Scott Parker’s Bournemouth sacking is the earliest in the Premier League since August 2004.
Parker was dismissed just 25 days into the season, which is the earliest since Paul Sturrock and Sir Bobby Robson lost their jobs in successive weeks in 2004-05.
Despite winning their opening game against Aston Villa, Bournemouth find themselves a point above the relegation zone following three successive defeats.
The latest loss – a record-equalling 9-0 thrashing at Liverpool – proved to be Parker’s final game in charge.
The former England international had guided the Cherries to automatic promotion from the Championship in his first season as manager.
Sturrock’s record is safe
Among managers who were sacked or left by mutual consent, Sturrock’s dismissal by Southampton remains the earliest in a Premier League season.
He departed on August 23, 2004 – just nine days into the campaign and only two days after James Beattie’s stoppage-time penalty had earned his side a 3-2 win over Blackburn.
The Saints went on to be relegated at the end of the season.
A week later on August 30, Newcastle’s Robson was sacked by chairman Freddy Shepherd, who had previously dismissed Kenny Dalglish after just 12 days of the 1998-99 campaign.
The sackings of Peter Reid at Manchester City (1993-94), Christian Gross at Tottenham (1998-99), Gianluca Vialli at Chelsea (2000-01) and Howard Wilkinson at Leeds (1996-97) also came earlier than Parker’s dismissal by Bournemouth.
However, the Cherries have acted quicker than any club has in the past 18 years, beating Watford who sacked Javi Gracia after 29 days in 2019-20 and Crystal Palace who fired Frank de Boer 31 days into the 2017-18 campaign.
Killer Klopp
Parker is the sixth manager to be sacked immediately after playing against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
The German had previously masterminded victories over Marco Silva (Everton), Jose Mourinho (Manchester United), Slavisa Jokanovic (Fulham), Slaven Bilic (West Ham) and Francesco Guidolin (Swansea) in what proved to be their final matches in charge.
Klopp has triggered the most sackings among current managers, ahead of Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl (five).
Among all Premier League bosses, only Sam Allardyce (eight) and Arsene Wenger (seven) have more than Klopp’s six managerial victims.
