It’s been just under four years since Tottenham Hotspur appointed Mauricio Pochettino as the replacement for Tim Sherwood, not yet long enough to complete a standard high school education.
But, assuming he stays longer than season’s end, Pochettino will be the third-longest tenured manager in the Premier League, and would qualify as the dean of the league in terms of consecutive seasons with one top flight club.
[ RECAP: Spurs 2-0 Watford ]
As Sir Alex Ferguson pointed out Sunday in saluting Arsene Wenger, the days of long tenures are (mostly) done.
Burnley’s Sean Dyche and Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe have each been with their clubs for approximately five and a half seasons and have spent almost as long as names tipped to be hot names for any job openings deemed bigger than their current posts.
Maybe we need to start calling years by some new relative scale, as they do for dogs. Envision for a moment if you will, Wenger saying, “I managed Arsenal for 22 years, or 110 Dyche years.”
Only 11 Premier League managers have held their posts for more than a calendar year, four of whom carry the gloss of bringing their clubs up from the Championship (Dyche, Howe, Chris Hughton, and David Wagner). Remember when Jurgen Klopp was hired by Liverpool? Forty-two PL manager changes have been made since that day.
Which begs the question: Are Howe, 40, and Dyche, 46, the league’s last hopes for one manager to spend 10-straight years at a club in this Premier League climate?
With respect to Howe, who may continue to eschew other openings -- he’s been whispered as the next Arsenal boss for ages -- we’ll choose to focus on Dyche in this case, largely because he seems extremely likely to take Burnley on its Europa League adventure next season and, well, he’s earned free beer and his name on a pub in Burnley.
The gaffer keeps on raising the bar!
— Burnley FC 🏆 (@BurnleyOfficial) November 30, 2017
Last year, free drinks.,,
This year, the ultimate accolade! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/OgCZWYTk4A