The last 5 English ‘Big Six’ managers & how they fared

English managers of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ are increasingly rare which makes Chelsea’s appointment of Graham Potter all the more intriguing.

After making his name in Sweden, taking Ostersund from the fourth tier to the Europa League, Potter moved to Swansea City in 2018 where his sole season in charge was impressive enough to see him poached by Brighton.

Now, after making Brighton one of the most attractive teams in the Premier League, Potter has become only the second English manager at Chelsea in the 21st century.

Most of the Premier League’s leading clubs have looked to figures from continental Europe to lead them to success and, judging by the escapades of the last five English coaches to lead one of the ‘Big Six’, we can hardly blame them…

Frank Lampard

Lampard was arguably the best player in Chelsea’s history but, just a year into his managerial career, there’s no chance he’d have been appointed at Stamford Bridge unless the club was under a transfer embargo.

In fairness, the former England midfielder performed admirably in his first season. Promoting a host of talented youngsters – including Reece James, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham – Lampard led Chelsea to fourth and the FA Cup final.

But things started to go wrong after spending £200million in the summer of 2020. The likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz failed to fire and a previously leaky defence became positively porous.

With Chelsea languishing in eighth, Lampard was sacked in January 2021. He’s now manager of Everton, who are showing tentative signs of improvement under his leadership.

Tim Sherwood

Having ditched the studious Andre Villas-Boas in December 2013, Tottenham turned to Tim Sherwood in an attempt to rescue their season.

“My record here is second to none,” raved Sherwood after a 5-1 win over Sunderland. “My win percentage is the best of any Tottenham manager. I’m the best manager this club’s ever seen!”

Five weeks later, Spurs sacked him.

While Sherwood’s comment was firmly tongue-in-cheek, you always got the impression he overestimated his managerial abilities; Spurs only finished sixth and received a number of thrashings from the league’s strongest sides.

But he can be credited with giving Harry Kane his first run in the Spurs’ first team. And nobody wore a gilet better than Tactics Tim.

Roy Hodgson

Hodgson lasted only seven months as Liverpool manager, signing a string of failures and leading the Reds into a…