Just how rotten is Richie Foran's record?

It's five days since Caley Thistle's Highland Derby disaster.  Seven points adrift with four games to go, relegation is pretty much a certainty.  The performance in Dingwall was simply dreadful, with the side completely devoid of confidence, discipline or leadership.  Commentator Derek Rae later stated it reminded him of Dundee United at the end of last season, which is a pretty good comparison.

But despite that nightmare, which follows on from conceding four at Motherwell and three at home to St. Johnstone, and the current run of just one win in twenty-three league games since the end of October, Richie Foran seems to be remarkably immune.  Either the board have remarkable faith in him, or they are simply paralyzed by the horror of it all; regardless, it seems that he will remain in the dugout at least until safety is mathematically impossible.

But just for the record, how rotten has Foran's tenure been?  And how many other managers with such a poor record have lasted so long in a job?  Well, here's some food for thought.

Here are the twenty managers with the worst win percentage in Scotland's top flight since 1998-99, when the SPL era (and therefore all football) started.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	Win %	Pts/game	Fate
1	Gerry Collins	Partick Thistle 2003	14	0	2	12	12	31	2	0.00%	0.14	Sacked
2	Franck Sauzee	Hibernian 2001-02	11	0	5	6	8	19	5	0.00%	0.45	Sacked
3	Craig Brewster	Dundee United 2006-07	28	2	11	15	27	56	17	7.14%	0.61	Sacked
4	Paul Lambert	Livingston 2005-06	26	2	6	18	13	55	12	7.69%	0.46	Resigned
5	Barry Smith	Dundee 2012-13	26	3	5	18	14	46	14	11.54%	0.54	Sacked
6	Richie Foran	Inverness CT 2016-17	34	4	13	17	36	66	25	11.76%	0.74	?
7	Davie Irons	Gretna 2007-08	25	3	4	18	22	57	13	12.00%	0.52	Resigned
8	Eddie May	Falkirk 2009-10	23	3	8	12	17	36	17	13.04%	0.74	Sacked
9	Tommy Craig	St. Mirren 2014	15	2	2	11	10	26	8	13.33%	0.53	Sacked
10	Allan Preston	Livingston 2004	15	2	3	10	12	27	9	13.33%	0.60	Sacked
11	Jim McIntyre	Dunfermline 2011-12	30	4	7	19	30	66	19	13.33%	0.63	Sacked
12	Mick Wadsworth	Gretna 2008	13	2	4	7	10	26	10	15.38%	0.77	Club went bust
13	Terry Butcher	Hibernian 2013-14	25	4	8	13	22	37	20	16.00%	0.80	Sacked
14	John Robertson	Livingston 2006	12	2	0	10	12	24	6	16.67%	0.50	Managed club in division 1
15	Billy Stark	St. Johnstone 2001-02	30	5	3	22	19	46	18	16.67%	0.60	Managed club in division 1
16	David Hay	Dunfermline 2004-05	35	6	10	19	28	56	28	17.14%	0.80	Sacked
17	Steven Pressley	Falkirk 2010	15	3	5	7	14	21	14	20.00%	0.93	Managed club in division 1
18	Tom Hendrie	St. Mirren 2000-01	38	8	6	24	32	72	30	21.05%	0.79	Managed club in division 1
19	John Lambie	Partick Thistle 2002-03	38	8	11	19	37	58	35	21.05%	0.92	Retired
20	Stephen Kenny	Dunfermline 2006-07	27	6	6	15	18	39	24	22.22%	0.89	Managed club in division 1

Some of those names bring back memories, and not good ones.  Gerry Collins and Franck Sauzee have become synonymous with failure, while it took a special level of incompetence to achieve what Brewster managed with Dundee United.  Paul Lambert of course went on to much better things in management but his spell with Livi was a disaster.  Barry Smith was on a hiding to nothing with a Dundee side who only ended up in the SPL because Rangers were chucked out.

Foran ranks sixth-worst.  Among those with better win percentages are Eddie May, Tommy Craig and Allan Preston.  Both the guys who managed Gretna during their march to liquidation have a better win percentage.  Even Terry Butcher's spell at Hibs wasn't as bad than this.

It's worth noting the Irishman is the only manager in the top 14 to last more than 30 Premiership games in charge.

What if we look at points per game instead?  Well, here's what we get.

			P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS	Win %	Pts/game	Fate
1	Gerry Collins	Partick Thistle 2003	14	0	2	12	12	31	2	0.00%	0.14	Sacked
2	Franck Sauzee	Hibernian 2001-02	11	0	5	6	8	19	5	0.00%	0.45	Sacked
3	Paul Lambert	Livingston 2005-06	26	2	6	18	13	55	12	7.69%	0.46	Resigned
4	John Robertson	Livingston 2006	12	2	0	10	12	24	6	16.67%	0.50	Managed club in division 1
5	Davie Irons	Gretna 2007-08	25	3	4	18	22	57	13	12.00%	0.52	Resigned
6	Tommy Craig	St. Mirren 2014	15	2	2	11	10	26	8	13.33%	0.53	Sacked
7	Barry Smith	Dundee 2012-13	26	3	5	18	14	46	14	11.54%	0.54	Sacked
8	Allan Preston	Livingston 2004	15	2	3	10	12	27	9	13.33%	0.60	Sacked
9	Billy Stark	St. Johnstone 2001-02	30	5	3	22	19	46	18	16.67%	0.60	Managed club in division 1
10	Craig Brewster	Dundee United 2006-07	28	2	11	15	27	56	17	7.14%	0.61	Sacked
11	Jim McIntyre	Dunfermline 2011-12	30	4	7	19	30	66	19	13.33%	0.63	Sacked
12	Richie Foran	Inverness CT 2016-17	34	4	13	17	36	66	25	11.76%	0.74	?
13	Eddie May	Falkirk 2009-10	23	3	8	12	17	36	17	13.04%	0.74	Sacked
14	Mick Wadsworth	Gretna 2008	13	2	4	7	10	26	10	15.38%	0.77	Club went bust
15	Tom Hendrie	St. Mirren 2000-01	38	8	6	24	32	72	30	21.05%	0.79	Managed club in division 1
16	Terry Butcher	Hibernian 2013-14	25	4	8	13	22	37	20	16.00%	0.80	Sacked
17	David Hay	Dunfermline 2004-05	35	6	10	19	28	56	28	17.14%	0.80	Sacked
18	Stephen Kenny	Dunfermline 2006-07	27	6	6	15	18	39	24	22.22%	0.89	Managed club in division 1
19	Jim Leishman	Dunfermline 2005-06	52	12	11	29	47	88	47	23.08%	0.90	Became General Manager
20	John Lambie	Partick Thistle 2002-03	38	8	11	19	37	58	35	21.05%	0.92	Retired

Aye, so it's not much better reading.  A high number of draws means that Foran 'improves' to twelfth, but look at the names above him.  It's still grim.  And again, no-one else with such a bad record lasted as long.

So, as regards the question "just how bad has Richie Foran's spell in charge of Caley Thistle been?", I think the answer is pretty obvious.


Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007.  He has a life outside this blog.  Honestly.