As a Leicester fan of over 40 years this is going to pain me deeply but: 1) Brian Clough - took 2 (if he'd done it with just one it might be argued as a fluke) relatively unfashionable lower tier clubs to win the English League title - then one of them to win the European Cup, twice!! (and not under some mamby-pamby "let's ensure the big clubs get a second chance if they should suffer a shock defeat or two, league system" - but a winner takes all and you only play actual ''champions' format) - and with the exception of his rather extravagant purchase of Trevor Francis, he built both sides very much from scratch and on the cheap - his feats are very unlikely to be repeated IMHO 2) Sir Matt Busby 3) Jock Stein 4) Bill Shankly 5) Sir Alex Ferguson 6) Bob Paisley 7) Don Revie 8) Sir Alf Ramsey 9) Bill Nicholson 10) Martin O'Neil ... for me Dalglish did little more than inherit a very good side at Liverpool and benefit from an open chequebook at Blackburn that enabled him to buy England's top striker and an incredibly good (and expensive) suporting cast - when he was actually under any pressure anywhere, he wilted and ran ... Keegan without the perm - now John Barnes on the other hand
He was just getting a little ahead of himself Leo - in the next year or so half of those names listed will be foreigners.
I see Wikipedia has reached the far East at last, excellent choices Austin Maestro. For me though, our best chap is the current boy. Best Manager, Sir Alf, hasn't been bettered yet!
The original list in no particular order is pretty good except for GT and Dalgliesh. Those that make the list must have achieved many trophies and great things so despite our love of GT he can't be included. Neither can Souness (regardless of his work in Italy and Scotland, it was not huge) or anyone who has not won multiple prizes. I could throw in a despised figure to stir things a bit - Don Revie. He won a few more trophies than a number of the managers on the list or Graham at Arsenal maybe?
I wouldn't necessarily agree that the accumulation of prizes and trophies is the most important factor here. Whilst not taking anything away from Fergie's reputation for example, it would be difficult to imagine being the manager of England's wealthiest, best supported, club for 26 years without accumulating a fair amount of hardware. How does this compare to taking a club from the 4th to the 1st division on a limited budget (and from 3rd to 1st a few years later) ? I can't answer that or whether Ferguson could have done the same in similar circumstances. There are many aspects to club management and the reason I included Dalgliesh on my list was not confined to football alone - he took over a good team yes, but he also took them over at the start of a 5 year European ban after Heysel and so was confined to domestic successes. His other great success as a manager was in giving so much of his time and emotions back to the City of Liverpool during the aftermath of the Hilsborough disaster - going well beyond the duties of club management. In short, he recognized the social obligations of football management like few others have done.
I agree. That was part of the reason i included Souness because of what he did at Rangers, changing the club for good when it could have come at a massive personal cost (inmsome rather sinister ways too) because he thought it was the right thing to do. Probably also worth noting that the signing of John Barnes by Dalglish was quite seismic at the time as well although he still should have paid more for him . Obviously Dalglish's recird is better than Souness' though!
perhaps Dario Gradi needs including, for continuous production of top players, and over achievement at a distinctly unfashionable club, over decades....
I didn't realize you knew my stalker! Tickle him in the middle and he repeats, "Two wins in nineteen" over and over!
Well that's not true at all, he knew the FA were about to stab him in the back so he left before he was pushed. Let's hope the Revie Estate don't get wind of your libellous comments. Btw a list of the top ten British managers of all time which excludes the great Don Revie is rendered meaningless. His achievements and successes cannot be denied.
