Where are they now? The 10 youngest managers in Premier League history
Brighton have appointed the youngest coach in Premier League history, with 31-year-old German coach Fabian Hurzeler set to take charge ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
The Seagulls have never been afraid to look to the left field when it comes to their appointments, with Hurzeler arriving at the Amex fresh from leading St. Pauli to promotion to the Bundesliga.
He’s become the first Premier League manager who is younger than the Premier League, born in 1993, and is younger than a number of players in the Brighton squad. In fact, he was only nine years old when Seagulls veteran James Milner made his Premier League debut for Leeds back in 2002.
But how have young gun managers fared in the Premier League in the past? We’ve taken a look at the 10 youngest managers in Premier League history and checked in on where their career has since taken them.
Note: We’re talking permanent appointments only here, so not including caretaker stints like Ryan Mason at Tottenham or Attilio Lombardo at Crystal Palace.
10. Gareth Southgate
Middlesbrough – 35 years, 11 months, 16 days
After a playing career that lasted almost two decades, Southgate hung up his boots at the age of 35, following Middlesbrough’s 2006 UEFA Cup final defeat to Sevilla.
He was immediately appointed Boro’s manager after Steve McClaren left for the England job and spent three years in the hot seat at the Riverside.
After Southgate was sacked following the Smoggies’ 2009 relegation, few could have predicted that he’d go on to become England’s most successful manager after Sir Alf Ramsey, having led the Three Lions to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and the Euro 2020 final.
Could 2024 be the year that Southgate finally ends England’s long wait for silverware?
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9. Glenn Hoddle
Chelsea – 35 years, 9 months, 18 days
Hoddle spent the final four years of his career as a player-manager with Swindon and Chelsea, eventually turning his attention full-time to the dugout in 1995.
Days after leading Swindon to promotion to the Premier League in 1993, he accepted the offer to manage Chelsea and led them to the FA Cup final in his first season at the helm. His ascent as a promising young coach landed him the England job in 1996 but he left the job in inauspiciously abrupt circumstances in 1999.
Jobs at Southampton, Tottenham and Wolves followed but he hasn’t worked as a coach since 2006, instead appearing as a prominent pundit on UK television.
8. Aidy Boothroyd
Watford – 35 years, 6 months, 11 days
After his playing career was cut short due to serious injury while he was still relatively young, Boothroyd made an early start to his coaching career in the youth ranks at Peterborough.
He took up his first full-time managerial role as a 34-year-old at Watford in 2005 and led the Hornets to promotion, beating Leeds in the play-off final, in his first full season at Vicarage Road.
Things peaked early for Boothroyd, whose career ever since is filled with unremarkable spells at a variety of Football League clubs and England youth teams. His last coaching role was at Indian Super League side Jamshedpur.
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7. Garry Monk
Swansea – 34 years, 11 months, 2 days
Having made over 200 appearances for Swansea City, Monk saw out the final few months of his career as an interim player-coach following the sacking of Michael Laudrup in February 2014.
Monk led the struggling Swans to safety and signed a three-year deal as a permanent manager after announcing his retirement. He was named Premier League Manager of the Month in his first full-time month and led them to an eighth-place finish in his one full season before getting sacked in December 2015.
There have been moments ever since, but the story of his managerial career is that of a steady decline across his stints with Leeds, Middlesbrough, Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday.
After almost four years out of the game, the 45-year-old was named Cambridge United’s new boss back in March. Monk suffered a couple of chastening early defeats but led them, narrowly, to League One survival.
6. Paul Jewell
Bradford City – 34 years, 10 months, 10 days
After making over 300 appearances for Bradford City as a player, Jewell was appointed the Bantams manager in 1998 and swiftly led them to Premier League promotion.
Bradford finished 17th in 1999-00 and Jewell would later serve as Premier League manager with Wigan and Derby.
His last managerial role was at Ipswich Town over a decade ago, while his last role in football was as Swindon’s director of football, which he left in 2021. Nowadays he’s enjoying life on the golf course.
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5. Alex Neil
Norwich – 34 years, 1 month, 30 days
Perhaps victim to a tough Airdrie paper round, it’s easy to forget that Neil was only 33 years old when he led Norwich City to the Premier League via a Championship play-off final victory in 2015.
His one and only season as a Premier League manager ended in the Canaries getting relegated and he left Carrow Road in 2017.
Still only 43, Neil has built himself a respectable enough Football League CV, having led Sunderland to League One promotion in 2022. But he is currently out of work, having been sacked by Stoke City midway through last season.
4. Ruud Gullit
Chelsea – 33 years, 11 months, 17 days
One of the few Ballon d’Or winners to sign for a Premier League club, Gullit was past his best when he arrived in English football with Chelsea in 1995.
But his keen football brain saw him appointed as the Blues’ player-manager following Hoddle’s departure in 1996, which resulted in him lifting the FA Cup in his first season.
No silverware has followed that maiden campaign across his subsequent stints with Newcastle, Feyenoord, LA Galaxy and – most recently back in 2011 – Russian outfit Terek Grozny.
He’s since followed his predecessor into the world of punditry and in 2017 published a book entitled How To Watch Football.
3. Andre Villas-Boas
Chelsea – 33 years, 9 months, 28 days
Having come up as an analyst under Jose Mourinho’s wing, Villas-Boas followed in the footsteps of his old mentor by leading Porto to the Europa League – aged just 33 – in 2011.
He didn’t last long at Stamford Bridge, with it since becoming clear – via John Terry – that the Blues’ grizzled squad struggled to buy into such a fledgeling coach.
Villas-Boas went on to coach Tottenham, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Shanghai SIPG and Marseille before recently getting himself elected as the president of Porto.
Never mind all that, though. The highlight of Villas-Boas’ sporting career is undoubtedly participating in the 2018 Dakar Rally.
2. Gianluca Vialli
Chelsea – 33 years, 7 months, 27 days
In the 90s, Chelsea had a thing for ambitious and daring moves for giving once-mercurial players their first roles in coaching, going from Hoddle to Gullit to Vialli.
The Italian had an immediate impact as player-manager, guiding Chelsea to both the League Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup and UEFA Super Cup, beating European champions Real Madrid, as well as their highest league placing – 3rd – since 1970.
The FA Cup and Charity Shield followed, but he was sacked after only a handful of games into the 2000-01 season.
His only subsequent managerial role was a fairly forgettable stint at Watford, but he did serve as his old strike partner Roberto Mancini’s assistant when Italy triumphed at Euro 2020.
Vialli tragically died at the age of 58 in 2023 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. One of football’s most universally loved figures, he’s dearly missed.
READ: Gianluca Vialli at Chelsea: Smoking, champagne & standing ovations
1. Chris Coleman
Fulham – 32 years, 7 months, 22 days
Prior to Hurzeler’s imminent arrival at Brighton, Coleman has held the record of the Premier League’s youngest full-time manager for over two decades.
He was appointed Fulham boss aged just 32 back in 2003 and remained at Craven Cottage for four years. An eclectic career has seen him work in Spain, Greece and China, with the peak undoubtedly leading Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 – with a special mention for his show-stealing turn in Sunderland ‘Til I Die.
Coleman has recently signed up to become the new manager of AEL Limassol.