The 50 greatest managers of all time

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What a biased piece on Ferguson ha ha ha ha ha everyone knows he DIDN'T and NEVER WILL match Paisley's trophies per season record and that's why he is such a bitter loser.  He will never beat LFC :-)

The thing most people ignore (or forget) about Fergie's European record is that the illegality of the Champions League rules in the 1990s weakened his United team. UEFA only allowed 2 foreign players per match day squad so he had to chose two out of Keane, Irwin, Cantona, Schmeichel, Kanchelskis to mention 5. This in turn did strenghten United in the future because the Nevilles, Beckham, Scholes, et al were thrown into European games because they had to.

As per my previous post assertion, Fergie is definitely not the Greatest!

A fair assessment of Fergie's Football Manager's Abilities is to gauge his success rate against his European/International Counterparts .

Fergie's success domestically comes from the fact that he is at the richest club dominating the PL to wit rapaciously raiding & weakening his domestic rivals  of its Marquee players (Rio, Rooney, Carrick, RVP et al).

Fergie is also well known for his legendary abuses & rants  of FA officials (Fined & disciplined for his recalcitrant behaviour)  to wit his 

Sending Off (MU players being sent off) or Penalties conceded or awarded in favour of MU.

Take away his domestic titles, ceteris paribus,

Fergie managerial record is not better than the likes of Dettmar Cramer,  Heynckes, Carlo Ancelotti, Hitzfeld, Brian Clough, Arrigo Sacchi, Happel, Herrera et al.

Its 2 years since this thread was posted & updated by the Author.

As the 'Devil's Advocate' one has to scrutinize or validates the assertions herein.

The last 2 seasons Fergie was Poor in European Campaigns.

Fergie's MU team was dumped out of the Minnows group & got KO by a real CL team this season.

In 26 YEARS  of LONGEVITY and at the Richest Club in PL History Fergie's European record is poor. Fergie  lacked EUROBILITY.

2 EC/CL titles when you compared to the likes of Pep (2 Titles in 4 yrs) , Paisley (3 in 9 yrs)  and more than 10 Great Managers (2 CL titles <20 years).

Fergie's record is equivalent to a striker having 2 goals in 26 Appearances. That's unacceptable based on his 26 years of longevity @ the richest club

All the domestic league titles or Honours?  

The Lion share of it is  expected from any manager @ the richest club of any League to wit

Old Firm in SPL,

Milan in Serie A,

RM/Barca in la liga or

MU in PL

Besides EUROBILITY  What's also important is tactical nous &  head to head results against his PEERS.

To wit in recent 11vs11 matches, MU team were beaten or humiliated by the likes of RM's City or RB Chelsea.

Don't Mistake Longevity for Talent or Greatness!

jelous twats 47 trophies and has beat cancer 5 times the closest i know to that is 26 fuck u all

Enjoyed the list, although I do think Rinus Michels is still the best of all time and deserves a much higher spot.

How can Carlos Bilardo a world cup winner in 1986 and a world cup runner up in 1990 be in 50th place while Alex Ferguson who never won a world cup match is 1st 

Ferguson does not know how to beat messi so he is shit

alex is overrated

http://www.btoe.com/lists/best-football-manager-on-earth This is an interesting Best Football Manager vote

where is Tele Santana, Frens Bekkenbaur?!

* he make revolution (sorry, my english so bad)

I think R.michels is 1 st without no doubt, he's revolution in football,  he/s genius, 

2 nd Heleno Herrera, he's 1 st coach began playing countar attack in football

3rd Pep Guardiola

Vanderlei Luxemburgo? He won 5 Brazilian Serie A's, 13 Brazilian state championships, a Copa America, a Brazilian Serie B and a Brazilian Cup?

What about George Ramsay? 6 league and 6 FA cups alone should put him in the 20's. I imagine it would be hard to come up with figures for points 2 and 3 from your "how it works" page but surely he deserves a mention at least. Herbert Chapman gets in with 4 league and 2 FA and he was operating at the same time.

Understood, hence my comment! What lists are coming up?

It's only an opening for discussion/debate lads, not definitive!

Rubbish. having Bob at 6 and Clough at 5.

@ ADAM BROWN . AND SO WHAT IF HE WON INTER A CL IN 45 YEARS. HITZFIELD WON DORTMUND THEIR FIRST EVER CL, HIDDINK WON PSV THEIR FIRST EVER CL WHATS SO SPECIAL BOUT WINNING CL IN 45 YEARS. INTER MILAN HAS ALWAIS BEEN IN THE CL YEAR AFTER YEAR. UR ARGUMENTS ARE JUST WEAK. MOURINHO NEVER CREATED THAT SIDE FROM SCRATCH COZ NEARLY ALL THE PLAYERS WERE ALREADY THERE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

Mate are u joking about mourinho!?!? Porto FC had 10 Portugal international players in that 2004 CL final lineup! If he was truly great he would of won Portugal La liga with Uniao de Leira. At chelsea, he squandered no less than 500million pounds in those 3.5 years and the only result he could manage was 2 EPL titles. Ferguson/Wenger did way better than him with half as much money spent on transfers, not only that they built several different sides throughout the decade. Mourinho could never produce his own players maintain longetivity. At Inter, his only main competitor was AS ROMA coz Juventus got relegated n AC Milan/Fiorentina/Lazio started off minus points in serie A table... wonder why he left Inter so soon? maybe coz he wasnt so great building sides other than given large transfer money to buy his way to a title or two. Inter Milan could never offer the kinda money RM offer him and yes he still sux coz he has the most expensive team in the world at RM but still cant manage to win Barcelona! His career stats against Barcelona stands 4W/6D/10L for a winning percantage of 20%, u wanna call that special?? Not so special if u sum it up all the money he has spent in those 4 clubs hes been at! Winning 2 CL is a achievement but at what kinda cost!? Hitzfield did it wit Dortmund and Bayern at the pinnacle of the world game in the mid-late 90s when Italian league was the benchmark of world football. But Mourinho had such a great side (10 of his porto players played for Portugal at Euro 04) people who has a brain can tell u that Mourinho isnt so great or innovative at what he does. He uses the same players same tactics over n over again and yes he can win all the crap teams but when it comes to the real deal, he stands in their shadow n the only excuses for those losses is OH REF CHEATED!

Definitely the best of your lists so far. One big debate is how a man as successful as Fergie can still be so denigrated. His comparative lack of tactical acumen may have been a barrier towards Man Utd creating a true European dynasty (well that and Messi's influence at Barcelona), but I cannot think of many other figures who would last a quarter of a century in such a top job. (Particularly interesting to compare his career with his good friend and fellow 'New Firm' boss, Jim McLean, who slowly drove himself insane with his commitment to the job.) Of course he has it easier than most in acquiring good players, but he has rarely bought already-established stars and there are countless examples of lesser figures struggling to control six-figure egos, let alone for so long.

Interesting to see you rate Ottmar Hitzfeld so highly. Even as a kid, seeing his name and face come up so often, I've long felt he's been underappreciated in Britain. Cloughie of course remains football's most enduring enigma. Taylor's name should always follow his though.

Hope something can be done to fix the difficulty international managers currently have on your system. Seeing as how everybody acknowledges the vital differences between the two jobs though, maybe it would be best to split club and country gaffers, as you've already done for teams.

Controversial opinion for this list - personally think Sacchi is a better self-publicist than a coach.

I really don't understand why vittorio pozzo never enters anyone's list this days we are talking about the greatest international managers and the inventor of the metodo system

It's certainly something we'd look into in the future. Also thinking of getting people to do well-argued rebuttals of our lists.

If you're looking for other writers I'd love to contribute something. I'm thinking a 10,000 word piece on the Ajax team of the early 70s.

Eye-wateringly highbrow.

Hadn't heard that story actually. Nice one.

My favourite manager-related story is when Shevchenko flew out to Kiev after he won the Champer's League and put his medal on the statue of Lobanovsky. Beautiful.

Fucking brilliant!

 @MUckcRAcKER That is the biggest pile of crap you've ever spoke. You mentioned Pep and Paisley, what they achieved don't get me wrong were great achievements no doubt, however, pep especially inherited what is looked at and is quite possibly the greatest team to have ever walked out onto a football pitch. Paisleys achievements were great too but that team was built by Shankley and already knew how to win. Sir Alex turned Man United from top 6 under achievers into the most decorated, hated and admired football team in british history and it was all his own work. And the stat of 2 in 26 being the equivalent to a striker scoring 2 in 26 is stupid, winning the champions league is the biggest achievement in club football and the fact Pep Guardiola done it twice in 4 years shouldn't be the benchmark as, as i said, the team he inherited is incredible more to the point built by another manager, Frank Riijkard.

 @surutusurutu He was briefly manager of Scotland but that wasn't his team. He was only there because of the death of Jock Stein, you can hardly hold that against him.

 @surutusurutu although ferguson hasnt won a world cup, but he has built so many dynasty over that 25 years period. The main factor which i think makes him stand out is the fact that when he joined Man Utd in 1987, Man Utd was nothing but a average joe in the 1st division. so it is magnificent achievement considering he built man utd reputation from "almost" scratch.

 @thefootballfan no mate ferguson is the best 

 @nismoz How stupid are you? Scolari only started two players from Mourinho's Porto team at the euro 2004 in the first match and they lost. Due to outcry from fans and the media, he placed most of Mourinho's players in the next match and they won comfortably. Please, learn your facts before you speak boy.

 @nismoz Your argument is not objective at all and is totally against the progress of the game.

@nismoz Mourinho made that Porto team from scratch with far more limited funds than he had at Chelsea. And you're being deliberately stupid to say he 'only' won two Premier League titles - he was only there for three years! And at Inter he didn't just win a weakened Serie A - he beat the side ranked 4th in FP's list of the greatest of all time and won their first European Cup in 45 years. And he'll probably win it again with Real Madrid this year.

So, he takes the big jobs. So what? Look at all the other men who fall short of his achievements with the same resources. No manager could win a major league title with a provincial club these days, not even Brian Clough. (Except perhaps in Germany.)

And finally, Mourinho has never created a dynasty, but he's not the only one on this list you can say that about. Some managers are dictators, some are wanderers. Some have been between the two. But it's not that important in evaluating their abilities.

 @cfc912 i think ur the real retarded one, the following players were well established internationals for portugal before Mourinho even joined Porto,  Vito Baia..Paulo Ferreira..Jorge Costa..Nuno Valente...Costinho..Pedro Mendes so where the fuk did u get "Mourinho created all these players into international players for portugal???" if u have no clue on the topic go n do some research before u open ur mouth again amateur!

 @Coach Daniel against the progress of the game? perhaps u shud explain urself in much more analytical details!??!

 @adamrhbrown  @nismoz look at him now,period,its easier to go to a team and stay there all your career,than to change teams and with every team splash it out and win everything!

@adamrhbrown@nismoz @adam brown, if u dont know what ur talkin about, do some research and see who were the players at Porto in season 2002-04. He inheritted most of the squad from the very beginning and Porto has always been a powerful in the early 2000s. if u have a brain there u would know EPL back in 2003-05 was by far easier to win than nowadays! Perhaps u have forgotten the only competitors back then was Man Utd and Arsenal where as now its teams like man city liverpool tottenham all have a fair crack at it. If Serie A without Juventus and AC Milan/Fiotenrina/Lazio all started off on minus points, common sence would prevail that the final standings on the seria A table would be affected?? Yes they beat Barcelona in 1st leg of the 2 leg semi final in 2010 CL, but whats his overall record against Barcelona again?? at inter, he faced barcelona 4 times for 1W/1D/2L and his overall record is by far alot worse. So buying his way to CL trophy only means that hes not innovative or bold enough to promote his own youth players and build his team around it. why did he leave Inter so soon? thats right majority of the players are nearing wrong 30s and he knows he cant build another team, thats why he ditched Inter Milan for RM.

 @cfc912 2 or 3 porto players?? so is it 2 or 3 lol u cant even get ur own facts right n sitting here making up numbers! the main argument here is mourinho had a full team of internationals at his disposal, whether its at euro 2000, or wc 2002 or euro 2004. all those players mentioned above had played in those tournaments.Porto before mourinho's arrival was already a powerhouse so grab urself a tissue box and find urself a corner doochebag!

 @nismoz Anyway, you're an idiot and have no idea about what you're saying. You're probably a new football fan and supports a bandwagon team. Your stupid little comments can't discredit Mourinho's achievements nor the countless players who praises him. 

 @nismoz  Anyone can get capped at International level you idiot, it doesn't mean they're a starter. Mourinho's success began 2 years and a half before 2004 so he did help turn them into starters.

 @nismoz  Please, moron, look at Scolari's team for the Euro 2004. He only started 2 or 3 Porto players and when they lost to Greece in the first match, the media and fans were in outrage and called for Mourinho's Porto players to play. And MOURINHO'S team, led them to the final.

 @arditspahija  @adamrhbrown I think you play too much fantasy football, if you think its easier to stay at one club n develop world class players and bring them through to first team, why doesnt mourinho do that at chelsea, inter milan or even real madrid?? or should i say it wud be so much easier if you buy every top class player from other clubs and weaken their strength so you can win all the titles?? that's effectively what mourinho did, jump around clubs and buy all the players he think will weaken his enemy! if he cud buy barcelona he wud, only idiots are kept in the dark about him getting rejected for the barcelona head coaching job in 2008!

 @adamrhbrown  @Adam first of all, get urself some medication before you post any further comments. i know ur good at reading magazines and stats but only an idiot like you wud sit here and say he's a god coz he won inter a triple. Alot of teams in the past had won triple by beating some of the best teams of their era eg) Man Utd v Juventus in 1999, despite the fact Inter beat barcelona in 1 game (from a milito offside goal) doesn't mean they are really better. otherwise all the teams that had beaten barcelona over the past 4 years wud of been rated higher than barcelona. secondly, if you think its hard to win serie a titles in that era, think again who was the coach before Mourinho at Inter Milan? i am sure ur google search would tell u its Mr Mancini who had won 2 serie a titles before mourinho's arrival. The only difference is, Mancini had less money to spend compare to Mourinho. In Mancini's 4 years at Inter, his total spending was 108.5 million euros ( first 2 years he only spent 30 million). Compare to Mourinho's 2 years spending of 135 million euros explains why Mourinho achieved better results. Anyone wanna argue, here's the proof:  http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/inter-milan/transfers/verein_46_2010_default_default_alle_a.html 

@adamrhbrown@Adam EVEN MORE FUNNY IS WHEN ALL THE COACHES IN THE WORLD PRAISE FOR BARCELONA EXCEPT MOURINHO WHO HAS NOTHING ELSE TO SAY OTHER THAN OHH REF CHEATED THIS REF CHEATED THAT WE DIDNT GET ANY PENALTIES SO CR7 COULDNT SCORE!

@adamrhbrown@Adam LOL @ ADAM BROWN AGAIN WITH UR COMMENTS ABOUT MAKING FERGUSONS TEAM LOOK ORDINARY! PERHAPS U HAVE FORGOTTEN BOUT HOW MUCHMONEY RM SPENT ON BUILDING THIS EXPENSIVE SIDE? COMPARING FERGUSONS SIDE TO MOURINHOS SIDE, U CAN PRETTY MUCH SAY FERGUSONS NURTURED HIS YOUTH INTO THE FULL TEAM WHERE AS MOURINHO BOUGHT ALL THE ESTABLISHED PLAYERS WITH MASSIVE TRANSFER PRICES AND YET THEY STILL GET EMBARRASED IN ALL 10 EL CLASSICOS. SO U TELL ME WHOS MORE OVERATTED? SOMEONE WHO SPENDS LESS AND GENERATE 3-4 GENERATIONS OF GREAT SIDES AND WIN ENDLESS TROPHIES OR SOMEONE WHO JUMPS AROUND DIFFERENT CLUBS AND SPENT 800 MILLION POUNDS AND WIN COUPLE TROPHIES HERE N THERE

@adamrhbrown@Adam LOL @ ADAM BROWN FOR FYI 10 of Mourinhos Porto Players played for Portugal in that era. In the 2004 CL Final there was 9 portugal internationals in the starting lineup. Its like saying Barcelona has 9 players playing Spain or Vice versa. Mourinho Inheritted a Portugal national side by virtue of default and this era was by far Portugals golden era! from Euro 2000 to WC2006 they had wonderful runs in international tournaments and nearly all the Porto players in that side had already played for Portugal! The only reason why Porto didnt win another CL was coz Mourinho took all the players with him over to Chelsea and half other players all departed for other richer clubs. Same theory with Chelsea, if hes so great like he self proclaimed being the special one, how come he fuked up @ Chelsea when he had Roman's deep pockets to line up his ego!?!? Subsequent coaches in chelsea and inter all failed to match his consistency is not coz of his true ability rather its his incompetency not developing his own youth players and promote em when chances arises, he just buys all the established players for quick fixes and when they are nearing the wrong end of 30s, Mourinho jus flys the nest and goes to another club which gives him more transfer money! As i mentioned above, hes only good at buying his way to trophies for short term success when it comes to stay in one team and build a dynasty and develop his own young players and maintaining longetivity, hes no where near the same level as Guardiola/Ferguson/Wenger etc.

@nismoz@Adam Interesting that you have ignored my main point - comparing Mourinho's record with others who have done the same jobs recently. Porto's players were not as weak as is often made out, but who else could have taken them anywhere near a Champions League triumph? Not many. How many of his Chelsea successors have struggled to match him for consistency?All of them. You may argue he took over at Inter at just the right moment, but again they weren't much use in Europe before he went there. And his overall record against Barcelona doesn't matter if he takes Real to the title and a 10th European Cup. Alex Ferguson's teams have been made to look very ordinary against Barca recently. Does that make him an overrated manager? Does it make Guardiola the best manager today? Not necessarily.