Match of the Day celebrates it's 60th anniversary this week and as part of the celebrations, I'm doing some top 10's of the topics that Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards discuss on their podcast Match of the Day top 10.
Today I'll be doing my top 10 managers.
CONTENDERS:
Sir Alex Ferguson - Man United
Arsene Wenger - Arsenal
Jurgen Klopp - Liverpool
Pep Guardiola - Man City
Rafa Benitez - Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Everton
Sir Bobby Robson - Newcastle
Jose Mourinho - Chelsea, Man United, Tottenham
Claudio Ranieri - Chelsea, Leicester, Fulham, Watford
Sir Kenny Daglish - Blackburn, Liverpool, Newcastle
Carlo Ancelotti - Chelsea, Everton
GARY, ALAN AND MICAH'S TOP 10
Sir Alex Ferguson
Pep Guardiola
Arsene Wenger
Jose Mourinho
Jurgen Klopp
Sir Kenny Daglish
Claudio Ranieri
Sir Bobby Robson
Carlo Ancelotti
Rafa Benitez
MY TOP 10
Sir Alex Ferguson
Pep Guardiola
Arsene Wenger
Jose Mourinho
Jurgen Klopp
Sir Bobby Robson
Sir Kenny Dalglish
Rafa Benitez
Carlo Ancelotti
Claudio Ranieri
THE VERDICT:
I did a list of top 10 managers two years ago when the Premier League was celebrating it's 30th anniversary and my top six is still the same today. Alex Ferguson had to be at no.1 mainly because of the amount of titles he won and the dominance his United side established.
Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger both made big impacts when they arrived in English football, but Pep shades it for me as I think he's made a bigger impact. He's changed the way the game is being played in playing out from the back and a number of teams across the country are now playing that way. He's also established Man City as the dominant team in Europe.
Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp also made big impacts when they first arrived in this country with Mourinho changing the entire mentality at Chelsea and Klopp turning Liverpool from doubters to believers. I'd put Mourinho ahead of Klopp as he won more titles.
My bottom four is completely different to my other list from two years ago as I didn't even consider the other names on this list at the time. Ancelotti and Ranieri occupy the final two spots as they only had one great season in the Premier League, the seasons where they won their respective titles in 2010 and 2016 respectively. I put Rafa Benitez above them both as he managed in the Premier League longer and had more than one good season.
OTHER POTENTIAL CONTENDERS: Harry Redknapp, David Moyes, Roy Hodgson
These three never won a Premier League title unlike all but one of the names on this list, but they did manage a lot of games and more than some of the names on this list. I had all three of them on my list from 2022.
Harry Redknapp and Roy Hodgson were both managers who would save a club from relegation before going on to establish them in the top flight. Redknapp did more than that when he was at Spurs as he went on to guide them to a top four finish before leading them to a Champions League Quarter Final a year later in 2011. Hodgson was someone who would save clubs with no chance of staying up and he did this with Fulham in 2008 and Crystal Palace in 2018. He later lead Fulham into Europe and later a Europa League final in 2010.
Spells at Man United and Sunderland didn't work out for David Moyes, but when he was at West Ham and Everton, he made them very competitive and got them both pushing for Europe. He signed players who were unknown from European leagues and players from the Championship who would go on to become important players for him.
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