Arne Slot’s dismissal from Liverpool has sent shockwaves through football — but managers sacked after winning the title is far from a new phenomenon. The Dutchman delivered the Premier League trophy in his debut 2024-25 campaign, winning it by a commanding 10-point margin. Yet a catastrophic second season — fifth place, 25 points off the top, dire cup runs, and a very public falling-out with Mohamed Salah — saw Liverpool pull the plug on Saturday. Brutal? Yes. Unprecedented? Absolutely not.
Managers Sacked After Winning the Title: The Premier League’s Darkest Examples
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching English example belongs to Claudio Ranieri. In 2015-16, he orchestrated one of sport’s greatest miracles — steering 5000-1 outsiders Leicester City to the Premier League title on the back of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté. Leicester rewarded him with a four-year contract extension in August 2016. By February 2017, with his side plummeting towards the relegation zone, he was gone. Remarkable and ruthless in equal measure.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have turned the practice into something of an art form. José Mourinho won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06 before being dismissed weeks into his third season, his fractured relationship with Roman Abramovich ultimately proving fatal. On his return to Stamford Bridge, history repeated itself — he guided Chelsea to the title in 2014-15 before losing nine of his first 16 games the following campaign, leaving his side 16th and a single point above the drop zone. The BBC Sport archives make for sobering reading if you want to relive those collapses.
Roberto Mancini’s story at Manchester City is equally stark. He delivered City’s first English league championship in 44 years during those unforgettable final seconds of the 2011-12 season. Exactly one year later — two games before the end of the following campaign, with City finishing distant runners-up to Manchester United — he was sacked. Antonio Conte suffered a comparable fate at Chelsea, winning the Premier League in his first season and the FA Cup in his second, only to be shown the door after a fifth-place finish and a round-of-16 Champions League exit in 2017-18.
Europe’s Biggest Clubs Are Even More Ruthless
Across the Channel, the pattern grows even more familiar. Frank Rijkaard won LaLiga in back-to-back seasons (2004-05 and 2005-06) and the Champions League in 2006 at Barcelona, yet a 4-1 thrashing by Real Madrid the following year, which consigned Barça to third, ended his reign. His replacement? A certain Pep Guardiola. More recently, Xavi Hernández masterminded a LaLiga title triumph in 2022-23, only to be sacked towards the close of the following trophyless campaign, with Hansi Flick arriving from Bayern Munich as his successor.
Real Madrid have their own extensive roll of honour in this regard. Fabio Capello was dismissed just 11 days after winning LaLiga in 2006-07, Madrid’s hierarchy deeming his tactics too negative — remarkably, his first spell at the club had ended almost identically. Mourinho won LaLiga in 2011-12 and was gone by May 2013, 13 points adrift of Barcelona. Zinedine Zidane departed in May 2021 after a trophyless 2020-21 campaign, despite his LaLiga triumph the previous year. And Carlo Ancelotti — who won league and European doubles in 2021-22 and 2023-24 — was asked to leave in May 2025, subsequently taking charge of the Brazil national team.
In Italy, Massimiliano Allegri secured five consecutive Serie A titles between 2014 and 2019 with Juventus, yet his exit was announced just 27 days after winning the 2018-19 Scudetto. His replacement, Maurizio Sarri, delivered a ninth straight Scudetto — then was sacked one year into a three-year deal after Lyon knocked Juve out of the Champions League in the round of 16. Germany tells a similar story. Ancelotti won the Bundesliga in his first season at Bayern Munich before being dismissed the following September, a 3-0 humiliation against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage proving the final straw. Julian Nagelsmann won Bayern’s 10th consecutive Bundesliga title in 2021-22, yet found himself out of work in May 2023 — with his side just one point behind Borussia Dortmund — replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who promptly won the title on goal difference.
PSG, naturally, are no strangers to the practice either. Laurent Blanc won three straight Ligue 1 titles and a domestic quadruple in 2015-16, yet was sacked after a Champions League quarterfinal exit against Manchester City. Mauricio Pochettino finally tasted Ligue 1 glory in 2021-22 after his Tottenham Hotspur travails, only to be dismissed 18 months into the job for failing to reach the Champions League quarterfinals. His replacement, Christophe Galtier, won Ligue 1 in 2022-23 by a single point — and was then relieved of his duties weeks later. As our colleagues explored in this piece on PSG’s Champions League dominance, the Parisians have long prioritised European glory above all else, and managers who fail to deliver it pay the price regardless of domestic success.
So where does that leave Slot? Firmly in distinguished — if unfortunate — company. Football’s greatest clubs demand relentless excellence, and sentiment has precious little place at the top table. The Anfield faithful will remember his title triumph fondly. The board, however, only ever look forward.