50 Worst Managers in World Football History

There are more football clubs in this world than we can easily count, and each has a manager.

But, for every one of the successful managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, there are more that fail to succeed.

Each club could muster up their own list of those that they believe should be on this list. We look to pick the generally inept or incompetent in naming the 50 worst football managers.

Ossie Ardiles

Ossie Ardiles had three stints at Tottenham Hotspur, making his debut once per decade from the 70s to the 90s.

However, it was his time as the club's manager in 1993-94 that proved he was not up to the task.

His occasional strategy to play five forwards and five defenders without a central midfield only epitomizes his inept ability to manage at the top level.

Yet since leaving the Spurs, he has managed to be consistently employed. In Japan he has had the most success with a Nabisco Cup Title and a J-League first-stage title.

Other than his time in Japan, where is is currently once again on the job, the time he spent knocking around Central and South American as well as central Europe bore no fruit.

Ian Holloway

There is no doubt that Ian Holloway is one of the best personalities in football. He is perhaps one of my favorite of all time.

But Holloway has never been the greatest manager.

If Association Football had offensive coordinators like gridiron football, Holloway would be one of the highest paid in the game. He certainly knows how to get his side to attack.

However, while he is famous of having a go at any side he takes on, his sides are notorious for not being strong on the defensive side of the ball.

Even if Holloway leads Blackpool back to promotion from the English Championship again this season, if his tactics do not evolve into adding some defensive thought, he will constantly continue to manage a yo-yo club.

Bryan Gunn

Bryan Gunn was a legendary player for Norwich City and his stewardship in goal will forever be remembered.

Unfortunately so will his time as the club's manager. He led them to their worst defeat in history, a 7-1 home thumping dished out by Colchester United, which led to Gunn being relieved of his managerial duties.

Tony Adams

An Arsenal legend in his day, Tony Adams made more than 500 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 32 goals as a defender and captain.

Adams hoped to have the same kind of success as a manager. But his one chance to try to impress at the helm of Porstmouth for 16 matches following the departure of Harry Redknapp proved a disaster.

Even with a club still strong before the departure of players such as Glenn Johnson and Peter Crouch, Adams only managed to obtain 10 from a possible 48 points.

Later, Adams took on the task of building Azerbaijani club Gabala FC from the ground up, but he left before his seventh full month in charge.

Avram Grant

Avram Grant was recently appointed the manager of Partizan Belgrade and I wish him the most success.

However, despite having had great success in Israel throughout much of his managerial career, his adventures in England will forever prove he is not the cream of the crop.

He inherited a Chelsea side that he kept motivated and led to a Champions League final .

Next came seasons at Portsmouth and West Ham, where he had a winning percentage around 31 percent.

Grant still has much to prove in order to be taken off this list.

Paul Ince

Paul Ince perhaps is a bubble candidate to be on this list, but still made it on to it.

A great player in his day, he is yet another that has made the move from the pitch to the hot seat.

Initially, great periods at both Macclesfield Town and then MK Dons saw Blackburn Rovers pick him up to manage the club in the top flight.

However, it was a short honeymoon for the manager as his negative winning percentage saw him shipped out after only 21 matches.

Steve McClaren

I am still yet to understand how Steve McClaren managed to be selected to lead the England national team having not really had major success at Middlesbrough before.

It was not to be a lasting relationship after all. He was sacked after only 18 games before moving on to the one success of his career at FC Twente, where he led them to the 2009-10 Eredivisie title.

Failed moves to Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest followed before he has now returned to Twente, hoping to re-ignite former success.

Michael Knighton

Carlisle United will hope to forget the 68 games that Michael Knighton was in charge.

With only 19 wins, the then-owner of Carlisle was removed for the good of the club and is yet to make it back to the managerial side of the ball.

Alain Perrin

Alain Perrin is yet another manager with a tie to Porstmouth in this list.

He joined the club in 2005 and helped Pompey avoid relegation.

However, his start to the next campaign saw only four wins from 20 games and he was subsequently given the axe.

Christian Gross

If you look outside of England, Christian Gross has been quite successful.

However, his time at Tottenham proved that the English top flight was not for him as he only lasted 26 games in London.

Marcello Lippi

Despite a historically great career as a manager, Marcello Lippi made one real screw-up in his career.

He made a bad debacle of Italy's 2010 World Cup, leading the Azzurri to the worst crash in their nation's history as they failed to even win a match in the group stage.

You could argue that old habits cost him as he looked to put together nearly the same squad he won the 2006 World Cup with rather than pull together the best talent his nation had to offer.

Howard Wilkinson

Howard Wilkinson is perhaps most infamous for his debacle of a tenure at Sunderland that saw the club relegated even after he was sacked for losing 13 of 20 games.

Since that time, his managerial career has almost ceased to exist.

Juande Ramos

The much-traveled Juande Ramos has taken the helm at 13 clubs.

Most famously, he led Real Madrid, Tottenham and CSKA Moscow, and had a decent winning percentage for all three of them.

However, he has never been able to lead a club truly down the stretch to anything other than Tottenham's 2007-08 Carling Cup.

Dr. Jozef Venglos

Dr. Jozef Venglos had moderate success at Celtic. But the long run of his managerial career still has many baffled as it never truly amounted to anything until his few moments of greatness at Park Head.

Chris Hutchings

Chris Hutchings has a perfect record at the manager at Derby County, winning the only match he spent in charge. But poor stints at Wigan Athletic and Walsall have done little to increase the likelihood that he will keep getting offers to manage.

Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor has had some good seasons in the lower leagues, but he has never been able to bring a club out of the bottom parts of the English league system.

He currently holds the highly-esteemed position as the Bahrain national team manager.

Billy Davies

Billy Davies is the last manager to see Derby County back to the top flight. That was before he helped them to one of the worst seasons in the club history that saw them crash back to the Championship.

He then traded sides in their fierce rivalry with Nottingham Forest, where he enjoyed an equally decent winning percentage but never was able to get the club to a position where they could push to return to former glories.

Paul Hart

Somehow, Paul Hart's managerial career has a 30 percent winning percentage. Hart has never shown any form of true success in the hot seat, yet has been given eight chances to try.

His latest resulted in an 11-game stint at Swindon Town, where he lasted just over a month with a record of one win, four draws and six losses.

Gianfrano Zola

Former Chelsea star Gianfranco Zola earned his first and so far only appointment to West Ham United in 2008. However, a record of 23 wins, 21 draws and 36 losses saw him fail to lead the club back up the table despite having a squad of decent mid-table talent.

Zoran Vulić

Four tenures as the manager of Hajduk Split as well as trips to Russia and back to Croatia with lower league side NK Istra 1961 have seen Vulic manage to never truly make a difference his entire career in the hot seat.

Lawrie Sanchez

Lawrie Sanchez remains the manager of Barnet despite a losing record since joining the club in May 2011.

His last job at Fulham saw the worst performance of his career with only four wins and eight draws out of 24 matches. He had a winning rate of 16 percent before being sacked in December 2007.

John Barnes

The former Liverpool legend tried his hand at management. While decently successful at Celtic and with the Jamaican national team, upon moving to Tranmere Rovers he hit a brick wall and after 12 games is yet to make a return to management.

Mark Hughes

Mark Hughes has made a mediocre career out of management, but his great comeback last season with Fulham made him look like a much better leader only to then take his leave.

His appointment to Queens Park Rangers so far has done little to give him any recognition. The club have  slipped even further down the table under "Sparky," despite having added even more signings.

Andre Villas-Boas

Andre Villas-Boas was a great success for a season at FC Porto, where he made a massive run for a season.

Then he jumped to the EPL ,which is a horse of a different color compared to the Portuguese Liga. He failed  to manage his dressing room, the media and everything in between.

His failure at Chelsea only proves he was not ready to return to a club of players that saw him as a coach.

Steve Kean

Steve Kean has one of the worst records in the history of Blackburn Rovers managers.

However, even if people may believe he will be without a job at the end of the season if he keeps the club out of the relegation zone and they avoid the drop, it is likely that it may be another few months before he is gone.

Paul Jewell

Paul Jewell led Derby County to their lowest top-flight points total in history with 11. He also led Derby Country to be the lowest finishers in the English Premier League's history.

Jewell did not win a game during the first part of his career in the EPL and was sacked the following December.

Ian Dowie

Ian Dowie relegated Crystal Palace, was sacked by Charlton Athletic after only a handful of games, and his attempt to save Hull City after they sacked Phil Brown was nothing short of futile.

Peter Reid

Peter Reid's time at Sunderland and Manchester City is not the darkest of his career, but he certainly did little to make a good name for himself while at Leeds United, Coventry City and Plymouth Argyle.

Roy Keane

Roy Keane was a class player and began his managerial career by leading Sunderland back to the English Premier League.

However, by the time he left, the Black Cats players were thankful. His time at Ipswich was all but racked with frustration.

Jacques Santini

From first to worst, French-born manager Jacques Santini was a success in France for a short time before moving to Tottenham Hotspur.

His 13 games in charge at White Hart Lane were one of the more pitiful campaigns in Spurs history and forever will taint his record.

Sammy Lee

Poor Sammy Lee just has never been one for the No. 1 spot by the touch line.

His 14 games in charge at Bolton Wanderers saw him end on the high note of benching both Gary Speed and Kevin Nolan in his final match loss to Chelsea in 2007.

Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness was feared as a player, but he never managed to strike that kind of fear into his opponents from the dugout.

Along with dismantling Liverpool when he took over, a purge from which the club is still suffering from to this day, he never lived up to the promise he showed at Glasgow Rangers in his first managerial job.

Tommy Docherty

While Docherty did win Manchester United their first FA Cup in 14 years in 1977 by beating Liverpool, and saved United from relegation in 1973, it is not enough to excuse what he did.

That is, relegate them in the 1973-74 season. A team that had just won the European Cup six years before and should never have been out of the top tier.

Franck Sauzée

Hibernian's best player, Frenchman Franck Sauzée, was asked to take over for departing manager Alex McLeish in 2001 when he left for Rangers and the Ibrox.

Sauzée didn't have a chance as he was not, and never will be, the type cut out for management. He made it only a few months before his only appointment to date was terminated.

Ruud Gullit

Yes, Ruud Gullit won the 1997 FA Cup with Chelsea. Since then, all we have heard are crickets and party songs as the former Dutch legend has never cut it anywhere he took the helm.

Even with decent winning percentages with several teams including Chelsea, Feyenoord Rotterdam and the LA Galaxy, he is just another great player that will never be more than a mediocre manager.

Stuart Gray

While Stuart Gray did manage to beat Arsenal with Southampton in the final match at The Dell, he then proceeded to christen St. Mary's Stadium with a run that saw him win only three of his next 17 games in charge of the Saints.

Steve Wigley

One win in 14 games in charge of Southampton is perhaps one of his worst claims to fame.

Steve Wigley also wiggled out of promoting Aldershot Town for three straight years. He is one of only a handful never to manage a promotion with the club.

Egil Olsen

Egil Olsen has had 18 spells as a manager. One club, Frigg Oslo FK, has hired and fired him four times.

Despite his leadership of Norway and getting them to the top of their 1998 World Cup qualifying group over England and the Netherlands, Olsen never was able to parlay that success as club level.

His 2000 campaign with Wimbledon led them nearly to relegation. However, his sacking saw him leave before he could see it through and many will blame him for the club's complete collapse in the four years since his tenure, which saw Wimbledon close up shop and become Milton Keynes Dons.

Paul Sturrock

Sturrock is known mostly for his 13-game pitiful excuse of a management attempt at Southampton. He later had  a 99-game stint at Plymouth Argyle,where he enjoyed an exceptional 28 percent win statistic, having nearly more draws than wins.

His first time at Argyle was much more decent. He is a good bottom-level manager, but he never will make it above League Two.

Brian Kidd

Brian Kidd's longest time as a manager was for 44 games for Blackburn Rovers. How he even managed to get to that job is amazing considering in his previous tenures with Barrow and Preston North End, he only won five out of a total of 23 games and lost and drew nine each.

David Platt

While David Platt has returned to coaching as a first-team coach for Manchester City, he has never returned to management since he was last in charge of the England U-21 National team.

When you start your career by leading Serie A Sampdoria back to the Serie B for the first time in 17 years, it is not always a good sign.

At least he was not responsible for their surprise return to the second tier last season.

Les Reed

Charlton Athletic endured Les Reed for all of seven games in which he won one, lost five and drew another.

He has yet to sit in another club's hot seat since.

Hristo Stoichkov

Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov was a great player and rivaled some of the best in the game.

However, he was an awful manager, and his attitude drove players on the Bulgarian National team to refuse to play for their country under him.

Jim Fallon

Scottish manager Jim Fallon led Dumbarton, Scotland's fourth oldest club, to two successive relegation's before losing his job.

I don't know who was worse, Fallon as a manager, or the club's board for letting that happen before giving him the sack.

Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson was a great player, but he has never been a great manager. There is a reason he is without a job at the moment.

He relegated Middlesbrough as much as he promoted them in his first, longest and best tenure of his career. Since then, he has never been on the good side of a club since his playing days.

Dave Bassett

Dave Bassett was decent in his time for Wimbledon, winning 144 games out of 303, but wherever he went, the term relegation seemed to magically become part of the equation.

He highlighted his falterings during an eight-month term at Leicester City, where he managed four wins, eight draws and 15 losses.

Mike Walker

Mike Walker nearly ruined Everton's tenure in the top flight of English Football. He had been a success at both Colchester and then Norwich City, but his time as the Toffees manager will forever cement him in the books as one of the worst ever.

Glenn Roeder

Glenn Roeder marred his name by getting West Ham United relegated with one of the club's lowest points totals in history during their 2002-03 campaign.

He somehow later managed to achieve appointments to Newcastle United and Norwich City. None of them were fruitful.

Alan Ball Jr.

Alan Ball Jr. was a legendary player. But in 20 years of management, he got more clubs relegated than anything else.

The biggest achievement of his career was second place in Football League Division Two with Portsmouth in the 1986-87 season.

Claude Anelka

The older brother of Nicolas Anelka, Claude paid Raith Rovers £200,000 in order to be the club's manager.

One draw and nine losses later, he was removed.

Anelka would later admit that his ambitions for the club were more grand than he knew how to manage.