Managerial Masterclasses - 5 of the best
Top 5 Most Impressive Managerial Successes
Whether it be winning titles, securing European football, or even just surviving top division football, impressive managerial feats come in many different forms.
Today, I break down my top five most impressive managerial successes, welcome back to my top five lists.
5. Leicester City (2014/15)
In what was Leicester City’s return to the Premier League for the first time in 10 years, they certainly gave their fans a season to remember.
Led by Nigel Pearson, Leicester won the Championship title in record fashion the season before, setting the club record for most points in a single season (102), as well as most league wins in a single season (31), among other records.
However, as we all know, the Premier League is a different kettle of fish.
Leicester were 9/4 to go down after one season in the Premier League and were writer Gianni Verschueren’s choice to be relegated alongside Burnley and West Brom.
Leicester started the season relatively well and despite a thrilling 5-3 victory over Manchester United in early September, their fortunes started to turn and a run of 13 games without a win (11 defeats) truly welcomed The Foxes to the top division of football.
Leicester were rooted at the bottom of the table at Christmas and that is not a position you want to be in.
A damning 88% of teams bottom at Christmas in the Premier League went on to be relegated so the odds didn’t exactly scream optimism for the newcomers.
Leicester spent an incredible 19 weeks in a row bottom of the table before they went on a near improbable run of seven wins in their last nine games to finish 14th.
We thought that would the end of the craziness surrounding Leicester City but stay tuned for the rest of the article…
4. Sunderland (2013-14)
Since 2005, Sunderland have never finished higher than 10th and survived by a matter of points on multiple occasions.
Let’s put it this way, Sunderland were certainly comfortable in the pressure of a relegation race and had become rather skilled in their elusiveness of dropping down to the Championship.
In the 2012/13 season, Sunderland finished just three points above safety and brought in the likes of Emmanuele Giaccherini, Jozy Altidore, and Fabio Borini that summer to bolster their squad.
Sunderland almost seemed doomed from the start of the 2013/14 season, losing seven of their first eight fixtures, scoring just five goals in the process.
Aside from the first two weeks of the season, Sunderland were either 19th or 20th in the table until the 22nd week of the season. Like Leicester City in 2014/15, Sunderland were bottom at Christmas which as the stat above shows, almost certainly confirms your relegation unless you pull off something incredible.
Enter Gus Poyet.
The Greatest Escape?
The former Chelsea man was appointed October 8th and was Sunderland’s third manager of the season, after Paolo Di Canio and Kevin Ball. Sunderland had a resurgence in December, losing just once in nine games, a run that spanned two months.
Ups and downs are the name of the game in the Premier League and Sunderland epitomised that.
From February to April, Sunderland lost seven of eight and once again found themselves rooted at the bottom of the table and looked destined for relegation after seven years in the Premier League.
It’s that experience, that know-how of being in the same situation over and over again that ultimately saved Sunderland from relegation.
A draw against the eventual champions Manchester City, as well as wins over Manchester United and Chelsea in their last remaining fixtures of the season helped Sunderland finish in 14th, ironically the highest position they had managed all season.
They even afforded to lose their last game of the season 3-1 to Swansea City, just incredible stuff
3. Barcelona (2009/10)
I know there’s going to be that minority of people saying how can Barcelona be on this list and that they have great players, and anybody can have success with them.
Well, the fact that this feat of six trophies has been completed just twice in history shows that you have to be a pretty special manager to achieve that regardless of the players you have.
It was Pep Guardiola’s first season as manager, and he quickly made his mark on the team he used to captain.
The signings of Barcelona mainstays Dani Alves and Gerard Pique as well as the promotion of Sergio Busquets from Barcelona B, who Guardiola used to manage illustrated a new era for the Catalan club who in turn sold Deco and Ronaldinho to Chelsea and AC Milan, respectively.
Guardiola led his team to the first treble in Spanish football history, comfortably beating out Real Madrid in the league as well as a comprehensive 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey final.
In The Champions League Final, Barcelona put on an all-time great performance as they played English champions Manchester United off the park in a 2-0 win, a victory and performance that showed football fans around the world that they were witnessing greatness in its presence.
The Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup were claimed the following season that secured Barcelona the "Sextuple", a feat Barcelona became the first club to achieve and only club until Bayern Munich in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.
Whether a club will do that again will remain to be seen but the original originators will always be the Barcelona side of 2008/09.
2. Arsenal (2003-04)
Speaking of records, we arrive at number two on the list with Arsenal’s unbeaten season of the 2003/04 Premier League season.
It was a feat that no club in the Premier League had ever achieved and to this day, no club has been able to replicate “The Invincibles”.
Arsenal became the first English side to go a season unbeaten since Preston North End back in the 1888/89 season.
The Invincibles was the culmination of all the work Arsene Wenger had done since arriving in English football.
His influence on the game as a whole changed football in England for the better, long gone were the days where players boozed and ate heavily after games but rather focused on rest and recovery.
We've seen truly great sides in the Premier League era, Chelsea under Mourinho, Manchester United most years under Sir Alex Ferguson, and most recently Liverpool and Manchester City under Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, respectively, and not one had achieved what Arsene Wenger had achieved.
To keep that level of consistency over a 38-game period in what was back then and still now the best league in the world is a testament to the superior mentality Arsene Wenger possessed and how his players internalised it.
The greatest compliment I can pay the Arsenal 2003/04 side is that they are truly in a league of their own.
1. Leicester City (2015/16)
I still don’t understand how this happened.
A team that is 5000/1 to win the title is not supposed to win the title but somehow, they did.
The Leicester City side of 2015/16 transcended football. They have gone on to become the greatest sporting story of all time, in my opinion.
When does a team that survived relegation by the skin of their teeth, become the champions of that very same division just a season after, it just doesn’t happen?
How Leicester won the Premier League
It first began with a new appointment at manager, with Claudio Ranieri replacing Nigel Pearson.
The appointment of the Italian manager raised eyebrows with many scratching their heads as to the direction Leicester City are planning to take with a manager who had been fired from the Greece national team just eight months prior.
Their season started well with just one defeat in their first seven games, but that decent start turned into a purple patch with eight wins in 10 games spanning from October to December. Leicester were top of the table come Christmas, a good omen for Ranieri’s men.
People, including me, kept denying what seemed to be inevitable with Leicester City, I thought every week would be the week they faltered but much to their credit, they never wavered and simply grew stronger as the season went on.
It was Ranieri’s first top division title win as a manager and he forever secured his legacy not only in the Premier League but in the heart of Leicester City fans.
