English managers are not known for the best Premier League jobs today, with talented coaches from all over the world conducting their business in the world’s most lucrative division.
No English manager has ever finished higher than second in the Premier League, while Howard Wilkinson is the last to win the top flight, way back in 1992 with Leeds.
There is still a good performance record among home coaches. Here’s a look at the top 10 English managers in Premier League history …
Stoke City vs. Newcastle United – Premier League | Matthew Lewis / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: West Ham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, West Brom
His death as Premier League manager came when his Crystal Palace side fell badly and he lasted just four months during a disastrous period in West Brom, but the fact remains that Alan Pardew has many praiseworthy achievements to hang his hat on.
In the 2005/06 season, his newly promoted West Ham finished ninth and just missed the FA Cup honor. Pardew was later named LMA manager of the year when Newcastle finished fifth in 2012, saving Palace from relegation in 2015, reaching the FA Cup final in 2016 and later surpassing 300 Premier League games as coaches.
BLACKBURN V CHELSEA | Gary M. Prior / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Chelsea, Southampton, Tottenham
Swindon Town became a Premier League club due to Glenn Hoddle, but he accepted an offer to take over as Chelsea manager shortly after promotion. He led Chelsea to the FA Cup final in 1994 and his progressive coaching helped usher in a new era at Stamford Bridge before moving to England.
Hoddle kept Southampton afloat after taking over midway through 1999/00 and the Saints were ten in the Premier League when he was poached by Tottenham in March 2001. He reached the League Cup final with Spurs and won the Premier League Manager twice for the month.
His team won five in a row before leaving in 2003, but failed to win any of the next seven without him.
Joe Royle Manager for Oldham Athletic | Clive Brunskill / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Oldham, Everton, Manchester City
It was under Joe Royle that Oldham became a top club in 1991 and were later part of the first two Premier League seasons after surviving twice. The club also reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the second time in four seasons in 1994, before the manager was poached by Everton.
Royle can withstand a tough start with his boy child Toffees but still delivered an FA Cup during his first season – still the club’s last big trophy – and a sixth place in the league the following year. He then proceeded to Manchester City and took the club back to top flight from the third tier.
Alan Curbishley on the sidelines Mike Finn-Kelcey / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Charlton, West Ham
Charlton were simply not a Premier League side but club legend Alan Curbishley at the helm. He had twice taken Addicks in the top flight and monitored two halftime finishes, including one as high as seventh. They moved in 2007 during their first season without him.
After leaving Chalrton in the summer of 2006, Curbishley returned to football a few months later to take over a struggling West Ham. His team was led by Carlos Tevez and won seven of the last nine games to beat relegation on the final day of the season.
SPURS V COVENTRY | Anton Want / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Aston Villa, Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest
No English Premier League manager has ever improved Ron Atkinson’s second place with Aston Villa in 1992/93 and only one has ever matched it – more on that soon. He also delivered League Cup success at Villa Park in 1994 and could have achieved more, but for a very general battle with club chairman Doug Ellis.
Atkinson took over at Coventry with three months left of the 1994/95 campaign and steered the club from relegation, while building a team that later became successful under Gordon Strachan. Another successful survival job with Sheffield Wednesday followed.
Huddersfield Town vs. Everton – Premier League | Gareth Copley / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton
The spells of Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Everton played for Sam Allardyce’s reputation as a firefighter, but it was with Bolton that he really made his name in the Premier League after overseeing four consecutive eight finishes in the mid-2000s.
Allardyce brought together a team with some real star names like Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Campo, Fernando Hierro and Nicolas Anelka, while other less glamorous players like Kevin Nolan and Kevin Davies also enjoyed under his leadership.
Kevin Keegan | Stu Forster / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Newcastle, Manchester City
Although his “I will love it” rant remains one of the most iconic moments in Premier League history, Kevin Keegan led one of the most exciting and entertaining teams of modern times during his time in Newcastle – and he stands with Atkinson as a Englishman with a second place in the Premier League after his name.
The Magpies team went from the second tier, to the third in the Premier League, to leaders and potential Champions League competitors within three years, in a stage even a 12-point cushion at the top of the table during the famous 1995/96 season.
Although they did not beat the same title fight next season, Newcastle also finished in second place in 1996/97.
Keegan also oversaw a half with a newly promoted Manchester City in 2003.
Crystal Palace vs. Sheffield United – Premier League | Warren Little / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool, West Brom, Crystal Palace
Roy Hodgson is a true football legend and intellectual, a man who has built up a wealth of coaching skills over a 40-year career that has spanned eight countries and three continents. He probably does not get the credit he deserves.
It is what Hodgson has achieved at smaller clubs that makes him stand out in the Premier League, take a crumbling Blackburn into Europe and ten years later save Fulham in some way from relegation and lead them to the Europa League final.
West Brom and Crystal Palace have also achieved too much under his tutelage, with the only major stain on his book book coming during an unhappy half-season in Liverpool.
Bobby Robson | Mike Finn-Kelcey / GettyImages
PL Club Managed: Newcastle
Sir Alex Ferguson really feared Newcastle in the title race in 2002/03, which is proof of what his knight from the kingdom Sir Bobby Robson had built on Tyneside. The Magpies finally finished third, but still qualified for the Champions League for the second year in a row.
In disarray after the end of the Keegan and Kenny Dalglish eras, Newcastle were at the bottom of the Premier League when Robson took over in September 1999. The revered former England boss built his boys’ club and they have never hit so high since his reign.
He left in 2004 as six times Premier League Manager of the Month (only one Englishman has more) and was introduced in the English football hall.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Newcastle United – Premier League | Michael Regan / GettyImages
PL clubs are managed: West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham, QPR
These days, Harry Redknapp is best known for his four years at Tottenham, and finally he breaks the stranglehold of the old top four and qualifies for the Champions League 2010 – Spurs reached the last eight in Europe’s elite competition on their first attempt.
Before that, Redknapp had taken Portsmouth into the Premier League and in a second enchantment later, he won the FA Cup and briefly established Pompey as a top club. He also had seven successful years at the West Ham boys’ club in the 1990s, reaching his top five.
Only Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have managed more Premier League matches than Redknapp’s 641, while he was named Premier League Manager for the 2010 season and has eight Manager of the Month awards.
