Managerial sackings can often be described as "mutual agreement" nowadays - they're anything but mutual in the case of these ten unlucky bosses
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Managers are unfairly sacked every season in every league across the world, such are the stakes of the modern game.
One season a manager is the hero; the next, they've survived long enough to see themselves become the villain - in the eyes of the club's hierarchy, at least. Think Claudio Ranieri guiding Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015/16, before having his contract ripped up just a few months later. Harsh.
Somehow, though, plenty of sacking are a lot more brutal than others. From text messages to Ceefax, to finding out via a news article or on their son's birthday: there are many ways to fire a manager, and the people in charge continuously manage to find innovatively heartless methods to dispose of a gaffer.
1. Brian Welsh, Cowdenbeath (2008)
Welsh in charge of Cowdenbeath (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Scot was enjoying a holiday across the pond when he indulged in a spot of internet browsing - big mistake. After logging on to a news website he found he had been fired after the side's relegation to the Scottish Third Division.
Welsh later won a compensation claim against Cowdenbeath for his dismissal. The Scottish side claimed he had been sacked due to multiple touchline bans as a result of misbehaviour during matches, but the judge ruled in Welsh's favour because Cowdenbeath didn't punish him at the time of the aforementioned bans.
2. Martin Jol, Tottenham Hotspur (2007)
Jol was in the middle of a match when he knew he'd be getting the chop (Image credit: Getty Images)
When the giant Dutchman's phone vibrated midway through the second half of Tottenham Hotspur's UEFA Cup tie against Getafe, he could have been forgiven for being a little confused.
Confusion would soon have turned to anger, though, after it turned out the text was from his mate telling him that he was no longer required at White Hart Lane after news of his imminent sacked was leaked.
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The Spurs hierarchy had met Juande Ramos in Spain days beforehand, ultimately exacerbating the haste with which Jol was sacked.
3. Jose Peseiro, Saudi Arabia (2011)
Peseiro became the third Saudi Arabian boss to lose his job mid-tournament (Image credit: Getty Images)
Making Watford's infamous owners, the Pozzo family, appear patient and understanding is no easy task, but the hatchet men of Saudi Arabian FA make it look effortless.
Peseiro lost his job after just one match of the 2011 Asian Cup, the third time the country had sacked a manger midway through a tournament, with World Cup winning manager Carlos Alberto Parreira among the victims.
The decision didn't work out too well for the Middle Eastern nation: Jordan beat them 1-0 in their second group match of the tournament, before Saudi Arabia suffered a 5-0 shellacking at the hands of eventual Asian Cup winners Japan.
4. Bruce Rioch, QPR (1997)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The former Arsenal boss was idly flicking through the channels on a cold November evening when he decided to take a quick peak at Ceefax and found out his days at QPR were numbered.
"I was at home watching the Louise Woodward case on television when I turned on Ceefax and read that I had been sacked," Rioch later said.
QPR chairman Chris Wright said he was "genuinely sorry" for the way the news was delivered - an apology Rioch undoubtedly accepted with good grace.
5. Mark Poulton, Chichester City (2010)
"The club are a complete mess and a shambles - I'm better of out of it," the manager of Sussex County League side, Chichester City, said.
He wasn't wrong. Poulton was given the news of his sacking midway through a Sussex Charity Cup match against Redhill as a clearly excited club director decided he could't wait 45 minutes to make the call.
"I must be the first manager in football history to receive a call during a game to say that he had been fired," he said. We think he is.
6. Frank Clark, Manchester City (1998)
Fans knew of Clark's sacking before he even had an inkling (Image credit: Getty Images)
You know what it's like, you're in the car on your way to the training ground, you fancy some lively debate on a local radio station and turn it on to find out a manager has been sacked.
Then you find out it's you. The unfortunate listener was Frank Clark, who found that his future lay away from Maine Road in the most soul-destroying manner imaginable.
Just picture it now: Manchester City fans head onto national radio to let their discernible opinions about the sacking of Pep Guardiola be known to the world - without the Spaniard even knowing he had been handed his P45.
7. Tony Adams, Portsmouth (2009)
Adams lasted just four months at Fratton Park (Image credit: Getty Images)
When you're bumbling towards potential extinction, there's little room for sentiment, but you would have thought Peter Storrie could have waited until the end of Atticus Adams's fifth birthday party before delivering the news that his dad wasn't part of the club's long term plans.
The Arsenal legend largely took it in great faith, despite ruining the mood at poor Atticus' celebrations.
"I am a little bit surprised but results haven't been good," Adams told BBC Radio Solent. "I haven't had a lot of time and I certainly haven't had the financial backing. We've had a few injuries as well and that's tough to take."
8. Derek Dooley, Sheffield Wednesday (1973)
It wasn't a very Merry Christmas for Dooley (Image credit: Getty Images)
It was Christmas Eve 1973 when Dooley turned up at Hillsborough and made his way to the "Blue Room". He thought he was there to discuss transfer budgets. He wasn't.
The newly appointed Wednesday board sacked him, in what is arguably the worst Christmas present ever given to someone. Such was Dooley's animosity to the club, he refused to step foot inside Hillsborough for nearly 20 years after his sacking, while he never managed a professional club again.
9. Ruud Gullit, Chelsea (1998)
Gullit found out he was sacked the old-fashioned way (Image credit: Getty Images)
The Dutchman's relationship with Chelsea was already on the rocks when Ken Bates decided the dreadlocked one's days were numbered at the Bridge. Not that Gullit himself was actually told about it.
A dispute over cash was thought to be at the heart of the decision to dispense of Gullit but no-one at Chelsea was in any rush to let him know of his dismissal. In the end Teletext told him the good news. Whatever would football club owners have done without it?
10. Harald Schumacher, Fortuna Cologne (1999)
Schumacher couldn't save his job for a full game (Image credit: Getty Images)
Yes, he of World Cup 1982 flying-kick infamy.
Nearly 20 years on from that controversial semi-final moment, Schumacher was left speechless when Fortuna chairman Jean Loering told him not to bother coming back for the second half of the club's match against Waldhof Mannheim.
"I idolised Schumacher as a player but I'm not going to sit on my hands while he takes my club to the grave," Loering said. That's some decision to make - especially considering Schumacher's penchant for, err, karate kicks.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
