Modern football has long since morphed into a cynical business driven solely by immediate results. Managers are rarely given time to develop their teams or implement their tactics. The moment a team hits a rough patch, furious fans, the press, and panic-stricken club hierarchies descend upon the manager.
However, in European football, there are still clubs that have chosen a radically different path. They have retained their faith in managers during the deepest crises, providing them with the necessary leeway and time to build from the ground up. The stories of six clubs starkly illustrate that instant success is a myth, and blind trust can yield monumental rewards.
Atalanta and Gian Piero Gasperini: an ultimatum in the gym and the defeat of the invincibles
The decision by Atalanta's hierarchy to stick with Gian Piero Gasperini now appears as a stroke of genius, yet back in autumn 2016, it felt like pure madness. The coach arrived in Bergamo after a disastrous stint with Inter, where he lasted a mere five matches. His start in the new club was no less catastrophic: four defeats in the first five Serie A games and a wave of criticism regarding his tactical approach.
Nonetheless, the club's hierarchy saw it differently: the problem lay not in the tactical ideas but in the need for time to implement an aggressive man-marking system and intricate attacking play.
The turning point came at the end of September 2016 following a home defeat to Palermo (0-1). The press was vocally calling for his sacking, but club president Antonio Percassi made a bold move. He gathered the entire team in the club's gym and issued a stern ultimatum:
Listen closely and remember this. I have no doubts about Gasperini. He is our head coach, the best specialist we could have, and he is untouchable. Now let’s see what you’re going to do about it.
Feeling the powerful backing from above, yet acutely aware of the precarious situation, Gasperini gambled on the game against Napoli. He ruthlessly benched seasoned veterans and put his faith in inexperienced youth from the academy — Mattia Caldara, Roberto Gagliardini, and Andrea Conti.
Later, Percassi opened up to Gazzetta dello Sport:
I had a sleepless night when Gasperini confessed he intended to field all these kids against Napoli. If the plan flopped, he risked ruining their confidence. But he was absolutely spot on.
Atalanta shockingly defeated the Neapolitans 1-0. The young core instantly gelled, transforming a side on the brink of relegation into an unstoppable force. The Bergamaschi concluded Gasperini's debut season in a historic fourth place in Serie A.
This marked the dawn of a golden era. The club became a regular in the Champions League, qualifying for the competition five times under his tenure. The pinnacle of their domestic campaign came in 2019/20, when they netted an astounding 98 goals, a record for that season and among the highest scoring records in the modern history of Serie A. In that same year, they reached the Champions League quarter-finals, narrowly losing to PSG (1-2) in the dying moments.
The ultimate achievement was realised in May 2024. Atalanta triumphed over the invincible Bayer 3-0 in the Europa League final, snapping their stunning 51-game unbeaten run, thanks to a hat-trick from Ademola Lookman. This trophy became the first European silverware in the club's history and the first significant title in Gasperini's managerial career.
The nine-year association reached its logical conclusion in June 2025. The split was not due to conflict or decline; Gasperini simply chose not to extend his contract, moving on to Roma. After his departure, Atalanta finished seventh, rapidly changing managers three times — Ivan Juric, Raffaele Palladino, and Maurizio Sarri — losing the stability they had built.
Arsenal and Mikel Arteta: a human shield for players and much-anticipated silverware
The patience of Arsenal’s hierarchy towards Mikel Arteta set a textbook example of club perseverance. The Basque took charge of the Gunners in December 2019, having left Pep Guardiola's staff at Manchester City. The team was ninth in the league but Arteta immediately inspired hope by winning the FA Cup, defeating Manchester City and Chelsea along the way.
However, the following season turned into a nightmare: another eighth place finish and the club's first failure to qualify for Europe in a quarter-century. The crisis peaked in November-December 2020, during an eight-match winless streak in the Premier League, leaving the Londoners languishing in 15th, just four points above the relegation zone.
Fans clamoured for the manager's head, but Arteta shielded the team at press conferences:
We aren’t winning matches, and in this situation, you simply have to stick your chest out and say: ‘Hit me, you have every right to do so since I’m not giving results’. My chest is open, boys; let’s have it.
The hierarchy remained steadfast. Technical director Edu Gaspar openly supported Arteta:
If we start questioning everything after each setback, we’ll never build anything. Mikel is doing fantastic work. We see progress inside the club. We need stability now, not panic.
On Boxing Day 2020, the coach took a risk by trusting academy products Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. The Gunners convincingly defeated Chelsea 3-1, igniting an eight-match unbeaten run.
The 2021/22 season began with another slap in the face: three heavy defeats against Brentford, Chelsea, and Manchester City, with an aggregate score of 0-9, leaving them bottom of the table despite summer spending of £150 million on Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Yet the club maintained its cool. The team's response was immediate: a rise to fifth place by the year's end, followed by a runners-up finish with 84 points and a return to the Champions League for the first time in seven years.
In the 2023/24 campaign, Arsenal amassed 89 points, battling City for the title until the final day, and a year later finished second again, reaching the Champions League semi-finals while thrashing Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate.
The long-awaited triumph came in the 2025/26 season. After three successive second-place finishes, Arteta’s men finally clinched the Premier League title, ending a 22-year drought. The Basque became the 13th manager in history to win the trophy and the first to do so as both a player and manager for the same club. The Gunners finished with a record of 26 wins, 7 draws, and 5 defeats, reaching the Champions League final, where they lost to PSG on penalties. In summer 2026, the Spaniard secured his third FA Community Shield (3-0 against City) and is still on the hunt for new trophies.
Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone: 800 matches against the tide
When Diego Simeone took over Atletico on December 23, 2011, they were languishing in tenth place in La Liga, just four points above the relegation zone. The club was synonymous with managerial chaos, having changed 49 managers in the previous 24 years.
The Argentine completely broke the toxic cycle. In his debut season, he took the club to fifth place and clinched the Europa League, thrashing Athletic Bilbao 3-0. This was followed by a third place finish, a Copa del Rey victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu (2-1), and a Super Cup win against Chelsea (4-1).
Atletico's historic breakthrough came in the 2013/14 season when they amassed 90 points, breaking the long-standing duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid to claim the La Liga title. That same year, they came agonisingly close to winning the Champions League, conceding victory to Los Blancos in stoppage time.
Simeone's signature rock-solid style reached its zenith in the 2015/16 season: 18 goals conceded in 38 games (0.47 per game), 24 clean sheets, and another final appearance in the premier European competition.
This was followed by a second Europa League triumph (2017/18), another UEFA Super Cup, and a second La Liga title in the 2020/21 season (86 points). Throughout Simeone's tenure, Atletico never finished lower than fourth, guaranteeing themselves 14 consecutive seasons in the Champions League — a far cry from the two appearances in 15 years prior to his arrival.
In May 2026, Simeone marked his 800th official match in charge of the club (against Villarreal), eclipsing Luis Aragones' long-standing record of 612 matches. His statistics are impressive: 470 wins, 168 draws, and a staggering 58.8% win rate.
Despite finishing fourth in the 2025/26 season and losing in the Copa del Rey final to Real Sociedad, the club's hierarchy unconditionally backs the Argentine, reportedly paying him around 26 million euros a year — the second highest of any coach in the world.
Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp: six home defeats in a row and belief through tears
Jurgen Klopp's nine-year era at Anfield will forever remain a sterling example of managerial renaissance. Arriving in October 2015, the German inherited a disparate squad. In his debut season, the team finished eighth and lost two finals — the League Cup (to Manchester City) and the Europa League (to Sevilla).
This was followed by two fourth place finishes and a heartbreaking Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kyiv. Three consecutive final defeats could have broken anyone, but the owners of the Merseysiders believed in Klopp's project. Before him, the club hadn’t seen European finals for nine years — since Rafael Benitez in 2007.
The reward for their patience was plentiful. In the 2018/19 season, the Reds garnered a phenomenal 97 points in the Premier League and secured their sixth Champions League title, defeating Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid. They then followed it up with a UEFA Super Cup win against Chelsea.
In the following year, history was written: Liverpool dominated the league with 99 points (32 wins in 38 matches), finishing 18 points ahead of City, thus breaking a 30-year title drought.
The ultimate test came in the 2020/21 season. A wave of devastating injuries ravaged the entire central defence — Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip were all sidelined. A 68-match winning streak at Anfield crumbled, leading to six consecutive home defeats.
Personal tragedy struck for Klopp too: in January 2021, his mother passed away, and due to COVID-19 restrictions he was unable to attend her funeral. Rumours regarding his sacking and a move to the Germany national team were rife. Yet, the German publicly quashed any speculation:
Was I sacked or did I leave myself? I don’t need a holiday. I’m full of energy, honestly. I take 100% responsibility for what’s happening and feel it even more when things go wrong.
The club resisted the panic that had beset other teams, finishing strongly and claiming third place, securing Champions League qualification. Thereafter, they achieved 92 points in the league, won both national cups, and reached another European final in 2022. When the team fell to fifth place in the 2022/23 season, Klopp remained untouched, granted time to complete a midfield overhaul that yielded a League Cup win and a bronze medal before his emotional departure in May 2024.
The German left behind a smoothly running system: Arne Slot clinched the championship in his debut season of 2024/25, and when he slipped to fifth the following year, the hierarchy once again demonstrated their hallmark composure, allowing the specialist to complete the season in peace. This culture of trust has since been passed onto Andoni Iraola.
Brentford and Thomas Frank: cold calculations against dismissal
Danish coach Thomas Frank took charge of the Bees on 16 October 2018 following Dean Smith's departure to Aston Villa. The early months were nothing short of disastrous: just one victory in the first ten Championship matches. In any other club, the manager would have been out the door within a day.
Frank radically overhauled the tactical setup to a 3-4-3 and guided the club to an 11th place finish. Years later, the manager recalled a historical conversation with club bosses Matthew Benham, Rasmus Ankersen, and Phil Giles:
In 99% of the clubs in the world, you’d get sacked after eight defeats in ten matches. But Matthew, Rasmus, and Phil came to me with a wealth of statistical data and said: ‘Look at the chances you’re creating, see how the players are fighting for you, how hard they’re working in training. We see a positive trajectory. Keep going.’ Such rational cool-headedness in modern football is unprecedented.
Just a year later, Brentford surged to third place and reached the play-off final, narrowly losing to Fulham (1-2). The defeat didn’t spark panic; the following campaign (2020/21) saw them finish third again and triumphantly secure promotion to the Premier League with a victory over Swansea (2-0), marking their return to the top flight for the first time since 1947. Frank became the first Danish manager in the league's history.
The modest newcomers made an impact among the big spenders, finishing 13th. Key to their success were unconventional scientific approaches — notably, the infamous long throw-ins. Working with specialist Thomas Gronnemark during the Championship, the Dane turned throw-ins into a lethal weapon. In their debut Premier League season, Brentford led the league in xG from set pieces (6.40) and scored three goals from throw-in situations.
What followed was a ninth place finish in the 2022/23 season (59 points) and survival during a brutal injury crisis in 2024 (16th place). Frank repaid the faith shown in him with a tenth place finish in 2025, after which he moved on to Tottenham. However, in North London, the Dane learned firsthand about the difference in mindsets; lacking the customary patience, he was sacked just eight months later while sitting 16th in the league.
Heidenheim and Frank Schmidt: 18 years in charge, a lifetime contract, and refusal to settle for bronze
The story of Frank Schmidt is a triumph of managerial loyalty. Taking the helm of the modest side from his hometown on September 17, 2007, in Germany's fifth division, he has been continuously in charge for more than 18 years, setting a record for the longest managerial tenure in German professional football history.
Schmidt accomplished the improbable. He meticulously guided the club through the fourth division, clinched a spot in the Third League in 2009, advanced to the Second Bundesliga in 2014, and achieved an incredible feat in spring 2023. In the final round, Heidenheim was in third place, but scored two goals in stoppage time against Jahn Regensburg (3-2), dramatically overtaking Hamburg to move up to the elite division with gold medals for the first time in their history.
The fairytale continued in the 2023/24 season: the modest town club not only survived but finished eighth, sensationally qualifying for the Conference League.
In the following year, it was a fight for survival, with just eight wins in 34 matches, ending up 16th and requiring a dramatic relegation play-off against Elversberg, where Leo Sien's decisive goal in stoppage time preserved their top-flight status. In the 2025/26 season, the club was relegated on the second attempt, finishing 17th.
However, nobody even considered sacking Schmidt. The manager has overseen 677 matches (308 in the Second Bundesliga, 190 in the Third League, and 101 in the top flight). The club's executive director Holger Sanwald stated time and again:
We will never sack Frank. He has a lifetime contract as long as he wants to be here. If we go down, we go down together; if we rise, we rise hand in hand. He has earned the right to decide how this story ends.
Schmidt has repeatedly declined offers from European giants, preferring the comfort of home:
I don’t need big clubs to feel happy. This is my home, my team that we have built brick by brick. And as far as monuments go... Never erect monuments to living people — there will always be someone who comes along and urinates on it.
