English Premier League Manager Rankings for 2007/8

By: Daryl | May 15th, 2008

Allardyce Premier League managers table A total of 27 managers (excluding caretakers) were in charge of English Premier League clubs during the 2007/8 season. Some were better at their jobs than others. Some were worse at their jobs than others and are now unemployed.

Using a combination of guesswork, ignorance and guesswork, here’s how they rank by performance, one through 27:

1. Alex Ferguson (Man Utd)
Did pretty much everything right this year. Kept Cristiano Ronaldo motivated and focused while Madrid were trying to turn his head and rotated just enough to keep everyone happy and fit. Also, don’t forget that Man Utd’s captain and first choice right back Gary Neville was out for pretty much the whole season. And Fergie really does seem to know better. We all thought he’d shot himself in the foot picking a weakened team and losing to Chelsea, but it now seems that was all part of the plan.

2. Gary Megson (Bolton)
Talk about succeeding in difficult circumstances. When Megson took over from Sammy Lee, Bolton were rock bottom. Below Derby. And then he was booed by his own fans before he’d even done anything. And then Nicolas Anelka was sold in January. So really Bolton should have gone down. But they didn’t, they finished 16th. No one’s booing now.

3. Steve Bruce (Birmingham, Wigan Athletic)
With the axe forever waiting to fall, not many Premier Lague managers have the balls to walk away from a job. But Steve Bruce did. When Birmingham refused to give him a new contract because a man who didn’t even own the club refused to ratify it, Bruce got his coat and left. Then he took over a club in the bottom three and led them to safety in 14th place. And Birmingham got relegated.

4. David Moyes (Everton)
Failed to break the top four again, but Moyes has established Everton as the team most likely to do so. Looked like me may have squandered his transfer budget on Yakubu, but showed enough patience to let the big man come good. Has gotten as close to the top four as you can get without spending top four money.

5. Mark Hughes (Blackburn Rovers)
I get the feeling that Mark Hughes is Blackburn’s Sam Allardyce. Sparky’s made some inspired signings (Roque Santa Cruz? Bargain!) but Blackburn still have a squad that looks very mid-table. So a 7th place finish with the players at his disposal is mighty impressive.

6. Avram Grant (Chelsea)
Couldn’t quite deliver the Premier League or attacking football to Chelsea. But came very close to the former after abandoning the latter. Took Chelsea further in the Champions League than Mourinho ever managed to. And given the lack of enthusiasm which greeted his appointment, Grant’s gone a long way with very little momentum behind him.

7. Roy Hodgson (Fulham)
Though Hodgson took over Lawrie Sanchez’s sinking ship in December, it took until the last few games for Fulham to come to life. Impressive as Hodgson’s survival trick was, I’d argue that the biggest factor in Fulham’s turnaround was the return of Brian McBride. It doesn’t matter how good a manager you are or not. Sometimes you just need your star striker to get fit.

8. Martin O’Neill (Aston Villa)
Went through the season with the smallest Premier League squad I can remember. Villa don’t even have a right back to speak of. Seems that O’Neill is biding his time and will only spend Randy Lerner’s billions when the right players become available. In the meantime the club finished sixth with no right back. Could be worse.

9. Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth)
Did everything he does best. Inspired players who’ve been around a bit (David James, Kanu, Sol Campbell) made smart signings (Jermain Defoe) and complained about the Africa Cup of Nations. But also struck a balance between playing good football when the opportunity was there, and shutting up shop when outgunned. Still didn’t crack the UEFA Cup spots, but has an FA Cup final to look forward to.

10. Juande Ramos (Spurs)
Spurs under Ramos were a little inconsistent. But that’s better than early 2007/8 under Martin Jol, when they were just consistently bad. Ramos salvaged a season by getting Spurs fit, sorting the defence and winning the Carling Cup.

11. Roy Keane (Sunderland)
Had money to spend and wasn’t afraid to spend. Some of the sums don’t quite add up (£5 million for Michael Chopra stills eesm s a bit steep) but survival was the mandate and survival was what he got. Job done.

12. Alan Curbishley (West Ham)
With a lot of high profile signings made during the summer, we might have expected higher than 10th place from West Ham this season. But when you look at the insane injury list for this season, Curbishley’s actually done well to keep West Ham well away from another relegation battle.

13. Sven Goran Eriksson (Man City)
Brought in Elano and Martin Petrov and finished five places higher than last season. But then again he spent a damn fortune, some of it on Rolando Bianchi. And City’s ninth place finish really isn’t so great when you consider how strongly City started the season and that Stuart Pearce finished eighth in 2005.

14. Rafa Benitez (Liverpool)
I know Liverpool fans feel differently, but there’s no question in my mind that Rafa rotated away his early momentum by trying to balance the Champions League and the Premiership. Great signings in Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano, but he’s still no closer to delivering a title - or even a title challenge - to Anfield.

15. Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)
It started so well, but what really shone through was the lack of depth and a loss of nerve. Players like Nicklas Bendtner and Justin Hoyte just weren’t ready to be part of a serious title challenge, and William Gallas started acting mental.

16. Jose Mourinho (Chelsea)
Only had a handful of games, but didn’t make a great start to the season. Didn’t deserve to get fired, but being top might have made him untouchable.

17. Kevin Keegan (Newcastle United)
Hmmm. Things weren’t good when King Kev made his messianic return to St. James’ Park. And they continued being not good for much of his early reign. Until suddenly he hit on the idea of playing Michael Owen in the hole behind two strikers. It shouldn’t have worked - ever - but Owen started scoring and Newcastle went on a seven game unbeaten run. Still finished lower than when Sam Allardyce left, but it’s definitely good to have him back.

18. Gareth Southgate (Middlesbrough)
Looked shaky while Boro were in the relegation zone but steadied the ship and finished 13th. Made some surprisingly good signings - Sanli Tuncay, Jeremie Aliadiere, Afonso Alves. Also signed Mido (two goals in his first two games, nada since.) But three out of four ain’t bad. And who needs a UEFA Pro Coaching License when you finish the season with an 8-1 win?

19. Billy Davies (Derby County)
His biggest mistake was getting Derby promoted. Maybe could have done more to strengthen in the summer, but was always on to a loser. A smart board would have stuck with him for next season.

20. Martin Jol (Spurs)
Had everyone’s sympathy but the team were in real trouble when the axe finally fell.

21. Paul Jewell (Derby County)
Points off for leaving Wigan in relegation danger and points off for that sex tape too. But mostly points off for being dumb enough to take the Derby job.

22. Sam Allardyce (Newcastle)
Currently writing a book titled “How to Ruin Your Reputation in Half a Season or Less.” But think about this: When Allardyce left, Newcastle were 11th. Under Keegan they finished 12th. But the Toon Army still love Keegan, so Allardyce’s real mistake was bad PR and a reluctance to play pretty football.

23. Alex McLeish (Birmingham City)
“I know that we are better now than when I arrived because all the statistics tell you that,” said McLeish recently. Except they don’t. When McLeish took over, Birmingham were 16th and safe. Now they’re relegated.

24. Steve Coppell (Reading)
Hard to say what happened to Reading towards the end of the season. And I doubt Coppell could tell you either. Looked absolutely out of ideas as his team went on a six game goalless streak towards the end of the season.

25. Chris Hutchings (Wigan)
Tried to replace Paul Jewell and Bradford and failed. Tried again at Wigan and failed again.

26. Lawrie Sanchez (Fulham)
Tried to stick with what he knew and rebuild his Northern Ireland team in the Premier League. Made a below average squad worse by doing so

27. Sammy Lee (Bolton)
Took over as top man at Bolton and found out he’s an assistant coach. Some horrible man management to alienate key players like Kevin Nolan.