Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
A new season of Premier League football beckons and, while fans of Crystal Palace, Everton, Tottenham and Wolves will all say hello to new managers, the rest of us will welcome back the same old familiar faces.
Admittedly a fair portion of these familiar faces probably won’t last until the end of the season in May, but a select few managers have enjoyed abnormally lengthy tenures in charge of Premier League clubs and we’ve listed the five longest serving top-flight managers below.
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5. Marcelo Bielsa – Leeds United
Appointed: 15th June 2018
Win ratio: 52.9%
Marcelo Bielsa is widely considered to be one of the most influential managers in the modern game and the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino are both graduates from Bielsa’s school of football.
Just over three years ago Leeds United managed to convince the eccentric manager that a move to Yorkshire was a good idea and that enormous coup has reaped dividends.
He led the Lilywhites to a third-place finish in his debut campaign and them won the Championship the following term. A comfortable ninth-place finish in their first term back in the big time along with his commitment to an energetic and attacking brand of football make him nothing short of a legend at Elland Road.
4. Daniel Farke – Norwich
Appointed: 25th May 2017
Win ratio: 43.6%
Daniel Farke’s first big break in management came as he was appointed the Norwich boss in May 2017 and the 44-year-old German has become a firm fan favourite in his four years in charge.
Farke’s debut campaign ended in a relatively disappointing 14th-place finish in the Championship but he upped the ante the next season to win the Championship and take the Canaries back to the top flight for the first time since 2015/16.
Even a rock-bottom finish wasn’t enough to lose Farke his job and he repaid his employers’ faith in him with a second Championship win in three years last term to earn promotion back to the Premier League for the second time, subsequently earning himself a four-year contract extension with the club.
3. Pep Guardiola – Manchester City
Appointed: 1st July 2016
Win ratio: 73.13%
Once dubbed ‘Fraudiola’ by many English fans, Pep Guardiola couldn’t have done much more to defy those critics in his five years in charge of Manchester City.
The Spaniard has broken all manner of long-standing Premier League records in his pursuit of glory at the Etihad and came through his toughest challenge to date last season as he bounced back from a sickening title loss to Liverpool to take the Premier League trophy back at a canter.
Admittedly his inability to land the Champions League remains a sizeable blot on his CV but the Citizens reached the final for the first time last season and the fact he has added three Premier League titles, four EFL Cups and an FA Cup to Manchester City’s trophy cabinet means he won’t be getting the sack anytime soon.
2. Jurgen Klopp – Liverpool
Appointed: 8th October 2015
Win ratio: 59.1%
A poor final term at Borussia Dortmund and a slow start to life at Anfield led to a substantial amount of criticism in Jurgen Klopp’s first season in charge of Liverpool but, like Guardiola, he has proven those critics wrong and then some.
Klopp led Liverpool to successive Champions League finals in 2017/18 and 2018/19, lifting the trophy in the latter case and narrowly missing out on their first ever Premier League title at the same time despite an incredible 97-point haul.
His crowning glory came the following season, however, as he ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a league title in emphatic fashion.
Injury problems saw their title defence derailed last term but Klopp is going nowhere and we’re likely to see them back in the hunt for the top spot this season.
1. Sean Dyche – Burnley
Appointed: 30th October 2012
Win ratio: 36.8%
Sean Dyche is the longest serving manager in the Premier League by a considerable distance and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Dyche top a decade in the Burnley job.
His physical and direct style of football does have its detractors but there can be no argument that the Kettering-born manager is a master at getting the most out of limited resources.
Dyche has kept them in the top-flight for the past five seasons and even took them to Europe in 2017/18 with a phenomenal seventh-place finish.
All this has been achieved with one of the lowest budgets in the top-flight. Incredibly, Burnley’s record signing is still only just over £15 million (Ben Gibson in 2018/19) and they have only shelled out more than £10 million seven times.
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