Nottingham Forest and West Ham United are the favourites to be looking for a new manager next, but who is available and looking for their next challenge?
Former Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Tottenham and Napoli coaches are among the biggest names currently out of work and considering their options.
We’ve ranked the 10 best managers currently out of work. We’ll be keeping this one updated, so be sure to check back – particularly if your club is looking for their next boss.
10. Gary O’Neil
Not entirely unjustifiably, O’Neil will fancy himself for another Premier League job.
Results-wise, his track record is more than decent. He kept Bournemouth in the Premier League, a feat that now looks especially difficult, while Wolves finished comfortably midtable in his one full season at Molineux.
But there was often a sense that the underlying performance data would catch up with him, which proved to be the case when Wolves’ form tailed off dramatically.
The fact that Andoni Iraola and Vitor Pereira have both overseen a discernible uptick does not reflect all that well on his coaching, either.
O’Neil might well have to drop down to the Championship for his next challenge.
9. Sean Dyche
Sam Allardyce has surely now been resigned to football’s answer to ‘old man yells at cloud’ – his own podcast. Called ‘No Tippy Tappy Football’, because of course it is. His days of being parachuted in as a Premier League firefighter are surely behind him.
But the firefighter’s flame still burns in Dyche, who still probably has enough clout to get a call from the next Premier League chairman circling the plughole.
Things went south at Everton, but his appointment had the desired shot-in-the-arm impact in the short term. That could prove irresistible when things inevitably get desperate. Could a return to Turf Moor be on the cards?
8. Marco Rose
After winning the statutory silverware in Austria with Red Bull Salzburg, Rose has had a respectable enough career back in Germany.
He took Borussia Monchengladbach to the Champions League knockout stages, achieved a standard runner-up finish in his one season at Borussia Dortmund, and led RB Leipzig to the DFB Pokal before things took a downturn – eventually resulting in his sacking – last season.
Rose’s tactical approach and CV gave him the managerial profile du jour a few years back, but you wonder if football – and Premier League clubs in particular – have now moved beyond that, when the likes of Ralph Hassenhuttl were all the rage.
7. Gareth Southgate
“You can’t say never to anything because 15 years ago I left Middlesbrough and I wasn’t certain I would manage then,” Southgate told the PA news agency during his appearance at the 2025 PFA Awards.
“Then I ended up on a strange path into managing the national team. But it’s not something I’m actively looking at at the moment.”
After the pressure cooker of the England job, it sounds as though he’s enjoying the quieter life, playing golf and paddle while writing a book.
While Southgate is the Three Lions’ most successful coach in half a century, we’re still left pondering how well his particular skillset would translate to a club job.
Those Manchester United links might reappear if Ruben Amorim doesn’t turn the ship around, though Dan Ashworth’s departure might’ve put paid to that.
He boasts a brilliant track record of dealing with media scrutiny while building a more positive culture and winning mentality, but nuts-and-bolts coaching, tactics and in-game management questions still linger.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag applauds the fans after the Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Picture date: Saturday October 19, 2024.
QUIZ: Can you name the first manager to be sacked in every Premier League season?
6. Roger Schmidt
It’s been quite the eclectic career path for Schmidt since he made his name as a progressive young coach and an Austrian double with Red Bull Salzburg over a decade ago.
He’s had an up-and-down time of it in his subsequent stints with Bayer Leverkusen, Beijing Guoan, PSV and Benfica.
The German’s been linked with Leeds United should they sack Daniel Farke, which would make some degree of sense.
But that didn’t work out too well for the Yorkshire club last time out. Given Jesse Marsch’s tenure and their iffy track record of Red Bull signings, there’s some understandable consternation among the Leeds fanbase over going too far down that path.
5. Luciano Spalletti
Three times a Serie A Coach of the Year, Spalletti’s excellent managerial career finally got its crowning glory in 2022-23 when he unexpectedly led Napoli to the Scudetto.
He left on that high, following reported friction with owner Aurelio De Laurentiis, but he’s since been brought back down to earth after 18 iffy months in charge of the Italy national team and early question marks over their ability to qualify for next summer’s World Cup.
The 66-year-old has one more Serie A job in him, we reckon.
4. Ange Postecoglou
We cannot wait to see what’s next for Big Ange.
Both the man who led Tottenham to their first trophy in 17 years and the man who presided over a club-record 22 Premier League defeats last term.
That kind of leaves the jury out for the Australian, who has lifted pretty much everywhere he’s been, over whether his dogmatic high-line football can work in a top European league.
We really hope to find out one way or another.
3. Thiago Motta
The former Italy international established a reputation as one of Europe’s next top coaches at Bologna, having guided them a top-four finish in Serie A against all the odds.
It was off the back of that fine work that he earned the big opportunity at Juventus last summer, but it didn’t quite work out for him in Turin.
Last season, the Old Lady failed to replicate all the most exciting facets of his brilliant Bologna side and Motta was eventually dismissed in March.
“I don’t agree with people saying it was failure,” Motta reflected.
Our work was interrupted when we were one point off the Champions League places. I signed with Juventus because I thought it was going to be a three-year project.”
You imagine that setback has cost the 42-year-old a shot at another major Champions League club for now, but a mid-ranking club in Italy, Spain or England could do far worse.
2. Xavi Hernandez
One of the greatest midfielders of all time, there was a not-unfounded feel that arch Barca ideologue Xavi would be the next in line from Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola to bring about the next iteration of beautiful ‘Juego de Posicion’ football.
The reality was quite different. Leading Barcelona to the 2022-23 La Liga title was a fantastic achievement, particularly given the club’s off-field issues, but the style was lacking. Defensively sound but underwhelmingly conservative.
Results took a downturn in his second full season, while the football did not improve, and as with so many coaches in the club’s history the ‘entorno’ (essentially media noise around the club) appeared to hang heavy.
You look at the dazzlingly daring football they’ve played under his successor Hansi Flick, and Raphinha’s near Ballon d’Or-worthy form, and wonder if he could’ve fared better.
“I still love football, it’s my passion,” he told The Athletic.
“I’m watching it 24 hours. My wife complains to me: ‘Again!’ she says.”
We’re interested to see how Xavi’s next move turns out. He’s intimated he’d be open to working in the Premier League. Unfortunately we could see a lucrative move to one of the top Saudi Pro League clubs; let’s hope not.
1. Zinedine Zidane
We couldn’t put anyone else at the top spot, could we?
Zizou won the Champions League in his first three seasons as a head coach. He’s won it more than Sir Alex Ferguson and stands level with Pep Guardiola.
His second stint at the Bernabeu wasn’t quite so impressive, but he still delivered a second La Liga title.
As with Carlo Ancelotti, there are question marks over his ability to work with non-elite players. His immaculate vibes-first approach is perfect for the creme de la creme, but how useful would it be with lesser footballers?
Fortunately, we’ll probably never find out. Zidane seems to have absolutely no interest in taking on any such jobs. At this point it appears a formality that he’ll succeed Didier Deschamps as Les Bleus’ manager after next summer’s World Cup.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every Premier League manager hired and sacked in the same season?