1.) 23 Jul 2019
23 Jul 2019 23:34:35
Could not agree more especially about Pep. Great read, thank you.


2.) 24 Jul 2019
23 Jul 2019 23:04:12
Well this was a fun surprise, interesting list. Really excited to see what Nagelsmann does at RBL. You address one particular exclusion at the bottom but what was your reasoning behind the absence of Pochettino, Allegri and Simeone? (The latter in particular) .

{Ed001's Note - Pochettino? Why would he be anywhere near it?

Allegri has shown no reason to be in there, he wins in Italy with a team miles better than the rest that was presented to him. Until he goes elsewhere and does something good, he can't be considered.

Simeone plays crap football that is no different from Sean Dyche, but I didn't include him either. Why would I? He hasn't won things by being good, he has won things by kicking opponents out of the game and playacting, diving etc. All the reasons Mourinho was not in consideration.}


3.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 04:22:08
Interesting read. Thanks Ed. What's your thoughts on Ten Hag and what he's done at ajax?

{Ed001's Note - done some great stuff, he has made a team of mainly average players look better than they are, but not for long enough yet to get in the list. This season is the key.}


4.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 05:45:43
Ed, more of these please. Just fantastic, unbiased reading - this is why so many people come to the site.

{Ed001's Note - thank mate.}


5.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 06:02:34
It’s just refreshing to see a list put together based on factors other than “he won trophies mate! ”.
I’d personally have Guardiola at the lower end of the list, his league consistently is no mean feat despite the clear superiority of his squad over any other.
That said, I’d imagine he’d admit himself that Klopp is the best manager in the game. For me it’s not even close, Klopp is miles and miles ahead of anyone else.

{Ed001's Note - I don't like the trophies won factor as anything more than a differentiator in the case of tie-break. It does not take into account all the factors like how much money they have to spend or the state of the team they inherited etc.

As for Pep, he inherited the best squad in Europe, he has consistently taken over the best team and consistently made them worse and walked away saying the players have stopped responding to his methods. If he can't adapt to that, then he is simply not a good manager. If you have to change the manager every 3 years, then he is not good enough. You can sell players to earn cash, but changing manager is just draining money for no good reason.}


6.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 06:05:39
Guardiola took over Barcelona when they didn't win a single trophy the previous two seasons then winning the treble having sold Deco and Ronaldinho. He won the treble with a spanish team for the first time ever.

Not that it is saying everything about him as a coach but I can't really say he made that Barcelona team weaker.

{Ed001's Note - he did that and then made it worse, I don't see what is so difficult about it. He improves it initially but then players get tired of his methods. Oh and selling Deco (who was average) and Ronaldinho (who was too busy partying and missing training and Rijkaard wanted to sell anyway) was not exactly making it more difficult to compete. It allowed Messi to come through. He had the best Spanish team handed to him on a plate, the best team in Europe in fact, and turned it into the best team in Spain.

Guardiola is someone who has a short term boosting effect and then gradually drags teams down with his micro-management. The team that he left behind were not playing anything like as well as he initially got them playing but he refused to adapt his methods at all to bring the best out of the players. He just continued with the same training over and over. When it was no longer working he whined about the players, rather than looked at himself and made some changes.}


7.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 06:37:24
Our front 3 when fit and firing are a Match for anyone and will always make us challenge. Bringing someone in to compete with them was always going to be difficult hence why no one has come in. What my main concern is they have all more or less been fit and firing for 24 months solid with little to no rest. You can only push something/ someone so far before it either starts to break down or the performance drops. I really hope that isn’t the case this season.


8.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 07:17:35
Really great read, love Nuno and you can tell the plates are just eager to please him, wolves are so hard to beat at times and play attractive football, spot on with pep i've said before, failed his job at Bayern by not winning the CL, and so far you could say the same with city they won the league before he got there the owners want the big one! But he’s lorded over when he can literally ask the club to sign anyone he wants, never really been impressed by him.


9.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 07:55:31
Let's hope he does the same to city then Ed. 🤞.


10.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 09:39:28
I personally think you’re being harsh on Pep - yes he has all the funds available to him, but to get that team to gel and play the kind of football they’ve played the last two seasons isn’t a gimme. They went on an excellent run to close out the league, and he’s also avoided any potential complacency and discontent that have could have derailed them (so far) . Harder than it looks, just look at Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd last couple of seasons.

Where I massively agree however is Klopp has done an incredible job turning Liverpool from a 5-7th place regular finishing side (and a mess when Rogers left) into a cohesive and well oiled machine capable of challenging the very best in Europe. He’s also done it in a sustainable way through changing the culture of the entire club and only bringing in players that suit our style of play and put the side before themselves.

That to me is the true gift.


11.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 10:15:13
Great read Ed I enjoyed that. But Pep will always be up there, he did manage the best Club side we've seen since the 80's after all THAT Barcelona team, and record points with City. To say he isn't a good manager makes Liverpool look poor imo, to beat Liverpool to the title last season couldn't have been done by a bad manager.

{Ed001's Note - but no one said he wasn't a good manager. All I was saying is he has not proven himself to be top 10. That does not make him bad or make Liverpool look poor.}


12.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 10:52:28
Klopp has spent nothing compared to Pep and City.

There was a BBC article on the most expensive defenders last week and City had 5 of the top 10. Walker, Stones, Otamemdi, Mangala and Mendy.

We had 1 in the top 10; Van Dijk.

They've been blowing every team except Man United out of the water for transfer fees and wages since 2009. The fact Klopp got us to a level we can match them in about 3 years with key players like Arnold, Matip, Gomez, Robertson, Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri and Origi who cost less than City's 6th choice forward, Riyad Mahrez, says it all.


13.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 10:53:16
On klopp, I’ve read things suggesting his next move is likely to be to manage the German national team. As his style is all about building a team and improving players by training them day in day out do you think it would work out for him in international management?


14.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 10:52:12
Great article, Many thanks. Refreshing perspective away from the usual glorification you read in the media about the usual suspects. Started a debate in my mind though. Which has more value? Titles while playing ugly, or being up there while playing a pleasing (to the eye) football. And how much does money have a role to play in all that?


15.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 11:57:58
When Klopp does eventually leave I would love to see Liverpool get Nagelsman. I think he'll work wonders with Leipzig and turn them into a top team.


16.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 10:46:34
I'm glad you didn't add pep in that list Ed mate, he's not worthy of it and I don't care what anybody says. A great article mate with some top managers added. I agree on Klopp especially and that's not just because I'm a Liverpool fan either but because I can recognise a bloody top manager when I see one and he is by far imo the best manager in the world right now.


17.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 11:13:29
So could see his over micro managing after the FA cup final when he went over to Sterling and started telling him what he did wrong. There's a time and place for that rubbish and just after a final when Sterling was the best player on the pitch isn't it, that rubbish wears off real quick and it saps the enjoyment from the players.


18.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 13:27:45
Surprised you didn't include Bielsa in there, ed001.

{Ed001's Note - I did consider him, if he had won promotion in the summer with Leeds I think I would have put him in. It would have been bias though as I love El Loco.}


19.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 13:55:28
Surprised not to see bielsa in your list ed001 I know you think there's a bias but he is by far and away one of the most talented managers in football in many regards.

I'm also curious if del Bosque might have made your list if he hadn't retired?

I always liked his teams and he's a super friendly and interesting guy.

{Ed001's Note - Bielsa is an excellent manager, but in recent years his achievements have not been as great as they should have been. If he wins promotion with Leeds then that immediately changes it, as the team he inherited was not given much hope of promotion before his appointment.

As for del Bosque, I don't know. I was going for the top 10 right now, rather than top 10 of the last 20 years or some other time period. So it would have depended on how he was doing if he was still working.}


20.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 18:06:59
@ Ed 001 :

Disagree with this list on so many levels.

Yes Nagelsmann might be the future of European football. But can you honestly say that at the moment he's a better manager than the likes of Ancelotti, Benitez, Mourinho, all three managers with proven European success as well as league pedigree. Yes he represents a new, younger, maybe even more progressive style of manager - but to even put him in the same bracket as these 3 managers at the moment I believe is disrespectful towards everything they have achieved in football.

Also, you have decided to exclude Pochettinho from the list and yet you've included Sergio Conceicao because he "created a strong team in Porto, despite having had to offload a large number of players initially to balance the books. Despite that, he has made them competitive in the Champions League". How is that any greater to what Pochettinho has done in the past few seasons - consistently getting top 4 in the toughest league in the world despite minimal net spend, making Spurs competitive in the Champions League, reaching a Champions League final, and all this while balancing the books due to the development of their new stadium.

As for the omission of Diego Simeone and Pep Guardiola. Simeone broke the stranglehold that Real Madrid and Barcelona had on the La Liga despite having a fraction of their budgets and having their top players poached by bigger clubs. And yet despite this he got TWO European finals and was 5 minutes away from winning one. And on top of that the man's delivered 2 Europa Leagues Cups. Ok so he doesn't play the most attractive style of football. But is that all your criteria is for being a top Manager? Playing attacking and progressive football that is nice on the eyes?

And the omission of Pep Guardiola is just astonishing. I think right now the trendy thing to do is to critisise Pep for not being a top manager. Not I know you haven't said that, you've just said that he's not in your top 10 managers, but to even consider Naglesman, Setien, Santo and others on the list is a joke.

Terrible list Ed. There are good managers on that list but you've ommitted some of the best manager's in European history.

{Ed001's Note - if you say so, but any one stupid enough to write a list of the top 10 managers right now, then include 3 who are clearly not in the top 10 because of their past achievements, like you seem to want, would be an absolute buffoon. No matter how much I love Rafa, I would be a clueless idiot to include him in the top 10 managers in the world right now. Ancelotti has never been a top 10 manager, he has failed far too often to win the league with a team far better than his opposition. As for Mourinho, if anyone truly believes that he is still anywhere near the top 10 right now, then they need help.

How are you comparing Conceicao and Poch? Poch has been given very decent amounts of money to spend, there were just two windows when deals were not done, yet he could not even win a trophy when every other top team stepped aside and let him have it on a plate. Even then he couldn't win the league, instead folding in miserable style because he is not a winner. Conceicao has won his domestic league in style after being forced to balance the books by offloading half his first team, while Poch has bought donkeys like Wanyama and Davinson Sanchez.

Simeone did not have the disadvantage you seem to think he had as they had a bunch of players signed with 3rd party ownership to enable them to bring in players they couldn't otherwise afford. Why do you think 3rd party ownership was banned? Atleti were gaming the system for the likes of Aguero etc. Perhaps if you actually took the time to know what was really going on there you would understand.

A joke? No you are just unable to understand that a list of the top 10 managers right now is not going to include people who would have been in there 20 years ago, such as Ancelotti. Surprised you weren't complaining I left out Arrigo Sacchi, as you seem to think it is about history. I will excuse your ignorance, as you clearly are living in the past.}


21.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 19:02:01
To be clear, I didn't say (and don't think) that Benitez, Ancelotti and Mourinho are the in the top 10 managers in the world. At some point yes, but not anymore. But I still think that they are proven to be better managers then a lot of the names you've mentioned.

Maybe it would help if you defined what you meant by Top Manager. Is it someone that is able to build a team and deliver trophies, someone that's able to be competitive whilst balancing the books, someone that is excellent at delivering trophies at whatever cost, or someone that implements a progressive easy-on-the-eye attacking style of play?

That is why I don't typically like "Top 10 lists". There are different types of managers that are great for different clubs. A manager like Zidane may not be successful at Sheffield United, as all he's ever know in his life is winning trophies and competing at the highest level. But if you give him a stacked Real Madrid team, he's able to massage these super-star egos and deliver 3 Champions League titles on the bounce. Does this make him one of the top 10 managers? Personally, I don't think so, but you see my point.

So I think it's important for you to define what you mean by a top manager.

{Ed001's Note - no it is not important, it is a list of my choices, why does it matter?}


22.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 19:27:12
Well seeing as this is a forum for football-related discussion, and that the term "Top Managers" is so subjective, I think it would be helpful for your readers to understand why you have picked these managers and placed them in that order. And importantly it would also help us understand why you have excluded other top managers.

{Ed001's Note - because they are the ones I think are the best right now. It is not really difficult, it is just a subjective list which is why Klopp is number one when many would pick someone else.}


23.) 24 Jul 2019
24 Jul 2019 20:05:26
I suppose the "difficulty" I'm having is that it's not clear what criteria you're ranking these top managers against.

{Ed001's Note - it is my personal choice of who is the best right now. Nothing more, there is no criteria other than my personal choice.}