They say in life, but especially in football, never go back. So many legacies have been tarnished by players or managers returning to a club for a second time, only to fall short of the standards they set first time around. Mind you, it doesn’t always pan out like that: in fact, sometimes the second stint can be as successful, if not more so, than the first, which can ascend the individual to club legend like status.
Once you’re into the realms of three or more stints with the same club, well, that’s another matter entirely. Claudio Ranieri, at the age of 73, perhaps ought to be enjoying a relaxing retirement after a career in football management that dates back to 1986 and a stint with Italian non-league outfit, Vigor Lamezia.
Who Is Claudio Ranieri?
Born in Rome, it must have come as a huge thrill to Ranieri to be asked to manage Roma in 2009, and his 18-month stint in charge was a successful one; during the 2009/10 campaign, Roma actually led the Serie A with just five games left to play.
Ranieri also took the club to the Coppa Italia final, but unfortunately results were less impressive in his second season and he resigned in February 2011. Subsequent stints at Monaco and Leicester City yielded title wins – in the case of the latter, arguably the most extraordinary top-flight triumph in history. The lure of a return to Roma was never far away, and in March 2019, Ranieri was called back to the Stadio Olimpico to take interim charge until the end of the season.
After a spell in charge of Cagliari came to an end in March 2024, Ranieri retired from management – bringing down the curtain on a career that has seen him manage more top-flight games in the modern era than any other head coach bar Arsène Wenger. Now… well, you can probably guess the rest.
In November 2024, Ranieri was back in the dugout for a third spell in charge of Roma, a club in crisis and desperate to get the fans back on side. Appointing such a legendary figure is a good way to start. But has any manager had more than three stints in charge of the same club?
Martin Allen (Barnet)
What was the connection between Martin Allen and Barnet? It must have been something particularly emotionally resonant as the man known as ‘Mad Dog’ was appointed manager of the Bees on five separate occasions.
In the summer of 2003, Allen got his first crack as head coach of Barnet, overhauling the playing squad and overseeing an immediate improvement in fortunes for the London club. But just as it looked as if the Bees were set to return to league football from the Conference, Allen upped and left for Brentford and Barnet missed out on promotion.
Although the club’s fans were disappointed when Allen jumped ship, they still welcomed him back with open arms in March 2011. Once again, Allen’s wandering eye came back to haunt the Bees, as just three games into an eight-game contract, he upped sticks and joined Notts County as manager.
By April 2012, he was back, and this time Allen saw his contract through. Given a three-game assignment to keep the Bees in League Two, Allen oversaw two victories and accomplished his mission. After a turn at Gillingham, Allen was tempted back to Barnet in March 2014; this time, the objective was to gain promotion back to League Two at the end of the 2014/15 campaign. Once again Allen delivered, before helping the Londoners to consolidate in the fourth tier in 2015/16.
Then Mad Dog did what he always seemed to do: leave Barnet in the lurch for a curious move elsewhere. This time it was to Eastleigh, who played one league below the Bees in the National League. After just two wins in 14 games, he was sacked after less than three months in charge.
Life came full circle once more, with Allen appointed Barnet boss for a fifth time in March 2018. However, he couldn’t keep them in the Football League, and his contract was mutually terminated at the end of the campaign. Tony Kleanthous, the Barnet owner who appointed Allen on each occasion, has described him as being like a ‘girlfriend you can’t get rid of.’ And Allen himself was cryptic in his praise of his regular employer.
It’s perfect, because I never talk to him.
He just gives me the job and I get on with it. I know what he is, I know what he’s like, so he doesn’t bother me and I don’t bother him.
But who would bet against a sixth spell?
Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich)
In terms of top-flight football, the most fulfilling connection between club and manager is the love Jupp Heynckes and Bayern Munich have for one another. The German served the perennial national champions on four different occasions, winning four Bundesliga titles – the first and last an incredible 29 years apart – and a Champions League.
First appointed in the summer of 1987, Heynckes’ first tenure at Bayern lasted four-and-a-bit years and yielded back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1988/89 and 1989/90. But by October 1991, things had started to go pear shaped – Bayern won just four of their opening 12 games of 1991/92, and Heynckes was relieved of his duties.
He went on to manage the likes of Real Madrid, Benfica and Schalke, but retired from football in 2007 aged 62. However, the lure of management – and perhaps some unfinished business at Bayern – saw him return from retirement in 2009 as caretaker boss. He finished off the 2009/10 season with four wins and a draw, catapulting Bayern back into the Champions League places. Heynckes would again return for the 2011/12 campaign, suffering heartache as Bayern finished second in the Bundesliga and lost in the final of the Champions League to Chelsea.
Most thought that the curtain was brought down on Heynckes’ managerial career in the summer of 2013, when he was replaced at Bayern by Pep Guardiola. But in October 2017 he was back; at the age of 72, the iconic manager would get his fourth and final spell in charge at the Allianz Arena. And what a fitting finale it was. Bayern won 22 of the 26 games that Heynckes oversaw, which carried them to the Champions League semi-finals and yet another Bundesliga title.
