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Thought I’d restrict this to England as Jock Stein would clearly win if it was UK-wide!
And, why no Sir Bill Shankly or Sir Bob Paisley.
Thought I’d restrict this to England as Jock Stein would clearly win if it was UK-wide!
And, why no Sir Bill Shankly or Sir Bob Paisley.
Sir Alex is a no brainer to your poll.
Jock Stein was certainly a top manager where Scotland is concerned but I think a certain Bill Struth would be ahead of him if you look through the history books on trophies won.
Alex Ferguson is the greatest English based manager – bar none !
Bill Struth managed Rangers for 34 years, winning 30 domestic trophies. His grasp of tactics were practically zero ( as opposed to Stein’s) He concentrated more on telling his players how to dress and behave correctly.
The only time his players saw him was on a Saturday. Struth’s consistency had more to do with the fact that he had continuous access to the bulk of the best Scottish based players of that period. They were also by far the richest Scottish club of that period and could offer players better wages than the rest.Jock Stein, who also won a Scottish Cup managing Dunfermline, led Celtic for 13 years, 12 if you discount his year off for injury due to his car crash. In that time he won 24 domestic trophies as well as 1 European Cup. He was one of the first tracksuit managers who concentrated on ball work rather than having his players running around the track a thousand times. In the mid 60s, he introduced continental style training methods to his Celtic team.
Stein was, in footballing terms, light years ahead of the likes of Bill Struth, and is still regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson as the daddy of all Scottish football managers – and a man who influenced him more than any other.
The Glasgow Cup wins are not included for obvious reasons.
that should get "porky" going.
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The only truely gifted manager who as a complete original and yet reached peaks that were truely jaw dropping is Clough of course.
Fergie is the most consistent and efficient manager, but two (rather fortunate) Eorupean cups with the heavily rescourced and (wrongly) touted "biggest club in the world" in 20 odd years, is not greatness
After Clough it would be Alf Ramsey for me.
What? most influential to the English league?
Arsene Wenger – amongst other things to his credit – of course.
Although i think Ferguson is possibly the best, i agree with Clivex in that considering the amount of years Ferguson has had at Old Trafford and the whole ‘best team in the world’ s*** we get from there fans 2 European/Champions League titles is poor, even Benitez managed to win it in his 1st season as boss of a average Liverpool side.
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Sir Matt Busby
Exactly. Amazing he wasn’t on the poll.
He is now.
Wonder if anyone who had cast their vote would have done so differently if he had been there from the start?The first eight/nine years of his time at Old Trafford and his extremely patchy record in the transfer market surely disallow Sir Alex Ferguson from being the greatest of all time.
People like Brian Clough, Stan Cullis and Herbert Chapman did more to change football and had, by the standards of the day, great success – Clough particularly so.
But there is only one person for this title – Sir Robert Paisley.
He played a huge part in building Liverpool through the Sixties as Bill Shankly’s assistant manager and then took the club to a whole new level. He was manager for only eight full seasons – the same amount of time it took Ferguson to win his first league title.
In that time, Paisley won six league titles, three European Cups, a UEFA Cup and three League Cups at a time when it was an important competition.
He didn’t do that just by inheriting Shankly’s side, within four years, there was hardly a Shankly player left.
In the transfer market, he bought a host of players from the lower divisions or smaller clubs and only Frank McGarvey from Celtic didn’t work out: Phil Neal, Alan Hansen, Ian Rush, Bruce Grobbelaar, Jimmy Case, Terry McDermott, Ronnie Whelan, Steve Nicol, Alan Kennedy all came from lower divisions or struggling division one clubs.
His big-money buys: Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish, Mark Lawrenson, Craig Johnston all became stars and only Dalglish was before he arrived at Anfield.
Plus, in all that time, he remained the humble, courteous man he always was – and that shouldn’t be forgotten when assessing ‘greatness’I get the impression people are voting mainly for their favourites rather than which manager has actually achieved more during his career.
By the way Mulls, small trivial detail – Frank McGarvey was bought from St. Mirren, not Celtic, whom he was later transferred to.
As for Sir Matt Busby: great man and good manager, and arguably the number one guiding influence in Manchester United’s history, but his trophy haul is negligible considering the number of years he managed the club.
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It’s very difficult to decide and a good case can be made for all of them. However, if pushed I’d have to go for Cloughie. To win two European Cups is enough to place him very high on the list, but for me to win the English Championship with two provincial teams, who incidentally have done nothing since, just tips it for me, closely followed by Bob Paisley.
I get the impression people are voting mainly for their favourites rather than which manager has actually achieved more during his career.
Yes i voted for Shankly, my favourite, PLUS he also achieved the most imo.
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The only time his players saw him was on a Saturday. Struth’s consistency had more to do with the fact that he had continuous access to the bulk of the best Scottish based players of that period. They were also by far the richest Scottish club of that period and could offer players better wages than the rest.
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