Top 5: Worst Premier League managerial re-appointments

Never go back. Three wise words given to players, managers and owners of football clubs upon considering a return to a team where they may once have been a hero. In recent weeks, Championship bosses Brian McDermott and Jose Riga have returned to their previous clubs; Reading and Charlton respectively.

Obviously, not all of these reappointments are disastrous – just look at Tony Pulis when he returned to Stoke as an example. During his second spell in charge, he led the club to their first ever FA Cup final in 2011, which earned them a return to European football for the first time in 37 years.

However, more often than not, things generally do not work out. Here are five managers who have returned to their old club, only for things to turn out differently than they may have expected.

Neil Warnock (Crystal Palace)

Neil Warnock’s second spell in charge at Palace was nothing short of a disaster.

Despite not being keen on the job originally, Neil Warnock took the reins at Championship strugglers Palace in 2007, and quickly turned them into promotion contenders.

By the end of that campaign, the Eagles had earned a place in the play-off positions, and were just 90 minutes away from the Premier League when they faced Bristol City in the semi-finals. However, they were beaten and financial difficulties soon followed for the club, with Warnock being let go by the administrators in 2010.

When Tony Pulis left the now Premier League side at the start of the 2014-15 season, Warnock returned to Selhurst Park but endured a difficult time, winning just three of his 17 matches in charge, before being sacked following a 3-1 defeat to Southampton on Boxing Day.

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