It can be hard treading new ground when writing football content. There are so many people who know so much about the beautiful game, that it can be difficult coming up with an original opinion, or a different angle to view a certain subject. So, with that goal in mind, I’ve decided to come up with a top ten series, highlighting some of the forgotten gems in recent football history. I highly doubt my opinions will be universally popular, but I hope to at least start some new discussions, in some lesser-explored areas of the footballing canon. To start with: Best Debut Managerial Seasons in the Premier League.
Now, it is crucial to establish the parameters of this. The first one is obvious, it must be a manager’s first season at the club, so promoted managers who are making the step up to the top division for the first time aren’t eligible (sorry to Nuno Espirito Santo and Chris Wilder among others). Second, it must be a first full season, so any mid-season changes also do not apply. That rules out the likes of Thomas Tuchel and Roberto Di Matteo and their sensational Champions League triumphs, and also ignores the work of the classic relegation escapologists like Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis. And finally, I will be looking only at that first season as a standalone achievement, so any subsequent success doesn’t count towards the ranking. That means that Messrs Guardiola and Klopp, for once, will not be featured as both had transitionary first seasons to set up the excellence that followed later.
Once I had the ten names below in mind, my ordering of them was done by combining pretty standard metrics of success such as trophies won or number of points accumulated, with more subjective considerations like what they had inherited upon arriving. And kicking us off at number ten is the man who inspired this whole idea in the first place…
10. Erik Ten Hag- Manchester United 2022/23*
Okay, so it’s too early to call on this one. And if Erik Ten Hag was to go on and add both the Europa League and FA Cup to the Carabao Cup already under his belt, then he would be propelled up the list to fight it out with the real big-hitters. But, judging him only on his achievements so far, he has still done enough to warrant a spot. Not only has he already won silverware, but the job he has done in turning possibly the worst Manchester United side there has ever been into a cohesive and tough-to-beat outfit in around six months is a fantastic piece of coaching. He’s made tough calls and got them all right, from seeing off Ronaldo to dropping Maguire to benching Rashford for tardiness. It looks like United may have finally got the right man at the helm after the desperate period of the post-Ferguson years.
9. Slaven Bilic- West Ham United 2015/16
This debut managerial season had some extra emotional resonance as it was also West Ham’s final season at their beloved Boleyn Ground. Ex-player Slaven Bilic was handed the reins after the largely loveless relationship with Sam Allardyce was ended in the summer and he went on to deliver a seventh-placed finish and a record points tally (until David Moyes’s team broke it a couple of seasons ago) as well as implementing a much more appealing style of football, largely led by the mercurial brilliance of summer signing Dimitri Payet. Throw in impressive away victories at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City and Bilic’s largely forgotten first season deserves a space on this list.
8. Roberto Martinez- Everton 2013/14
Ah, Roberto Martinez. What happened to you? Once one of the most exciting young managers in European Football has now become a derided figure who seems to have become permanently stuck in International Football, probably as he knows the big club jobs are no longer available to him. Back in 2013/14, Martinez had the difficult job of replacing David Moyes at Everton, after the Scotsman left for the hot-seat at Manchester United (spoiler; that hasn’t made this list…). It was seen as a bit of a risky appointment as Martinez had just been relegated with Wigan, though it was his incredible FA Cup victory with the Latics that had secured his reputation. What followed was Everton’s best ever points tally of 72 and a fifth-place finish, with Martinez expertly blending the steely solidity he had inherited from Moyes’s team and adding a more modern, possession-based flair. Unfortunately, this was as good as it would get for Martinez and Everton, as he then lost the fans through some misguided post-match interviews as Everton’s plummet down the table began.
7. Michael Laudrup- Swansea City 2012/13
Now this is the connoisseur’s choice of debut managerial seasons. How many people have not only forgotten that Michael Laudrup managed Swansea but that he actually won a major trophy in his first season in charge? The Danish great succeeded Brendan Rodgers in South Wales when he left for Liverpool and he built on the strong identity Rodgers had cultivated, playing stylish and progressive football as he claimed a 9th place finish in the Premier League. However, it is the extraordinary victory in the League Cup final of 2013 that marks Laudrup’s debut season out, as it remains Swansea’s only major trophy in their 100-year history. Just like his star striker for the season, Michu, Laudrup has enjoyed little success since, meaning this remains a freakish managerial hidden gem.
Joint 5 and 6. Manuel Pellegrini- Manchester City 2013/14 & Carlo Ancelotti- Chelsea 2009/10
I don’t plan on making a habit of doing joint positions, but it is just so difficult to choose between these two managerial debut seasons. Both ended with them winning Premier League Titles and even more strangely, both finished on the same number of points with 86. On top of that, both Ancelotti and Pellegrini created teams that played thrilling attacking football, with Chelsea and City both passing 100 league goals in their respective seasons. And to further prove how close this was to call, both managers also added a further honour to their league title, with Pellegrini winning the League Cup and Ancelotti the FA Cup. With so little between the records of their sides, neither of these two grandmasters of football management deserves to be ranked below the other.
4. Rafa Benitez- Liverpool 2004/05
This was the hardest manager to rank on this list and I deliberated for a while over how to compare Rafa Benitez’s debut season at Liverpool with the other contenders near the top. On one hand, it was a pretty unremarkable league campaign, with Liverpool finishing 5th, below Merseyside rivals Everton. On the other, it ended in the defining game of noughties European football, as Liverpool’s thrilling comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul landed Benitez the Champions League. It comes down to that age-old debate of which is the bigger achievement, winning the League or the European Cup? For my money, Benitez’s Miracle in Istanbul gets him the nod over Ancelotti and Pellegrini, but is just too much of a ‘fluke’ to earn him any higher than fourth place overall.
3. Antonio Conte- Chelsea 2016/17
There are a few reasons why Antonio Conte’s debut season at Stamford Bridge in 2016/17 gets him the bronze medal, ahead of a Champions League winner and other league champions as well, and it is all to do with context. While Ancelotti and Pellegrini inherited sides that had been competing for titles each year anyway, Conte took over at Chelsea’s lowest point during the Abramovich era, with Jose Mourinho’s second spell ending in disaster and the Blues sinking to a tenth place finish. Inspired by his change to a three-at-the-back formation, Conte led Chelsea to thirteen successive wins in the autumn and winter and ultimately a fifth Premier League title in May. He also managed a record number of Premier League wins… until Pep Guardiola’s centurions trumped it just twelve months later.
2. Jose Mourinho- Chelsea 2004/05
Jose Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea is the benchmark for all managerial appointments, in terms of both cultural impact and success on the pitch. His first press conference, where he declared himself the “special one” and flashed that trademark arrogant and charming smirk, shook up the foundations of Premier League football and set new expectations for managers in terms of charisma and status. He then promptly won Chelsea their first championship in fifty years, added the league cup for good measure and was arguably only denied the Champions League by that famous Luis Garcia ‘ghost goal.’ On top of that, it was a record Premier League points tally (for the time) and a record fewest numbers of goals conceded, which still stands and is unlikely to ever be broken. Finally, whilst Ancelotti, Pellegrini and Conte all arguably won their titles in seasons when their main rivals were going through transitions, Mourinho’s team dethroned Arsenal’s Invincibles of 03/04. He would be a fitting and deserving winner of the best debut season for a manager… if it wasn’t for one man.
1. Claudio Ranieri- Leicester City 2015/16
Dilly ding dilly dong! When Claudio Ranieri was appointed Leicester manager in the summer of 2015, it was seen as a bit of a joke. Leicester were immediately tipped for relegation and Ranieri was written off as a bumbling dinosaur ill-suited to Leicester’s requirements. What followed was the greatest footballing story ever told. At 5000/1 odds, Leicester won their one and only Premier League title, with a team largely unchanged from the one that had barely escaped relegation the year before. He masterfully handled the pressure that came upon the Foxes as they became unlikely contenders, playing the media perfectly and tactically adapting to make the team more defensively solid after Christmas. It all ended unhappily the season after, but it remains the greatest managerial achievement of the Premier League era and therefore has to take the number one spot on this list as well.
George F Brown 