Poll: Ferguson or Scolari – Who’s the More Successful Manager?

By: Daryl | September 19th, 2008

Two managerial greats meet for only the second time on Sunday when Big Phil and Fergie go head to head in the Premier League. The Chelsea and Man Utd managers have already done plenty of pre-fight build up, from Scolari encouraging Cristiano Ronaldo to join Real Madrid in June to the recent epic that was John Terry’s overturned red card.

It’s been less than friendly so far, but it’s still two world class trophy-laden coaches. So here’s the ultimately pointless but hopefully interesting question: Looking at the two careers so far, who’s the more successful manager?

Below are the selected highlights of their managerial achievements, starting with the Chelsea boss because his team are at home on Sunday:

Big Phil

Domestic league tiles

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A – 1 (Grêmio 1996)
Brazilian state championships – 4 (Centro Sportivo Alagoano 1982 & Grêmio 1987, 1995, 1996)

Domestic cups

Copa do Brasil – 3 (Criciúma 1991, Grêmio 1994, Palmeiras, 1998)
Kuwait Emir Cup – 1 (Al Qadisiya Kuwait 1989)

Continental cups

Copa Libertadores – 2 (Grêmio 1995, Palmeiras 1999)
Copa Mercosur -1 (Palmeiras 1998)

International titles

World Cup (Brazil, 2002)

Fergie

Domestic league tiles

Scottish Premier League – 3 (Aberdeen 1980, 1984, 1985
English Premier Leauge – 10 (Man Utd 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008

Domestic cups

Scottish FA Cup – 4 (1982, 1983, 1984, 1986)
English FA Cup – 5 (1990, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004

Continental cups

European Cup Winners Cup – 2 (Aberdeen 1983, Man Utd 1991)
European Champions League -2 (Man Utd 1999, 2008)

So there you have it. Both have won the big continental prize twice and both have raised unfancied teams to unexpected heights (Grêmio and Aberdeen respectively). The big difference is that Fergie has won a boatload more league titles (13 to Scolari’s 5, or 13 to 1 depending on whether you count Brazilian state championships) while Scolari has lifted the World Cup.

I think maybe Fergie being Scottish and Scolari being Brazilian might have something to do with that last one. But it’s the ultimate prize in football and you’ve either won the thing or you haven’t. Plus Scolari has spent the last seven years of his career in international football, where domestic league titles are hard to come by.

In some ways you could argue it’s a statistical dead heat and that we need a tie-breaker of some sort. Luckily, such a thing exists because these men have met once before. On November 30th 1999, the UEFA Champions League winners (Fergie’s Man Utd) and the Copa Libertadores winners (Scolari’s Palmeiras) met in Tokyo to contest the 1999 Intercontinental Cup. Fergie’s team an out 1-0 winners thanks to a Roy Keane goal. On the other hand, it all depends how seriously you take the Intercontinental Cup.

So, who’s it going to be? Vote below:

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