2. Diego Maradona
There’s not much more that can be said about Diego Maradona’s playing career that hasn’t been said already. An iconic figure of the game, known for his outlandish skill and flamboyancy, he’s adored by everybody except some England fans who never quite got over 1986. Quite possibly the greatest footballer of all time, he became a legend through his performances for the national team and role in the great Napoli side of the 80′s.
Maradona was awarded the Argentinian national team job in 1998, defeating competition in the form of playing legend Diego Simeone and the more experienced and eventual successor, Sergio Batista. Maradona’s spell as manager of the country that idolised him was a period of mounting disasters. He oversaw the humiliating 6-1 defeat to Bolivia, had a contentious relationship with the media and his baffling team selections baffled everybody, in particular his faith in Jonas Gutierrez. His tenure came to a climax at the 2010 World Cup where Argentina edged through the group stages despite being destroyed by South Korea. Argentina’s tournament ended with a 4-0 mauling by Germany and it was Maradona’s last game in charge of the national team.
Maradona attempted to recover in club management, being out in charge of the Arab club, Al-Wasi. He only lasted 22 games, of which 10 were defeats. Maradona was never seen as an ideal candidate for football management and sadly, the mercurial figure just doesn’t seem cut out for it as wherever he has been, the results have been disastrous.
We are currently seeking Football contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Football contributor, click here.
30 Sexiest WAGs Of 2012
50 Sexiest Women You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
10 Most Paused Movie Moments
Football’s Worst Ever Cheating Divers
100 Greatest Premier League Players Of All Time
50 Great Footballers Who Ruled 2012
15 Worst Ever Premier League Signings
Britain’s 50 Greatest Sports Personalities Of 2012
5 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.