20 Greatest Managers.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #20 Guy Roux

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n this new series The Equaliser takes a look at the 20 managers who we deem to have made the biggest impact on football over the last 100 years, taking into account their levels of success as well as the tactical, philosophical and developmental changes to the game they may have introduced and/or mastered.

In reverse order, the first entrant on the list is the great French manager, Guy Roux.



He may not be one of the game’s most successful managers in terms of the sheer weight of trophies won during his career, but Guy Roux is a true footballing phenomenon. Having been appointed coach of Auxerre in 1961 on the modest salary of 600 Francs a month, Roux set about transforming what was a tiny provincial club into one of the powerhouses of twentieth century French football and arguably the most efficiently run institution in the European game.

Running the football club on a shoestring budget, Roux expertly managed Auxerre’s finances and focused on developing local talent through what would go on to become a world-famous academy. The likes of Basile Boli, Eric Cantona and Djibril Cisse have all come through the ranks at Auxerre, as well as players such as Laurent Blanc and Enzo Scifo having had their careers saved by the intervention of Roux who recognised their talent and helped them to fulfil their potential in Burgundy. Such was the relentless efficiency of the club’s youth development, Roux very rarely had to spend significant amounts of money in the transfer market to bolster his squad and, with a young team and a healthy bank balance , his club flourished.

Roux’s first major success came in the 1979/80 season when AJA were promoted to Ligue 1 for the first time in their history. Just a season earlier the club had reached its first Coupe de France final and, although they were ultimately beaten by Nantes, were a team on the cusp of the most glorious period in its history. Auxerre’s first Coupe de France triumph came 14 years later in 1994, as Roux’s team – featuring talents such as Alain Goma, Moussa Saib and Corentin Martins – comfortably overcame Montpellier to write themselves into the history books and establish themselves as an increasingly competitive force at the top end of the French football ladder.



Two years later came Roux’s crowning achievement as Auxerre won the league and cup double, a triumph that marked the astonishing transition that he had brought about during his 35 years at the club. Not only had he transformed Auxerre from a small and insignificant third-tier side into the undisputed kings of French football, but he had done it without spending huge sums of money and, in the most part, used players that he had scouted and developed himself. If it is possible for somebody to win titles single-handedly, than that is exactly what Roux had done. As a result, Auxerre’s 1995/96 campaign surely ranks as one of the most extraordinary achievements of the modern era.

Two more Coupe de France titles and a pair of Intertoto Cup wins were to follow before Roux departed the club in 2005 after an astonishing 44 years in charge, bowing out after guiding Auxerre to 25 consecutive seasons in the top-flight, something which would have been almost unimaginable when he took over almost half a century earlier.

Roux may not have contributed as much to the tactical and philosophical development of football as some of the other managers who will be featured in this series, but the way in which he implemented youth development programmes and a sustainable financial model is a gloriously alternative example in a sport that is increasingly driven by marketing and revenue. The Auxerre legend, now 71, has left an important and timeless legacy.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #19 Bela Guttmann

A footballing nomad and a wandering tactical evangelical, the hot-tempered Bela Guttmann has come to be regarded as one of the most astute coaches to emerge from the sporting intellectual set that arose in Eastern Europe during the 1930s. An adventurous centre-half by trade, Guttmann’s playing career saw him undertake spells in his native Hungary, Austria and New York before he joined Hakoah Vienna in 1933 to embark on what would become a marvellously successful, if fragmented, coaching career.

As Jonathan Wilson points out in Inverting The Pyramid, Guttmann’s mantra was “The third season is fatal” – a motto he appeared to take very seriously, few of his managerial engagements lasting longer than two years. After flitting from club to club throughout the war, the Hungarian got his big break in 1953 when he was hired by AC Milan and promptly guided the Rossoneri to within striking distance of the 1954/55 Serie A title before being dismissed after a series of disputes with the board. “I have been sacked even though I am neither a criminal nor a homosexual!” he pronounced in typically bombastic style upon his departure.

Just two years later, after crossing the Atlantic to undertake a tour of South America with Budapest club Honved, Guttmann decided to stay behind and take on a coaching role with Sao Paulo, Brazil being the place where he left what was arguably his most permanent of legacies. In 1957, his first season with the club, the fiery Hungarian guided Sao Paulo to the national championship and – at least according to his own version of history – introduced the 4-2-4 system to Brazilian football.

Through the work of Guttmann with Sao Paulo it is believed that the system – one which had long been theorised but rarely practised in South America – was gradually implemented as the default for a number of Brazilian teams. The 4-2-4, which became the foundation upon which the attacking ethos of the Brazil teams of the 1950s, 60s and 70s was built, certainly owed much to the progressive attitudes and imagination of Guttmann, even if a good deal of the groundwork had been done by his compatriot Gusztav Sebes.



The continually travelling coach departed Brazil in 1958 and cropped up at Benfica a year later where he was to win the most illustrious trophies of his career. After claiming both the 1960 and ’61 league titles, Guttmann guided his young team to the 1961 European Cup, Benfica becoming the first club to break Real Madrid’s five-year dominance of the competition.

A year later – spearheaded by an electric young Eusebio – the Portuguese team repeated the trick as they overcame the Madrid of Gento, Puskas and Di Stefano 5-3 in one of the greatest European finals ever seen. Guttmann, however, was infuriated by the Benfica directors’ decision not to award him a sizeable financial bonus after the second continental triumph and left the club with a hail of invective, joining Servette in the aftermath and bringing an end to the most bounteous spell of his career in the process.

The Budapest-born coach eventually retired from his labyrinthine career at Porto in 1974, leaving the game having, in the words of Wilson, “more than anybody since [Herbert] Chapman, defined the cult of the manager”. In many ways Guttmann was the last of his kind, an old-fashioned individualist intellectual steeped in an attacking ethos and a philosophy which demanded attractive football and unadulterated positivity at the expense of any semblance of negative defensive tactics.

With football evolving to become an altogether more defensive creature in the years after his retirement and quickly developing into a multi-billion pound industry with results its primary concern, whether we will ever see the like of Guttmann again is, sadly, very doubtful. However, for his work implementing the 4-2-4 in South America and his great success with Benfica, the Hungarian nomad deserves to be considered as one of the greatest coaches there has ever been.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #18 Jack Reynolds

A name that has unfortunately been lost in the mists of time, regularly overshadowed by those who followed in his footsteps, Jack Reynolds is arguably one of the most important figures in the history of twentieth century European football.

The Englishman – who enjoyed 27 golden years as the coach of Ajax – began his career in rather more modest surrounds, hopping between lower league clubs such as Burton United, Grimsby Town and Sheffield Wednesday at the turn of the century but never being considered as anything more than a mediocre player.

Following the conclusion of his playing career in 1911, Reynolds took up his first managerial position a year later with the Swiss club St Gallen. Unfortunately information as to how St Gallen got on under Reynolds’ stewardship was hard to come by, but from looking at a history of the Swiss league it’s clear that they neither won the league nor were relegated. In any case, Reynolds must have done fairly well as, in 1914, he was invited to coach the German national team, an offer he accepted with relish only to have to be prevented from taking up the role following the outbreak of the First World War.

Having put his international management ambitions on hold, Reynolds moved to the Netherlands where he was appointed by Ajax a year later in 1915. During his first spell in Amsterdam – which lasted a full ten years – the relatively inexperienced coach began to build his reputation as he put in place the infrastructure that was required to found Ajax’s now world-renowned youth academy. Demonstrating a philosophy and a set of methods radical for the time, Reynolds ensured that all age group teams at the club were coached in the same tactics and style of play, a continuity for which Amsterdam’s biggest club would become famed.

Having left Ajax to coach city rivals Blauw-Wit in 1925, Reynolds returned to de Godenzonen three years later and won five league titles in twelve years before the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. During those years before the invasion Reynolds had begun to instigate in his team a style and an ethos that would later come to be recognised as the forerunner to the “Total Football” of Michels and Cruyff, the most notable feature of which being Reynolds’ introduction of wingers, a position that had never before been seen in Dutch football. As David Winner points out in his book Brilliant Orange, Reynolds’ Ajax were constantly praised for their “technically controlled game, ball skills and tactics”, the team playing with a style, elegance and efficiency far superior to any other club in the country.



Unfortunately the progress Ajax were making under Reynolds was interrupted by the war, the Englishman being taken as a POW by the Germans and incarcerated in an internment camp in Upper Silesia between 1940 and 1945.

However, following the conclusion of the war the coach returned to Amsterdam for his third spell with his adopted club, winning another title in 1947 before calling time on his footballing career.

He may not be a particularly widely known figure outside Amsterdam, but Reynolds’ influence on Dutch football and the history of Ajax cannot be underestimated. His ultra-modern approach to management in an age still dominated by nineteenth century attitudes to football put in place the mechanisms and philosophies which would lead to Ajax’s domestic and continental dominance of the late sixties and early seventies.

Coaches that came later in the club’s history, most notably Vic Buckingham and Rinus Michels (who Reynolds coached briefly during the 1940s), may get more credit for the establishment of “Total Football”, but it is Jack Reynolds who deserves to be recognised as the true father of football’s most lauded of tactical and ideological systems.

Be interesting watching this progress but, and I won't mention them yet, I'll be disappointed if two managers aren't mentioned, one is one of ours, but that is obvious, the other just a personal opinion.

This is interesting keep it going.

Shanks has to be in there, I wouldn't be surprised to see Mourinho in here

Brian Clough,Alex Ferguson,Bill Shankly,Mourinho,and Matt Busby have to be there if its from a completely unbiased view.

Rinus Michels should be somewhere in there, maybe even 1st. If I recall right, FIFA named him manager of the last century or something. While Mourinho is a great manager and has won many prizes, I wouldn't say he made a big impact on football and changed the game in any way.

John Barnes should be in there some where!

That Roux story is brilliant, 44 years at one club, and completely transforming them.

We're all going to have our own opinions, but I hope the list isn't full of high profile names that we all already know about, I want to read about managers that I've never really heard of, like Roux.

There's a good argument for Rinus Michels being number 1. The guy pretty much invented modern football.

As good a manager Mourinho is I'd agree with the above comment that he's done nothing to revoloutionise the game. His style is fairly boring and not at all great to watch. Even though he's won less, the likes of Arsene Wenger deserve more praise. People like him make the game watchable and he really knows the importance of the term the 'beautiful game'. He may not have won anything the past 5 years but you've got to admit, he's built one hell of a legacy at Arsenal, bettering that of Herbert Chapmans.

No one betters Bill Shankly though.  

Football’s Greatest Managers: #17 Otto Rehhagel

Following Greece’s remarkable triumph at Euro 2004  under his stewardship, Otto Rehhagel has unfortunately come to be labelled as a master of “anti-football” and an exclusive proponent of negative tactics, an unfair assessment of a man who is arguably one of the finest tactical minds of the modern era.

Granted, during his nine-year spell with Greece from 2001 until their exit from the recently concluded 2010 World Cup, the Galanolefki were stylistically founded upon pragmatic principles of defensive solidity, but, as Rehhagel himself said, “We will play exciting football when we have Messi, Kaka, Iniesta and Xavi on the team”.

The veteran German coach was employed by the Hellenic Football Association to maximise the ability of the players at his disposal, something he emphatically succeeded in doing even if it did result in some observers getting hot under the collar.

But more on Rehhagel’s international exploits later. If we are to reach an understanding of just how the former Kaiserslautern defender was able to achieve such success with the Greek national side, then that particular period of his career must be placed into context and understood, as it was, as the pinnacle of an ideological approach that Rehhagel had been refining for the best part of thirty years.

After a frustrating series of brief and relatively unsuccessful stints in charge of Kickers Offenbach, Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund and Arminia Bielefeld throughout the 1970s, Rehhagel eventually began to build his excellent reputation at Fortuna Düsseldorf during the 1979/80 Bundesliga season. In his one and only campaign with the Rheinstadion-based outfit Rehhagel oversaw one of the most successful season in the club’s history, Fortuna winning the German Cup while also managing an eleventh place league finish despite the constraints of a relatively limited squad.

Built around the attacking talents of the gifted Allofs brothers, Klaus and Thomas, Rehhagel’s Fortuna side was, in contrast to some of the team’s he came to manage later in his career, a team constructed with a predominantly offensive ethos. Indeed, during the 79/80 domestic season Fortuna had the second worst defensive record in the Bundesliga, their goalscoring ability and attacking endeavour proving a saving grace.

However, Rehhagel, possibly frustrated with his team’s apparent defensive ineptitude, left Düsseldorf after the conclusion of the season and returned to Werder Bremen – who had just been relegated from the top flight – where he was to become recognised as one of the finest German coaches of his generation.



During his fourteen years with Bremen, Rehhagel transformed the club from a fallen giant into one of Europe’s strongest teams. After guiding his side back into the Bundesliga at the first time of asking, Rehhagel began to develop his philosophy of kontrollierte Offensive, a style of play that favours powerful physical attributes to flair, often featuring two or three centre-halves, a libero, wingers and at least one target man in attack.

It is certainly not an approach for purists or aesthetes, but Rehhagel has used it to make his teams play to a level above and beyond the sum of their parts for years.

No better was this ideology demonstrated than with Bremen, as Die Grün-Weißen marched to the league title in 1988 and 1993 and claimed the German Cup in 1991 and 1994 as well as winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1992. Combining stifling defence with attractive forward play, Werder, with a wise and experienced squad, had risen to become one of the pre-eminent sporting institutions in Germany and Rehhagel’s impact on German football, whether you deem it a positive or negative influence, was beyond doubt.

After some time managing both Bayern Munich and Kaiserslautern during the latter half of the 1990s, Rehhagel was appointed as the head coach of Greece in 2001 and the stage was set for kontrollierte Offensive’s greatest triumph. From the moment he took over the German implemented a strict man-marking system and greater levels of defensive organisation, seeing defence as the best form of attack if Greece were to become capable of matching “bigger” teams on the international stage.

Players such as Traianos Dellas, Michalis Kapsis and Theodoros Zagorakis were all groomed to take on weighty defensive responsibilities and, by the time Euro 2004 came around, the Greeks had a side that, although not as talented as many other European teams, was more than able to hold its own even when confronted with the most potent of attacks.



The Greece of 2004 may now be remembered as a stale and negative unit, but – as Zonal Marking points out  – was initially praised for its sleek passing and intelligent movement, the now prevalent incredulity towards the team not being felt until it looked like Rehhagel’s men might actually do the unthinkable and win the tournament.

During Greece’s run to the title Rehhagel showed himself to be the brilliant tactical mind that we know him to be, outsmarting the likes of Luiz Felipe Scolari and Jacques Santini as he astutely altered his team’s defensive shape to deal with the various attacking threats posed by the opposition. It may have been reactive football, but it was extremely effective. Again, it wasn’t necessarily pretty to watch, but it was hard not to marvel at the Greek defensive discipline and their efficiency in converting the few attacking set-pieces that they won.

Rehhagel’s tactical legacy may not be universally admired, but the German has been one of the most influential men in European football for several decades and was, with Greece, the man behind what was arguably the game’s most incredible achievement. For his contribution to strategic thought and almost unparalleled ability to get the most out of any given group of players, Otto Rehhagel is more than deserving of his place amongst the greatest managers of the last 100 years.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #16 Jose Mourinho

Such is the nature of the man, José Mourinho will always be a figure who divides opinions. His apparent arrogance, his forthright opinions and occasional petulance have all got under the skin of those on the receiving end of his psychological games in the past, but there is surely little doubt that he is one of the greatest managers of the modern era.

He may now be recognised as something of a managerial virtuoso, but the Portuguese’s road to the top was not a straightforward one. The son of a former international goalkeeper, Mourinho initially embarked upon a career as a player but brought an end to his endeavours in 1987 after accepting that he would never make it at the top level. “I’m an intelligent person,” he is quoted as saying. “I knew I was not going to go any higher. The second division was my level.”

Following the conclusion of his playing career, Mourinho went on to study sports science and became a PE teacher while looking for ways to get into the business of coaching. His first major breakthrough came with his hometown club, Vitória de Setúbal, where he took on a role training the youth team and began to work towards his coaching badges. Mourinho’s work in Setúbal greatly impressed the first team manager at the time, Manuel Fernandes, who wasted no time in making him his assistant when he was appointed as the head coach of second division side Estrela da Amadora.

However, Mourinho’s time in Amadora was short-lived, the then 29 year-old jumping at the chance to become Sir Bobby Robson’s translator when the Englishman arrived in Portugal to coach Sporting Lisbon. The two men became close friends during Robson’s time in Lisbon, Mourinho moving to Porto to continue working for the former England manager when he left the capital. Indeed, it was Robson who initially recognised Mourinho’s tactical awareness and exceptional ability to read the game, offering the future Chelsea boss the chance to take a more active role in first team affairs when he became the manager of Barcelona in 1996.

Relishing the extra responsibilities with which he was entrusted at Camp Nou, Mourinho planned training sessions and compiled reports on forthcoming opposition, reports that Robson once said were the best that he’d ever received. When his mentor departed Spain in June 1997, Mourinho stayed in Barcelona and struck up a good working relationship with the new manager, Louis van Gaal. The Dutchman increased the scope of the Portuguese’s role within the club yet further, even allowing Mourinho to take charge of the first team during minor cup competitions such as the Copa Catalunya in which he guided the Blaugrana to victory in May 2000, his first title in a coaching capacity.

With Mourinho’s stock within the European game continually rising, it was only a matter of time before he was offered his first independent managerial job. Such an opportunity materialised in the summer of 2000, “the special one” turning down Bobby Robson’s offer to become assistant manager at Newcastle United before taking the top job at Benfica. Yet his association with the Águias was fleeting, Manuel Vilarinho – a man who had pledged to bring in former player Toni as manager – being elected the club’s new president just weeks into his employment. Following a victory over city rivals Sporting Lisbon, Mourinho asked for a contract extension in order to examine Vilarinho’s loyalty to him and, when the president refused, he resigned with immediate effect less than six months into his tenure.

The following season he took over the reins at União de Leiria, guiding the club to fifth place in the Portuguese top flight – Leiria’s best ever league finish – and further building his burgeoning reputation. Mourinho’s success saw him offered the Porto job ahead of the 2002/03 season, the role that would kick-start his career at the very top level and one he accepted with relish.

Breathing new life into the careers of ageing internationals such as Jorge Costa and players struggling to fulfil their obvious talent like Maniche and Benny McCarthy, Mourinho created a tight-knit and highly motivated outfit, transforming the fortunes of his new club and spurring them on to an historic treble consisting of the league, the domestic cup and the UEFA Cup – beating Celtic 3-2 in the final. As debut seasons go, it was remarkably accomplished.



In 2003/04 Mourinho and Porto successfully defended their domestic crown with an eight-point margin, but it was in the Champions League that Os Dragões and their charismatic manager made the biggest impact. With Porto beating Manchester United, Lyon, Deportivo La Coruña and Monaco amongst others on their way to a remarkable continental triumph, it was during that European campaign that Mourinho’s reputation for efficient, pragmatic football came to the fore.

Only winning one game (the final) by more than two goals, the Portuguese champions displayed what we now recognise as the classic hallmarks of a Mourinho team; near-flawless defensive organisation and unerring efficiency on the counter-attack. This was a victory that had Mourinho’s name written all over it.

Later that summer the Portuguese arrived in London to manage Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea and, despite not ever quite achieving continental success, established the Stamford Bridge club as the predominant force in English football during his time there. Upon his arrival he declared, “Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one” and he certainly didn’t disappoint.

In both of his first two seasons in west London (2004/05 and 2005/06) Mourinho took Chelsea to the Premier League title, constructing a team that played a relatively cautious version of 4-3-3 which proved extremely effective against the rigid 4-4-2 systems deployed by such a large number of their domestic opponents. Two League Cup triumphs and the 2006/07 FA Cup were added to The Blues’ trophy cabinet before their coach left “by mutual consent” under something of a cloud just weeks into the 2007/08 campaign following a series of disputes with the board.

The following summer Massimo Moratti appointed Mourinho as Roberto Mancini’s replacement, the Italian having been sacked after failing to make sufficient headway in the Europe. During his first season in Italy the Portuèguese secured Inter’s fourth consecutive Serie A title, but elimination in the first knockout round of the Champions League saw some question his future on the peninsula.

However, the 2009/10 campaign was to see Mourinho achieve arguably his greatest feat to date, claiming an unprecedented treble consisting of the league title, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League, the first time such a feat had ever been achieved.



Regularly playing with a compact 4-2-3-1 system, it was in the Champions League that Mourinho’s style of football, in the words of Jonathan Wilson, reached its “nihilistic peak”. Doing just enough to overcome Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona with a meagre 16% possession in the second leg of the semi-final  was a triumph for the former Porto manager’s pragmatism which, despite the criticism it has drawn, is clearly a tactical theory and an ideology that wins football matches.

Mourinho’s detractors argue that his football is “boring” and overly negative, also claiming that he’s had a relatively straightforward career in that he’s always been at the club’s with the healthiest bank accounts in their respective leagues, but I don’t think those arguments stand up. Very few managers have achieved anything like the serial success that he has enjoyed over the last six years and, in my mind at least, the Portuguese has – at the age of just 47 – already done enough to be considered as one of the great coaches of the last 100 years.

Whether he will be able to continue to add to his list of honours as he prepares to lead Real Madrid’s second wave of Galácticos this season remains to be seen, but José Mourinho’s incredible managerial credentials are surely now beyond doubt.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #15 Giovanni Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni, now 71, is one of the grand old men of European football and a manager who has won numerous titles across the continent; in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria. In fact, he is one of only two coaches to have won a league title in four different countries, the other being the great Austrian manager Ernst Happel. He may have opted to take on several lower-profile jobs in recent years, but Trapattoni more than deserves to be recognised as one of the most astute and relentlessly successful coaches of his generation.

A highly-regarded centre-half at Milan for the majority of his playing career, it was with the Rossoneri that Trapattoni was handed his first managerial role, intermittently taking charge of first team affairs between 1974 and 1976 before moving to Turin to take the reins at Juventus. It was to be with the Bianconeri that ‘Trap’ would make his name as a coach, managing the team for a decade and winning every domestic and continental competition the club participated in.

Trapattoni’s first campaign with the club, the 1976/77 season, saw the 38 year-old coach lead Juve to their second consecutive league title and, inspired by the two Robertos, Bettega and Boninsegna, won the UEFA Cup beating the likes of Manchester United and Athletic Bilbao on their path to victory. It was the start of what was to be an unprecedented run of success for La Vecchia Signora.

During the next nine seasons Juve claimed the Scudetto a further five times, Trapattoni instilling in his team his own interpretation of Helenio Herrera’s catenaccio system, his back four all being assigned to man-mark the opposition attackers with a libero – the elegant Gaetano Scirea in this case – providing vital extra cover from behind the primary defensive line. However, despite their obvious excellence at the back, Trapattoni’s Juventus were not a side that can be defined in terms of the negativity catenaccio has become a byword for.

During that golden era the Bianconeri became the masters of the swift counter-attack, gifted midfielders such as Marco Tardelli, Michel Platini and Franco Causio providing the team with the physicality, speed and precise movement of the ball that was needed to carry out Trapattoni’s instructions to the letter. The Juventus of the late seventies and early eighties were as finely-honed outfit as it was possible to find.

That iconic generation of Juve players reached the pinnacle of its achievements in 1985 when it won the European Cup for the first time in the club’s history. Tardelli, Platini, Paulo Rossi and Zibi Boniek, the players that represented the team’s creative heart, all played crucial roles as Trapattoni guided his side past, amongst others, Sparta Prague, Bordeaux and Liverpool en route to securing the continent’s ultimate prize.



The enigmatic manager joined Internazionale a year later, staying with the Nerazzurri  for five years and winning both the 1989 Scudetto and the 1991 UEFA Cup. During his time with Inter, Trapattoni constructed a team comprised of a number home-grown talents including Walter Zenga and Riccardo Ferri as well as some of the mainstays of the West German 1990 World Cup-winning team, Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Klinsmann all key components in what was a well-rounded and famously defensively sound system.

Following the conclusion of the 1991 campaign, Trapattoni moved back to Turin for his second spell with Juventus, enduring a less successful spell during an era dominated by Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan – though still lifting the 1993 UEFA Cup – before departing for Bayern Munich in 1994. The Italian’s first season in Germany was a difficult one, Bayern only managing a sixth place finish in the Bundesliga and suffering humiliation in the DFB Pokal after a first round exit at the hands of fourth-tier TSV Vestenbergsgreuth in his first game in charge.

Trapattoni left Munich after just one season to take on the vacant Cagliari job ahead of the 1995-96 campaign, but returned to coach the German giants just a year later for what would be a far more positive two years in charge. In 1996-97 he guided Bayern to a Bundesliga and Ligapokal (League Cup) double, the goals of Klinsmann and the excellent form of emerging players such as Dietmar Hamann and Mehmet Scholl making Trap’s team the dominant domestic force. However, his relationship with the club was to take a turn for the worse the following season, tensions rising to the surface despite triumphing in the Pokal as Otto Rehhagel’s Kaiserslautern pipped Bayern to the title.

Frustrated with his team’s apparent lack of progress, Trapattoni departed Munich for the second and final time, heading to Fiorentina for two years and guiding La Viola to a place in the Champions League before taking charge of the Italian national team in 2000 following their defeat to France in the final of the European Championships of that summer.

During his four years with Italy, not unlike his compatriot Fabio Capello, Trapattoni struggled to transfer his supreme skills as a club manager over into the international arena, the great man being criticised throughout his tenure for the lack of results achieved by his perceived negative approach. A disappointing showing at the 2002 World Cup – where Italy were eliminated at the hands of South Korea 2-1 in the Last 16 – was followed by a disastrous group phase exit at Euro 2004. However, the veteran coach was quickly back to winning ways after taking over at Benfica the following season.


                       Simao was key to Benfica's success

With the legendary Portuguese club having endured a fallow period during the majority of the 1990s and first years of the 2000s, Trapattoni wrote himself into the history books of the Águias by claiming the title as he got the very best out of the likes of Simão, Luisão and Nuno Gomes to finish three points clear of Porto. Yet Trap resigned after that one triumphant season, apparently not entirely satisfied with life in Portugal and wanting to be based closer to his family.

A brief spell with Stuttgart followed before the Italian moved to Austria to coach Red Bull Salzburg. The two years he spent at the Red Bull Arena between 2006 and 2008 brought one title – in 2006/07 – and re-established Die Bullen as Austria’s preeminent force after a decade having ceded dominance to Sturm Graz and Austria Wien. In 2008 Trapattoni moved to take up his second international job with the Republic of Ireland and, had it not been for that pesky main of Thierry Henry, could well have taken them to the World Cup in South Africa. 

He may not have achieved the flawless record of others that have and are still to appear in this series, but Trapattoni is the only manager in history to have won all official UEFA competitions and, for developing the philosophy of catenaccio beyond Herrera’s initial strategies and combining it with an attractive brand of counter-attacking football at Juventus, he deserves to be noted as one of the finest tactical minds there has ever been.

Only Europeans so far. 

Great read on Mourinho

Only Europeans so far.  

Football’s Greatest Managers: #14 Carlos Bianchi

Almost certainly the finest South American coach there has ever been, Carlos Bianchi was first a successful player before embarking upon his glittering managerial career. A prolific striker (and an uncanny Larry David look-a-like) for Vélez Sársfield, Stade de Reims, Strasbourg and Paris Saint-Germain, Bianchi is recognised by FIFA as the highest scoring Argentinian in the history of top-flight football, topping a list populated by famous names such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Angel Labruna, Diego Maradona and Martin Palermo.

In 1985, Bianchi, having concluded his playing career in France, took his first managerial job with Stade de Reims, also coaching at Nice and Paris FC with limited success before returning to Argentina in 1993 to take charge of his boyhood club, Vélez. It was back in Buenos Aires that Bianchi was to win his first major titles as a coach, guiding Vélez to the 1993 Clausura title – the club’s first major honour since 1968 – and re-establishing El Fortín as a significant force in Argentinian football.


                     Velez's class of '94

The following year was to be one of the most successful of Bianchi’s career and undoubtedly the most glorious season in this history of Vélez Sársfield.

Despite not repeating their domestic success of the previous campaign, Bianchi led his team to an historic Copa Libertadores triumph as they overcame the likes of Palmeiras, Cruzeiro, Boca Juniors and São Paulo (the latter on penalties in the final) to claim the biggest prize in South American football.

Just four months later Vélez were back on the big stage, facing Fabio Capello’s AC Milan in the Intercontinental Cup final and beating the Italians 2-1 in Tokyo with goals from Roberto Trotta and Omar Asad. The victory sealed a glorious double for the club and sealed Bianchi’s growing reputation as one of the most astute managers in the South American game.

Two more domestic titles and a Copa Interamericana followed before Bianchi left Vélez to first join Roma for a brief spell in 1996 before being handed the reins at Boca Juniors in 1998, the club where he would go on to oversee an unprecedented run of domestic and continental success.

Coaching a team filled with blossoming talents such as Walter Samuel, Juan Román Riquelme, Sebastián Battaglia and the aforementioned Palermo, Bianchi restored Boca to what many fans see as their rightful place as the kings of South American football. One Clausura and two Apertura titles came in Bianchi’s first two years in charge, the first of three Libertadores titles arriving in 2000 with a 4-2 aggregate win over Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Palmeiras in the final.

Bianchi’s second Intercontinental Cup success came in the same year, Boca overcoming Vicente Del Bosque’s Real Madrid courtesy of a double-salvo from Palermo within the first five minutes of the game. Indeed, Boca’s victory over the Spanish giants at the peak of the galáctico era served to drive the Argentinian club on to even bigger and better things as Bianchi’s charges, by now at the peak of their powers, stormed to the 2001 Libertadores in impressive fashion, Riquelme pulling the strings in midfield with Guillermo Schelotto prolific in front of goal.

A one-season hiatus in the procession of silverware was to follow when Bianchi left the club for a short time in 2001, only to return in 2003 and deliver an historic treble consisting of the Apertura, Libertadores – incidentally the continental campaign Tim Vickery describes as the best he’s witnessed – and Intercontinental Cup. The Apertura was won by a margin of three points over the nearest challengers, San Lorenzo, with Carlos Tévez firing the team to success and transferring his excellent league form over into the Libertadores.

With the goals of Marcelo Delgado (who scored two in the final against Santos) and Schelotto having seen Bianchi claim the fourth continental title of his distinguished career and prove his ability to build teams anew every few seasons, Boca travelled to Yokohama to take on Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan in an attempt to claim the third Intercontinental title in the club’s history.

                                                        Boca win the 2003 Intercontinental Cup

Again demonstrating his immense tactical capabilities, Bianchi stunted the creativity of a Milan team at the peak of their powers, setting Boca out in a compact 4-4-1-1 which largely negated the creativity of Kaka and Andrea Pirlo in the Italians’ midfield.

The combative performances of Battaglia and Matias Donnet were a particular highlight and prevented the Rossoneri from finding their usual rhythm, Boca coming back from a goal behind to draw 1-1 and win the tie on penalties.

After leaving La Bombonera for a second time in 2004, Bianchi – by this point widely considered the greatest South American manager of all time – spent a brief and relatively unhappy time at Atlético Madrid where he was sacked just a few months into a three-year contract after a poor run of results.

However, his stock in his native continent remains as high as ever and, although Bianchi has been out of the game since 2006, he would be a popular selection to replace Diego Maradona at the helm of the Argentine national team, something the man himself has not ruled out.

For his consistent success, uncanny ability to revive the fortunes of slumbering giants and his outsmarting of Del Bosque’s Madrid and Ancelotti’s Milan (arguably the two finest European sides of the 2000s) in respective Intercontinental finals, Bianchi undoubtedly deserves to go down as one of history’s great coaches. And he may not be finished just yet…

Football’s Greatest Managers: #13 Matt Busby

There are two types of great manager. There are those who jump from club to club, spreading their ideas and philosophies across continents as wandering tactical evangelists, football’s travelling professors. And then there are those who build legacies, shape rich histories and become inextricably linked with the fortunes of an individual club. Sir Alexander Matthew Busby is emphatically one of the latter.

Born into a modest mining family in North Lanarkshire, the Manchester United legend began to forge his way as a footballer in adolescence, playing part-time for Denny Hibernian as a young man before attracting interest from several professional teams. Somewhat ironically, Busby – by all accounts a neat-passing right-half – made his name as a player with two of United’s biggest rivals, signing for Manchester City in 1928 before finishing his career with Liverpool in the late 1930s.

Following the conclusion of the Second World War Busby was hired as the manager of Manchester United, an appointment which ushered in a run of success that was, at the time, unprecedented in the club’s history. Indeed, United’s fortunes were to be immediately revived, the team finishing second in the league during Busby’s first three years in charge as well as winning the 1948 FA Cup.

The Scot claimed his first league title as a manager in 1952 when his experienced team won the club’s first championship for 40 years, beating Tottenham Hotspur to top spot by just four points. However, impressive as the league success was, Busby really made his name drastically and effectively regenerating his playing staff over the seasons that followed. The older players in the squad were slowly phased out and replaced with some of the country’s finest young talents, the likes of Jackie Blanchflower, Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards all arriving at Old Trafford during the mid-fifties.

Having won back-to-back titles in 1956 and 1957 and become the first English club to participate in the European Cup in the process, the “Busby Babes” – so called for the relative youth of the squad – looked set to go on to dominate domestic football for the foreseeable future. However, in 1958 the team was tragically involved in the Munich air disaster, an accident which resulted in the death of eight United players and saw the team’s hopes and ambitions shattered in heartbreaking circumstances.


                Busby's 1968 European Cup winners

In typical fashion, Busby refused to let the club go into decline following the 1958 tragedy and doggedly set about rebuilding his squad. The likes of George Best and Denis Law were brought through the youth system and the Old Trafford outfit quickly rose back to the summit of English football, titles being won in 1965 and 1967 before United became the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968.

The team that conquered the continent has since become known as one of the finest teams Britain has ever produced; Bill Foulkes, Pat Crerand, Best and Charlton all being considered some of the great talents of their era. Organised in Busby’s classical 4-4-2 (he is considered, alongside Alf Ramsey, regarded as one of the best exponents of the formation), the Scottish coach’s second great side may have disbanded relatively soon after their European success, but their impact on the British game is still being felt.

Busby retired from management in 1969, briefly returning to Old Trafford in a caretaker capacity in 1970. A true great of the British game, the Manchester United legend more than warrants his place amongst such exalted managerial company for his unsurpassed ability to constantly regenerate his squads and the way in which he single-handedly steered the Red Devils to the top table of European football.

He may not have been an innovative tactician, but Sir Matt Busby’s very modern use of youth academies and ground-breaking success in Europe make him an integral figure in the history of English football and a worthy entrant on any list of the game’s greatest managers.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #12 Bob Paisley

“Mind you, I’ve been here during the bad times too. One year we came second.” (Bob Paisley)

It would not be unreasonable to ask why, having won six league titles and three European Cups with Liverpool, Bob Paisley is only twelfth in our list of the finest managers of all time. A name synonymous with the Merseyside club, Paisley made over 250 appearances for The Reds between 1939 and 1954 before retiring from the playing staff to become a physiotherapist at Anfield, only to be appointed manager in 1974.

The reason why Paisley is only twelfth is, not to detract from his incredible achievements, because the team that he enjoyed such success with was not entirely “his” team – Liverpool had been driven into a position to succeed by the work of his predecessor, Bill Shankly. That said, although Paisley may not have built the Liverpool team that dominated both England and Europe in the 1970s, few managers have been able to match the relentless success which Paisley brought about at club level.

Taking over in the wake of Shankly’s unexpected and shocking resignation, Liverpool looked to Paisley – a member of Shankly’s famous “Boot Room” – for continuity and a steady hand during what could have been a difficult transitional time for the club. With no previous managerial experience, his first season in charge – the 1974/75 campaign – saw Liverpool finish second to Dave Mackay’s Derby County in the First Division, but it wasn’t to be long before Paisley began to fill the Anfield trophy cabinet with a veritable procession of silverware.

The 1975/76 season was a successful one on Merseyside, Liverpool winning their first title for three years thanks to the goals of John Toshack and Kevin Keegan and starting a run which would lead to an incredible six titles in nine years. Throughout that time Paisley turned the Anfield club into a true sporting dynasty and oversaw the best years of a team that included such famous names as Emlyn Hughes, Terry McDermott, Alan Hansen, Ray Clemence and Kenny Dalglish. This was the generation that defined Liverpool Football Club, and Bob Paisley was the man subtly pulling the strings in the background.


Liverpool claim the 1981 European Cup

Although Paisley’s triumphs on the domestic front were hugely impressive, it was to be on the European stage that the Sunderland-born manager was to mark himself out as one of the finest coaches the game has ever seen. Throughout the late 1970s and early 80s his Liverpool side dominated the European Cup, winning the competition in 1977, 1978 and 1981 (overcoming Borussia Mönchengladbach, Club Brugge and Real Madrid in the respective finals) as well as claiming the 1976 UEFA Cup.

It was a run of success unparalleled by any British club before or since and Paisley, who rarely gets assigned the great credit he deserves, should be far more widely lauded for attained during his time at Anfield.

He may not have been the most imaginative of tacticians in terms of the shape of his teams – Paisley was very much an advocate of the traditional 4-4-2 – but he was revered as an expert in applying the pass-and-move ethos which was at the heart of Liverpool’s sustained run of success. Added to that, Paisley was by all accounts an astute man-manager, something which was reflected in Liverpool’s astonishing run of 85 games unbeaten at home between 1978 and 1981. If not a particularly eloquent man, Paisley was said to be astute in the subtle way in which he motivated his players, tactical in his use of criticism in order to get his charges fired up to prove him wrong.

He may not have been the most modern of managers in terms of his methods, but what he did worked to great effect and it would seem from some reports that he had a far more analytical eye for the game than he liked to let on. Indeed, his signing of Kenny Dalglish in 1977 proved that he was an excellent judge of a player and was a master at finding the right personnel to fit his system.

Retiring in 1983 as a one-club man, Paisley became a board member and served the club until his death in 1996. As I said at the top of the profile, the Anfield legend may not be regarded as the most important or formative manager in Liverpool’s history, but he was unquestionably the man who took the club to the peak of its powers. For the astonishing success he achieved in a relatively short space of time, Bob Paisley should forever be considered one of the greatest managers in the history of both British and European football.

Football’s Greatest Managers: #11 Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson, a name synonymous with the success that has created the modern footballing behemoth of Manchester United, was born into the humble surroundings of 1940s Glasgow and grew up to become a modest professional footballer with St Johnstone and Rangers (amongst others) before setting out on the managerial career for which he has become so well-known.

So remarkable has Ferguson’s success been at Old Trafford over the last 24 years, his previous feats with St Mirren and Aberdeen have unfortunately been somewhat eclipsed. Starting his managerial career with East Stirlingshire at the age of 32 following his retirement as a player in 1974, Ferguson was convinced to join St Mirren by Willie Cunningham and Jock Stein after just a few months with The Shire.

It was to be with St Mirren that Ferguson established his reputation as one of Britain’s best young coaches, taking The Saints from their status as a relatively nondescript Second Division club to First Division champions in just three seasons. In Ferguson’s first full season in charge – the 1975/76 campaign – St Mirren finished sixth in the second tier with a relatively unspectacular record and a goal difference of zero.

However, just a season later the Love Street outfit showed signs of the newfound strength and confidence they had gained under Ferguson’s tutelage. With an astonishingly low average age of just 19, their brand of attractive passing football saw The Saints dominate the Second Division in 1976/77 and comfortable secure promotion to the Scottish Premier League.

The following campaign saw St Mirren’s young team narrowly escape the drop after a prolonged battle against relegation, an impressive achievement in itself, but behind the scenes Ferguson’s relationship with club chairman Willie Todd had dramatically worsened. Towards the end of the season Todd presented Ferguson with a list of ways – nearly all of which he still contests – in which the manager had breached his contract with the club, most of them involving disciplinary issues. Ferguson was promptly sacked, the only time he has ever been dismissed from a managerial post.

After attempting (and failing) to sue the club for wrongful dismissal, Ferguson took on the vacant managerial position at Aberdeen in the June of 1978 and set about transforming the club into a genuine force on both the domestic and European stages. His first season at Pittodrie was fairly underwhelming, The Dons – who had finished second the previous year – only managing a fourth-place finish to go with appearances in the semi-final of the Scottish FA Cup and the final of the League Cup.

As was the case with St Mirren, it was during his second season at the helm that Ferguson made a decisive and dramatic change to Aberdeen’s fortunes and its history. In 1979/80 Aberdeen pipped Celtic to the Premier Division title by just a solitary point, spurred on by the bewitching performances of a young Gordon Strachan on the wing. Despite missing out on the title a year later Ferguson’s Aberdeen were back to winning ways in 1982 with a Scottish Cup triumph before an astonishing Scottish Cup and Cup Winners Cup double in 1983.


         Aberdeen claim the 1983 Cup Winners Cup

The European success – which culminated in a 2-1 extra time victory over Real Madrid  – was, before his time with Manchester United, Ferguson’s crowning achievement. Having clearly demonstrated his supreme managerial talent, the Scot left Aberdeen to join Manchester United in 1986 after Ron Atkinson’s sacking with The Dons established as one of the Scottish Premier League’s eminent forces.

Appointed at Old Trafford in the November of 1986, Ferguson’s tenure in Manchester didn’t start with the relentless success he has since come to be defined by. He had inherited a club with a strong drinking culture and what was rumoured to be a rather poor work ethic, the new manager being concerned that talented players such as Paul McGrath and Bryan Robson were squandering their careers with off-field excesses. A 2-0 defeat to Oxford United in Ferguson’s first game in charge did not bode well as the Red Devils stumbled to an eleventh place finish.

Ferguson’s first English title may not have come until the 1992/93 season, but all the while he was laying plans, changing the internal culture at the club and steadily constructing the team that would go on to dominate domestic football during the early 1990s. Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce and Viv Anderson all joined the club in 1987 and quickly improved United’s fortunes as they finished second to Liverpool in Ferguson’s second season. A very disappointing campaign was to follow in 1989/90 – the closest the Scot has ever come to losing his job at Old Trafford – before an FA Cup triumphed salvaged United’s pride.

It may not have been a particularly smooth start to life in Manchester for Ferguson, but as soon as the first title arrived – in the inaugural season of the Premier League – he didn’t look back. A master of refreshing his team season after season, Ferguson continually added to his squad players of a remarkable calibre. The likes of Roy Keane, Eric Cantona and Andy Cole all arrived at Old Trafford during the mid-1990s and had an enormous impact on the club, United steamrollering their way to four titles in six years.


            1999: United make history with the treble

One of the main features of Ferguson’s time at Old Trafford has been the effective way in which he has nurtured young talent, a policy that paid dividends during the 1998/99 season which saw United claim an historic treble  – Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – inspired by a maturing generation of youth players including David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers.

It was during that season that Manchester United were at their imperious best under Ferguson, the team perfectly balanced in all departments all the way from Peter Schmeichel in goal through to Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke’s prolific strike partnership. The late drama of the Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich was a fitting tribute to the excellent football and fighting spirit of what has gone down as one of the greatest British teams of all time.

It would have been easy for Ferguson to rest on his laurels after the treble but again he set about regenerating his squad. The early 2000s saw another three league titles claimed with a new generation of players including Rio Ferdinand and Ruud van Nistelrooy coming to the fore and continuing the club’s domestic dominance. A brief barren spell in the league beset the club between 2003 and 2006 before United emphatically returned to form during the 2006/07 season

Indeed, the late 2000s, with his team spearheaded by Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, was to be prove yet another glittering period in Ferguson’s career. Demonstrating an increasing tactical flexibility “Fergie” guided his team to three consecutive league titles and, in 2008, another Champions League triumph as Chelsea were beaten on penalties in the final in Moscow. Despite occasional rumours that the Scot was soon to retire resurfacing intermittently throughout the last decade, United’s recent achievements have shown that Ferguson is as capable as ever and just as astute in his tactical strategy and development of young players.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s success in British football is unmatched and his legacy continues to grow at an astounding rate. A true managerial great.

May I add, I feel all used and dirty and in need of a shower after that.

Only 1 non-European so far Eurocentrism.

Obviously I am biased, but if Shankly's not number one I think this list is flawed. I look at his winnings and his time at the club, but what really stood out to me is his mind set....when I read some of the stories of how he viewed Liverpool football club, it wasn't a job, it was his life. Every quote that was noted, every tactic that was ever used, every trophy that was won, it all means so much to this club. God I wish the man was still here, I never knew him, or was around when he set things right for Liverpool, but I know if there was one man who could single handedly force the two **** out, it would be Shanks. 

It's a pile of sh*t, Fergie over Paisley, you've got to be F***ing kidding me.

Paisley had a bit of class about him, unlike that bullying, horrible sh*t for a human being, chewy-eating tw*t.

Shankly at number 10.