Top 10 Youngest Premier League Managers in History

The English Premier League has been widely considered the Pinnacle of club football, a place for players and managers to showcase their excellence in the best league in the world. This tradition has sustained and grown over the years, and the league is still home to the world’s most elite tacticians.

Over the years, the fashion of appointmenting younger managers has been welcomed by the league, as the average age of head coaches continues to drop in the English top flight.

With more and more clubs putting their faith in young and promising head coaches, the latest addition to this esteem list is Fabian Hurzeler of Brighton & Hove Albion, as of the 2024/25 season, the league only has six managers above the age of 50 years.

Notably, the trend of signing young minds in coaching is not new for the Premier League as it has been going on ever since the inception of the league in the mid-1990s up to the present day. Let’s take a closer look at the 10 Youngest Premier League managers in the history of the Premier League.

Youngest Premier League managers

10. Stuart Pearce: 34 years, 7 months, 29 days

At the time Stuart Pearce was given the charge of Nottingham Forest as caretaker manager following the resignation of Frank Clark in December 1996, he was still playing for the club as a defender.

He managed 23 games as a player-coach from December 1996 to May 1997 and he made 398 appearances for Forest as a player. Unfortunately, The Tricky Trees suffered relegation at the end of the 1996/97 season.

In January 1997, Pearce won the Premier League Manager award and Dave Bassett eventually replaced Stuart Pearce as the new permanent manager. Meanwhile, The Englishmen continued his spell as a player until 2002.

9. Alex Neil: 34 years, 1 month, 30 days

After taking retirement from playing, Alex Neil’s journey began in his home country at Hamilton Academical where he polished his skills as a head coach and guided Hamilton to Scotland’s top-flight league.

In a brief time, When Alex Niel was 34 years old, he got himself the head coach job at Norwich City that time playing in the England second-tier — EFL Championship in January 2015.

The Scotsman recreated the magic again, with the Canaries within just six months, steering the club to secure promotion into the Premier League and become one of the youngest managers in the history of the league.

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8. Kevin MacDonald: 34 years, 1 day

Kevin MacDonald’s short stint as manager came with Leicester City during the 1994/95 season under a surprising turn of events when Brian Little resigned from his role to take up the managerial job at Aston Villa.

Little exit gave no time to MacDonald, 34 who was quickly elected as the caretaker manager of the foxes in November 1994. The Scottish manager had only spent a month at the helm of Foxes.

Under Kevin’s management, Leicester City did manage a 2-1 Premier League win over Arsenal and hosted former manager Little’s Aston Villa in a hostile 1-1 draw at Filbert Street respectively.

7. Ruud Gullit: 33 years, 11 months, 18 days

One of the greatest midfielders of all time, Ruud Gullit joined Chelsea as a player in 1995 signed by then-Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle. The Dutch icon continued to excel on the pitch as a player in his debut season in England.

Following the departure of Hoddle who got elected to manage Three Lions in 1996, Chelsea made a bold move appointing Gullit as manager- player role in only his second season at West London.

During his maiden 1996/97 campaign as a manager, he guided Chelsea to FA Cup glory and became the first Dutch and also the youngest manager in Premier League history. However, after falling out with club owner Ken Bates, he was sacked in 1998.

6. Andre Villas-Boas: 33 years, 9 months, 28 days

Andre Villas-Boas followed in the comparable footsteps of his mentor José Mourinho after learning management skills from the ‘Special one’ during his time as his assistant coach at Chelsea from 2004 to 2007.

In 2011, Chelsea spent a record-breaking £13.3 million fee to bring the Portuguese tactician after watching his success with Porto FC, as he was the youngest manager to lift the UEFA Europa League title.

At 33, Villas-Boas was amongst the youngest managers making waves with his work, however, his style of play did not suit well with the Blues. Consequently, his spell only lasted a single year until March 2012.

5. Gianluca Vialli: 33 years, 7 months, 30 days

In 1996, Gianluca Vialli arrived at Stamford Bridge after immensely successful spells in Italy with Serie A outfits Juventus and Sampordia under Rudd Gullit and played a part in winning the FA Cup and English Leagues Cup.

Following Gullit’s departure, the Italian assumed the role of manager-player to crown the achievement of being the first Italian to manage in the Premier League. He worked further on the foundation laid by Gullit.

Vialli 33, surpassed the Dutchman to become the youngest Premier League manager and oversaw 135 matches as Chelsea boss in all competitions. Moreover, he led the English club to the League Cup, Community Sheild, UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and FA Cup feats.

4. Chris Coleman: 32 years, 7 months, 23 days

Chris Coleman’s playing career ended unexpectedly following a horrific car accident in 2001 and subsequently retired while donning the Fulham shirt in 2002. However, swiftly got himself into an assistant manager role at Craven Cottage.

He gained significant experience under the Fulham manager Jean Tigana and then went on to succeed the Frenchman during the end of the 2002/03 campaign. Coleman was initially offered a 12-month contract.

The Welshman served four years at Fulham as their manager and successfully helped them stay in the Premier League including a 9th place finish 2003/04 season and supervised 176 matches from the sidelines.

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3. Attilio Lombardo: 32 years, 2 months, 6 days

In 1998, Attilio Lombardo took the Crystal Palace interim role earning the distinction of youngest Premier League manager surpassing fellow Italian Gianluca Vialli around the same time.

The Italian midfielder was one of those rare player-manager positions, a role that was in fashion during that time in the English Premier League. Lombardo was assigned the manager job as a successor to Steve Coppell.

The Italian was 32 years old with no prior experience in coaching also did no help in Crystal Palace’s turmoil season as the Eagles were relegated after finishing at the bottom of the table. though, Lombardo continued at Selhurst Park as a player.

2. Fabian Hurzeler: 31 years, 5 months, 22 days

The Seagulls bid farewell to their inspirational Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi in the summer of 2024, Brighton & Hove roped in 31-year-old German tactician from Bundesliga club St Pauli as De Zerb’s heir at Amex Stadium.

Hurzeler had guided Pauli to the first tier of German football in 2023/24 seasons and his arrival made him the youngest-ever permanent Premier League manager in history at 31.

Despite being a young manager, Fabian Hurzeler is a phenomenal tactician and can work with limited resources and align with Brighton & Hove’s vision and philosophy. They are enjoying a head start, currently in 4th place on the Premier League table in the first 13 matches.

1. Ryan Mason: 29 years, 10 months, 8 days

A terrible head injury cut short Ryan Mason’s playing occupation forcing him to hang his boots at early 26 and a premature end to his career, he wasted no time turning to coaching at Tottenham’s youth set-up.

Mason worked across the ranks of Tottenham Hotspurs from Head of Academy Coaching to Technical coach and worked alongside Jose Mourinho and Mourcio Pochettinho at the North London club.

At the age 29-year-old, the former Spurs midfielder opted as interim manager following the sacking of Jose Mourinho before the Carabao Cup Final in 2021. Sadly, Tottenham lost the final to Man City 1-0 at Wembley but they picked four league wins under Ryan Mason in total 7 matches.

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