07 September 2022

Taking a closer look at previous German managers in the Premier League

07 September 2022

Thomas Tuchel arrived in English football to huge fanfare and fully justified the expectation when he guided Chelsea into the Champions League.

Less than 20 months on, the 49-year-old has been shown the door following a disappointing start to the new season.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the German managers who have plied their trade in the English top flight – and their Premier League records.

Felix Magath

Felix Magath was unable to keep Fulham in the Premier League (Anthony Devlin/PA) (PA Archive)

12 matches, won 3, drew 3, lost 6; win percentage 25.0

Arriving having won Bundesliga titles with both Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, Magath was brought in to save Fulham from relegation in February 2014. Twelve matches and 12 points later, they were down and he was sacked in September of the Championship season which followed.

Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool to the title in 2020 (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

264 matches, won 169, drawn 60, lost 35; win percentage 64.0

The league’s second German appointment was significantly more successful than its first, with former Borussia Dortmund boss Klopp leading Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2019 and a first league title of the Premier League era the following year – in the process becoming FIFA’s two-time reigning Best men’s coach of the year. His side’s battle with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City has defined the recent years of the Premier League.

Daniel Farke

Daniel Farke twice guided Norwich into the top flight (Tess Derry/PA) (PA Archive)

49 matches, won 6, drew 8, lost 35; win percentage 12.2

Klopp’s success brought attention to his former assistants at Dortmund, with Farke following former United States international David Wagner to England. He twice took Norwich into the top flight but was unable to sustain his success once they got there, finishing bottom of the 2019-20 table with just 21 points and leaving them in the same position this term when he was sacked despite sealing a first win of the campaign at Brentford the same day.

Jan Siewert

Jan Siewert endured a difficult spell in charge at Huddersfield (Tim Goode/PA) (PA Archive)

15 matches, won 1, drew 2, lost 12; win percentage 6.7

Wagner’s successor at Huddersfield saw out the 2018-19 relegation season in a spell memorable less for its sole win, against Wolves, and five points than for the comical misunderstanding that saw lookalike Terriers fan “Martin from Wakefield” mistaken for the new boss upon his arrival.

Thomas Tuchel

63 matches, won 35, drawn 17, lost 11; win percentage 55.6

The only German manager to so far rival Klopp’s success – and another off the Dortmund production line via a spell at Paris St Germain – Tuchel succeeded Frank Lampard at Stamford Bridge in January 2021 and the improvements he made – particularly to the Blues’ defensive record – yielded Champions League, European Super Cup and Club World Cup success. Having steered the club through Roman Abramovich’s exit and to a third-place finish, he was allowed to invest a breathtaking £273million in summer signings by new owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali – but a disappointing start to the new campaign cost him his job.

Ralf Rangnick

Ralf Rangnick was drafted in as interim boss by Manchester United (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

24 matches, won 10, drawn 7, lost 7; win percentage 41.7

Drafted in as interim Manchester United boss in the interregnum which followed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure and Erik ten Hag’s arrival, Rangnick endured a testing spell at Old Trafford. He was appointed until the end of the 2021-2022 season, when he was due to take up a two-year consultancy role, but left the club after a sixth-placed finish in May to concentrate on his role as manager of the Austria national team.

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