The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century rank
Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:14 am
The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century ranked
We take a look at the men who have helped bring a golden period to the Welsh game and rate them 15 up to number one
By Paul Abbandonato
Thursday 15th April 2020
To the younger breed of supporter, Welsh football is about the Premier League, Euro semi-finals, Gareth Bale, Craig Bellamy, Michu, Wembley cup finals and sell-out crowds.
Wow. It is fair to say we have had a golden era since the turn of the millennium.
Older fans, of course, know it wasn't always like this. Many of us have been at Ninian Park, or the Vetch, in front of gates barely touching 3,000 to watch Cardiff City and Swansea City in the old Third Division.
Or at Wales matches where 10,000 was regarded as a really good attendance.
Don't believe it? In 1996, a gate of 3,721 were at the Cardiff v Swansea league derby clash.
Three years on, a mere 5,064 turned up to watch a Wales team captained by Gary Speed lose to Switzerland in a European Championship qualifier.
That wasn't so far in the distant past, you know, enabling those who have seen the dark days to put into perspective just how magical things have been over the past two decades.
There have been a whole raft of reasons for the success stories, including a number of top managers in the Welsh game.
Here we take a look at the men who have played a significant part in the Welsh football revolution by ranking the top 15 managers this century.
Everyone, of course, will have their own view of what the order should be, such is the beauty of sport.
Here goes...
15: MIKE FLYNN
Newport County were 11 points adrift at the bottom of League Two when he took over with just a couple of months of the 2016-17 season to go.
Utterly doomed.
Somehow, and against every odd imaginable, he piloted Welsh football's great escape, kept them in the league, got the team to a Wembley play-off final and achieved epic FA Cup wins over Leeds and Leicester, as well as a draw with star-studded Spurs.
Incredible feats with such a small club.
14: KENNY JACKETT
Took over a Swansea City side that just a year earlier, like Newport County, had only avoided going out of the league with victory over Hull on the final day of the season.
Jackett began the Swans' march up the divisions, winning promotion from League Two in his first season and also the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium.
Has gone on to also take Wolves and Millwall up.
13: LENNIE LAWRENCE
That epic play-off final win
Kind of did for the Bluebirds what Jackett managed for the Swans by starting the brighter days with that epic Millennium Stadium play-off victory over QPR.
Cardiff City have had some truly great days this century - but few better than this one as Lawrence took the team into the Championship.
12: DAVE JONES
If Lennie stablised the Bluebirds in the second tier, Jones took things on several notches by bringing big name stars to the Welsh capital and producing some scintillating football during a thrilling six-year reign.
Cardiff fans starved of seeing top players at their club were suddenly enthralled watching Jason Koumas, Jay Bothroyd, Michael Chopra, Craig Bellamy, Peter Whittingham and a young Aaron Ramsey.
Under the ambitious Sam Hammam and Peter Ridsdale, Jones changed the mindset at the club as Cardiff challenged for the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final.
The only reason he's not even higher on this list is because ultimately they didn't win anything.
But what a ride it was.
11: TONY PULIS
He could be much higher of course, but didn't actually manage in Wales.
Has never forgotten his Newport roots, though, and his years spent at the top level, particularly with Stoke and Crystal Palace, command respect and a place on the list.
10: MALKY MACKAY
Delivered the Premier League dream for the Bluebirds, winning the league title to send Wales' capital city club into the top flight for the first time in 51 years.
Also came within a penalty kick shootout of beating Liverpool to lift the League Cup at Wembley.
And everything achieved against a background of the team playing in red, murmurs of discontent among fans and cost-cutting compared to the Jones era.
Cardiff fans had great affection for their manager and made up their own 'Don't Sack Mackay' ditty about him.
It worked for a while, but Vincent Tan had his way in the end.
9: MARK HUGHES
Another who could be arguably higher, as he gave us that golden year as Wales manager when Italy were beaten and we came within a whisker of Euro 2004. Plus he also managed in the Premier League.
But it's also hard to get away from the fact that under Sparky Wales went a record 14 games without a win prior to that golden run, then two years and 10 matches without a competitive win after it.
Talk about boom and bust. Gave Wales some great times, though, with 74,000 Millennium Stadium sell-outs.
8: JOHN TOSHACK
In a different sort of list, Toshack would obviously be number one. How many others can say they have managed Real Madrid?
But his spell as Wales manager between 2004-10 was mixed at best, with the side never in with a chance of qualifying.
Toshack, though, was responsible for implementing the bold youth revolution that fast-forwarded Wales several years and helped lead to the subsequent success, with Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen amongst the plethora of teens he gave debuts to.
7: GARY SPEED
Just as Toshack had to reboot post-Hughes, so did Speed when he took the Wales helm.
Speed actually took the team down to 117th in the FIFA rankings after a home defeat to Australia, his passion burning brightly as he stated the position embarrassed him and he was going to do something about it.
He did just that, modernising the set-up and spearheading wins over Montenegro, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Norway that saw Wales become FIFA's fastest movers.
It was Speed's foundation work, which built upon Toshack's, that saw Wales make the strides which culminated in a Euros semi-final.
Joe Ledley calls him 'the best manager I've had.'
We take a look at the men who have helped bring a golden period to the Welsh game and rate them 15 up to number one
By Paul Abbandonato
Thursday 15th April 2020
To the younger breed of supporter, Welsh football is about the Premier League, Euro semi-finals, Gareth Bale, Craig Bellamy, Michu, Wembley cup finals and sell-out crowds.
Wow. It is fair to say we have had a golden era since the turn of the millennium.
Older fans, of course, know it wasn't always like this. Many of us have been at Ninian Park, or the Vetch, in front of gates barely touching 3,000 to watch Cardiff City and Swansea City in the old Third Division.
Or at Wales matches where 10,000 was regarded as a really good attendance.
Don't believe it? In 1996, a gate of 3,721 were at the Cardiff v Swansea league derby clash.
Three years on, a mere 5,064 turned up to watch a Wales team captained by Gary Speed lose to Switzerland in a European Championship qualifier.
That wasn't so far in the distant past, you know, enabling those who have seen the dark days to put into perspective just how magical things have been over the past two decades.
There have been a whole raft of reasons for the success stories, including a number of top managers in the Welsh game.
Here we take a look at the men who have played a significant part in the Welsh football revolution by ranking the top 15 managers this century.
Everyone, of course, will have their own view of what the order should be, such is the beauty of sport.
Here goes...
15: MIKE FLYNN
Newport County were 11 points adrift at the bottom of League Two when he took over with just a couple of months of the 2016-17 season to go.
Utterly doomed.
Somehow, and against every odd imaginable, he piloted Welsh football's great escape, kept them in the league, got the team to a Wembley play-off final and achieved epic FA Cup wins over Leeds and Leicester, as well as a draw with star-studded Spurs.
Incredible feats with such a small club.
14: KENNY JACKETT
Took over a Swansea City side that just a year earlier, like Newport County, had only avoided going out of the league with victory over Hull on the final day of the season.
Jackett began the Swans' march up the divisions, winning promotion from League Two in his first season and also the Football League Trophy at the Millennium Stadium.
Has gone on to also take Wolves and Millwall up.
13: LENNIE LAWRENCE
That epic play-off final win
Kind of did for the Bluebirds what Jackett managed for the Swans by starting the brighter days with that epic Millennium Stadium play-off victory over QPR.
Cardiff City have had some truly great days this century - but few better than this one as Lawrence took the team into the Championship.
12: DAVE JONES
If Lennie stablised the Bluebirds in the second tier, Jones took things on several notches by bringing big name stars to the Welsh capital and producing some scintillating football during a thrilling six-year reign.
Cardiff fans starved of seeing top players at their club were suddenly enthralled watching Jason Koumas, Jay Bothroyd, Michael Chopra, Craig Bellamy, Peter Whittingham and a young Aaron Ramsey.
Under the ambitious Sam Hammam and Peter Ridsdale, Jones changed the mindset at the club as Cardiff challenged for the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final.
The only reason he's not even higher on this list is because ultimately they didn't win anything.
But what a ride it was.
11: TONY PULIS
He could be much higher of course, but didn't actually manage in Wales.
Has never forgotten his Newport roots, though, and his years spent at the top level, particularly with Stoke and Crystal Palace, command respect and a place on the list.
10: MALKY MACKAY
Delivered the Premier League dream for the Bluebirds, winning the league title to send Wales' capital city club into the top flight for the first time in 51 years.
Also came within a penalty kick shootout of beating Liverpool to lift the League Cup at Wembley.
And everything achieved against a background of the team playing in red, murmurs of discontent among fans and cost-cutting compared to the Jones era.
Cardiff fans had great affection for their manager and made up their own 'Don't Sack Mackay' ditty about him.
It worked for a while, but Vincent Tan had his way in the end.
9: MARK HUGHES
Another who could be arguably higher, as he gave us that golden year as Wales manager when Italy were beaten and we came within a whisker of Euro 2004. Plus he also managed in the Premier League.
But it's also hard to get away from the fact that under Sparky Wales went a record 14 games without a win prior to that golden run, then two years and 10 matches without a competitive win after it.
Talk about boom and bust. Gave Wales some great times, though, with 74,000 Millennium Stadium sell-outs.
8: JOHN TOSHACK
In a different sort of list, Toshack would obviously be number one. How many others can say they have managed Real Madrid?
But his spell as Wales manager between 2004-10 was mixed at best, with the side never in with a chance of qualifying.
Toshack, though, was responsible for implementing the bold youth revolution that fast-forwarded Wales several years and helped lead to the subsequent success, with Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen amongst the plethora of teens he gave debuts to.
7: GARY SPEED
Just as Toshack had to reboot post-Hughes, so did Speed when he took the Wales helm.
Speed actually took the team down to 117th in the FIFA rankings after a home defeat to Australia, his passion burning brightly as he stated the position embarrassed him and he was going to do something about it.
He did just that, modernising the set-up and spearheading wins over Montenegro, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Norway that saw Wales become FIFA's fastest movers.
It was Speed's foundation work, which built upon Toshack's, that saw Wales make the strides which culminated in a Euros semi-final.
Joe Ledley calls him 'the best manager I've had.'
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century
Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:16 am
6: MICHAEL LAUDRUP
Laudrup lifted the 2013 League Cup with Swansea
Gave Swansea their greatest days, winning the League Cup, sparking that 3-0 triumph over Valencia and shocking the Premier League big guns to take the Swans to eighth in the table.
That was some team under him - Michu, Chico Flores, Ki Sung-yueng, Pablo Hernandez signed to supplement the players who had already stabilised in the top flight.
They played with real panache, but it suddenly fell apart very quickly and Laudrup was sacked. Some think it was the wrong decision to this day.
5: RYAN GIGGS
Deserves a place in the top five for the remarkable job he has done with Wales, qualifying a new-look team full of exciting youngsters for Euro 2020.
It was a bold decision to ditch the majority of the old guard who had been automatic picks under Chris Coleman, but Giggs went about the task fearlessly and was proven right in his judgement.
That he did it against a backdrop of a hard-core section of Welsh fans not wanting him as manager made the achievement even more satisfactory.
Where Wales were often backs-to-the-wall under Coleman, Giggs's young guns have a licence to thrill.
And they do. The future is looking red.
4: NEIL WARNOCK
He achieved far more than promotion to the Premier League with Cardiff, he brought a divided club back together again.
Where there were previously splits under Solskjaer, Slade and Trollope, the fans rallied behind Warnock and had complete trust in their manager.
The style was never easy on the eye, but Warnock made the Bluebirds a force again - particularly at their Cardiff City Stadium lair.
It may have finished sourly, but Warnock made Cardiff Together Stronger, to coin Wales' phrase, and that should never be forgotten.
He is a Bluebirds legend.
Cardiff's most popular manager, perhaps?
3: CHRIS COLEMAN
Was he just fortunate to take over a group of ready-made Premier League footballers with Wales?
Has the real Chris Coleman been seen afterwards, with his struggles at Sunderland and China?
Judge as you see fit.
The fact is, however, that he was the manager who took Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and gave us the greatest summer we have known.
Facts are facts.
2: ROBERTO MARTINEZ
Took Swansea to the second tier of English football for the first time in 24 years, then towards the Championship play-offs.
It was his first job as a manager, but Martinez always seemed destined for bigger things. Beat Man City to win the FA Cup with Wigan, managed Everton, then took Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals.
Also had the Belgians ranked as the number one side in the world.
A Swans gamble which you can say paid off. Could easily be number one.
1: BRENDAN RODGERS
Talking of gambles, he'd barely lasted six months as Reading boss and had taken the team towards the relegation spots.
But Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins saw something special in a young Rodgers and, as with Martinez, was proven spot on in his decision-making again.
If Martinez kick-started the Swans' real rise, it was Rodgers who delivered Premier League football for the first time in Wales with that play-off win over Reading and who stabilised the club amongst the elite.
Some fans, and the odd pundit, refused to believe that having just signed a new three-year deal, Rodgers would leave the job half done at the Liberty to join Liverpool. But there was no way on earth Rodgers was going to reject the lure of one of the biggest clubs on the planet.
Up at Anfield Rodgers was a Steven Gerrard slip away from winning the league, followed that with a record-breaking time in charge of Celtic and has since taken Leicester to the brink of the UEFA Champions League.
It is a record that speaks for itself. You just see Rodgers going on to bigger things again, be it at club or international level.
Laudrup lifted the 2013 League Cup with Swansea
Gave Swansea their greatest days, winning the League Cup, sparking that 3-0 triumph over Valencia and shocking the Premier League big guns to take the Swans to eighth in the table.
That was some team under him - Michu, Chico Flores, Ki Sung-yueng, Pablo Hernandez signed to supplement the players who had already stabilised in the top flight.
They played with real panache, but it suddenly fell apart very quickly and Laudrup was sacked. Some think it was the wrong decision to this day.
5: RYAN GIGGS
Deserves a place in the top five for the remarkable job he has done with Wales, qualifying a new-look team full of exciting youngsters for Euro 2020.
It was a bold decision to ditch the majority of the old guard who had been automatic picks under Chris Coleman, but Giggs went about the task fearlessly and was proven right in his judgement.
That he did it against a backdrop of a hard-core section of Welsh fans not wanting him as manager made the achievement even more satisfactory.
Where Wales were often backs-to-the-wall under Coleman, Giggs's young guns have a licence to thrill.
And they do. The future is looking red.
4: NEIL WARNOCK
He achieved far more than promotion to the Premier League with Cardiff, he brought a divided club back together again.
Where there were previously splits under Solskjaer, Slade and Trollope, the fans rallied behind Warnock and had complete trust in their manager.
The style was never easy on the eye, but Warnock made the Bluebirds a force again - particularly at their Cardiff City Stadium lair.
It may have finished sourly, but Warnock made Cardiff Together Stronger, to coin Wales' phrase, and that should never be forgotten.
He is a Bluebirds legend.
Cardiff's most popular manager, perhaps?
3: CHRIS COLEMAN
Was he just fortunate to take over a group of ready-made Premier League footballers with Wales?
Has the real Chris Coleman been seen afterwards, with his struggles at Sunderland and China?
Judge as you see fit.
The fact is, however, that he was the manager who took Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and gave us the greatest summer we have known.
Facts are facts.
2: ROBERTO MARTINEZ
Took Swansea to the second tier of English football for the first time in 24 years, then towards the Championship play-offs.
It was his first job as a manager, but Martinez always seemed destined for bigger things. Beat Man City to win the FA Cup with Wigan, managed Everton, then took Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals.
Also had the Belgians ranked as the number one side in the world.
A Swans gamble which you can say paid off. Could easily be number one.
1: BRENDAN RODGERS
Talking of gambles, he'd barely lasted six months as Reading boss and had taken the team towards the relegation spots.
But Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins saw something special in a young Rodgers and, as with Martinez, was proven spot on in his decision-making again.
If Martinez kick-started the Swans' real rise, it was Rodgers who delivered Premier League football for the first time in Wales with that play-off win over Reading and who stabilised the club amongst the elite.
Some fans, and the odd pundit, refused to believe that having just signed a new three-year deal, Rodgers would leave the job half done at the Liberty to join Liverpool. But there was no way on earth Rodgers was going to reject the lure of one of the biggest clubs on the planet.
Up at Anfield Rodgers was a Steven Gerrard slip away from winning the league, followed that with a record-breaking time in charge of Celtic and has since taken Leicester to the brink of the UEFA Champions League.
It is a record that speaks for itself. You just see Rodgers going on to bigger things again, be it at club or international level.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century
Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:36 am
What? No Jimmy Schoular? No Fred Stewart? Fkg Swansea bo££ox 
Ooops, sorry I didn't read 'this century' lol
Ooops, sorry I didn't read 'this century' lol
Re: The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century
Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:04 pm
in another sort of list Toshack would be top....
yes any list that includes achievements. or common sense.
la liga coach of the year
la liga title
copa del rey winners
supercopa de espana winners
tirkish cup winners ...Azerbaijan cup winners
3 EFL promotions
3 Welsh cups...
EIGHTH...?
yes any list that includes achievements. or common sense.
la liga coach of the year
la liga title
copa del rey winners
supercopa de espana winners
tirkish cup winners ...Azerbaijan cup winners
3 EFL promotions
3 Welsh cups...
EIGHTH...?
Re: The 15 greatest managers in Welsh football this century
Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:13 pm
Can’t argue with that.
Can’t wait to see the crap managers,by god we’ve had our fair share.
Can’t wait to see the crap managers,by god we’ve had our fair share.