Chris Hughton guided Newcastle to their first trophy in 16 years – and was then brutally shown the door just months later.
The 66-year-old took charge of the Magpies on an initial interim basis in 2009 following the club’s relegation to the Championship.
Hughton previously oversaw four matches in charge of the Toon as the club’s caretaker manager in September 2008 following the resignation of Kevin Keegan – where he lost on each occasion.
A second spell as their caretaker came between February to March in 2009, where he won just one of his six matches – losing three times.
And the ex-Tottenham Hotspur full-back was again entrusted with the role for the start of the 2009/10 season with owner Mike Ashley not willing to hire a permanent manager as he looked to sell the club.
A draw away at West Brom on the opening was followed by wins against Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Crystal Palace and Leicester.
It saw Hughton awarded the Manager of the Month award for August – an accolade he again scooped for September with Newcastle sitting top of the table after ten games having lost just once.
Newcastle’s impressive start to the season saw Hughton get the manager’s job on a full-time basis in October.
After a slight wobble that month saw Newcastle lose back-to-back games against Nottingham Forest and Scunthorpe, they would be defeated just once more in the 46-game season.
That loss came away at Derby in February, with Newcastle going on to drop points in just four of their last 17 outings.
The Tyneside outfit secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking with six games to spare, as they wrapped up the Championship title having picked up 102 points.
It was Newcastle’s first piece of silverware since they won the same league title under Keegan’s tutelage in his first spell in 1993.
Hughton remains a firm fan favourite at St James’ Park Fans believe Ashley was too harsh in axing him in his second season in chargeHughton ended the 2009/10 season by scooping the LMA Championship Manager of the Year award – after adding the November and April monthly gongs to his trophy cabinet.
But despite enjoying a stunning first term in charge, Ashley was unwilling to enter contract talks to extend Hughton’s stay beyond 2011.
A thumping 5-1 victory over arch-rivals Sunderland and a first away win at Arsenal in nine years did little to convince Ashley that Hughton was the right man going forward.
And after a run of five games without victory, Newcastle wielded the axe on Hughton in December 2010 following a a 3-1 defeat at West Brom.
Newcastle’s fans were left enraged by the decision, with the club sitting in 11th spot.
Arsenal legend Sol Campbell – signed by Hughton in the summer of 2010 – went public in voicing his anger at the sacking as he hit out at the board.
Hughton ended Newcastle’s 16-year wait for silverware, but was shown the door months laterCampbell said: “This will hit the players hard. The players admired him and liked him and won’t be happy now he’s gone like this.
“It makes no sense. Here is a guy who has done an unbelievable job.
“He got the club back into the Premier League and any manager would have been rewarded for that with a new contract, but Chris wasn’t.
“The players are sure to be asking themselves, ‘What the hell is going on?’, that is only natural.
“When we left training this morning none of the players had a clue this was coming. Yes, it has come as a shock, and it will affect the dressing room there is no doubt about that.”
Newcastle ended up appointing Alan Pardew, who guided the club to 12th spot – one place down from where they were at the time of Hughton’s dismissal.
Hughton, who was the first managerial casualty of the 2010/11 top-flight season, would later declare he had no idea why he was relieved of his duties.
Recalling the dreaded conversation he had with then-Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias, Hughton remarked: “What he said was the club wanted to go in a different direction, and that was it.
“He did not explain what the different direction was and I didn’t ask. The conversation didn’t even last two minutes. Did it come as a shock? Yes, it did.
“A few weeks before, there had been a big Sky story saying I was going to get sacked.
“My contract was until the end of this campaign and, at the beginning of the season, talks about a new contract broke down.
“So there were indicators but I wasn’t expecting it, particularly when we were doing well. Our target was to stay in the top division and we were mid-table.
Pardew was brought in as Hughton’s replacement midway through the 2010/11 season“There were some disappointing results. We had lost at home to Blackpool and to Stoke, but we beat Sunderland 5-1, Aston Villa 6-0 and we won at Arsenal, Everton, and West Ham.
“That’s what we expected, an up and down season. But, if your bosses don’t want you or they don’t rate you, they want to bring somebody else in, then it’s only a matter of time.
“Only they know the reasons for sacking me.”
Hughton would return to the dugout to take over at Birmingham in June 2011, where they lost in the Championship play-offs to Blackpool.
An immediate move to Premier League side Norwich followed, where he stayed for nearly two years, before taking over at Brighton, where he lasted nearly five years.
With the Seagulls, he took them to the Premier League and won his first top-flight Manager of the Month award for February 2018 before his 2019 axing, with spells at Nottingham Forest and the Ghanaian national team following.
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