Are the Best Footballers the Best Managers?
Which England Football Managers were World Class Players?
Oct 9, 2009
The first England manager of the post-war era was Walter Winterbottom, who had a limited playing career as a half back with Manchester United before a spinal ailment forced his retirement after just 26 professional appearances. Winterbottom was succeeded by Alf Ramsey, who in his playing days had been a right back. Ramsey was renowned as a great reader of the game, and his nickname was ‘The General.’ He spent six seasons with Southampton, and another six with Tottenham Hotspur, he also played 32 games for England, three times as captain.
War-time Footballers and Record Transfer Fees
The tradition of England managers being ex-defenders continued when Joe Mercer took up the reigns. Despite losing seven years of his career to World War II, Mercer amassed 147 games for Everton, and 247 for Arsenal. Mercer won a league championship with Everton, and the FA Cup with Arsenal, and was named FWA Footballer of the Year in 1950. He won 5 England caps, as well as playing in more than twenty unofficial wartime internationals.
Don Revie was a forward for Leicester, Hull, Manchester City, Sunderland and Leeds before he became a manager. His many moves made the combined transfer fees paid for him over his career a record in English football, although the sums involved now pale into insignificance compared to the weekly wages of Premier League high-earners. Revie scored 100 goals in 474 appearances for his many clubs, and 4 in six games for England. Ron Greenwood was another defender whose playing career was blighted by the war, during which he was with the RAF. After the war Greenwood played for Bradford Park Avenue, Brentford, Chelsea and Fulham, winning a First Division title with Chelsea. He won one cap for England B.
Injury Blighted Playing Careers and Tottenham Midfield Stars
Bobby Robson started his career at Fulham before transferring to West Bromwich Albion, where he found consistent goal-scoring success before a wage dispute led to his return to Fulham. Robson played for England at the 1958 World Cup, when the team was shocked by the USA, and he was once again in the squad in 1962, but injury prevented him from making an impact. In all he played twenty times for his country, and scored 4 goals. He finished his playing career as player-manager of Vancouver Royals. When Graham Taylor was appointed to succeed Robson, he became the first man to manage England without playing for them at any level since Walter Winterbottom. Taylor had been a defender with lower league teams Grimsby Town and Lincoln before injury ended his career at the age of just 28.
In contrast, England’s next choice was Terry Venables, who was the first man to represent England at all levels: Youth, amateur, Under-23, and as a full international, although he won only 2 senior caps. At club level Venables played more than 200 times for Chelsea, before transferring to Tottenham, who he helped to win the FA Cup, beating Chelsea in the final. He also played for QPR and Crystal Palace, before finishing his playing days in Ireland. Glen Hoddle also won an FA Cup as a Tottenham player. Like Venables, Hoddle was a gifted midfield player. He scored on his debut for Spurs, and also on his first England appearance, going on to add a further 7 strikes in a total of 53 internationals. After English clubs were banned from European competition, Hoddle moved to AS Monaco, where he believed his craft and style would be more appreciated. He won a league title with the French club, before returning to England as a player-manager, first at Swindon, and later with Chelsea.
The Best Player to Manage England, and Two of the Worst
The post-Taylor trend of appointing former great players reached its zenith when Kevin Keegan took the England job. After starting his career at S****horpe, Keegan moved to Liverpool where he won 3 league titles, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup and the European Cup. From there he moved to Hamburger SV, with whom he won a German league title. By the end of his club career, he had also become a folk hero at Southampton and at Newcastle United. His personal honours included the Ballon d’Or, or European Footballer of the Year award, in 1978 and 1979; the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1976, and the PFA Players Player of the Year in 1982. He played 63 times for England, scoring more than twenty times.
Following the failure of the inspirational Keegan to help the team to achieve success, the FA made the pragmatic choice of appointing a first non-English coach, Sven-Goran Erikssen, to the post. In stark contrast to his predecessor, Erikssen had been almost unknown as a player, appearing at right-back for lower league Swedish sides Torsby IF, SK Sifhalia and KB Karlskoga before injury pressed him into an early retirement aged 27. Erikssen’s career bears some resemblance to that of Steve McClaren, who managed to play until he was 31 before injury took its toll. McClaren’s clubs - Hull City, Derby, Lincoln, Bristol City and Oxford - were all in the lower echelons of the English leagues.
Leading Win Percentages of England Managers
In Fabio Capello England turned once again to a foreign manager, and once again to a high quality former player. Capello played for some of the giants of Italian football, winning a cup with Roma, 3 league titles with Juventus and another with Milan. The highlight of an international career which saw him win 32 caps and score 8 goals was a first victory for Italy over England at Wembley - during which Capello himself scored the decisive goal.
A mixed selection, then. In terms of win percentages Capello, Ramsey and Hoddle have been England’s most successful managers, and all played international football. But Keegan, perhaps the greatest player to go on and lead England, has far and away the worst record as manager. The conclusion must be that it helps to have been a good player, but there are certainly more important factors.
