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Are English managers rubbish? Last year, before the season ended, I looked at who was likely to lose their job as manager, and included Sean Dyche, Mauricio Pochettino, and Roy Hodgson among those likely to get fired before the start of the season. They were. Since then Erik Ten Hag, Steve Cooper, Russell Martin, Julien Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil have also bit the bullet. Which means there are only two English managers in the Premier League, Eddie Howe and Graham Potter. The straightforward argument is that English managers must be rubbish, in fact UK managers must be rubbish as there are few of them either but the Scots have had their successes, but even that seems to be well in the past. Will we see Chris Wilder back in the Premier League? Today I will look at the English ones as, with the quirk of history determining, uniquely throughout the world, that four teams play from the UK and the English league is by far the best of those. Next season, if Sheffield United get through the playoffs, (and they have never won a playoff before) two English managers are likely to come up, Chris Wilder with Sheffield and Scott Parker with Burnley. Providing, of course, that the owners don’t decide they need new managers for the Premier League. Leaving a possible four out of twenty. Three English managers to go? Probably Burnley and Sheffield United will struggle and Graham Potter has not exactly pulled up trees with West Ham meaning that all three of them may go before the end of next season. Eddie Howe also, but only if he leaves the Premier League to go abroad, a scenario that seems unlikely given the standing of English managers. Or if Newcastle have a disastrous run of points lost. Graham Potter - a candidate for the sack? And that seems to be the logical choice. You will win nothing with English managers. Not the Premier League or the Champions League since they were both inaugurated in the 90’s. Even the FA Cup or League Cup have been dominated, since the Premier League era, by non-English managers. It is surely a damning statistic that while English players are near the top of the tree, English managers are near the bottom. Off the top of my head, only Graham Potter and Frank Lampard has had a chance at a top English team in recent years, but neither was given very long, nor were they successful. Just two top managers? We have four Spanish, Guardiola, Iraola, Emery and our own Arteta. Four Portuguese, Amorim, Silva, De Santo and Periera. 3 German, Farke of Leeds, Glasner and Hurzelar. Maresca, Italian , Frank, Denmark, Postecoglou, Australia, Slot, Dutch, and David Moyes a Scottish outlier. And a good evening to you, Unai Emery Only Guardiola and Emery could be regarded as true top managers at this juncture, having garnered many trophies apiece. That is the Premier League as we head into 2025/26. Will any of the above list be gone before next season or soon after? Postecoglou and Amorim seem to be under the most pressure with even winning the Europa League no guarantee of safety but neither are English. Only two sort of top English managers? What does that leave us with? Only Eddie Howe and Gareth Southgate can be rated in any way highly. Top English players have fared disastrously, mostly, as managers in recent years, the Nevilles, Gerrard, Rooney, and Lampard all tried and failed. Michael Carrick is midtable with Middlesbrough in the Championship and I can’t see a top team snapping him up. It all looks disastrous for emerging English talent. Gareth Southgate is the best England manager of recent times Is it perhaps really down to one factor, that the English are terrible at learning languages? With a multi-language squad to navigate, can barking at players in English be effective? Roy Hodgson famously learned many languages and managed across several countries but the only other top ones in fairly recent times, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables didn’t really speak anything other than English. All successful Premier League managers seem to have mastered English sufficiently to be able to handle most tasks without interpreters eventually. At least the foreign managers try to learn English Fun was made of Unai Emery when at Arsenal but his English has improved, and, to his credit, he always went into interviews alone and bravely tried to comprehend the English interviewers often highly idiomatic questions. He has done wonders at Villa after Gerrard nearly brought them to relegation. Eddie Howe - the only English Premier League manager of any substance? We are left with Eddie Howe, in truth. He is the only benchmark we have for English managers. As far as I can find out, he only speaks English, so he relies on his players speaking English or using them or a dedicated interpreter when a player arrives without English. Would he get a chance at a top club? I would say no. I can’t imagine Arsenal fans would be terribly happy if he got the Arsenal job. Tottenham, Man Utd or Chelsea? I am not sure but I expect the owners would prefer a proven winner. Which means he has to do it at Newcastle. I don’t think he will. That may be a step too far. The last time he got in the Champions League Newcastle went backwards. And none coming through? It seems that the dearth of English managers will continue. They first need to be given a chance, and if they get that chance, they must succeed and quickly. Our last English manager was Bruce Rioch who was widely regarded as a disaster although he didn’t do too badly. I can’t see an English manager coming to the Emirates any time soon mostly because I cannot think of a contender. Unless Scott Parker burns the opposition at Burnley To sum up, there are almost no English managers at the top level. There are no obvious contenders coming through. Ergo, we will not see a return to most Premier League managers being English. We may not see another Aussie if Mr Postecoglou gets the boot. Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Italian, Scandinavian and French, yes. English? Sorry we don’t want you. And that is a sad state of affairs, that there are few English role models to aspire to. It has been a downward spiral that doesn’t seem to be stopping. English managers may not really be rubbish but we have no way of finding out one way or the other. Unless someone out there has the answer.

Premier league managers are not all gone- yet. On February 1st 2024 I wrote that we could see the biggest amount of change ever in the Premier League by the start of the new season. I was wrong, at least so far. Six teams changed managers with only Burnley of the relegated teams, and even then, Kompany left of his own accord for a much bigger team in Bayern Munich. Crystal Palace fired Roy Hodgson as expected, De Zerbi left Brighton, Pochettino was fired from Chelsea, Klopp really did leave Liverpool, David Moyes was pushed out at West Ham. We still have a little bit of time yet but I don’t anticipate much more to come. There might be a job at Everton, David The only one I got seriously wrong was David Moyes. It seems West Ham fans just didn’t like him. But it was the most unjust sacking I have seen in a while. West Ham never win trophies but somehow Moyes managed the miracle. I cannot see them winning another any time soon. Ten Hag is the miracle man Lots of managers got a late reprieve with Ten Hag at Manchester United perhaps the most notable. Winning the FA Cup saved him although he is probably a strong contender for the sack if he gets off to a bad start. Ten Hag - I need the ten best players in the world to come to Utd or I will be sacked Thomas Frank dropping down towards the relegation zone didn’t help his prospects of getting a big job but I feel he is in some owner’s minds all the same. Roberto de Zerbi moved to Marseille but that’s not much of a step up. Arteta is going nowhere but who is going out? Arteta could have been tempted by Barcelona but the job went to Hansi Flick. Arteta surely has a power at Arsenal that he would not have at another club? The team is his, the players are his, and he seems to have the backroom team on his side as well. A move would see him having to create a lot of new relationships. I feel only a severe bad spell could see the Arteta out brigade gaining traction. Arteta to stay, then. Arne Slot - he won't slot in Who could go, then? Arne Slot is in a high pressure job, probably the second most such after Chelsea. He needs results and a good style of play. Otherwise one season may be his achievement. Enzo Maresca? Chelsea are rapidly becoming a graveyard for managers. Under Abramovich they would win and still be fired so at least they were employable. Now, they don't win, get fired, and maybe end up on the dungheap. Maresca has no Premier League experience, faces a divided club, with lots of high salaries and no-one has any clue who their best players are, with the exception of Cole Palmer. I suppose, in comparison to Arne Slot though, he has a little more leeway. If he brings them up a little he may get a stay of execution. What does the betting say? Ten Hag has proven resilient at Manchester United. The new system in place may benefit him, however, he needs top players to come in and make an immediate impact. Players like Erikson and Casemiro seem to be coming to an end and Rashford, Anthony and Martial along with others are going or need to improve. It will be hard to have a top season but he needs green shoots to get another chance. Is a strong candidate for the sack I feel, and is 10-1 in the betting. Enzo Maresca - bye bye Russell Martin of Southampton is 14-1 and teams who come up via the playoffs have it difficult. They will probably struggle but I am not sure he will go until the end unless they have a real disaster. Sean Dyche is also 14-1 and that must be surprising but honestly I am more surprised that someone has not come in for him. He is a top manager, particularly with limited resources. The chaos at Everton is the reason he is so high in the betting but I don’t believe he will be fired, although he may leave. The London boys won’t be sacked Oliver Glasner of Crystal Place is 12-1 and I can’t really understand why. They did well and have a lot of good young players. I think they will be comfortable. He won’t be fired. Marco Silva at Fulham is 12-1 and again I would be surprised if he gets fired. Buying in Smith-Rowe could be the latest in his normally good signings and it is a bit of a little Arsenal now with Leno and Iwobi already there. I see them above mid-table. Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth is also 12-1 and I also don’t know why. They will probably be bottom half but high bottom half. The first 100 year old to play in the Premier League? Steve Cooper is 10-1 and yes he has a hard task as Leicester, of the 3 promoted teams, have the highest expectations. They did win the Premier League not too long ago and have experienced players at this level, including 100 year old Jamie Vardy, who will probably continue to bang in goals. Cooper’s record at his various teams and the England youths, is quite good and I expect he will keep them up without too much bother. He never seems to stay a long time, though. I will be astonished if Eddie Howe gets the boot Eddie Howe of Newcastle is 8-1 but that is down to the off field problems they are having with finances. Top players are up for sale and there is talk of Isak coming to Arsenal. If they sell off and are weakened then Howe could go but I really do not see it as his fault. Again, unless he has a disaster and he never does at any club, then he will be there at the end of the season. Santo lost in the Forest Nuno Espirito Santo is 10-1 and he is one I fancy will not last. He seems to have lost his mojo and a bad run at Nottingham Forest will see him booted out. If you can get better than 10 -1 I would grab it but I feel that is free money. A thousand on that gives you 11 back and that would make it a good year for you. He will go, I am certain. There is a way out of the Forest, Nuno - the sack Arne Slot can get you up to 50-1 and that seems a bargain. Even a small bet there will pay off most likely. A bad run could give you the option to cash out and I am certain that will happen. Enzo Maresca is 16-1 and that also is nearly guaranteed to pay out. Definitely, once Chelsea have their usual disaster run you will be able to cash out. These last three are value to me. You heard it here first. Put your money on those three straightaway and once there is good cash out value, take your money. And don’t forget to say thanks Gus.