There is often a preconception that a great player will make a great manager because of the knowledge he has built up during his time as a player, and there are some cases where a great player does turn into a great or successful manager such as Kenny Dalglish, Pep Guardiola, Frank de Boer and Michael Laudrup, but often the best managers tend to be those who had limited success as a player. Arguably the two best managers in the world – Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho – did very little in their playing careers but are seen as the definition of success.
Great players often get better managerial jobs earlier than their lesser renowned counterparts because of their name recognition and influence within the game, but for high profile players it can often be best to start at a smaller club with less exposure and pressure.
Some of the very greatest and most intelligent of footballers have failed at managerial level – lots of them were seen as ideal for the position but it never worked out. Obviously there are a million differences from being a player to a manager and it is a transition most struggle with, especially the younger ones who rush straight from playing into management without honing their talent coaching in a variety of places.
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6 Comments
From the moment you open the article, you always knew that Diego was going to be a part of it. Not enough was mentioned of the shambolic 2010 world cup campaign, and just how strange the guy is. One thing I’ll certainly say for him is that he is very friendly towards his players, and knows how to hold a press conference (or rather, doesn’t know how to hold a press conference, much to the enjoyment of everybody else)
Great article though, truly enjoyable read
Bit harsh on Souness being number one on this list considering the success he had at Rangers albeit by his own admission he was out of control but he came in at a time when Celtic were dominating, he came in controversially signed Mo Johnston succesfully pissing off the Celtic fans and winning 7 trophies for them. Others on the list had no success at all.
You forgot Stuart Pierce. If managerial success was due to passion alone he would be the best, unfortunately all he has is passion and he’s terrible !
Damn you forgot Lothar Matthäus. He was the first player who was elected “best player in The world” in 1990/1991, but he also should have won the trophy of beeing the worst coach of the planet. He has trained the weirdest teams you’ve ever heard of in grand football nations like Israel, Hungary and so on, but he never won a championship/title. He always claims to be the next manager for a bundesliga team, but nobody offers him a job. People in Germany are fed up hearing the never ending gossip about “Loddars latest lays” and his stupid TV appearances like his own reality show. He was a fantastic ballplayer, but he is a direct red card as soon as opens the mouth….
I’m going to be controversial and push Roberto Mancini’s nomination forward. Yeah yeah, he won titles in Italy but where were Juventus and AC Milan at the time? In the circumstances and considering how many times in the last 30 years that Serie A was NOT won by one of Inter, AC and Juve (probably around 5), surely it would be harder not to win. The real acid-test of his credentials was in Europe and he belly-flopped horribly. However, Jose Mourinho took a big chunk of his team of European also-rans and won the whole thing within two years, which puts Mancini’s under-achievement in perspective.
At City, granted he’s won a league title but for 80% of his tenure City have been a very poor outfit (including the season they won the league). Prior to last season, they were considered boring and rightly so…I remember going to see them against Man United at home on a Tuesday night and after 20 minutes he made a change to bring on a FOURTH defensive midfielder.
He’s blessed with fortune in the sense that again, his opponents aren’t as strong as they used to be (Chelsea because of their tendency to sack manager’s; United’s non-self enforced debt; Arsenal’s refusal to spend anything). Yet he has had effectively ‘carte-blanche’ when it comes to how much he spends, and its easily forgotten that they themselves suffered the swing of a 7 point lead to an 8 point deficit last season (United lost the title, City didn’t win it).
This season, after spending more than anyone on a side that was already Champions, he’s been found out yet again (as he was in Europe yet again) and is on the brink of suffering the humiliation of losing a league title with a week in April still to go. His failure to sign a striker is criminal, especially since the one he wanted was motivated solely by the desire to stop him going to the nearest rivals.
JOKER.
Enjoyable, and hard to debate any of your picks, in particular Gascoigne and Adams. Time is still on Paul Ince’s side. He continues to get jobs and he’s young enough to prove doubters wrong. Would agree that Souness perhaps doesn’t warrant number one given his early success at Rangers but anyone who signs AND plays Ali Dia in the Premier League needs his head examined.
Also agree with Lothar Matthaus and probably with Roberto Mancini. The way Mourinho came in and did exactly what Mancini couldn’t do at Inter (winning the Champions’ League) coupled with the fact that it wouldn’t take a managerial mastermind to bring success to Manchester City if you can sign several of the world’s best players (and league title in 11/12 aside he hasn’t done much). His man management skills have to be questioned too.
My own vote though is somewhat biased, I’d go for Mark McGhee. Perhaps not a ‘great’ player per se but by Scottish standards he was. And his playing career compared to his management career? Don’t get me started.