Nathan Jones just bagged the biggest win of his career. Having received pelters from his own fans during his first two months in charge of Southampton and picked up zero points in the Premier League, he masterminded a 2-0 win over Manchester City to take his side to the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
At Selhurst Park this weekend, when the team was 1-0 down, the 3000+ travelling Saints fans sang ‘Nathan Jones, your football is sh*t’. His side came back to win 2-1 against Crystal Palace, and now he’s followed it up with a spectacular win against the champions.
There’s still a long way to go and wins in the Premier League are much-needed, but the signs are there that Jones has what it takes to turn around this side. The Welshman isn’t alone when it comes to being written off early on, but several successful managers have come back from the brink and ended up being loved by their fans.
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Sir Alex Ferguson - Manchester United
In 1986-87, Man Utd were in serious trouble. They sat 19th in a 22-team top flight when Fergie was appointed manager in place of the sacked Ron Atkinson, and the Scot took them away from danger to an 11th-place finish. That bright start continued as the following season United finished second, but they hadn’t won a league title for 20 years.
United finished 11th again in 1988-89, and attendances fell from 50,000 to around 30,000 as the side scored 45 goals in 38 turgid league games. Enough was enough for Pete Molyneux, a fan who famously held up a banner that read ‘3 years of excuses and it’s still crap. Ta Ra Fergie.’
That banner was applauded around a half-empty Old Trafford at the time, and several pieces in support of the protest were written. But the board didn’t buckle and Fergie stayed on, winning his first title four years later, and transforming Manchester United into the most successful team in the country.
Imagine!!! Really just imagine!
Antonio Conte - Chelsea
As Graham Potter is finding out, pressure comes quickly at Stamford Bridge. After a disastrous 10th place finish in a 2015-16 which featured the second sacking of Jose Mourinho, Chelsea appointed Conte fresh from a decent run with Italy at Euro 2016.
It was a brilliant start in the Premier League as the Blues registered wins against West Ham, Watford and Burnley, but then the Blues came unstuck. An away draw at Swansea City stopped the winning run, before Chelsea faced two big tests. A 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge to Liverpool frustrated fans and then they were utterly humiliated at the Emirates against Arsenal with three first-half goals.
There was already frustration in that away end amongst the Chelsea fans who were desperate to get back to the top of English football. But in changing to a back three in the second half, Conte came across a winning formula. They won 13 games on the bounce and lost just three matches on their way to the Premier League title. What a response from Conte.
Mikel Arteta - Arsenal
When Arteta took over in December 2019, Arsenal were 11th in the Premier League. Unai Emery had struggled in the wake of Arsene Wenger’s exit and Arsenal turned to a promising young coach to get them back on track. They improved slightly to finish eighth and won the FA Cup that season, but in Arteta’s first full season in charge they finished eighth again.
Many felt that was enough for the Spanish boss, but he was given another season in charge. This time, they threw away a Champions League place in the last few games to Tottenham Hotspur, which left fans such as Piers Morgan furious.
“Arteta’s been in charge for over 100 games, he spent £150m on players this summer, and we’ve been humiliated by every good Premier League side this season. He’s just not good enough for Arsenal, sorry.”
This season, however, everything has changed. Arsenal sit top of the league, and look certain to finish in the top four this season. There’s still a huge possibility that the Gunners could win their first Premier League title since 2004. Morgan proved wrong again? We love to see it.
"I was completely wrong about Arteta. More pleasingly, I was also completely wrong about Spurs and Conte (finishing above Arsenal).
We've got a great chance (to win the league) because Arteta, his players believe we can and the fans believe we can." [Sun]
Mauricio Pochettino - Tottenham Hotspur
After a sixth-place finish under Tim Sherwood, Spurs were keen to take the next step. In came highly-rated Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino to take them to the Champions League, but his first season didn’t start out that well. After 15 matches, they sat 10th in the table and, having seen Andre Villas-Boas sacked rapidly at White Hart Lane, many Spurs fans expected Poch to face the same fate.
However, Daniel Levy stuck by him. Pochettino improved the team’s form and they rallied to finish fifth. The following season, Spurs could have won the league. They lost out to Leicester City and Arsenal in the end, but Pochettino had got his feet under the table and was performing well. He may not have won a trophy there, but a Champions League final and some fantastic football was enough to make him a success at Spurs, something not a lot of managers can claim to be.
Maurizio Sarri - Napoli
Having joined from Empoli, Sarri’s start to life at Napoli was tough. In his first five Serie A games, he won just once and his new club sat 12th. A 0-0 draw at Carpi was the result that saw many write off their new boss, with Juventus and Milan to come.
Many thought the Partenopei would be in for two big defeats, but instead Sarri came up with something special. They beat Juventus 2-1 at home before thumping Milan 4-0 at San Siro. They were two results that got their season back on track and they went on a brilliant run, eventually finishing second to Juve.
Sarri went on to finish third and second in the following seasons, and even though they couldn’t quite win Serie A the Italian had dragged them up the table to compete with the big boys again.
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