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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Liam Bryce

The 6 shortest managerial stints that still lasted longer than Liz Truss

And so it's goodbye and farewell to Liz Truss. All the best and thanks for, well... nothing, really.

After just 44 disastrous days in office, another bungling incumbent of 10 Downing Street has bitten the dust. Truss replaced Boris Johnson on September 6, her predecessor doing her the huge favour of leaving his post with the bar for integrity, honesty and all-round competence pretty much on the floor.

Rather than do anything to raise it, the former foreign secretary somehow contrived to trip over it and stumble from one disaster after another, a remarkable achievement in such a short space of time. With prime ministerial bingo set to throw up a new Tory leader, the whole thing is beginning to resemble that of football's managerial merry-go-round. Even then, there are an abundance of managers famous for their short period in situ who have still managed to outlast the woman appointed to literally run the country.

Here are six well-known missteps that still ran longer than Truss at No 10.

Brian Clough (Leeds United) - 44 days

This list just wouldn't be complete without the managerial disaster so infamous they made a movie about it. In truth, it's a real mystery as to how this one didn't work out as planned.

In his previous role as Derby manager, Clough had spent a not inconsiderable amount of time making thoroughly lighthearted and not at all inflammatory comments about his eventual Elland Road predecessor Don Revie and his players. It was all the usual banter. You know, playful japes about them being "dirty" and "cheats", allegedly following it up on his first day as Leeds boss by telling those very same players to "throw your medals in the bin because they were not won fairly."

Kenny Miller (Livingston) - 45 days

No bad blood or glaring mishaps here, just a club and manager who ended up on different pages.

Miller 's appointment as player-manager at Livi in 2018 was a surprise one for a couple of reasons - one being it was his first ever post as a boss and the second was the dual role is a bit of a rarity in modern football, especially at higher levels. It was little over a month before Livi intimated to the former Rangers and Celtic striker they felt the juggling act wasn't working, requesting he take to the dugout full-time.

Miller, however, wasn't prepared to hang up his boots just yet (he was a youthful 38 at the time) and the two parties agreed it was best to part ways. The veteran forward then signed for Dundee and latterly Partick Thistle before finally calling time on his playing career.

Alex McLeish (Zamalek) - 65 days

A classic tale of manager vs interfering owner and unfortunately for McLeish, there tends to be only one party keeps their job in such stand-offs. The former Rangers and Hibs manager made a surprise move to the Egyptian Premier League in 2016 but soon found himself in an impossible position.

Promises from on high that president Mortada Mansour wouldn't get involved in footballing matters, McLeish soon himself being told who to pick in his starting XI. The former Scotland manager refused to bow to pressure and was eventually sacked after little over two months in charge. He was also further angered by the club allegedly failing to pay his coaches.

Jack Ross (Dundee United) - 71 days

When Dundee United pulled off a stunning victory over AZ Alkmaar in Europa Conference League qualifying earlier this summer, Ross joked that he might be better off quitting there and then. Given what followed, it probably wasn't a bad idea in the end.

That famous night at Tannadice proved a flash in the pain and the former Hibs and Sunderland boss was gone just a few months later with a few batterings on a throughly spoiled copybook - the most infamous being a 9-0 demolition from Celtic that ultimately cost him his position, the footballing equivalent of Truss' catastrophic mini-budget.

Frank de Boer (Crystal Palace) - 77 days

The former Rangers defender arrived at Selhurst Park in 2017 with four straight Eredivisie titles under his belt after a stellar spell managing Ajax few years prior. Four, as it turns out, was also the number of Premier League games he was afforded before being brutally sacked and replaced by Roy Hodgson.

De Boer's Palace side lost every one of those matches and failed to find the net once. He did, however, manage an EFL Cup win over Ipswich Town amid all the gloom.

Ray McKinnon (Morton) - 93 days

Speak not the name Raymond McKinnon within the walls of Cappielow Park. The former Dundee United manager rocked up in Greenock and the most bizarre thing about his now infamous tenure was it bore no resemblance to some of the other slow-motion car crashes featured on this last.

Ray McKinnon is unveiled as the new Morton manager (SNS Group)

Morton looked to be a team on the up under his guidance, making a number of signings and starting the Championship campaign with real promise. When rumours emerged that he'd upped and left for Falkirk on. transfer deadline day, they were hardly given the time of day initially.

That was until Falkirk announced their new manager later that day - none other than Mr McKinnon himself. When the two clubs met in the league met a few months later, the Greenock Telegraph handed out pictures of McKinnon's face with with the word "JUDAS" emblazoned underneath. As you do.

And those that didn't make it...

Honourable mentions here must go to those who didn't quite manage Truss' historic 44 day run. First up is Peter Cormack who, after only 10 days as Cowdenbeath manager, was informed his services were no longer required while standing at a burger van near the Forth Road Bridge.

And it would be remiss of us not to mention what must surely be the shortest managerial stint in history. Clocking in at a whopping 10 minutes, Leroy Rosenior was appointed Torquay United manager while the club were still working out the details of a takeover. Mere minutes into his tenure, however, a new consortium swept to power and promptly relieved Rosenior of his duties.

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