8 Worst Premier League Manager Sackings From The Past 10 Years

6. Nigel Adkins - Southampton

Nigel Adkins had a remarkable time as manager of Southampton, and they simply would not be where they are today without his service. Adkins joined League One Southampton on a three-year deal. Right from the start, Nigel Adkins had Southampton playing football that their fans had been dreaming of since their club's quick and crippling decent into England's third tier, due to the club falling into administration. His appointment saw Southampton become consistent match winners and high goal-scorers after a shaky start in League one, and in return they climbed up the table very quickly to become promotion pushers. Since then they won back-to-back promotions to return to the Premier League beyond all initial expectation. In their first season back into the Premier League, it was clear that their speedy journey back to the top flight brought with it some heavy jet lag, as Adkins was unable to produce the same sort of winning runs that he had accumulated in the lower tiers. Despite this, Nigel's future with the Saints seemed fairly secure, purely down to how much he had already achieved with the club. No one was expecting him to be sacked after a 2-2 draw with Chelsea. Just like with Big Sam, the football world responded with quite some anger about this decision, and the Southampton fans were rightly shocked at how their owners decided to treat a man who had just became one of the most important managers in their history. Adkins even had to begin legal proceedings against the club as the 'pay-off' clause on his contract was not met by the Saints board, adding even more undeserved misery for poor Nigel. Now, this entry would have been a lot closer to the top spot if it were not for the exceptional job that Adkin's replacement, Maurucio Pochettino, has done since his appointment. Pochettino's performance as manager has had everyone perplexed, as he arrived not even being able to speak English (and still can't), but has managed to take Southampton even further.