The Premier League managers who lasted days: where does Igor Tudor rank?

Igor Tudor lasted 44 days at Tottenham. He arrived in February to arrest a slide that had already cost Thomas Frank his job, and left in March having picked one point, dragging Spurs deeper into a relegation fight they were never supposed to be having.

It was a reign so brief it barely registered on the calendar. Yet it still wasn’t the shortest in Premier League history. Tudor sits on that unwanted list along with managers whose tenures were just as short if not shorter.

The Premier League has seen plenty of panic appointments and early exits over its 33-year history, but a select few stand apart. Here are the five shortest reigns the competition has ever produced.

5. Javi Gracia – 69 days (Leeds United, 2023)

Gracia arrived at Elland Road in February 2023 to replace the sacked Jesse Marsch, inheriting a side second bottom and without a win in ten games. He actually steadied the ship initially, winning three of his 11 Premier League games.

He briefly lifted Leeds out of the drop zone, before form collapsed spectacularly in April. Leeds conceded a Premier League record 23 goals across seven games, including heavy defeats to Crystal Palace and Liverpool.

Gracia was gone on May 3 with four games remaining. The club turned to Allardyce but that didn’t work out too well either considering he also makes the list.

4. Igor Tudor – 44 days (Tottenham Hotspur, 2026)

Igor Tudor was always swimming against the tide at Spurs. Brought in as an interim to replace Thomas Frank in February, the Croatian inherited a squad short on confidence. Spurs was a club in freefall, completing a 6-match losing run, the worst in their league history.

One point in seven games was never going to cut it, and Spurs announced they had parted ways with Tudor by mutual agreement on March 29, leaving the club with seven games to save their Premier League status.

3. Les Reed – 40 days (Charlton Athletic, 2006)

Few managers have had a quieter entry and exit than Les Reed. Appointed at Charlton in November 2006, Reed took a hammering in the press before being sacked on Christmas Eve.

In that period, Charlton won just one Premier League game and were knocked out of the League Cup by League Two Wycombe. A grim festive footnote in Premier League history.

2. Ange Postecoglou – 39 days (Nottingham Forest, 2025)

The fall was steep. Postecoglou arrived at the City Ground in September 2025 on the back of winning the Europa League with Tottenham. It was an appointment that raised eyebrows from the start given how dramatically his playing style contrasted with Nuno’s direct approach.

He was given just eight games, failing to win any of them, before being sacked 20 minutes after watching Forest lose 3-0 at home to Chelsea.

1. Sam Allardyce – 30 days (Leeds United, 2023)

The unwanted record-holder, according to the Premier League website. Allardyce spent only 30 days at Leeds in May and June 2023, taking charge of four games, losing three and drawing one, before his contract ran out on June 2.

He didn’t even get sacked; his deal simply expired as Leeds were relegated. Thirty days, four games, no wins, no contract renewal. The shortest reign in Premier League history ended not with a bang, but with paperwork.