Wigan lost their sugardaddy when Martinez arrived, didn't they?

Wigan turned in a profit for the first time in years recently

Maybe due to Martinez' brand of entertaining football
BTW where is Biggus?

Alfonso wrote:

I think Moyes is one of the most overrated managers in the league, alongside Martin O Neil. Big Sam is unfortunately one of the most underrated.

Martinez has potential but needs to move to a bigger club. Chris Houghton is not a Premier League manager, doesnt have it in him, Norwich are one of contenders to go down.

Martin Jol is a poor mans Claudio Raineri. Will build you a good team but doesnt know how to win trophies.

One to look out for is Paolo Di Canio.

Paolo Di Canio?! You'd think that him being a fascist would rule him out of any reputable jobs...

I wouldn't mind Laudrup as Wenger's successor.

1. Ferguson – Best ever PL manager and one of the greatest ever. At this stage of his career, don’t think he has what it takes to do the business at every club, but could probably still win things with any of the big clubs in Europe.

2. Mancini – Not quite sure what to make of him. The resources available to him while at Inter then at City, has made it difficult to gauge how good he would be in another more competitive environment. I think he’s a decent manager who is better at league formats than cup competitions. Don’t think he would be good enough to take any other job at a top club and expect him to succeed more often than not.

3. Benitez – A good tactician, who probably overthinks things too much at times. Reckon he could do a job at any PL team or in Europe excepting Real and Chelsea.

4. AVB – Needs to prove he can bounce back from the disappointment at Chelsea, but believe the Spurs job is an ideal chance to establish himself in this division. He has plenty of time on his side and reckon he is capable of pushing Spurs further than Redknapp did.

5. Moyes – Has done a brilliant job with Everton and the neutral in me would like it if he managed to get them into the CL. Has had bad patches with them, but after 10 years has got them playing consistently. Deserves a shot at a bigger club, but should avoid immediately succeeding the likes of Ferguson or Wenger.

6. Wenger – Would like to see him move on to see whether my opinions of his current ability as a manger are true. Should still be able to secure most of the big roles around Europe, but I have doubts as to how many of them he would actually succeed at.

7. Clarke – Out of the shadows now and doing pretty well. A fantastic start for WBA, but their lack of quality will not see them maintain it. Could be a very good manager, but far too early to know how capable he is. Reckon he needs a shot a big club sooner rather than later if he is to show he can make the step up.

8. Rodgers – Someone who I think will move to foreign club once his time at Liverpool comes to an end. Will take time to transform Liverpool and some of his signings have been poor, but overall I think he is a very capable PL manager. Probably could take on any of the PL jobs, but needs to prove that he can make Liverpool consistently good before he gets a shot elsewhere.

9. Laudrup – I am keen to see how Laudrup gets on at Swansea. Think they are now a better outfit than under Rodgers and he has made some pretty good signings as well. Think he is capable of managing any of the teams in the PL, but needs probably still needs another season at Swansea to allay any doubts as to his suitability for bigger roles.

10. Pulis – Done very well for Stoke and the bastion of pragmatic football. Don’t think he will be offered any bigger jobs than Stoke.

11. Allardyce – An underrated manager. He may annoy with his talk at times, but apart from a short lived spell at Newcastle, consistently gets his teams to perform better than expected. Has made many smart buys in his time, particularly at Bolton and is doing a great job with newly promoted West Ham. I reckon he is good enough with reasonable investment to push West Ham into contention for 7th-4th place in a season or two. Has a fairly direct style, but his teams can be quite fun to watch at times.

12. Hughton – Done very well with Norwich. His treatment at Newcastle has meant that we probably want him to do quite well despite his Spurs background. Lower to middle PL quality as a manager IMO.

13. Jol – IMO he is a solid top flight manager who can probably do a job at any club bar the top 3. His Tottenham team and Ajax teams were fun to watch, but the limitations of this Fulham squad haven’t helped him replicate that flair with them yet. Has spent well with funds given and in a couple of seasons could push them close to consistent top 8 finishes.

14. O' Neill - Consensus seems to be that he's a great motivational manager rather than a tactician. Probably still good enough to be a PL manager, but really needed the move to a big club a few years ago.

15. Pardew - A better than ok manager, but Europa league places probably the limit of his ability. Has done well with Newcastle despite their recent poor form. Reckon he will steer them comfortably towards mid-table in the second half of this season.

16. Lambert - In a real rut with Villa at the moment, but I still think he can be a very good manager. Think he has the potential to take on a club even like Utd, but really needs to get Villa moving. Don't think it's all his fault, but needs to keep them up and push them in cup competitions next season. I reckon one of the more likely candidates to have a go abroad.

17. Adkins - Can't say too much about him, but has done fantastically well with Southampton. Should the Saints survive the drop, would be interested to see how he develops the squad for the next season. Like their style of play even if their defending is comical at times, but has impressed me with the team's ability to score goals and his handling of youth players. Probably can be a good PL manager, but will need to stay up with Southampton to be offered the opportunities.

18. Martinez - I do like Martinez. Polarises opinion on whether he is a good manager stuck at a poor club, or an overated manager whose level is lower PL/Championship. I tend to think it is the former. Wigan does not have the best resources nor pulling power for decent players which makes it difficult to take them further. Paul Jewell did brilliantly with them, but I think Martinez has underpinned a certain style that can possibly take them into Europa League contention with more investment, but more realistically ensure that they are decent bets to win automatic promotion should they ever get relegated. I reckon he could do the job at any of the PL teams bar the top 3. Not sure whether he would replicate Wenger's consistency of top 4 finishes, but believe he is capable of at least matching Wenger's recent record in the PL.

19. McDermott - Still very early in his managerial career. Has done fantastically well to get Reading where they are, even if they are struggling in the PL. Will probably remain an accomplished manager at Championship level, but depends on what chances he gets at reasonable PL clubs before we can judge whether the PL is beyond his ability.

20. Redknapp - Despite his association with Tottenham, I still think he is a dependable PL manager who more often than not, gets his teams to perform better than people think they would. Tottenham was probably his last shot at a big job, but should be able to manage well in this division for a few more seasons.

Good analysis DK Gooner.

One thing I forgot to mention about Fat Sam. Look where all his previous clubs are since he left? Newcastle went down, Bolton and Blackburn went down and dont look like coming back up any time soon.

He reminds me of George Graham in terms of his discipline and his teams playing effective defensive football. He has got with the times as well, an underrated innovator. For example, at Bolton he was one of the first managers to introduce 'pro-zone' and as QS said in the Chamakh thread gets the best out of alot of players who have lost their way (Jay Jay Ockocha being the prime example).

Okocha had not lost his way when he ended up at Bolton and playing under Fat Ally stifled his full potential. He was just saddled with dodgy agents who were all about themselves rather than the player that's why he found himself in far out places like Turkey where clubs were willing to dish out bungs.

Tony Montana wrote:

Alfonso wrote:

Good analysis DK Gooner.

One thing I forgot to mention about Fat Sam. Look where all his previous clubs are since he left? Newcastle went down, Bolton and Blackburn went down and dont look like coming back up any time soon.

But Newcastle came straight back up under Chris Hughton and did quite well under his management in the premiership until he got sacked for no real reason.

Allardyce got sacked at Newcastle because he was doing a poor job.

Allardyce got sacked at Blackburn precisely because they were sliding into relegation.

Allardyce got sacked at Newcastle because he was not making them play 'attractive football'. At the height of Hughton's success Newcastle were not positioned higher than where Sam left them.

I believe Blackburn were out of the relegation zone when they sacked him?

Nonetheless, where are they and Bolton now? Allardyce got Bolton into Europe ffs, that has never happened before and probably never happen again with them.

But no better example of his managerial qualities than what he's doing with West Ham. They mainly sold their best players (Scott Parker) and won promotion first time round. Not an easy thing to do.

Now he is making them a stable club and if they continue this path they will be a solid top 8 Premiership club.

Alfonso wrote:

Allardyce got sacked at Newcastle because he was not making them play 'attractive football'.

You've got to give football fans more credit than that.

Tony Montana wrote:

Alfonso wrote:

Good analysis DK Gooner.

One thing I forgot to mention about Fat Sam. Look where all his previous clubs are since he left? Newcastle went down, Bolton and Blackburn went down and dont look like coming back up any time soon.

But Newcastle came straight back up under Chris Hughton and did quite well under his management in the premiership until he got sacked for no real reason.

Allardyce got sacked at Newcastle because he was doing a poor job.

Allardyce got sacked at Blackburn precisely because they were sliding into relegation.

Blackburn were 13th in the table when Allardyce was sacked and he had led them to 10th the previous year. He got sacked because Venky's took over and thought that they knew what they were doing. The nature of clubs around mid-table is that they will have dodgy periods flirting with the relegation zone at times, but invariably bounce back because of their "experience" at the right times - much like we have to put up increasingly with flirting around mid-table before we push though a couple of gears to finish 4th. Basically Blackburn had lost 3 out of 5 games then to drop to 13th and 5 points above the relegation zone, but a win in their last game would have put them up to 6th. I doubt Blackburn would have ever been relegated with Allardyce still in charge.

At Newcastle, Allardyce did do a poor job, though he may have still have been able to steer them clear of relegation. Sometimes a manager is just not the right fit for a club at the time and I think that was the case with Allardyce.

Seriously. Sam fucking Allardyce. Have you people lost your minds?

:nicholsonyesgif:

Alfonso wrote:

He reminds me of George Graham in terms of his discipline and his teams playing effective defensive football. He has got with the times as well, an underrated innovator. For example, at Bolton he was one of the first managers to introduce 'pro-zone' and as QS said in the Chamakh thread gets the best out of alot of players who have lost their way (Jay Jay Ockocha being the prime example).

He relaunched Anelkas career too, a bit like 'Arry he's good at getting short term success from little resources, thats what Wenger should have been doing 2007-20010 when money was tight.

Klaus wrote:

Seriously. Sam fucking Allardyce. Have you people lost your minds?

Well it's just a measure of how desperate people are to get rid of the turnip Klaus.

It's more like begging for syphilis just because you're tired of having a headache.

Hate fat Sam.

Of the current managers in the prem, the three I'd least want here are fat Sam, Pulis and Pardew

Well you'd better hope they're not the cheapest then.

Why? We pay mega bucks for managers