Tudor's Spurs tenure becomes cautionary tale as worst managerial start in Premier League

Igor Tudor has achieved something quite remarkable: he's become the worst manager in Premier League history. Even Terry Connor managed to scrape together a few draws without systematically dismantling players' careers in the process.

The Croatian's tenure at Tottenham has been nothing short of catastrophic. What began poorly descended into utter bewilderment when Spurs crashed out of the Champions League to Atletico Madrid in a display that left observers genuinely questioning what was unfolding on the pitch.

Antonin Kinsky paid the price for Tudor's managerial chaos, hauled off after just 17 minutes—collateral damage in what has become the most wretched start any Spurs boss has ever overseen. Four games, four defeats, 14 goals shipped, five scored. Those are the numbers of a manager completely out of his depth.

Only seven other Premier League managers have managed three games without a win, and every single one of them has a legitimate case to be considered superior to Tudor's efforts.

Terry Connor's Wolves nightmare

When Mick McCarthy departed Wolves in February 2019, chief executive Jez Moxey rather pointedly described the job as "not for a novice." Connor found out why. His 13-game Premier League stint was a parade of pain: nine defeats, including a 5-0 hammering at Fulham where Pavel Pogrebnyak helped himself to a hat-trick.

Yet Connor salvaged four draws. He opened with a point at Newcastle, then battled to goalless stalemates against Sunderland and Everton. There was even that gloriously bonkers 4-4 at Swansea after trailing 3-0. Crucially, Connor never threw his goalkeeper under the bus—Wayne Hennessey's career remained intact.

Simon Rusk's Southampton reprieve

Southampton's 2024/25 wreckage left Rusk with a single mission: avoid the Derby County treatment. Eight games to do it, mostly clustered at the end of the season. He managed it with a draw against Manchester City, a result Pep Guardiola grudgingly accepted.

"We did not concede one shot on target and they didn't do much but we have to accept the way they play," Guardiola reflected. "It belongs to Simon and his assistant coaches."

Neil Adams and Norwich's bottlejob

When Norwich sacked Chris Hughton in April 2014 with the Canaries five points clear of the drop zone, Neil Adams arrived with all the conviction of someone answering their own rhetorical questions. His one point from five games wasn't quite enough as Sunderland's late-season resurgence under Gus Poyet proved decisive.

Yet Adams did secure a draw. Even his final act—a 2-0 home defeat to Arsenal, with Carl Jenkinson scoring—wasn't quite as damning as what Tudor's produced.

Frank de Boer's infamous Palace tenure

Jose Mourinho once declared De Boer "the worst manager in Premier League history," a label that's proven difficult to argue against. The Dutchman lasted four games at Crystal Palace, all defeats, none with a goal scored. His Palace appointment sat awkwardly between a succession line that might have doubled as a talkSPORT guest list: Holloway, Millen, Pulis, Millen, Warnock, Millen, Pardew, Allardyce, De Boer, Hodgson, Vieira, and McCarthy rotating in and out.

De Boer's crime was showing up players in training—"picking balls out of the sky, swivelling on the spot and pinging one into the top corner," as it were. Still, he managed to win a League Cup tie against Ipswich.

Graeme Jones' Newcastle stabiliser

Between Steve Bruce's departure and Eddie Howe's arrival, Jones steadied Newcastle's ship with three interim games. Possession averaged just 26.6% against Palace, Chelsea and Brighton, yet the Magpies earned two draws. Callum Wilson's overhead kick salvaged a point at Selhurst Park, while Isaac Hayden's effort at Brighton lifted Newcastle off the bottom.

Michael Skubala's P.E. teacher rise

Here's a label Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wore uncomfortably—"P.E. teacher"—but Skubala, who actually held that post at Lutterworth College, wore it with pride during his three-game Leeds spell. He managed a point at Old Trafford before losing the return, then got Goodison Park'd at Everton before Javi Gracia and eventually Sam Allardyce took over.

Hayden Mullins' final act

Nigel Pearson's mid-season July 2020 sacking remains the latest-ever Premier League managerial departure. Watford's decision to hand the untested Mullins the final two matches—defeats to Manchester City and Arsenal that ultimately cost them their status—was bewildering. Yet Mullins had previously earned a goalless draw with Crystal Palace as caretaker, giving him more points and clean sheets than Tudor from identical game numbers.

Tudor's record stands alone in its awfulness. Four games, zero points, zero draws, zero wins. Even in a crowded field of managerial disasters, that's genuinely historic incompetence.