a number of managers who keep coming back for more, sampling as many top flight dressing rooms as they can. Ever wondered who has been to the most? Don't worry, 90min have too - so here they are!


10. Graeme Souness

Souness took Newcastle into Europe | Stu Forster/Getty Images

4 Clubs (Liverpool, Southampton, Blackburn, Newcastle)

Brash, outspoken, and prone to a good falling out - all cracking attributes that Graeme Souness has possessed during his career as player, manager and pundit.

On the field, his aggressive nature worked a treat - as he won everything under the sun in a dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s. Sadly, that
success didn't transfer over into the Anfield dugout, and it didn't go too well at Southampton either.

He did do a good job at Blackburn, establishing them as a top-half side, before a rocky spell at Newcastle - which had highs and lows - bought the curtain down on his management career.


9. Ron Atkinson

Ron Atkinson's last top flight job was at Nottingham Forest | Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

4 Clubs (Aston Villa, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest)

Nowadays, Big Ron would be an absolute dead cert for some kind of censorship, given his rather frank - that's so British and polite of me, christ - opinions on things.

One thing he was good at, most of the time anyway, was earning victories in the dugout and at Aston Villa, in the early days of the Premier League, he came close to winning the title - only to see a sloppy run of form end their fledgling challenge.

Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest didn't enjoy the same success - far from it - but found it hard to ignore Atkinson's prior credentials.


8. Neil Warnock

Warnock was a late bloomer at the highest level | Phil Cole/Getty Images

4 Clubs (Sheffield United, QPR, Crystal Palace, Cardiff)

Neil Warnock first entered the managerial game way back in 1980, at the tender age of 31.

Some 40 years later, he's been unable to walk away from the game he loves - with his passion, enthusiasm, energy and shouting on display wherever he's been.

In terms of Premier League management, Warnock has plied his trade at four different clubs - firstly at Sheffield United, who he'd led to the cusp of promotion many times before finally achieving it in 2006, QPR, Crystal Palace and Cardiff.

An eventual promotion specialist, there are few managers who have ever rivalled Warnock's ability to get the best out of his players.


7. David Moyes

Moyes has managed West Ham twice | WILL OLIVER/Getty Images

4 Clubs (Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland, West Ham (two spells)

"That's what I do, I win."

Words uttered by David Moyes after he took over for a second time at West Ham, though bizarrely he's only ever won two things as a manager - the old second division with Preston and the Community Shield at Manchester United.

He did, granted, do stellar work with Everton during the 2000s, turning the Toffees into the best of the rest and even Champions League qualification contenders.

He was then hand picked by Sir Alex Ferguson to succeed him at Manchester United, but was sacked just 10 months into a six-year contract. Yikes. He's been at Sunderland and West Ham (twice) since, and is slowly but surely rebuilding his reputation.


6. Steve Bruce

Bruce has managed a number of Premier League sides | Pool/Getty Images

5 Clubs (Birmingham City, Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, Hull City, Newcastle)

Steve Bruce enjoyed a highly successful career as a player, winning countless trophies with Manchester United during the early to mid 1990s.

He's been a managerial mainstay ever since, sampling the biggest stage of all at five different clubs. He enjoyed the most stability during his tenure at Birmingham City, but has also taken charge at Sunderland, Wigan and Hull in the top flight, before winding up at boyhood club Newcastle.

He also gets to say he was the manager to benefit from that Peter Enckelman horror show.


5. Alan Pardew

5 Clubs (West Ham, Charlton, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, West Brom)

Ahhh, good old Pards - what memories those are of him prancing around the Wembley touchline.

Poached from up and coming Reading, his Premier League journey began after leading West Ham to promotion in his second season at the club. He was eventually dismissed, and rocked up at Charlton (where he was relegated) before enjoying a lengthy spell at Newcastle.

After parting ways with old pal Mike Ashley, he moved on to Crystal Palace - which went well - and West Brom - which went badly - before rejoining the unemployment line.


4. Roy Hodgson

Hodgson first appeared at Blackburn | Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

5 Clubs (Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool, West Brom, Crystal Palace)

With over 40 years of management experience around the world under his belt, Roy Hodgson really has seen it all.

After surprisingly deciding to leave his job at Serie A giants Inter, his first job in the Premier League actually came in the late 1990s at Blackburn. It didn't go too well though, and it would be nine years before he would be seen again in the Premier League.

He re-emerged at Fulham, where he astonishingly led the Cottagers to the Europa League final. A short stint at Liverpool followed, before he took the reins at West Brom.

England eventually came calling, with his run as national team boss followed by an appointment at Crystal Palace.


3. Harry Redknapp

Everyone loves a bit of Harry | Phil Cole/Getty Images

5 Clubs (West Ham, Southampton, Portsmouth, Tottenham, QPR)

To be a good Premier League boss, you need to ooze charisma, go a bit rogue and just get on with it - something Harry Redknapp was well versed to doing.

For over 20 years, Redknapp took chances, went for it and more often than not, got great success out of it. West Ham are the club he's most synonymous with, but his spell at Portsmouth - which yielded an FA Cup and actually getting to the Premier League - is perhaps his greatest in terms of achievements.

Southampton did go down under his stewardship, admittedly, but Tottenham fans will forever appreciate him for getting them into the Champions League mix. There's also a spell at QPR to mention, but that one is probably best forgotten.


2. Mark Hughes

Hughes is best known for his tenure at Stoke | James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images

6 Clubs (Blackburn, Manchester City, Fulham, QPR, Stoke City, Southampton)

Mark Hughes has accumulated over 450 Premier League games as a manager since leaving the Welsh national job in 2004, kicking off with a pretty decent four-year spell at Blackburn.

He then got a taste of the limelight at Manchester City when the money started rolling in, but unfortunately Sparky couldn't cut the mustard and was booted out after a year.

Fulham and QPR had him in charge briefly, but he's remembered most for his tenure as Stoke boss. All good things must come to an end though, and he eventually trotted down to the south coast - for a pretty miserable spell at Southampton.


1. Sam Allardyce

Allardyce is renowned as a survival specialist | Michael Steele/Getty Images

8 Clubs (Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton, West Brom)

The only man to ever take on eight different Premier League jobs is, you guessed it, Big Sam.

His life in the top flight began at Bolton, where Allardyce somehow attracted the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo to the Reebok during a remarkably successful eight-year spell.

Less rosey stints at Newcastle and Blackburn followed, before he rocked up at West Ham to get them back into the big time. Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Everton also sampled his survival skills, before West Brom became the eighth club to install him into their lukewarm hot seat.

Can't knock him mind you, unless you're talking about his infamous spell as England boss. You most certainly can on that subject.


Source: 90min