Managers you forgot were in Premier League – and then dropped down leagues

The Premier League has seen a staggering 434 different men try their hand at managing in the big time – and you would be hard-pressed to name them all.

Arsene Wenger would arguably be one of the first to spring to mind given he managed a record 828 Premier League matches with Arsenal, while the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson (810) and Harry Redknapp (639) who make up the top three, are also synonymous with the league since its inception in 1992. However, not all have gone on to establish themselves as household names.

Having failed to hit the heights in the top-flight, some have faded away into obscurity and been left to continue their careers in English football's lower reaches. As we raise a toast to celebrate Phil Brown's 63rd birthday on Monday, Daily Star Sport takes a closer look at some of the Premier League's other forgotten managers who were forced to drop down the leagues in a bid to make their managerial mark.

Phil Brown

Where else to start than with the birthday boy himself? Phil Brown will always hold a special place in the hearts of Hull City supporters having miraculously guided the Tigers into the Premier League back in 2008.

Having taken over two years prior with Hull very much embroiled in a Championship relegation battle, Brown steered the club to safety before leading them into the bright lights of the Premier League, via the play-offs, the following season. For the first time in the club's 104-year history, top-flight English football awaited.

Though Brown endured a forgettable spell in the Premier League dugouts, his astonishing half-time team-talk on the pitch away to Manchester City on Boxing Day of 2008 will live long in the memory. Despite keeping the Tigers up against all odds, Brown was sacked the following season as relegation loomed and he has since gone on to manage the likes of Preston, Southend (twice) and Barrow.

Paul Jewell

Can you think of any other forgotten Premier League managers who dropped down the leagues? Let us know in the comments section below

Three times Paul Jewell managed in the big time, yet it's easy to forget he ever stepped foot on a Premier League touchline at all. Despite securing top-flight football at Bradford following 77-year absence and then keeping the Bantams up, Jewell walked away from his post at the end of the 1999-00 campaign after club chairman Geoffrey Richmond branded the remarkable 17th-placed finish as "a disappointment".

After play-off success saw Wigan reach the Premier League in 2005, Jewell then guided the Latics to a 10th-placed finish, before walking away after ensuring the club's safety at the end of his second season due to health reasons. In 2008, he then took up the post with a doomed Derby – only to suffer an even more stressful experience.

Jewel failed to stop the Rams' rota they famously ended a dreadful campaign with one win and a points tally of 11 points, equalling an unwanted 108-year Football League record. The 57-year-old has since managed Ipswich and held the assistant manager role at both West Brom and Oldham. Hardly a Jewell in the Premier League crown of managers.

Paul Hart

With Portsmouth in disarray and on the brink of administration back in 2009, desperate times called for desperate measures on the south coast as Paul Hart stepped up to the helm. Having been appointed in the summer, he would then find himself sacked come November.

Pompey lost their first seven league games and managed a mere two Premier League wins in 13 matches before Hart was axed as he, unsurprisingly, failed to prevent the club's inevitable demise. Needless to say he declined Pompey's offer of an alternative role as technical director responsible for players aged 18–21 immediately after they gave him the first-team chop.

The 69-year-old has since managed Queen's Park Rangers and Swindon in addition to taking up a whole host of assistant manager posts across the lower leagues. A sad case of Hart failure, this one.

Lawrie Sanchez

After Fulham sacked Chris Coleman back in 2007, Lawrie Sanchez was appointed caretaker manager and given a 32-day task of keeping the Cottagers in the Premier League. And he did just that.

His reward? The role of a full-time basis. Sanchez swiftly packed in post as manager of the Northern Ireland national team to give Fulham his full attention. But the Premier League fairytale wouldn't last long.

After only eight months, Sanchez was given an unwelcome early Christmas present as he was sacked with the Whites slipping into the relegation zone. He would later give it another go at Barnet, but the less the said about that the better.

Micky Adams

Rather cruelly, Micky Adams was appointed Leicester manager shortly before the club's inevitable relegation was confirmed back in 2002. Unperturbed, he then returned the Foxes to the top-flight at the first time of asking.

Afforded another crack in the big time for the 2003-04 season, Adams failed to keep Leicester up in a season which saw the club awash with countless disciplinary issues. Amid off-pitch carnage, Adams even offered to resign at one point, only for the club to reject it.

He would soon be granted his wish however, as a poor start to the Championship the following season saw the Sheffield-born boss sacked anyway. Adams' underwhelming managerial career since has seen him spend time with Coventry, Brighton, Port Vale (twice), Sheffield United and Tranmere Rovers.

Dave Jones

Dave Jones is another who spent multiple spells in the Premier League which have seemingly been erased from all memory. The Liverpool-born boss spent three seasons in the top-flight with Southampton between 1997 and 2000, only for his time on the south coast to come to an end on a sour note.

Unfound accusations of child abuse marred the 1999–2000 campaign for Jones, who was dismissed by the Saints amid the speculation. However, Jones would later get a second bite at the cherry with Wolves.

The Scouser fulfilled chairman Jack Hayward's 11-year ambition by returning the Midlands club back into the top-flight in 2003, but he was sacked at the start of the following season after failing to keep the club up. Jones then dropped down the divisions, taking up posts with Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Hartlepool.

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