As FourFourTwo set about compiling a list of the top 50 managers in world football, one of their resident experts, former Dutch international Pierre van Hooijdonk, revealed the difficulty in ranking such a role: “If you changed all the managers in the league for cats, there would still be a champion. Does that mean the cat who is champion is fantastic and those who go down are s***?”
It’s a strange musing but one that deserves a bit of attention. Every manager, at some stage or another in their career, is declared rubbish. As Barney Ronay wrote for The Guardian: “If mangers seem particularly fraught and endangered at the moment it is probably something to do with the nature of the role itself. Football management has never really made much sense. There is no job description.”
As management has evolved and taken on a greater light in the public lens, so too have managers been made to carry a heavier burden — they’ve become the first stop for whatever’s gone wrong.
Managerial firings have reached their highest levels for decades. With club's earning astronomical monetary figures in the top flight, being a manager is one of the most volatile positions you can hold.
With all this in mind, it’s interesting to see how FourFourTwo's experts voted.
FourFourTwo's Top 10 Managers in World Football:
#1: Diego Simeone | Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone is the world's best manager according to FourFourTwo. Photo: @TheSunFootball | Twitter
#2: Pep Guardiola | Manchester City
#3: Luis Enrique | Barcelona
#4: Jose Mourinho | Manchester United
#5: Unai Emery | Paris Saint-Germain
#6: Max Allegri | Juventus
#7: Jurgen Klopp | Liverpool
#8: Claudio Ranieri | Leicester City
#9: Ronald Koeman | Everton
#10: Jorge Jesus | Sporting CP
Diego Simeone was voted the top manager in football for being “to Atletico Madrid what Steve Jobs was for Apple”.
His ability to work with more limited resources and scope, as Atletico Madrid have when compared to Real or Barcelona, has given him the advantage over Guardiola, Enrique and Mourinho.
FourFourTwo have also given him top marks for ‘tactical genius’ while his ‘youth record’ also rates highly.
Diego @Simeone has been named World's number 1 coach by @FourFourTwo #FFT50Managers pic.twitter.com/UrkEZ6RVrb
— Argentina Football (@ARG_soccernews) August 1, 2016
The other interesting outcomes of FourFourTwo’s list include the absence of Zinedine Zidane from the top 50 — his half-season in charge of Real Madrid just isn’t enough to please the judges. Also, three-time Champions League-winning manager Carlo Ancelotti comes in at number 13, behind PSV Eindhoven manager Phillip Cocu.
(H/T: FourFourTwo)
Follow me on Twitter: @ConmanFleming
