There is a certain publication in Germany which is known for its bizarre post-match ratings.
And now it looks like reputed football magazine France Football has chosen to walk on that very same tight rope.
A couple of days ago, the magazine chose to publish a list of the top 50 managers of all time.
Releasing the list France Football said:
‘What is a great coach? How to compare two major technicians to sometimes more than half a century of distance?
‘And, in the end, what is the best of them, all times combined?
‘In order to make its choice and establish it’s Top 50, France Football has chosen three main criteria – the club winners, the trace and the legacy left on the game, the personality – to which is added, implicitly, a fourth: the duration and the impact of the career.’
And to put it mildly, there were a few surprises.
The first and the most obvious one was the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson was not chosen as the No 1. That position went to Ajax legend Rinus Michels.
While this one was not very candid but the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Diego Simeone have been considered better managers to Arsene Wenger.
The Arsenal legend while Klopp and Simeone are both above the Frenchman on the France Football list.
Pep Guardiola who is very early on in his managerial career has been named the fifth best in the world.
Here’s the full list of the top 50 managers of all time:
- Rinus Michels
- Sir Alex Ferguson
- Arrigo Sacchi
- Johan Cruyff
- Pep Guardiola
- Valeriy Lobanovski
- Helenio Herrera
- Carlo Ancelotti
- Ernst Happel
- Bill Shankly
- Matt Busby
- Giovanni Trapattoni
- Jose Mourinho
- Miguel Munoz
- Brian Clough
- Marcelo Lippi
- Nereo Rocco
- Louis van Gaal
- Ottmar Hitzfeld
- Bela Guttmann
- Fabio Capello
- Zinedine Zidane
- Viktor Maslov
- Herbert Chapman
- Jupp Heynckes
- Bob Paisley
- Jurgen Klopp
- Albert Batteux
- Guus Hiddink
- Udo Lattek
- Diego Simeone
- Arsene Wenger
- Vicente del Bosque
- Jock Stein
- Tele Santana
- Vic Buckingham
- Rafa Benitez
- Hennes Weisweiler
- Sir Bobby Robson
- Dettmar Cramer
- Mircea Lucescu
- Tomislav Ivic
- Stefan Kovacs
- Luis Aragones
- Frank Rijkaard
- Otto Rehhagel
- Raymond Goethals
- Marcelo Bielsa
- Antonio Conte
- Jean-Claude Suaudeau
