Best football manager ever?

At the pub tonight watching the Villa v Liverpool match with a few friends.

Talking about how well Dean Smith has done.

Four of us including me say Sir Alex was the best manager ever, two saying Clough and one saying Guardiola.

Opinions?

I say Sir Alex Ferguson because he was at the same club for 26 years and continued to win titles by refreshing his team. I don't think any other manager could have done that. You see how they've missed him since.

Bob Shankly at Liverpool would be my second choice.

I would have said Eddie May but I wasn't allowed to choose a Cardiff manager :lol:

Jose Mourinho Because Of His Successful Manager Career So Far.
Some May Say Arsene Wenger Others Sir Alex But I Think The 3 Of These Are The Best In English Football.

is bob Shankly , what about bill paisley..

a couple who never get mentioned on these lists are Don Revie and Alf Ramsey..

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

See your point but I always look back to when he struggled at Burnley.

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

he has done a fantastic job there, but needs to win something or move to somewhere where he can win something..

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

he has done a fantastic job there, but needs to win something or move to somewhere where he can win something..

Burnley was some time ago now and I'm sure Eddie Howe will say he has developed since. Not sure he warrants a place in the list here but I'm very surprised when he is not linked to jobs like Tottenham and Arsenal when they come up. I'd have him here in an instant. Great track record of developing young players and with our Welsh ones too.

My vote would go to Clough.

He made two modest clubs into champions and in between decided Leeds weren't for him.

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

he has done a fantastic job there, but needs to win something or move to somewhere where he can win something..

Burnley was some time ago now and I'm sure Eddie Howe will say he has developed since. Not sure he warrants a place in the list here but I'm very surprised when he is not linked to jobs like Tottenham and Arsenal when they come up. I'd have him here in an instant. Great track record of developing young players and with our Welsh ones too.

My vote would go to Clough.

He made two modest clubs into champions and in between decided Leeds weren't for him.

I voted Clough for those reasons too..
I mentioned Ramsey who took Ipswich from the 3rd division south to being league champions and then winning a world cup as he never gets mentioned . and similarly
Don Revie who took on 2nd division Leeds who at the time had won less than ourselves and had been getting smaller crowds than us { their last 3 attendances in his 1st season combined were less than last Saturdays gate } .. into a team that won 2 titles, won 4 cups, appeared in 6 finals where they lost and had 10 consecutive years as a top 4 side.

Why on earth is Bob Shankly there? Steering Dundee to a European Chanpionships Semi final isn’t worthy of being considered the best manager of all time.

Bill Shankly for me.

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Took an average second division team who were no better than us at the time to league winners, European winners, and other trophies as well. He had good backroom staff, and there were a couple of Liverpool managers who followed who could be argued as being just as good. My gripe with Shankly is that he took my favourite City player from our club.

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Took an average second division team who were no better than us at the time to league winners, European winners, and other trophies as well. He had good backroom staff, and there were a couple of Liverpool managers who followed who could be argued as being just as good. My gripe with Shankly is that he took my favourite City player from our club.

he did do a good job there, they were a big club already though all be it in division 2..

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Took an average second division team who were no better than us at the time to league winners, European winners, and other trophies as well. He had good backroom staff, and there were a couple of Liverpool managers who followed who could be argued as being just as good. My gripe with Shankly is that he took my favourite City player from our club.

he did do a good job there, they were a big club already though all be it in division 2..

I think he got the ball rolling and the club were lucky that they had the likes of Bob Paisley to continue, and possibly even improve on what he had started. Shankly never won the European Cup, but he guided Liverpool to one of the others (Can't remember if it was the Fairs Cup or Cup Winners Cup or similar). I liked listening to him talk, spoke his mind and was a no nonsense type. I think Scoular must have come from the same sort of background, similar personalities.

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Took an average second division team who were no better than us at the time to league winners, European winners, and other trophies as well. He had good backroom staff, and there were a couple of Liverpool managers who followed who could be argued as being just as good. My gripe with Shankly is that he took my favourite City player from our club.

he did do a good job there, they were a big club already though all be it in division 2..

I think he got the ball rolling and the club were lucky that they had the likes of Bob Paisley to continue, and possibly even improve on what he had started. Shankly never won the European Cup, but he guided Liverpool to one of the others (Can't remember if it was the Fairs Cup or Cup Winners Cup or similar). I liked listening to him talk, spoke his mind and was a no nonsense type. I think Scoular must have come from the same sort of background, similar personalities.

I think their club got it absolutely spot on at the time shanks retired and all the coaches moved up a rung...
I mentioned Don Revie { I detest leeds } but he did a similar job at Elland rd but where Liverpool went with this seamless promote from within , Leeds brought in someone that was everything they were not. Clough a great manager but as wrong a fit as you could imagine..

Bill Shankly for me.

why ?

Took an average second division team who were no better than us at the time to league winners, European winners, and other trophies as well. He had good backroom staff, and there were a couple of Liverpool managers who followed who could be argued as being just as good. My gripe with Shankly is that he took my favourite City player from our club.

he did do a good job there, they were a big club already though all be it in division 2..

I think he got the ball rolling and the club were lucky that they had the likes of Bob Paisley to continue, and possibly even improve on what he had started. Shankly never won the European Cup, but he guided Liverpool to one of the others (Can't remember if it was the Fairs Cup or Cup Winners Cup or similar). I liked listening to him talk, spoke his mind and was a no nonsense type. I think Scoular must have come from the same sort of background, similar personalities.

I think their club got it absolutely spot on at the time shanks retired and all the coaches moved up a rung...
I mentioned Don Revie { I detest leeds } but he did a similar job at Elland rd but where Liverpool went with this seamless promote from within , Leeds brought in someone that was everything they were not. Clough a great manager but as wrong a fit as you could imagine..

Leeds were great to watch under Revie. Had a couple of my favourite players at that time as well, Eddie Gray & Terry Cooper. Nearly all of their players were class acts, and with Alan Clarke & Mick Jones up front, always likely to score. Add in Lorrimer and Giles and it's not surprising they were so successful.

Underated shout but Eddie Howe never gets a mention on these lists. What hes done at Bournemouth is like a football manager game.

Piss take surely

Arguably its Di Matteo at Chelsea..

Shanks or Cloughie... Shankly used to run a Sunday league side in Huddersfield, when he was Liverpool manager. And he’d heard of the Cardiff aggro.

Brian Clough turned two average second division sides into English Champions. And in the case of Forest into twice European Champions. That was a remarkable achievement which is very, very unlikely to be repeated.

And from a much earlier era the manager of the team responsible for denying us the title on goal average. Herbert Chapman won two consecutive league titles with Huddersfield - and built the side that completed a third, though he left before then -and followed that up with three consecutive league titles with Arsenal a few years later.

Thanks JJ. I didn't know Herbert Chapman was at Huddersfield before Arsenal. He was ahead of his time for sure.

How Clough gets shortlisted before José and Paisley is beyond me,
Trapattoni gets my vote.

I will throw a different name in for discussion

Rafa Benitez surely has to be one of the top of the last 20 years at least

Hes won major trophies in England , Spain and Italy

Champions league
Europa league
UEFA cup
Super cup
Fa cup
Copper italia
Fifa club world cup
La liga
The championship

His record is brilliant

How Clough gets shortlisted before José and Paisley is beyond me,
Trapattoni gets my vote.

2 bottom half 2nd division teams to league titles. and Forest to 2 European cups .
didn't win as much as fergie or paisley but you wouldn't expect those clubs to be winning anything at all let alone titles and European cups.?

Great achievement but people have different views,there’s an Italian manager who won the World Cup back to back (the only one) is he best ever.

Bobby Robson?

You only have to hear what Pep and Jose have to say about him to understand his greatness

I will throw a different name in for discussion

Rafa Benitez surely has to be one of the top of the last 20 years at least

Hes won major trophies in England , Spain and Italy

Champions league
Europa league
UEFA cup
Super cup
Fa cup
Copper italia
Fifa club world cup
La liga
The championship

His record is brilliant

I agree brilliant manager.

SIR NEIL WARNOCK

Great achievement but people have different views,there’s an Italian manager who won the World Cup back to back (the only one) is he best ever.

not sure the OP meant world wide...
but yes different views...and different criteria.. and in many respects different jobs...Paisley was expected to do well and win trophies at Liverpool as was Ferguson at United same can be said for your Italian bloke. ?. Revie, Clough and Ramsey certainly wernt expected to but did...not sure you can measure those achievements against each other..

Thanks JJ. I didn't know Herbert Chapman was at Huddersfield before Arsenal. He was ahead of his time for sure.

He was the opposition manager when we missed out on the title on goal average and when we won the FA Cup. We missed a penalty at 0-0 with ten minutes to go against Birmingham I believe in the last game to hand the title to Huddersfield. The goal would have improved our goal average sufficient to have won us the title let alone the points!