The top ten football managers of all time

author: Matt Dickinson
source: The Times
date: 9 August 2009
editing: fcbtransfers.blogspot.com





1. Rinus Michels
The Dutchman, who died in 2005, was named coach of the century by Fifa in 1999. Think Ajax of the late Sixties, think Holland of the 1974 World Cup, think Total Football. Barcelona won the Champions League in May with tactics he introduced to the Nou Camp 30 years ago. Now that’s influence.

2. Sir Alex Ferguson
After knocking over the Old Firm in Scotland, he has built a modern-day monster out of Manchester United. The trophies matter but so does the attacking intent of his sides.

3. Ernst Happel
A man of few words but many trophies, the Austrian won league championships in four different countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria).

4. Sir Matt Busby
He faced the most difficult of all rebuilding jobs when he lost a brilliant team in the wreckage of Munich.

5. Brian Clough
No doubt he would put himself top of the pile and his feats were truly extraordinary. He turned Derby County into league champions and Nottingham Forest into the best team in Europe.

6. Bill Shankly
The builder of another of football’s great institutions, Shankly would surely have shared in Liverpool’s later success in Europe had he not retired prematurely.

7. Bob Paisley
Still the only coach to have three European Cup medals the son of a miner would have been too modest to boast about his great signings.

8. Arrigo Sacchi
A one-time shoe salesman, he built one of the greatest club sides at AC Milan and did so with innovative tactics.

9. Helenio Herrera
With an ego the size of the San Siro, the French-Argentine cast a big shadow over European football in the 1960s. A great motivator and disciplinarian who imposed rigid catenaccio on his teams, he enjoyed his greatest success at Inter Milan, where he twice won the European Cup.

10. Arsène Wenger
Ranked above managers who have won more and with good reason. Wenger resolutely defends the game’s most precious values, building sides of dazzling beauty.

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