Which Premier League manager has the worst losing record?

Frank Lampard’s second stint as the manager of Chelsea is on track for a horrid losing record in Premier League play. After four losses on the bounce in league play and a pair of losses in the Champions League, the Blues are limping into the summer just waiting for the last whistle of the campaign.

Lampard will not return as manager next season. Occasionally, interim managers do enough to earn a permanent role at the club. That is not the case for the Englishman, whose streak of torrid performances goes back to his days with Everton. After taking over in the midst of the 2021/22 campaign, Lampard lost 21 out of 38 games at Everton in Premier League play. Tack on the four losses in four league games with Chelsea this season, and his loss rate is 60%. For comparison, he is winning just nine out of 42. That is a win rate of 21%.

Even that is not overly terrible in regards to managers that have the worst losing record in Premier League history.

The worst Premier League losing record by manager

Jan Siewert – Huddersfield Town

Jan Siewert took over the role from David Wagner in a dismal season at Huddersfield Town. At the time, Huddersfield had 15 losses in its first 21 games. Siewert oversaw the final 15 games of the season. Huddersfield, which was bound for a bottom-of-the-table finish, picked up a grand total of five points from those games. In the process, the club lost 12 times.

That gives Siewert a losing record of 80%. That is good for the worst losing rate in the history of the Premier League. For Huddersfield, it became only the second club to secure relegation before the end of March. Although, to be fair to Siewert, he could not find any rhythm in the Championship, either. There, the club lost two of its first three, with Siewert getting the sack after the second loss.

Brian Laws – Burnley

With Burnley sitting in 15th in the league table at the turn of the year in the 2009/10 campaign, the Clarets appointed Brian Laws to save the season. Laws did just about the opposite. The manager led Burnley to 14 losses in the remaining 18 games, leading to a losing record of 78%. Laws’s Burnley only finished in 18th, the last spot in the relegation zone. West Ham United was five points ahead of Burnley in the table.

Laws found a little more success in the following season in the Championship. However the hurt of relegation from his poor showing in the Premier League left Burnley avoiding any risk when things turned south. After three losses in five games in November and December of the following season, Burnley sacked Laws.

Frank Lampard’s recent stints at Chelsea and Everton could be the worst losing record in Premier League history, but how bad was it for others?

Slaviša Jokanović – Fulham

If there was ever an instance of a club’s season showing the divide between the Championship and the Premier League, it may be Fulham in the late 2010s. After finding promotion via the playoffs in the 2017/18 campaign, Slaviša Jokanović led Fulham back to the top flight for the first time since the 2013/14 campaign. However, once there, Fulham met the wrath of the top-flight teams.

Nine losses in Fulham’s first 12 games in that 2018/19 season led the club to sack Jokanović. That is a loss rate of 75% in his short stint in the Premier League. Yet, Fulham’s problems were not solely resting on Jokanović. After his departure, Fulham found relative form with nine points over its next eight games. After that, 12 losses in a 13-game span doomed the Craven Cottage club. The only thing that kept Fulham off the bottom of the table that season was Jan Siewert and Huddersfield Town.

Roy McFarland – Bolton Wanderers

Going back a little farther in the Premier League era, Roy McFarland led Bolton Wanderers to a 20th-place finish in the 1995/96 top-flight season. With Bolton making its third appearance in the top flight in four years, Bolton appointed McFarland after Bruce Rioch departed for Arsenal. It was a disappointing season, to say the least.

McFarland had Bolton lost 16 of its first 22 games. Bolton only had 10 points at the time, and it saw McFarland as the issue. Maybe that was the losing rate of over 72%. McFarland never had a managerial role in the Premier League after the issues with Bolton.

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