Championship longest-serving managers amid Bristol City, Middlesbrough and QPR twists

Paul Heckingbottom has only been in the Preston North End hot seat for 10 months, but he is climbing the Championship longest-serving list.

Since the 2024/25 campaign concluded, there have been managerial changes at Watford, Southampton, West Brom, Norwich City, Hull City and most recently, Sheffield United - with Ruben Selles replacing Chris Wilder.

Middlesbrough and Bristol City are also set to appoint new bosses. Former Luton chief Rob Edwards is the leading candidate to take over at Boro, while the Robins are after ex-Barnsley man Gerhard Struber - according to reports.

At the time of writing, Heckingbottom is the eighth longest-serving manager in the second tier - and set to become seventh, with Marti Cifuentes on gardening leave at QPR and set to be replaced, reportedly, by Julien Stéphan.

Longest serving Championship managers

1. Phil Parkinson, Wrexham (3 years, 353 days)
2. Kieran McKenna, Ipswich (3 years, 185 days)
3. John Mousinho, Portsmouth (2 years, 150 days)
4. Danny Rohl, Sheffield Wednesday (1 year, 249 days)
5. Marti Cifuentes, QPR (1 year, 232 days)
6. Nathan Jones, Charlton Athletic (1 year, 135 days)
7. Chris Davies, Birmingham City (1 year, 13 days)
8. Paul Heckingbottom, PNE (303 days)
9. Frank Lampard, Coventry City (203 days)
10. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Leicester City (202 days)
11. Gary Rowett, Oxford United (181 days)
12. Alex Neil, Millwall (171 days)
13. Mark Robins, Stoke City (169 days)
14. John Eustace, Derby County (126 days)
15. Valerien Ismael, Blackburn Rovers (114 days)
16. Alan Sheehan, Swansea City (51 days)
17. Paolo Pezzolano, Watford (37 days)
18. Will Still, Southampton (25 days)
19. Ryan Mason, West Brom (17 days)
20. Liam Manning, Norwich City (16 days)
21. Sergej Jakirovic, Hull City (7 days)
22. Ruben Selles, Sheffield United (1 day)
23. N/A, Bristol City
24. N/A, Middlesbrough

Your next PNE read: What next for the departing North End men?