Boardroom patience has never been as short as it is today in the Premier League. During the 2022/2023 season alone, Javi Gracia lasted only 70 days as Leeds United’s manager while it took just 95 days before the Southampton board fired Nathan Jones.
While these ruthless sackings are a sign of the times, the truth is that the Premier League wasn’t always renowned for trigger-happy owners. In fact, there were occasions when a manager was given the benefit of the doubt and the luxury of time to get their team out of a bad spell.
As a homage to these men of a bygone era, here’s a list of the longest-serving Premier League managers in history.
5. Joe Kinnear (Wimbledon) – 2,698 days (1992-1999)
In 1992, Joe Kinnear took over a Wimbledon side that had been referred to as the ‘Crazy Gang’ by the nation’s tabloids. Despite the unpredictable streak of the players, Kinnear managed to get the best out of them and led the club to a sixth-place finish at the end of his second season in charge in 1994.
It was a feat that earned Kinnear the Manager of the Month award on three separate occasions that season. More impressive finishes of ninth in 1995 and eighth in 1997 meant that Kinnear enjoyed cult ‘hero’ status among Wimbledon fans.
Sadly, the larger-than-life character suffered a heart attack in March 1999 and stepped down shortly afterward to prioritize his recovery. This brought to an end a seven-year stay at the club. Tellingly, Wimbledon was relegated in the season that followed.
4. Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) – (2015-Present)
Jurgen Klopp’s lengthy tenure at Liverpool is very much the exception and not the rule when it comes to Premier League managers of the modern era. However, the German’s outstanding man management and frenetic ‘heavy metal football’ have made him irreplaceable at Anfield.
Klopp is, without a doubt, the key figure at the club and was responsible for helping Liverpool win their first Premier League title in 30 years, back in 2020.
It’s not only success on the pitch that has made Klopp the most revered man in the red half of Merseyside. The German’s personal values align with the club’s ethos of unity, hard work, and ambition.
You could say that Klopp and Liverpool are the ideal match. As for when this unique partnership will end, the 56-year-old’s current deal runs out in 2026 but, if they could, Liverpool would offer Klopp a contract for life.
3. David Moyes (Everton) – 4,096 days (2002-2013)
The Toffees couldn’t have appointed a more resourceful manager when they handed David Moyes the job in 2002. The 11 seasons that followed saw the Scot work miracles at Goodison Park.
Despite being limited by a modest transfer budget that should have seen Everton fighting against relegation, Moyes ensured that Everton was consistently in the running to qualify for Europe, which they achieved on four different occasions.
The highlight was when the Toffees qualified for the Champions League at the end of the 2005 season. It was evident that the Scot was overdelivering at Everton and it seemed only a matter of time before one of the country’s biggest clubs came calling.
That day arrived in 2013 when Sir Alex Ferguson told the Manchester United board to hire Moyes as his successor after 26 seasons in charge of the Red Devils. Recommendations don’t come much higher than that.
Unsurprisingly, Moyes took this opportunity and left Everton in 2013 after 4096 days in charge at Goodison Park.
2. Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) – 7,640 days (1992-2013)
Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager of the Premier League era and is personally renowned for transforming Manchester United into the world’s biggest club.
However, it’s worth reflecting on the fact that this unprecedented success almost didn’t happen as Ferguson narrowly avoided being sacked in January 1990.
The Red Devils had been on a wretched run of form and it was an open secret that if Ferguson lost the third-round FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest on January 7th, then he would be fired. A nervy 1-0 was enough to keep Ferguson at Old Trafford and, after that, the club never looked back.
By the time Ferguson retired 23 years later, the Scot had overseen 810 Premier League matches as the United boss, with a tally of 528 wins, 168 draws, and only 114 losses. In total, Ferguson won 13 Premier League titles from 1992 to 2013.
1. Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) – 7,894 days (1996-2018)
There were many eyebrows raised when Arsene Wenger was appointed as Arsenal’s manager in 1996. The Frenchman was relatively unknown to fans when he arrived, as he’d been off the grid, managing Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan.
But the Arsenal board saw a man with innovative ideas about football management and were certain that Wenger was the right person to usher in a new dawn of success in North London. How right they were; it took just two seasons for Wenger to win the Premier League.
Further Premier League successes followed in the 2001/2002 season and then again in the 2003/2004 campaign when Arsenal went unbeaten in the league. It was the highlight of Wenger’s time at the club. His team played 38 games, of which they won 26 and saw another 12 go down as draws. To this day, Arsenal is referred to as the ‘Invincibles’.
Wenger was also responsible for another key milestone as the Frenchman was the driving force behind Arsenal leaving Highbury after 93 years and moving to the state-of-the-art Emirates Stadium in 2006.
It was Wenger’s degree in economics and ability to make the club money that made him indispensable to the board but it was also his eventual undoing at Arsenal as the fans accused him of prioritizing profits over trophies. This pressure led to Wenger resigning at the end of the 2017/2018 season, bringing to an end 22 years at Arsenal and the longest time served as a Premier League manager.
