List of Burnley F.C. managers

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Burnley Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Burnley, Lancashire. Founded on 18 May 1882, the club was one of the first to become professional (in 1883), putting pressure on the Football Association (FA) to permit payments to players.[1] In 1885, the FA legalised professionalism, so the team entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1885–86, and were one of the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888–89.[1] Burnley have played in all four professional divisions of English football from 1888 to the present day.[2] The team have been champions of England twice, in 1920–21 and 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1913–14, and have won the FA Charity Shield twice, in 1960 and 1973.[2][3] Burnley were the second, and are one of only five teams to have won all four professional divisions of English football, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Portsmouth.[4][5]

A football manager is sitting behind a microphone, while his hands are cupped
Sean Dyche guided Burnley to two promotions to the Premier League.

From 1882 to 1894, the Burnley team was selected by the board of directors or a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today.[6] In August 1894, the club appointed a team manager for the first time. Burnley-born Harry Bradshaw was appointed; he had been involved with the club since its foundation in 1882 and he had been a committee member since 1887.[6] Scotsman Frank Hill, who was in charge of Burnley from October 1948 to August 1954, was the first non-English manager in the club's history.[7] From 1954 to 1983, under chairman Bob Lord, only managers with a previous playing career at the club were appointed—this trend ended when John Bond took the post in June 1983.[8][9] Two Burnley managers have died in the job—Spen Whittaker and John Haworth.[10]

The longest-serving person to manage Burnley is Harry Potts, who was in charge of the club for a total of 745 competitive matches: from February 1958 to February 1970 and from February 1977 to October 1979.[11][12] Haworth and Potts are Burnley's most successful managers in terms of competitive honours won, as Haworth claimed one FA Cup (1913–14) and one First Division title (1920–21), while Potts won one First Division championship (1959–60) and the 1960 Charity Shield.[11]

From the beginning of the club's official managerial records in 1894 to the present, Burnley have had 30 permanent managers and 6 caretakers.[11][13] The club's current manager is Mike Jackson, who acts as caretaker following the dismissal of Scott Parker on 30 April 2026.[14]

List of managers

Key
More information Name, Nationality ...
List of Burnley F.C. managers
Name Nationality From To Matches Won Drawn[a] Lost Win%[b] Honours Notes Refs.
Harry Bradshaw  England August 1894 June 1899 172683965039.53 Second Division title: 1897–98 [c][d] [15]
Ernest Mangnall  England March 1900 October 1903 133472759035.34 [e] [17]
Spen Whittaker  England October 1903 April 1910 26210746109040.84 [e][f] [18]
John Haworth  England July 1910 December 1924 456205110141044.96 Second Division promotion: 1912–13
FA Cup winners: 1913–14
First Division runners–up: 1919–20
First Division title: 1920–21
FA Charity Shield runners–up: 1921		 [e] [19]
Albert Pickles  England January 1925 August 1932 33511772146034.93 [g] [20]
Tom Bromilow  England October 1932 July 1935 127502750039.37 [h] [22]
Selection Committee July 1935 September 1939 177634470035.59 [i] [24]
Cliff Britton  England May 1945 September 1948 107523124048.60 FA Cup runners–up: 1946–47
Second Division promotion: 1946–47		 [25]
Frank Hill  Scotland October 1948 August 1954 2571026788039.69 [26]
Alan Brown  England August 1954 July 1957 135563148041.48 [j] [30]
Billy Dougall  Scotland July 1957 January 1958 3014412046.67 [j][k] [31]
Harry Potts  England February 1958 February 1970 605272142191044.96 First Division title: 1959–60
FA Charity Shield winners (shared): 1960
First Division runners–up: 1961–62
FA Cup runners–up: 1961–62		 [j][l] [12]
Jimmy Adamson  England February 1970 January 1976 2841127399039.44 Second Division title: 1972–73
FA Charity Shield winners: 1973
Texaco Cup runners–up: 1973–74		 [j] [32]
Joe Brown  England January 1976 February 1977 52111625021.15 [j] [33]
Harry Potts  England February 1977 October 1979 140493556035.00 Anglo–Scottish Cup winners: 1978–79 [j][l] [12]
Brian Miller  England October 1979 January 1983 180675360037.22 Third Division title: 1981–82 [j][m] [34]
Frank Casper*  England January 1983 June 1983 261169042.31 [j][n] [35]
John Bond  England June 1983 August 1984 57211620036.84 [36]
John Benson  Scotland August 1984 May 1985 57161526028.07 [37]
Martin Buchan  Scotland June 1985 October 1985 13526038.46 [38]
Tommy Cavanagh  England October 1985 June 1986 39141015035.90 [39]
Brian Miller  England July 1986 January 1989 140503258035.71 Associate Members' Cup runners–up: 1987–88 [j][m] [34]
Frank Casper  England January 1989 October 1991 150543858036.00 [j][n] [35]
Jimmy Mullen  England October 1991 February 1996 2521026783040.48 Fourth Division title: 1991–92
Second Division play–off winners: 1993–94		 [40]
Clive Middlemass*  England February 1996 March 1996 3012000.00 [41]
Adrian Heath ‡  England March 1996 June 1997 72271728037.50 [j] [42]
Chris Waddle ‡  England July 1997 May 1998 57171624029.82 [43]
Stan Ternent  England June 1998 June 2004 31212282108039.10 Second Division (third tier) promotion: 1999–2000 [j] [44]
Steve Cotterill  England June 2004 November 2007 169554866032.54 [45][46]
Steve Davis*  England November 2007 November 2007 1100100.00 [j] [27][47]
Owen Coyle  Ireland November 2007 January 2010 116492938042.24 Championship play–off winners: 2008–09 [48][49]
Brian Laws  England January 2010 December 2010 4413922029.55 [j] [50]
Stuart Gray*  England December 2010 January 2011 4211050.00 [51][52]
Eddie Howe  England January 2011 October 2012 87341934039.08 [53]
Terry Pashley*  England October 2012 October 2012 3201066.67 [j] [54][55]
Sean Dyche  England October 2012 April 2022 425149118158035.06 Championship promotion: 2013–14
Championship title: 2015–16		 [56][57]
Mike Jackson*  England April 2022 May 2022 8323037.50 [58][59]
Vincent Kompany  Belgium June 2022 May 2024 96412431042.71 Championship title: 2022–23 [60][61]
Scott Parker  England July 2024 April 2026 88362428040.91 Championship promotion: 2024–25 [o] [63][64]
Mike Jackson*  England April 2026 [14][59]
Close

Notes

  1. [a]
    Drawn matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
  2. [b]
    Win% is rounded to two decimal places
  3. [c]
    Harry Bradshaw combined managerial and secretarial duties from March 1897.[6]
  4. [d]
    Following Harry Bradshaw's departure to Woolwich Arsenal in June 1899, team affairs remained in the hands of the board of directors until Ernest Mangnall was appointed in March 1900.[6]
  5. [e]
    Ernest Mangnall, Spen Whittaker and John Haworth combined managerial and secretarial duties during their tenures.[16]
  6. [f]
    Following the death of Spen Whittaker in April 1910, team affairs were placed in the hands of the directors until the end of the season.[10]
  7. [g]
    Albert Pickles also assumed secretarial duties until May 1931.[10]
  8. [h]
    Tom Bromilow also assumed secretarial duties until November 1932.[21]
  9. [i]
    After Tom Bromilow left the club in 1935 to manage Crystal Palace, the directors decided to not appoint a team manager due to economical reasons. Team affairs became a joint effort between chairman Tom Clegg, secretary Alf Boland and senior trainer Billy Dougall.[23]
  10. [j]
    Formerly played for the club[11][27][28][29]
  11. [k]
    After Billy Dougall was hospitalised in November 1957, Ray Bennion assumed first-team duties. Dougall was forced to step down in January 1958 due to ill health, but remained at Burnley as physiotherapist until 1965.[31]
  12. [l]
    Harry Potts served two terms as manager. His cumulative managerial statistics read as – 745 matches, 321 wins, 177 draws, 247 losses, and a winning percentage of 43.09%.[12]
  13. [m]
    Brian Miller served two terms as manager. His cumulative managerial statistics read as – 320 matches, 117 wins, 85 draws, 118 losses, and a winning percentage of 36.56%.[34]
  14. [n]
    Frank Casper served two terms as manager, including one spell as caretaker manager. His cumulative managerial statistics read as – 176 matches, 65 wins, 44 draws, 67 losses, and a winning percentage of 36.93%.[35]
  15. [o]
    Scott Parker was named head coach instead of manager[62]

References

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