Is Bolton’s Gary Megson The Worst Managerial Appointment Of All Time?

Gary Megson's managerial appointment, at Bolton bought mix reviews among both sets of supporters. FanCast columnist Kieran Theivam takes a look back at some previous Managerial appointments that hardly got the supporters pulses racing.

Is Gary Megson the most unpopular managerial appointments in recent years?  It's quite common for a set of fans to be disappointed by the manager their club has appointed, but never have I seen a set of supporters so delighted by that very same man leaving their club. Leicester fans singing "Megson for Bolton" during their 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United will have done nothing to raise the already dampened spirits of Trotters fans.  So it got me thinking, is Megson the most unpopular appointment at a high profile club in recent years?

When I look back at the last ten years, I think of names such as former Tottenham boss Christian Gross, who rather strangely at his press conference revealed to the assembled media that he had arrived by tube, waving a travel card in the air to prove this.  He was an unknown from Swiss club Grasshopper Zurich, and lasted just one year at the north London club.  Tottenham followed the ill judged appointment of Gross by upsetting Spurs fans further after they replaced him with former Gunners manager George Graham.  To appoint a man who had an extremely successful spell at the club's main rival was not a good way to win over the fans having made such a mess of their previous appointment. 

So who else has been an unpopular appointment in recent years?  Well, what about, Avram Grant. Oh yes, Chelsea fans will say he is great on the back of a 6-0 drubbing of Sven's City, but were they singing his praises when he beat off the competition of Huddink, Lippi and Cappello?  I doubt it very much. The same problem could be pointed at Newcastle with the likes of Souness and Roeder; were they really going to deliver that allusive trophy that the Toon Army have been waiting for and are so deserving of? Don't the Geordie fans have every right to be disgruntled by the board's unwillingness to deliver the right manager, time after time?

There was of course a lot of anger down at Fratton Park when Harry Redknapp returned from his unsuccessful spell at rivals Southampton.  There is no denying that Harry has done a great job in turning Pompey into a club fighting for a European place, but I can remember the anger of the fans when it was announced he would be back.  Not a popular choice, but certainly a popular man now. There are so many other names you can throw into the ring whether it's Les Reed at Charlton, Howard Wilkinson at Sunderland or more recently Dennis Wise at Leeds.

So what do you think?  Can you recall a manager at your club who you were really disappointed to see walk through the door?  Perhaps you changed your opinion, or were you proved right? I once had reservations when we appointed Aidy Boothroyd at Watford; you wont hear me disapprove of that decision now.