The
Job of a manager is not for the faint-hearted. When faced with appointing a coach who can cut it in , clubs usually lean towards grizzled experience over youthful exuberance. The competition has had more managers prowling the touchline during their eighth decade on the planet (four) than those under the age of 30 (one). As the quality of the division and the at stake have soared, turning to youth is a risk even fewer owners can afford to take. The average age of a
Premier League manager in 1992 was 45. Three decades later, that figure has risen to almost 50. But some prodigious souls have elbowed their way into the old boys' club. Here are the youngest managers the division has ever seen. Youngest Premier League Managers 1 Ryan Mason April 2021 29 years and 312 days 2 Attilio Lombardo March 1998 32 years and 67 days 3 Chris Coleman February 2003 32 years and 236 days 4 Gianluca Vialli March 1998 33 years and 242 days 5 Andre Villas-Boas August 2011 33 years and 301 days 6 Ruud Gullit August 1996 33 years and 352 days 7 Kevin MacDonald November 1994 34 years and one day 8 Alex Neil August 2015 34 years and 60 days 9 Stuart Pearce December 1996 34 years and 241 days 10 Paul Jewell August 1999 34 years and 313 days Paul Jewell was only 34 when he steered Bradford City to promotion in 1999, ending the club's 77-year wait for top-flight football, but had already been in the job for 18 months. The former academy player managed to avoid relegation in his debut Premier League campaign, engineering a shock victory over the Champions League-chasing Merseyside giants on the final day of the 1999/2000 season to complete a great escape. Stuart McCall, Bradford's captain for the famous victory, was three months older than his manager. Jewell resigned the following week, disappointed that such heroics were ever required. The ambitious coach would take Wigan Athletic from the third tier to the top half of the Premier League table but was also at the helm of the Derby County side which got relegated with just 11 points in 2008. Paul Jewell's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1999 - 2008 Clubs Bradford, Wigan, Derby Games 138 Stuart Pearce only had one evening to prepare for his first game as caretaker manager of Nottingham Forest after Frank Clark's resignation in December 1996. , the revered
England international had settled upon his starting XI for Arsenal's visit. Pearce included himself at left-back but, as a brave soul pointed out at the time, forgot to name a goalkeeper. Mark Crossley lined up between the posts the following day as Forest earned a 2-1 win. Pearce was eventually succeeded by Dave Bassett and continued playing until 2002. The former full-back had developed a renewed appreciation for the game's custodian over the subsequent years. As
Manchester City boss, Pearce once fielded two goalkeepers at the same time, infamously for the final seven minutes of a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in 2005. Stuart Pearce's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1996 - 2007 Clubs Nottingham Forest, Manchester City Games 106 By Alex Neil's own admission, he had "got very used to winning" by the time Norwich City were promoted to the Premier League in 2015. The Scottish boss had steered Hamilton Academical into his nation's top flight via the play-offs and repeated the trick south of Hadrian's Wall with the Canaries six months into his tenure. There was little winning in England's top flight, and Neil himself said: "I was managing in the Premier League at 34 years old, and a lack of experience hurt me in the end." Neil's side could dominate every opponent but had to dramatically alter their tactics against the various tiers of top-flight teams. Norwich recorded a famous victory at Manchester United's Old Trafford home while also taking points off
Liverpool and Arsenal, but, as Neil ruefully reflected, struggled to get "the balance right against the lesser sides". Alex Neil's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 2015 - 2016 Club Norwich Games 38 Kevin MacDonald was thrust into Leicester City's vacant dugout in the wake of Brian Little's tumultuous exit in November 1994. On MacDonald's 34th birthday, Little resigned as manager of the Foxes to take over , the club that he had represented throughout his entire playing career. The following day, MacDonald presided over a 2-1 victory against
Arsenal in front of a packed crowd. Within a fortnight of the switch, while Leicester were still desperately searching for a full-time candidate, MacDonald went up against his former boss when Aston Villa visited Filbert Street. Little was branded 'Judas' and a 'liar' by angry Leicester fans during a toxic 1-1 draw. MacDonald wisely stayed out of the feud. Kevin MacDonald's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1994 - 2015 Clubs Leicester, Aston Villa Games 9 Ruud Gullit could play in every position on the pitch and, as
Chelsea found out, was pretty good on the touchline as well. The towering Dutch maestro, unquestionably one of , joined Chelsea as a player in 1995 before taking on the rare role of player-manager the following year. Before taking over the England national team, Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle marvelled at Gullit: "It was like watching an 18-year-old play among 12-year-olds." The tactical awareness the Dutchman honed after playing alongside Johan Cruyff and for Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan ensured that he was also a step ahead of his managerial peers. High wage demands and a falling out with owner Ken Bates led to Gullit's shock departure in February 1998 as Chelsea sat second in the league. The outspoken coach called the entire affair a "betrayal" and an "injustice". Ruud Gullit's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1996 - 1998 Clubs Chelsea, Newcastle Games 113 Andre Villas-Boas followed
Jose Mourinho from Porto to Chelsea as an assistant coach in 2004, compiling detailed dossiers on opponents during successive Premier League title triumphs while still in his mid-20s. After embarking upon a managerial career of his own at Porto - becoming the youngest manager to ever win the Europa League - Villas-Boas returned to take over Chelsea ahead of the 2011/12 campaign. Derided as a "laptop manager", Villas-Boas' obsession with an aggressive defensive line didn't suit a Chelsea squad that had excelled under Mourinho's reactive tactics. The Portuguese prodigy was sacked after eight months and only lasted a year and a half at Tottenham, but curiously boasts one of the . Andre Villas-Boas' Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 2011 - 2013 Clubs Chelsea,
Tottenham Games 81 It was chaos behind the scenes at Chelsea at the start of 1998. Despite a strong position in the league table and a spot in the latter stages of the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Ruud Gullit's standing as player-manager was under threat. Gianluca Vialli - Gullit's first signing - was offered the top job behind his boss' back. Gullit never held any hard feelings towards the amiable Italian who led Chelsea to victory in both cup competitions. Vialli sadly passed away after contracting pancreatic
cancer in January 2023, prompting universal acclaim for his warm personality above and beyond his
Football career. But his tenure at Chelsea ended abruptly . Gianluca Vialli's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1998 - 2000 Club Chelsea Games 86 Before Chris Coleman had begun his caretaker reign of Fulham at the end of the 2002/03 campaign, he was already distancing himself from the full-time role. But after winning three of his five games to steer the Cottagers clear of the drop, Coleman's tune had changed. Initially handed a 12-month rolling contract, the former Fulham captain lasted four years in west
London. Coleman's playing career was cut short by a horrific car crash that almost took his life, veering off the road near his Surrey home to avoid a pheasant. The creative coach kept Fulham safe from relegation while operating on a shoestring budget and later led Wales to the semi-finals of the 2016 European Championships. Chris Coleman's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 2003 - 2007 Club Fulham Games 153 Crystal Palace knew the risk they were taking when appointing Attilio Lombardo in March 1998. Steve Coppell had moved from the dugout to the role of technical director as the club struggled for form, admitting: "It's a bold, massive step and some people will look on it as foolish." Lombardo's premature age was hardly the problem. The Italian playmaker spoke barely any English and had no coaching background. After seven games and five defeats, Lombardo was mercifully allowed to step aside once relegation had been confirmed with a defeat to . The 'Bald Eagle' likened the experience to getting "run over by a lorry". Attilio Lombardo's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 1998 Club Crystal Palace Games 7 Sitting in front of the media to conduct his first press conference as 's interim manager in April 2021, a 29-year-old Ryan Mason began by saying: "It's crazy." A serious head injury forced the English midfielder into retirement at the tender age of 26, before he embarked upon a coaching career with Tottenham's youth teams. He said: "I thought I'd still be playing football - I'm probably in my prime of footballing ability. But football is a crazy, crazy sport. It's bizarre." After Spurs chairman Daniel Levy made the surprise decision to sack Jose Mourinho six days before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, he offered Mason the chance to close out the season. The embryonic coach couldn't guide Tottenham to a rare trophy during his brief tenure but did win four of his six Premier League games at the helm. Ryan Mason's Premier League Managerial Career Active Years 2021 - 2023 Clubs Tottenham Games 12