Editor’s Note: LastWordOnSports football writers Tommy Farr and Mike Kovacs are excited to embark on a 10-part series that seeks to create the perfect Premier League team. The process is not as simple as choosing the most talented players. We have determined a step-by-step selection process for choosing our line-up that, with your help, will hopefully result in the perfect team. Once we have filled out our team, we will stack them up against the best from around Europe’s top leagues. As we add articles along the way we will continuously update our project’s homepage. Please take the time to vote as often as you like – it will help us make informed decisions.
Having discussed several formations, it is time for us to find a manager for our team. There are many criteria for which we must consider, and considering a plethora of options to choose from, this might prove tricky. To make this somewhat realistic, we will only choose from managers currently active in the Premiership – Sir Alex Ferguson for instance, will not be considered, nor will a manager outside of the Premier League. We have however included Roy Hodgson, as he has managed at the Premiership level and is the current coach of England’s National Team, not to mention his vast experience of the European game.
The following criteria will be considered in choosing our manager:
- Premier League experience
- European experience
- Player-Manager relations
- Motivational
- Tactician
- High level experience
Roy Hodgson – Having experience at both Premier League and European level would certainly be considered a big advantage for Roy Hodgson, whether you are impressed with his record for the English National side or not. He did, however, have unbelievable success as leader of the Swiss and then Finnish National sides, both of which reached new heights under his reign. The most important fact about Roy for us though is that he has managed 16 clubs from around Europe. Another important point in favour for Roy is that he has coached some impressive sides in his years – Inter Milan, Blackburn, Udinese, Fulham, West Brom and Liverpool. One other interesting tidbit – Hodgson is penta-lingual – he speaks five languages. That might serve well in our melting pot of nationalities represented in the Premier League. At 66 years old, we wonder if his approach is fresh enough for our ideal Premier League side.
Chris Coleman – Similar to Hodgson, Coleman has European experience as manager of the Welsh National program. What we like about Coleman is that he travelled the Premier League as a player, with stops at Manchester City, Swansea, Crystal Palace, Blackburn and Fulham. As a manger, he had a noted stop at Fulham where he pushed his club to great heights, finishing 9th after many pundits had them fit for relegation. He moved on to a stint at Real Sociedad, and despite guiding the club to a fantastic record, he left due to differences with club administration. With a stop in Coventry and then Larissa (Greece), he landed his current job in 2012. While Roy Hodgson represents the “old guard”, Coleman is much younger – 43. He certainly does not have remotely close to the experience of Hodgson (or Wenger, which we can discuss next), he is still well travelled given his relatively young age. Does a young manager have better relations with his players?
Arsene Wenger – We can’t possibly leave Wenger off the list. As the Premier League manager with the longest tenure with one club (Arsenal), Arsene Wenger certainly has his detractors. Many cite his frugality concerning transfers, but luckily we don’t have to even consider that with the format we’re after. Despite operating on a budget that makes tiny clubs seem massive, he has the longest streak of Champions League football in England, routinely guiding his Gunners into the elimination round on a yearly basis. He gets the most out of what he has. He also has a great reputation as being a great developer of talent, though it’s not developing talent we’re after in a manager. We need a guy who can manage already superstar-level players.
Jose Mourinho – The self-dubbed “Special One”, Jose returned to the Premier League this year from a stint in La Liga. Actually, his hiatus might help his chances in becoming manager of our squad as he brings experience outside of the Premier League, and considering our team will play against the best from Spain, we can only assume several of those players will be from his old Real Madrid squad. Jose certainly is a much-lauded manager who has to find his groove again in the Premier League. Has he been back long enough for us to determine whether he will be successful again? Has he handled several high profile situations well at Chelsea to start this campaign (thinking Mata)?
Michael Laudrup –Laudrup the player was a thing of beauty and in many ways his managerial style, not to mention his style in general, mirrors that image to a tee. Intent on playing in an attacking manner utilising fast, direct wingers he could be the ideal manager for our team. Multiple La Liga titles as a player with Barcelona during the early to mid-90’s, coupled with further successes at Juventus, Real Madrid and Ajax give Laudrup a vast knowledge of the European game, whilst success as a manager with Brondby show that the winning mentality still exists. Last seasons League Cup win with Swansea, the club’s first major silverware also further boosted his managerial credentials.
Andre Villas-Boas – What Villa-Boas offers to our side is a youthful approach to the game. Villas-Boas isn’t your usual ex-footballer staying in the game after retirement, but a dedicated coach-turned-manager following a working relationship with Jose Mourinho which appears to have soured since they went their separate ways. Short spells in charge of Academica in his native Portugal and in particularly Porto, one of the giants of his homeland, yielded great success with four trophies in his one and only season in charge of Porto, including the Europa League. A fluent English speaker thanks to his grandmother, his spell in charge of Chelsea wasn’t as successful as he would have hoped, though his tenure in charge of Tottenham Hotspur may well prove much more fruitful. Villas-Boas certainly has the pedigree and has served a high-class apprenticeship under the wing of the self-styled “Special One”, so is he the one to lead our team forward?
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Thanks for reading! Remember, this is a 10-part series. Do find time to come back for our next installment: Choosing a Keeper.
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