Top 10 most surprising coach sackings of all time

April 19, 2017 3:19 pm.by Michael Maguire

Former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri
JUST over a month into the Australian football season, and already the sharks are circling.

Hawthorn’s rotten start in the AFL has a few pundits wondering whether heads might start rolling at Glenferrie if things do not improve quick-smart.

John Longmire’s Sydney Swans are facing the prospect of going from grand finalists to wooden spoon candidates in the space of a year, while Nathan Buckley’s job security at Collingwood was a hot topic before the season even began.

In the NRL, Penrith coach Anthony Griffin and general manager Phil Gould are in a spot of real bother with the Panthers – touted as title contenders in preseason – losing five of their first seven games.

The bell has already tolled for Jason Taylor, sacked by Wests Tigers a mere three rounds into the 2017 NRL campaign.

As conversation swells over where the axe will swing next, we could not help but cast our minds back to some of the most memorable, surprising and significant sackings of years gone by.

These are our top 10 picks, starting with the most recent…

Claudio Ranieri – Leicester City 2017

In May 2016, Claudio Ranieri had a job for life after leading Leicester City to the most remarkable title triumph in English Premier League history.

Nine months later, with the Foxes staring at the very real possibility of relegation, the Italian maestro was given the boot.

It was quite an incredible way to treat a man who delivered the club and its supporters the single greatest achievement in their 132-year history.

But with Leicester improving on all fronts and progressing to the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League since Ranieri’s departure, perhaps it was the right call after all – however monstrously harsh.

Ivan Cleary – Penrith Panthers 2015

A solid, hard-working journeyman throughout his playing career, Ivan Cleary is one of those guys who just looks like a good coach.

After earning many admirers during his five years in charge of New Zealand Warriors, the former Sea Eagles, Bears and Roosters man returned to Sydney in 2012 as head coach of Penrith Panthers.

Despite being saddled with a mediocre squad that had no right to challenge for honours, Cleary somehow managed to steer the Panthers all the way to the preliminary finals in 2014.

A year later, after a season in which the Panthers’ playing group was utterly wasted by injury, Gus Gould dropped the guillotine on his neck.

As things stand in 2017, with Cleary taking over at Wests and Penrith already in danger of playing themselves out of finals contention, one wonders if the Panthers GM regrets that decision now.

Mick Malthouse – Collingwood 2011

Was he sacked, or did he change his mind and spit the dummy?

One of the most successful and long-serving coaches in VFL/AFL football, Mick Malthouse was immediately removed as head coach of Collingwood following the club’s defeat to Geelong in the 2011 AFL Grand Final.

Nothing would have changed if the Magpies had won, however, as the three-time Premiership winner had agreed in 2009 to step aside after two more years and allow club legend Nathan Buckley to ascend to the throne.

That succession plan might have gone more smoothly had Malthouse not then led Collingwood to the 2010 AFL Premiership flag, after which he made no secret of his desire to continue coaching at Victoria Park.

But Pies boss Eddie McGuire was determined to proceed with the Buckley coronation, so Malthouse lost his job and quit the club altogether in 2011 despite previously agreeing to stay on as director of football.

Mark Harvey – Fremantle 2011

The aftermath of the 2011 AFL season was cluttered with coaching changes, and Mark Harvey was perhaps the unluckiest casualty of all.

The former Essendon star inherited a squad in decline when he succeeded Chris Connolly as Fremantle head coach in 2008.

The Dockers had missed a brief window of opportunity in 2006, when they reached the prelims, and were cruelled by retirements, departures and injuries over the next few years.

Harvey steered Freo back into the finals in 2010, but an unprecedented injury crisis the following season saw him sacked despite managing a valiant 11th-place finish.

It turned out the club bosses were making room for the highly rated Ross Lyon, who has yet to deliver the Dockers their first flag.

David Nucifora – ACT Brumbies 2004

This might just be the most curious, nonsensical case of personnel realignment in sporting history.

David Nucifora was appointed head coach of ACT Brumbies in 2002 and led them to the Super Rugby finals in each of his first three seasons at the helm.

Yet in April 2004, with the team on track to finish top of the table, the former Wallaby was handed his pink slip and told his services would no longer be required after season’s end.

The reasons for this astonishing decision still remain unclear, with some sources citing player revolt and others suggesting the Brumbies hierarchy wanted someone more experienced to further develop the talent that Nucifora had unearthed.

ACT won the Super 12 title that year, the coach departed as planned and the Brumbies have yet to win another title since.

Vicente del Bosque – Real Madrid 2003

Seven trophies in four seasons will guarantee you a fifth year at the helm in most sporting circles, but Real Madrid have never been keen on mundane concepts such as common sense.

Vicente del Bosque took over the manager’s mantle from John Toshack in 1999 and promptly led los Galacticos to glory in the UEFA Champions League, where they defeated Valencia in the final.

He did it again two years later, this time downing Bayer Leverkusen in the decider, while also tasting La Liga triumph in 2000-01 and 2002-03.

Yet two European Cups, two Primera Division gongs and a number of other domestic and intercontinental titles were not enough for club president Florentino Perez, who opted not to renew Del Bosque’s contract at the close of the 2002-03 campaign.

The next four years saw Madrid run through seven head coaches and fail to win any major trophies as gaffer after gaffer failed to get a grip on the star-studded, ego-riddled squad that VDB had managed so deftly.

Phil Jackson – Chicago Bulls 1998

Few coaches in any era, in any sport, have enjoyed the level of success that Phil Jackson did during his time at Chicago.

After taking over in 1989 without any prior experience in the top job, the former New York Knicks power forward ushered Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippin and company to six NBA Championships in nine seasons.

But there was tension between he and Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, who felt uncredited for Chicago’s success and led both a public and private vendetta against Jackson.

That rivalry culminated in an infamous exchange when, after the coach accused him of rooting for the opposition, Krause said: “I don’t care if it’s 82-and-0 this year, you’re fucking gone.”

He was true to his word, and the ‘Zen Master’ left at the end of the 1997-98 season before going on to win another five titles as coach of the LA Lakers.

Jimmy Johnson – Dallas Cowboys 1993

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stunned the American football world when he ousted Tom Landry in 1988 after 29 years at the helm and 20 successive winning seasons.

He did it again four years later when he fobbed off Landry’s successor.

Burdened with the monumental task of picking up where one of the all-time greats had left off, Jimmy Johnson bounced back from losing records in his opening two seasons to coach the Cowboys to consecutive Super Bowl wins in 1992 and 1993.

But the relationship between Jones and Johnson soured throughout the ’93 campaign, with the owner wanting to have more say on player selections and the coach refusing to give up any authority.

They parted ways in March 1994 and, after winning Super Bowl XXX with a starting squad made up largely of Johnson’s personnel, the Cowboys have yet to contest the big one since.

Norm Smith – Melbourne 1965

There is a reason they named the medal for best afield in AFL Grand Final after this bloke.

An outstanding full-forward and later one of the game’s most innovative tacticians, Norm Smith played in four VFL Premierships and coached Melbourne to six more.

That included a remarkable run of four flags in the space of five years between 1955 and 1960.

Yet the men in charge at Melbourne were never fully supportive of the quick-witted and sharp-tongued ‘Red Fox’, and things started to sour when the board accused him of encouraging Ron Barassi to leave the club so as to remove a potential rival to the coaching job.

So it came to pass that Smith was handed his termination notice midway through the 1965 season, only months after leading the Demons to yet another VFL Grand Final win.

It remains one of the great scandals in Australian football history and heralded the demise of once-mighty Melbourne, who have yet win another flag.

Paul Brown – Cleveland Browns 1963

How can a man be fired from a team that is literally named after him?

That is what happened in January 1963, when upstart owner Art Modell turfed out one of American sport’s most important, innovative and influential figures.

Paul Brown co-founded the Cleveland team at the end of World War II and served as its inaugural coach from 1946 until 1962, spearheading a quartet of title wins in the short-lived AAFC and another trio in the NFL.

Yet the owner’s desire for direct influence over the playing group clashed violently with Brown’s need for total control over all football matters, and so he was removed in 1963 despite being in the midst of an eight-year contract.

Brown went on to found the Cincinnati Bengals and take them to playoffs three times, while Cleveland have not won a title since 1964 and are one of only four active franchises to have never featured in the Super Bowl.