Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger or Pep Guardiola? We rank the best Premier League managers ever.
Some of the greatest manangers of all time have built their legends in the Premier League. Whether it’s Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester City supremo Pep Guardiola or revolutionary Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, the Premier League has long been a league where exceptional managers become household names. Perhaps the next to join the list will be Arne Slot, whose Liverpool team are the runaway leaders at the top of the table in his first season and are clear favourites in the Premier League betting to win the title.
Here, we examine the likes of serial winners to survival specialists and rank the top 10 Premier League managers of all time.
10. Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce may have never won a trophy with a top-flight side, but there are different ways of measuring success, and almost 600 games in charge of nine different Premier League teams is one of them.
Big Sam may be remembered for being drafted in by clubs in a last-ditch attempt to save them from relegation, but he took Bolton from the bottom half of Division One to an established Premier League side, including a first-ever appearance in the UEFA Cup.
9. David Moyes
He may be largely remembered for his failed attempt to follow in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson, but David Moyes should be remembered for the stint at Everton which got him to the hot seat at Old Trafford in the first place.
He made Everton a consistent top-six side, which looks even more impressive given the years that followed at Goodison Park, and recovered from his Manchester United spell by delivering European glory to West Ham.
Now back at Everton and leading them away from a relegation battle after a torrid first half to the season, Moyes is well on the way to banishing his failed Manchester United effort.
8. Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish’s most successful managerial spell came before the advent of the Premier League as he won three league titles with Liverpool, but his against-the-odds triumph with Blackburn in 1995 was an incredible accomplishment.
That Blackburn were the only team other than Manchester United and Arsenal to win the Premier League in its first 12 years further underscores King Kenny’s achievement.
7. Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri’s crowning achievement is, and always will be, taking Leicester from relegation candidates to Premier League champions in a single season, defying 5,000/1 odds with a squad built on a shoestring budget in 2015/16.
His spell as Chelsea boss shouldn’t be overlooked, either, with him taking the club to a top-two finish for the first time in the Premier League era in 2003/04 and putting the building blocks in place for the aforementioned Jose Mourinho.
6. Mauricio Pochettino
An underwhelming return to the Premier League as Chelsea boss in 2023 undermined a previously fantastic record with Southampton and Tottenham for Pochettino.
After achieving a club-record Premier League points tally in his only full season at Southampton, Pochettino’s high-intensity brand of football led Tottenham to title contention and a Champions League final, although even he couldn’t break Tottenham’s trophy duck.
5. Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho announced his presence on the stage of world football by sliding down the touchline at Old Trafford in Porto’s Champions-League winning season in 2004, and just a few months later he was appointed as Chelsea boss and described himself as the ‘Special One”.
He wasn’t wrong. In his first season at Stamford Bridge he delivered Chelsea’s first league title in 50 years, amassing the most points in Premier League history and conceding a record-low 15 goals.
The latter parts of his career have perhaps tarnished his legacy, but he has a string of incredible records to his name, including a practically unbeatable nine-year spell in which he didn’t lose a home game.
4. Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp won just a single Premier League title during his nine-year spell at Liverpool, but he is the only man who built a squad capable of stopping a Manchester City rollover.
Klopp and Guardiola forced one another to new heights in their multi-year battle for Premier League dominance, and if it weren’t for the German, City would have strolled to seven titles on the spin.
Alongside taking the league trophy back to Merseyside for the first time in three decades, Klopp also led the club to FA Cup, League Cup (twice), and Champions League glory before his retirement, along with the dubious honour of collecting the most Premier League points (97) without winning the title in the 2018/19 season.
3. Pep Guardiola
It is safe to say that Pep Guardiola, having won six league titles across an eight-year span – including a year’s sabbatical – with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, had a lot of pressure on his shoulders when he arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2016.
A first trophyless season of his career made for a rocky start, but the Spaniard has more than made up for it since, leading City to six
2. Arsene Wenger
His three Premier League titles may be beaten by Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, but few have had as much influence on the direction of Premier League football as Arsene Wenger.
Arriving at Highbury as a virtual unknown from Nagoya Grampus Eight, Wenger transformed the club culture at Arsenal, promoting healthier diets, the abolishment of the drinking culture and taking a hands-on approach to training sessions.
On top of his three league titles, Wenger was instrumental in making Arsenal the most successful side in FA Cup history with seven victories and has taken charge of more Premier League matches than any other manager.
1. Sir Alex Ferguson
The top five in this list pretty much picked themselves, and the top spot is almost indisputable.
The legendary manager’s Manchester United career suffered a turbulent few years at the start of his spell, but what followed was two decades of almost complete dominance in which he led the club to 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups, and two Champions League trophies.
The decline of the Red Devils since his retirement only serves to cement his place at the top of the managerial rankings.