8 Worst Premier League Manager Sackings From The Past 10 Years

7. Avram Grant - Chelsea

Avram Grant was one of the strangest manager signings I think I have ever witnessed as a football fan, but what was even stranger was the way it ended for him. Grant was employed as director of football by Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, before then being promoted as manager when Jose Mourinho left his first Chelsea stint (by mutual consent, another horrible decision). Amazingly, Avram Grant did not even hold a top-flight coaching certificate by the time he took the job, increasing the curiosity why this relatively unknown character had suddenly came out of the blue to take charge of such a high profile team. The opportunity was given to him basically because he was Abramovich's close friend. Roman must have gained a lot of trust in Grant given his credentials, but that was soon to be justified with some surprising success. After a 2-0 loss to Manchester United on his managerial debut, Grant's team went on a 16 game unbeaten run. However it was not a complete success story, as Grant's Chelsea were beaten by Spurs in the league cup final, and then were knocked out of the FA cup by Barnsley shortly after. What made up for all of this, though, was the Champions League run. It was a remarkable Champions League campaign for England, as all four semi-final teams were English - a very rare achievement. To add to the drama, Avram Grant managed to steer Chelsea into the Final after beating Liverpool 4-3 on aggregate. Not even Jose Mourinho was able to do this while at Chelsea, and certainly no-one thought it was possible for Avram Grant. Grant's opposition in the Final were his biggest fear, Manchester United - the only team that Chelsea couldn't touch in the league. Chelsea lost the final, but the manner of their loss was not a case of Chelsea playing worse. Their loss was decided by penalties, and if it hadn't been for John Terry's monumental slip, they would have won the trophy. Avram Grant lost his job because of this. For him to lose his job because of a 6-5 penalty shoot-out loss, that's a kick in the teeth. Just getting to the final in his first and only season as Chelsea manager surpassed everyone's expectations of the novice manager. Since his sacking he has retreated to Israel to manage much smaller clubs - he graced world football's biggest stage, and then retreated back into the wilderness to reflect. Someone should probably make a movie about it, its Hollywood material.