10 World Class Footballers Who Sucked As Managers

4. Ossie Ardiles

Argentine international Osvaldo "Ossie" Ardiles became a cult hero in England due a spell with Tottenham Hotspur in the late 70's and 1980's, at a time when foreign players were still rare and exotic creatures. He won the F.A. Cup in his third season with the club and, perhaps best of all, had an F.A. Cup song named after him, with Chas & Dave's "Ossie's Dream". His first move into management was impressive. He brought a so-called "Samba style" to unfashionable Swinton Town in the 1989/90, and his attacking outfit were only denied promotion to the top flight due to alleged irregular payments to players. In the following season, Ardiles was forced to sell the clubs' best players to stave off financial trouble, and soon found himself out of the door when Newcastle United offered an escape route. He lasted just a year in the job, when he took the Toon Army to the bottom of the second division. His next managerial stint was more successful, taking West Brom to victory in the Division Two playoff final, and it was then that former club Tottenham Hotspur came calling. If The Apprentice didn't prove that Alan Sugar has no eye for a business parter, his managerial appointments at Spurs should confirm it. Ardiles spent a good chuck of Sugar's cash on big name players like Gheorghe Popescu and Jurgen Klinsmann but his entertaining side - whom he sometimes lined up in a 2-4-4 formation - could not stop shipping goals and spent most of his spell in charge in the bottom half of the table. Since then, he has adopted a "have managerial qualifications, will travel" attitude and had short spells managing in his native Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Japan, Croatia, Israel, Malaysia and even Syria. Sadly, it doesn't look like we'll see any of Ossie's 2-4-4 formation in the Premier League again.