- Zinedine Zidane – Real Madrid CF.
Zinedine Zidane was a mercurial player in his prime and as a manager, he is still relatively inexperienced in terms of his time in the job, but that did not stop him winning three consecutive Champions League trophies with Real Madrid.
After retiring as a player, Zidane transitioned into coaching, and began as his head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla.[13] He remained in the position for two years before taking the helm of the first team in January 2016.[14] In his two and a half seasons with Madrid, Zidane won the UEFA Champions League an unprecedented three times consecutively, a La Liga title, a Supercopa de España, and the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each.[15]
His success saw him named Best FIFA Men’s Coach in 2017,[16] but he resigned in May 2018.[17][18] Following poor results by Real Madrid in the subsequent months, Zidane returned to the club as manager in March 2019.[19]
2. Pep Guardiola – Barcelona FC.
Pep Guardiola enjoyed a brilliant career with Barcelona as a player and an even better one as a manager. His Barcelona team are widely recognised as one of, if not the best club side of all time.
After retiring as a player, Guardiola briefly coached Barcelona B, with whom he won a Tercera División title, and assumed control of the first-team in 2008. In his first season as the first team manager, he guided Barcelona to the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest manager to win the aforementioned European competition. The following campaign, he led Barcelona to four trophies, including winning his second Spanish league title as manager. In 2011, after leading the club to another La Liga and Champions League double, Guardiola was awarded the Catalan Parliament’s Gold Medal, their highest honour.[11]
The same year, he was also named the FIFA World Coach of the Year. In Guardiola’s final season at Barcelona, he again won four trophies, before departing in 2012. He ended his four-year Barcelona stint with 14 honours, a club record.
3. Gennaro Gattuso – A.C Milan
Known as a tough-tackling midfielder, Gennaro Gattuso was promoted from the Milan academy and given the first-team job in 2017 to replace Vincenzo Montella.
On 27 November 2017, Vincenzo Montella was sacked by A.C. Milan. Subsequently, they appointed Gattuso as the head coach of the first team, who left the position as the coach of the under-19s.[90] Gennaro Gattuso recorded his first win as A.C. Milan head coach with a 2–1 home win over Bologna in Serie A on 10 December 2017.[91]
In April 2018, Gattuso’s contract was extended to 2021.[92][93][94] However, in the 2018-2019 season, after failing to secure a Champions League spot, Gattuso left the spot with immediate effect. He revealed that he would receive no compensation for his departure, and instead asked for the money to be paid to his coaching staff.
4. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer drafted in to replace Jose Mourinho on an interim basis last season but did enough to be given the job on a permanent basis after impressing United bosses. He now has a big season ahead of him.
Solskjær remained at Manchester United in a coaching role as well as in an ambassadorial capacity. In 2008, Solskjær became the club’s reserve team manager. He returned to his native country in 2011 to manage his former club, Molde, whom he led to their two first ever Tippeligaen titles in his first two seasons with the club. He secured a third title in as many seasons, when his team won the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup Final. In 2014, he served as manager of Cardiff City, during which the club were relegated from the Premier League.
In late 2018, Manchester United appointed Solskjær as caretaker manager, taking over from José Mourinho for the rest of the 2018–19 season.[3] On 28 March 2019, having won 14 of his 19 matches in charge, Solskjær signed a three-year contract to take over as Manchester United manager on a permanent basis.[5]
5. Alan Shearer – Newcastle United
Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s highest goalscorer. One of the best in his position to ever grace the English top flight, but as a manager, well the less said about that the better. He took the Newcastle job on a temporary basis in an effort to keep them afloat, but the Magpies were relegated on the final day of the season.
In a surprise move, late on 1 April 2009, it was announced that Shearer would become the manager of his former club Newcastle United for the remaining eight games of the season, taking over from head coach Chris Hughton who was in temporary charge while the permanent manager Joe Kinnear recovered from heart surgery, having taken ill on 7 February. Shearer stated “It’s a club I love and I don’t want them to go down. I’ll do everything I can to stop that.”[99][100]
His first match in charge ended in a 2–0 defeat against Chelsea at St James’ Park.[103] On 11 April, Newcastle earned their first point under Shearer with a 1–1 draw with Stoke Cityat the Britannia Stadium with Andy Carroll scoring a late equalising goal.[104] After a defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and a draw against Portsmouth, his first win for Newcastle came in a 3–1 victory over Middlesbrough that lifted Newcastle from the relegation zone.[105]
On the eve of the final day of the season on 24 May, where all fixtures are played simultaneously, Newcastle faced the prospect of being relegated to the Championship, along with Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, which would end their 16-year unbroken spell in the Premier League.[106] After losing 1–0 at Aston Villa with Damien Duff scoring an own goal, Newcastle were relegated with local rivals Middlesbrough, joining West Bromwich Albion whose relegation had been confirmed in previous weeks, while Sunderland and Hull City survived. Shearer’s eight games yielded only five points out of a possible twenty-four.[106]
Shearer did not get the manager’s job on permanent basis. Chris Hughton stepped up from the coaching staff to take charge of the quest to get Newcastle back into the Premier League, which was achieved at the first attempt as Newcastle finished top of the Championship in the 2009–10 season.
