A look at some other short managerial reigns after Tony Pulis’ Wednesday exit

Tony Pulis’ tenure as Sheffield Wednesday boss has proven brief following his sacking by the Sky Bet Championship club on Monday.

The Welshman was axed just 45 days after his appointment, having overseen only 10 games.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some other notably short managerial reigns.

Brian Clough – Leeds

Between hugely successful spells in charge at Derby and Nottingham Forest, Clough had a 44-day stint as Leeds boss in 1974. Having arrived at the reigning league champions from Brighton in July to succeed new England manager Don Revie, Clough reportedly promptly told the players to throw their medals in the bin. He subsequently oversaw six league matches and only one win before being sacked – and then made a memorable appearance on the ITV Calendar chat show alongside Revie. His time at Leeds was later the subject of David Peace’s novel The Damned Utd, which was adapted into a film released in 2009.

Les Reed – Charlton

After being promoted from within to replace Iain Dowie as Addicks boss in November 2006, Reed departed just 40 days later on Christmas Eve, with Alan Pardew assuming the hot seat. Reed’s reign had seen the team win one and lose five of seven top-flight games and suffer a 1-0 defeat at home against fourth-tier Wycombe in the League Cup quarter-finals.

Leroy Rosenior – Torquay

Rosenior’s spell as Torquay boss in 2007 is said to have lasted just 10 minutes – although he says it was actually a little longer. Speaking to the BBC in 2016, Rosenior, previously Gulls manager from 2002 to 2006, recalled he had been asked to take the reins again in May that year by chairman Mike Bateson, who was trying to sell the club. “I went down, did the press conference, Mike rang me up about 10 minutes later, and I thought he was joking – he said ‘you’re not going to believe this, but they’ve given me the offer I want’,” Rosenior said. “He said ‘but just hold tight over the weekend and we should have it all sorted on Monday’, so I did – I was actually manager for three days.”

Frank De Boer – Crystal Palace

The Dutchman had the Premier League’s shortest ever reign for a permanent boss in terms of matches managed – just four at Palace at the start of the 2017-18 season. The Eagles lost all four games, without scoring once, and De Boer was replaced by Roy Hodgson, who would go on to keep them up despite no goals or points being registered for a further three fixtures.

Paul Scholes – Oldham

The former Manchester United and England midfielder was appointed as boss at his boyhood club in February 2019 on an 18-month deal, and things looked very encouraging as the League Two Latics won their first game under him 4-1 against Yeovil. Three draws and three defeats then followed before Scholes left after 31 days in charge, with him saying in a statement: “In the short period since I took on the role it unfortunately became clear that I would not be able to operate as I intended and was led to believe prior to taking on the role.”