England Managers. The Best & the Worse

[Robbie]

This is a thread to discuss the best and the worse England Managers that you have experienced over the years, & who you think might make a future good England Manager.

The FA always seem to go for the same type of Manager, they are usually the mild, soft spoken type who are good at public relations.

I'll start you off with the worse England Manager that I have seen, and he was Graham Taylor who had success as Watford Manager.

Taylor was another yes man & a Manager out of his depth that the FA appointed. Taylor's tenure was from1990 to1993, & he was cruelly labelled the turnip by the newspapers.

He had a very good side on paper but he just failed to inspire his players to any degree & failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

Woah @Robbie, You could have opened a Big Can Of Worms Here Fella. But I admire you taking on such a challenge. Saved me the job of doing it . I'm going to have to put the Old Thinking Cap on before answering it. The old grey matter is gonna be working over time But fear Not I shall return with my answers.

[Robbie]

My favourite England Manager is Terry Venables.

He may only have guided England to the semi finals of the Euros in the "Footballs Coming Home" tournament played on home soil in 1996. 

But Venables was a slick operator with the media and a renowned coach, he was unfortunate when England lost to Germany in the semi finals, a match England fully deserved to win.

Venables should have had more years as England Manager than just the two years between 1994 and 1996.

I think Venables is the only England Manager with oomph and a personality to go with it that I've seen, similar to Sam Allardyce, who didn't last very long as England manager at all.

Allardyce could have been a great manager for England too, but like Venables, he wasn't the usual type of manager, the FA appointed as a rule of thumb.

[liampie]

best during my time would easily be gareth southgate based on success and restoring hope that england can do well. steve mclaren would be the worst. he just looked out of his depth and unable to inspire his team.

[Fan of Big Tone]

The best in my time has got to be Sir Alf Ramsey of course who steered the England team to success and won the World Cup in 1966, I was a youngster aged 14 at the time and I remember being very excited.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

The Worst without a Shadow of a Doubt is Gareth Southgate. Despite his results record, With the Talent he has had on hand, he should have at least two Trophies. But he's Nothing more than a Lickspittle a Yes man who bows down  to the FA and his Political Masters.

I Shall Return to state who I believe is the Best England Manager.

[Robbie]

Some strong opinions on this thread with a difference of opinion over Gareth Southgate.

I think we have to accept that in the present FA set up and those they have at the top of that organisation, we are always going to have an England Manager who is more of a diplomat than a Football Manager.

I know I have mentioned him before but I will bring up Brian Clough again because in my opinion he is the best England Manager they never had.

The FA would never appoint a Manager with a similar strong personality to Clough in a million years.

For me, the only ones appointed that were a little tiny bit toward that Clough type personality & skill was Big Sam and Venables and they both left before they should have done, I wonder way?

 

[Chris]

Terry Venables always seemed to have a good grasp of the England squad, the respect and enjoyment of playing under him was clear as a blue sky. I have fond memories of racing home from junior school to watch Euro 1996, where he guided us to a respectable point. Falling short to the Germans on pens, which is probably where I got my hatred of watching them being taken.

I thought Kevin Keegan would do similar for England, as a kid I really liked him but since growing up, I feel much different having watched interviews with former players on how mardy Keegan could get. The fact that he stopped players from playing just due to personal disagreements seems extremely petty.

I wasn't Sven's biggest fan; I feel he never got the best out of the 'golden generation' and all the antics that followed him around. With the rumours his wife picked the squad always baffled me, as sometimes it did look as if someone else were pulling the strings with his selections. Steve McClaren was an awful point in time, possibly the right man at the wrong point. Being appointed, I think it impacted his career to a degree.

Fabio Capello I never liked or rated, he seemed very focused but with limited ideas on how to make England successful. The fact he started forcing players to eat pasta, cut out the social side of things and expected players in bed by 9pm just seems too strict. Also, how he treated Ben Foster, when his wife was pregnant and going into labour, is extremely disappointing. We could have easily allowed Foster to go without hiccup, he just seemed way too strict with a blend of modern and bygone style of management.

Roy Hodgson doesn't get the respect I think he deserves, although at the same time he never looked good enough to manage a squad like England. He's always seemed to make average players better, getting the most out of the smaller nations he managed, but I think at this point in time - he gave the England players a better platform to improve.

Big Sam, I actually felt would make a positive difference, but he messed up by focusing more on illegal backhanders and money making schemes than to take the job as seriously as it deserved. Had his focus been on the team, preparation and winning games, I think he could have done far better, but he really did screw himself over. You see a manager come in, someone who might have been overlooked previously when deserved, and you think he will sort this England team out. What he ends up doing is causing more issues, to do what he tried as the England manager it's just shocking.

Gareth Southgate deserves more respect, he has given us more hope and success than anyone else. All whilst the press are doing their part to ruin it, including our own fans. He's by far from perfect but the fact we have reached a semi-final and the final under him speaks volumes. Sometimes you need a manager who connects with the players, he might not be the best but is able to inspire his players. That is what Southgate does!

I also felt that Peter Taylor deserved a chance; I think he could have given us some stability leading into the golden generation.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

One Guy who is missing so far from this List is Walter Winterbottom, the  Youngest and longest serving England Manager 1946-1962. Amazingly he had No previous Professional Managerial Experience.

During his time as Manager England Won the British Championship (Home Internationals) 13 times in 16 years.

England Played 139 matches under Winterbottom. Winning 78 Drew 33 and lost 28. Goals for 383 Goals Against 196.

He Never Picked His Own Team this was done by a Selection Committee Can you Believe that?

Qualified for Four World Cup Final Tournaments and got to the Quarter Finals on two occasions.

Including World Cup Qualifiers England Won 15 matches Drew 7 and lost 6. Goals for 75 Goals Against 35

That's Not To Bad A Record.

 

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

Another Manager perhaps worth a mention, is Sir Bobby Robson who was stated by many to be one of the Best England managers, of all time. He was the first England manager to get the 3 Lions to a World Cup Semi-Final on Foreign soil. Interestingly Robson while the England Manger offered to resign twice and on both occasions recommended Brian Clough to be his successor . Both times the resignation wasn't accepted due to the Fact the head of the FA Bert Millichip hated Clough. Robson only suffered 1 defeat in 28 Qualifying Matches for major tournaments, as the England Manager.

 

[Piethagoram]

Disagree @Wheelbarrow repair man. England have always possessed talented footballers, Southgate is the first as a head coach to understand and match how "continental football" needs to be played.

The old style man managers didn't achieve much over the years.

Joe Mercer was my ideal England manager going back through the years.

 

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

@Piethagoram

That's Ok it's your right to Disagree. One old style Manager namely Alf Ramsey Did Win A World Cup. How many Southgate Won ? Oh that's right ZERO.

[DangerousSausage]

I'll restrict this to the ones I can remember myself. Ramsay is revered now, but he came in for a lot of criticism during his time.

The best is obviously Sam Allardyce as he won all his games (game).

Gareth Southgate has taken us to a final and a semi-final, and but for a couple of penalties we'd have gone into this tournament as defending champions. That speaks for itself. We're in poor form and he might have outstayed his welcome by now, but the same was true in 1990 (and Bobby Robson was much less successful in the years prior to that). We'll have to see how it pans out.

Calling Taylor a "yes man" is cruel. He was out of his depth in the top job, but had shown himself to be a hugely successful manager in the years prior and deserved his chance. No one knew he'd mess it up so badly at the time.

Terry Venables was the right man for 1996 and really brought the team together, but wasn't interested in staying longer. We played some brilliant football under Glenn Hoddle too but fluffed it in 1998. His replacement, Keegan, was one-dimensional and a big step back. However, he - and Taylor - at least qualified for a major tournament, something Steve McClaren never managed. 

[Robbie]

The only World Cup we ever won was playing the British style of playing football, NOT the continental style.

I think it is going to be hard for England to win a major trophy while the management persist in trying to play the continental style.

Watching the first few games, Germany, Italy and Spain look very strong so although I'm hopeful of England success, I'm not convinced that England can ever play the continental style better than the major continental teams to win a major trophy.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

To Right @Robbie trying to copy another style and failing at it, well that says it all Try out different things and if doesn't work try out another style, 4-4-2 4-2-4   4-3-3, play in a Diamond shape find out what ever style that suits, then play that style but also be able to mix things up now and again, keep the opposition guessing, don't be Predictable. That's the sign of a Good Manager.

[DangerousSausage]

34 minutes ago, Robbie said:

The only World Cup we ever won was playing the British style of playing football, NOT the continental style.

What is the continental style? England won the World Cup nearly 60 years ago, when training consisted of players running laps of the pitch while the manager stood on the touchline smoking woodbines. The world has moved on and football has evolved, as it has done since its earliest days. We have won sod all since then because we insisted on playing kick and rush for decades and got left behind.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

@DangerousSausage I think you'll find the reason why England have won nothing is the Team have Never Been Good Enough. Even the So Called Golden Generation failed to Win any thing. It seems when the Chips are down England tend to Bottle It. Some if Not a Large slice of that Failure is down to the FA and their choice of Manager. It would seem obvious that in the 1970's to 19180's the man for the England Job was  Old Big 'Ed himself Brain Clough. But the FA had a pure Distain for Cloughie, that instead of offering the job to the right candidate who probably would have Won Trophies, they decided to go with Managers who were out of their depth when it came to leading the National Team.

The Continental Style is what you see down the Lane  trying to be copied, that is build up from the back and play Tippy Tappy Football. Continental sides can play that way, England can't but instead of trying to  counter that type of Football with their own ideas, they try and copy it and fail Miserably at it.

And before anyone says most Premier Teams play that way, most Premier League Teams have a Continental Manager and are full of Continental Players, who are already familiar with that Style of Play.

[super_ram]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/oct/11/forgotten-story-joe-mercer-england-manager

A comment on football at the end of Alf Ramsey's reign.

[BromPie]

England has seen many capable managers, yet for various reasons, few have consistently brought out the best in their teams, with the exception of Sir Alf Ramsey. Gareth Southgate demonstrates a solid grasp of his team, although some outsiders might have their doubts. Watching Terry Venables lead England was delightful, as was observing Sir Bobby Robson at the helm. It's challenging and perhaps unfair to name the greatest, but as mentioned, we've had a host of commendable managers.