Ruben Amorim is under mounting pressure to keep his job at Manchester United. The Portuguese coach has overseen the club's worst start to a Premier League season for 33 years, and has faced widespread criticism for his rigid tactics, with a £200m summer spending spree doing little to improve the Red Devils' fortunes.
It has been reported that Amorim only has three games left to save his job, and some are calling for club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be drafted back in as his replacement. Solskjaer guided United to a second-place Premier League finish in 2020-21, while embracing the counter-attacking style that garnered so much success in the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
But does re-hiring a former coach actually work? GOAL ranks the top 10 managers who successfully, and not so successfully, returned to their old stomping grounds below…
Getty Images Sport10Frank Lampard – Chelsea
Frank Lampard may be Chelsea's greatest-ever player. The midfielder scored a remarkable 211 goals in 648 games for the Blues, but his time in management at Stamford Bridge was less fruitful. In his first stint between July 2019 and January 2021, the ex-England international had a respectable winning percentage of 52.38 in 84 matches.
But in his caretaker spell between April and June 2023, it was an unmitigated disaster. Lampard won just one of his 11 matches in charge with a 9.09 win percentage. He is doing better at Championship side Coventry City now, though.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport9Guus Hiddink – Chelsea
Guus Hiddink has put together a glittering CV over more than 30 years in management. He has been in the dugout for PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, the Netherlands, Valencia, and more. So after Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked by Chelsea in early 2009, there was a lot of excitement among fans when Hiddink was tasked with steadying the Blues' ship for the rest of the season.
He guided them to an FA Cup triumph, and his side were arguably robbed in their Champions League semi-final aggregate loss to Barcelona, where some questionable refereeing calls went against them. Hiddink left with a win percentage of 72.73, but in another caretaker stint between December 2015 and May 2016, that dropped to 37.04. He inherited a Chelsea team sitting 16th in the table and could only guide them to a 10th-place finish, though he did break the record for the longest unbeaten streak as a new manager (12 games).
AFP8Tony Pulis – Stoke City
The famous quote of, 'Can they do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?' came during one of Tony Pulis' spells at the Potters. Rory Delap's long throws, pitches that were as compact as possible, and upsetting the Premier League big boys were part and parcel of his time at the Staffordshire outfit.
Pulis took hold of the reins at Stoke in November 2002 and had a 35.88 win percentage before leaving in June 2005. But his second stint led to them earning promotion to the Premier League, staying in that role for nearly seven years (2006-13), and his win percentage rose to 36.64 despite being in a higher division. He even got them playing in Europe. Chapeau!
Getty Images Sport7Fabio Capello – Real Madrid
One of the most illustrious names on this list, Italian disciplinarian Fabio Capello did not suffer fools gladly in his managerial career. He enjoyed a huge amount of success, but his second stint at Real Madrid didn't prove to be as fruitful. He guided Los Blancos to La Liga success in 1997 and had a 64.58 win percentage between May 1996 to June 1997.
When he returned in July 2006 for a year, Capello won another league title, but that win percentage dipped to 56. Moreover, the former Roma boss also had a much more successful spell at AC Milan between 1991-96 rather than in 1997-98.