With Boris Johnson stepping down as the Conservative Leader, he has rather controversially decided to remain as "caretaker" Prime Minister, so what better time to look at the best and worst caretaker managers in the history of the Premier League.
You may notice two clubs featuring particularly heavily in these lists - Newcastle and Chelsea, with one club having far more success with their interim managers than the other. Which way round it is will become obvious. However, if Boris Johnson was to look for any precedents to follow in his role as a caretaker in charge, he best not imitate the examples of the first four.
WORST
4. Alan Shearer
The highest premier league goalscorer and Newcastle legend took the reins with eight games remaining in the 2008/09 season with his former club in deep relegation trouble. After being given time off from his Match of the Day duties and with no prior managerial experience, Shearer had a shocker. Winning just one of his eight games in charge, Newcastle were relegated from the PL and Shearer was never to be seen again as a manager of a football club. If Shearer and Gary Neville at Valencia is anything to go by, then football pundits are awful football managers.
3. John Carver
Newcastle again requiring an interim manager, and yet again doing a bad job of it. Carver had been an assistant manager at Newcastle for a few seasons until the 2014/15 season when Alan Pardew left for Crystal Palace and he was appointed as caretaker to the end of the season. It quite literally could not have gone any worse for John. After a record breaking losing streak of eight games in a row, he proceeded to infamously claim he was still "the best coach in the Premier League". Considering he was sacked a few weeks later and hasn't managed a club since, I find that hard to believe. Oh dear.
2. Tony Adams
After Harry Redknapp's departure to Tottenham early in the 2008/09 season, assistant manager Tony Adams was appointed initially as a caretaker, before subsequently handed a three year contract. I'm not sure why though because the results he produced as manager were woeful, picking up just two wins in sixteen games in charge, and leaving Portsmouth just one point off relegation. He was inevitably sacked and Tony Adams has since never been able to make a name for himself as a manager.
1. Steve Kean
Perhaps the most hated football manager of all time, Steve Kean took over at Blackburn Rovers in 2010, initially on a temporary basis. Results at first were distinctly average, but behind the scenes, Kean was shrouded in controversy. Kean was forced to send an undisclosed but supposedly substantial sum of money to Sam Allardyce for damages following an incident in a bar in Hong Kong, whilst Kean's own agent became an integral part of the clubs takeover by new owners. With fans far from pleased and protests held, somehow Steve still managed to secure a long term contract. The following season Blackburn were relegated. You might think Kean would finally be sacked after a relegation, yet remarkably, he stayed in the job until half way through the following season! To this day, Blackburn fans still loath the day that Steve Kean was hired.
BEST
4. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Before anybody questions the inclusion of a man who was quite recently sacked by Man United, you cannot question that in his first season under the title of a caretaker manager, he did an excellent job. The former United striker replaced Jose Mourinho who was sacked following a 3-0 loss to Liverpool, and instantly the results and mood within the club changed for the better. Winning 14 out of his first 19 games in charge, including a famous night in Paris, he was hailed as the next Sir Alex, even encouraging Rio Ferdinand to regrettably announce that "United are back". Following his permanent appointment, his fortunes were not quite the same. Nonetheless, an excellent caretaker manager.
3. Rafa Benitez
Given that Chelsea sacked so many mangers during the Abramovich era, it is perhaps unsurprising that this is the first of three Chelsea interim managers in this list. An unpopular appointment at the time given his past with Liverpool, Rafa Benitez was criticised severely by fans early on. Nonetheless, he soon won them over with impressive results, winning the Europa League and finishing third in the league. Benitez was wary not to overstay his welcome and left at the end of the season.
2. Guus Hiddink
Now we go back to 2009, where Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking meant Chelsea turned to Dutchman Guus Hiddink. Although he split his managerial duties between the Russian National Team and Chelsea, it did not affect his abilities to lead Chelsea, as they lost just once under his reign. Chelsea narrowly lost out on winning the league title but did manage to win the FA Cup. Hiddink's interim role was so successful he returned to Chelsea once again in 2015, setting a new record for the longest unbeaten streak as a new manager, with twelve games. During the season, he lifted Chelsea from 16th position to finish in 10th.
1. Roberto Di Matteo
Completing the hat-trick of Chelsea caretaker managers is Roberto Di Matteo, which bizarrely demonstrates that the method of sacking a manager and bringing in somebody new actually works. Anyway, Di Matteo came in for Villas Boas during the 2011/12 season. His spell as a caretaker will probably never be topped, winning both the Champions League and the FA Cup. Whilst he followed the trend of being somewhat useless after a permanent appointment, Chelsea fans will always remember his time fondly. Boris Johnson, take notes.
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