FFS
The Champions League losers group I think was it’s official title back then.
Alex Ferguson was and still is a superb manager. The best in my lifetime bar none.
Far from a Man Utd fan but have always been impressed by his side’s desire to win, promotion of attacking football, unbeatable team spirit and above all else their results.
+1
Others I’d rate very highly would be Arrigo Sacchi for his Milan tenure, Guus Hiddink for his work on the international scene with South Korea and Australia.
Bob Paisley has to get a mention for his European exploits. 3 European cups is a fantastic record.
Ger Lough , love him or hate him , was a phenomenon with Clare and a breath of fresh air for the sport. He will always have legendary status regardless of his later exploits.
Bill Belichick , again is a love or hate character, but his sheer determinism and bloody mindedness makes him a hero and NFL great.
Richie Bennis.
What I meant to say about O’Neill, and made a balls of it, is that he is relatively unproven at the highest level in the more competitive leagues. While he may be a good man manager I would question his overall greatness.
If you are looking at managers who have performed consistently at the top level then you can’t look past Ferguson. I think his most impressive work has been in the last five or six years post Abramovic where he has spent relatively little money, and lost Ronaldo, yet can still compete at the top level.
Relative to what, aside from the year they cashed in on Ronaldo they would have been one of the highest net spenders in the league in every other season over the past 5 or so years
Relative to Liverpool for instance. I recall some stat out there about Liverpool having a higher net spend in Benitez’s tenure, and that was before United sold Ronaldo.
+1.
It’s also easier to be successful with a club over a long period as you have good foundations in place and know the league, the culture and the opposition. The likes of Mourinho, Capello and Van Gaal to name a few, have pretty much had immediate success at different clubs in different leagues.
Over the past 5 years or so they have spent plenty and had a decent net spend aside from the year Ronaldo left
http://www.transferl…-2007-2011.html
That doesn’t prove anything, just look at value for the current United side. Ferguson has had massive money to spend the last 10 years. The only really notable sale they had to make during this time was Ronaldo. The money English football clubs have spent (wasted) the past decade has been obscene.
What I was trying to avoid in this thread was a list of managers who have performed consistently at the top level. There won’t be much debate if it’s just a list of the most successful managers of all-time. It was more about highlighting the specific traits that portray greatness in certain managers. That can be motivation, specific tactics, revolutionising football, telling horses to run faster, whatever.
If we were just talking about achievements then Mourinho and Guardiola are unparallelled in their strike rate of the managers in the game today.
He deserves credit for how he has kept United at the top for the majority of his time in charge and built 4 or 5 different teams in that time but it is worth remembering that when Chelsea were able to match them financially and got a decent tactical manager in Mourinho in place they were a signifcantly better side than United and City also look like wresting control off them as well now in similar circumstances. There is no doubting that when he leaves there will be huge shoes to fill
For sure, but I think it’s much easier to replicate success at a club you’ve been at for a long time than it is to start off with a new club. The foundations are in place, you know the league, you know the opposition, you have your philosophy in flow. You look at the likes of Mourinho, Capello and Van Gaal who have brought instant success to different clubs in different leagues.
The next name I would like to add to the list:
Antonio Conte
He has now taken Juventus 26 games unbeaten this season, what has stood out for me is how organised and well disciplined his side are. He has also shown himself to be a brilliant tactician already, very flexible and has tailored the shape of his Juventus side to great effect this season, they have been playing a 3-5-2 formation recently, but started out the season with a 4-2-4 before switching latterly to a 4-2-3-1. A strong Juventus can only be good for Italian football and after a tough 6 years, Juventus look to be back in the big time.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lucien Favre turn up at a big EPL side, he could be ideal to take over from Wenger. Another obscure foreign manager for Arsenal with a penchant for attacking football and the promotion of youth.
Jose Mourinho and of course Alex Ferguson are the two that deserve mention for me in soccer.
Surprised Brian Cody hasn’t been mentioned in hurling.
No need really Dunph. It goes without saying.
Marcelo Bielsa is a great manager for me. A pioneer and tactical maverick who sets his teams up to attack attack attack. He is a very innovating coach as well and is a real student of the game.
Wouldn’t be one bit surprised if he replaces either Mourinho or Guardiola depending on which vacancy comes up
Has The Old Rogue been mentioned yet? Mac?
i definitely wouldnt have o’neill included in any list of managers except maybe those who ditch a club 5 days before the start of a season.
He might be ok at motivating players but he usually does this by smashing the wage structure and giving everyone a pay rise. He is the Benchmarking Bertie Ahern of football mangement.
He also tends to get so far with a team and then wheel out some excuse to leave - to cover the fact that he cant take them to the next level. Basically he pushes the wage bill so high and then has little else to motivate with.
He also is an anglophile - absolutely loves the brits. He never took his name out of the ring for the england job a few years ago. Also he took an OBE and insisted that when he took the sunderland job not only would his initials be on the tracksuit but that OBE would be next to MON. THis is disgusting.
I would love to have seen what happened if he wasn’t at Sunderland now and available for the England job. Just out of curiousity.