Managers you are surprised don't have a club

There are quite a few managers out there where it's very weird that they don't have a club to manage at the moment. Here's a few that I can think of.

Alan Curbishley

He did an excellent job at Charlton and was really unlucky at West Ham, he's got tons of managerial experience and you only have to look at what happened to Charlton when he left to see how good of a manager he is with a smaller club. On top of that he's made no secret of his desire to get back into football, he's English which means he's always popular with the media and he wouldn't require any compensation. It's very strange.

Why I think he doesn't have a job: There are two reasons for me, but the first feeds into the second. I think Curbishley is after a long-term job, with some confirmed stability, but the clubs that want him tend to be smaller clubs looking for a short-term boost to keep them up i.e. Wolves. So without any assurances that he'll keep his job longer than a few months, Curbishley is saying no. The second is that, as a result of the first reason, Curbishley has been out of a job since 2008, so 4 years now without a job within football, which makes appointing him not very attractive at all because a few bad results and the criticism that he has been out for too long will come.

Rafael Benitez

For all his critics, Benitez has a very good record apart from two years; his last at Liverpool and his time at Inter Milan. Other than that he's got a very good record. He won two La Liga titles with Valencia, won a UEFA Cup with Valencia, won a Champions League with Liverpool, FA Cup and came very close to winning a first league title for 20 years. He's been linked with pretty much every single big job that has been available the last two years or so, and yet never seems a popular choice. For all his negatives, Benitez has a really good record.

Why I think he doesn't have a job: Firstly, I think it's pretty obvious that he still has a lot of love for Liverpool and a strong desire to manage them again. It becomes harder to appoint a manager who you aware would rather be managing another club and has made it quite public about it. I also think that those last two years have ruined his reputation, as he didn't even do well in Europe what he was famed for. If the Chelsea job is anything to go by, where he was offered a short term deal, it seems like Curbishley, Benitez is after a long-term deal, probably with a lot of control and football clubs are less eager to give that away these days as if it goes badly it's very costly sacking managers.

Any others you're surprised aren't involved in football any more?

Just remembered another.

Kevin Keegan

Has an alright record at every club he's been at, most successful in his first run at Newcastle, but did okay with Manchester City and in his second spell at Newcastle. Also said he still wanted to manage in top flight football when he was sacked by Newcastle, but yet four years later he's now working as a pundit with no chance of getting a job, surely he's not that bad?

Why I think he doesn't have a job: His feud with Mike Ashley will have given him a poor relationship with owners/chairmen of football clubs as they are afraid of becoming vilified by him. His connection with Newcastle is also such a strong one there it's similar to Benitez where it'd be hard to be convinced that his heart is in managing, QPR, for example. Then like Curbishley, he's been out of a managerial job for four years now and the longer you're out the less attractive you are to employ.

Billy Davies, proven record in terms of getting championship teams to overachieve. Unfortunately hes a pain in the arse for board members

gordon strachan 3 jobs for 13 years isnt bad going and was it 3 spl titles?

"Sir" Walter Smith. I don't think he's retired, I just think he left Rangers.

David O'Leary

Done ok at Leeds (superb at first).

Stella wrote:David O'Leary

Done ok at Leeds (superb at first).

He's probably still living off the money he earned in Qatar!

O'Leary's ego seems to have been his ultimate downfall.

Keegan is too temperamental and prone to throwing his toys out of the pram at any given moment.

Davies, from what I have read, only turns up for training when he feels like it and as has been said enjoys a good ruck with his board members.

Curbishley I have no idea but I suspect he wants a bigger job than he actually deserves.

Here is one: Terry Venables. He's quite a young 69 years old if you know what I mean and could do another three years in management but he appears happy to give out tactical advice via his newspaper column.

Steve Bruce - good record at getting teams promoted into the premiership, and generally keeping them there (or getting them back-up if they get relegated).

Mick McCarthy - the fact Wolves imploded after he left was probably one indication of his influence.

Nore Staat wrote:Steve Bruce - good record at getting teams promoted into the premiership, and generally keeping them there (or getting them back-up if they get relegated).

Mick McCarthy - the fact Wolves imploded after he left was probably one indication of his influence.

I don't think it's that surprising neither has a club at the moment as they have only just been sacked.

Fair enough, although Steve Bruce is definitely keen to get back into it, and was interviewed at Wolves after McCarthy was sacked.

But with so many clubs without managers I thought I had better throw them into the mix.

I suppose Alex McCleish is another one, although he has had two goes in quick succession (Bham/A Villa).

Walter Smith and Gordon Starchan. Strachan did a fantastic job for my club Celtic he got us into the last 16 of the Champions league 2 years running and won 3 titles in a row despite Rangers cheating.

Smiths second reign at Rangers will always be tainted but in his first spell he proved he was a good manager and he did a good job for Scotland as well.

IMO both of these guys would have kept any of the 3 clubs that got relegated from the Premier League last season in the division.

Glenn Roeder - Destroyed my club Norwich, surprised nobody took advantage of that

ollyrules wrote:Glenn Roeder - Destroyed my club Norwich, surprised nobody took advantage of that

Ah Glen Roeder! How did he get all of them gigs?

FreekShow wrote:

ollyrules wrote:Glenn Roeder - Destroyed my club Norwich, surprised nobody took advantage of that

Ah Glen Roeder! How did he get all of them gigs?

Because I am sure our old board were just Ipswich fans taking us down from inside!

Olly the tractor boy!!! That's brilliant. Ahead of your time buddy..

FreekShow wrote:Olly the tractor boy!!! That's brilliant. Ahead of your time buddy..

I had a bet with Nando last night that I couldn't go the whole day not talking about Norwich. Unfortunately I didn't forsee the hectic day that was to occur at Norwich, hence, I have to suffer the consequences

olly the tractor boy wrote:

FreekShow wrote:Olly the tractor boy!!! That's brilliant. Ahead of your time buddy..

I had a bet with Nando last night that I couldn't go the whole day not talking about Norwich. Unfortunately I didn't forsee the hectic day that was to occur at Norwich, hence, I have to suffer the consequences

I feel your pain! How long are you a tractor boy?

FreekShow wrote:

olly the tractor boy wrote:

FreekShow wrote:Olly the tractor boy!!! That's brilliant. Ahead of your time buddy..

I had a bet with Nando last night that I couldn't go the whole day not talking about Norwich. Unfortunately I didn't forsee the hectic day that was to occur at Norwich, hence, I have to suffer the consequences

I feel your pain! How long are you a tractor boy?

Just for the weekend! I have doubled there fan base SCUM SCUM SCUM

I Freekin' love you Olly, you crack me up!!!

You boys will be okay next season regardless of who you get, mark my words.

FreekShow wrote:I Freekin' love you Olly, you crack me up!!!

You boys will be okay next season regardless of who you get, mark my words.

I hope you are right! I hope that both us and Swansea stay up, just to show the world we are more than just Lambert and Rodgers.
I think we have a great chance of staying up, I mean we do have a good squad of young players. It is not like we are an ageing side, we have build for the future! But I will be there come wind, rain or snow cheering on the Yellows in the furthest corners of the country, as WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE, SING WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!

olly the tractor boy wrote:

FreekShow wrote:I Freekin' love you Olly, you crack me up!!!

You boys will be okay next season regardless of who you get, mark my words.

I hope you are right! I hope that both us and Swansea stay up, just to show the world we are more than just Lambert and Rodgers.
I think we have a great chance of staying up, I mean we do have a good squad of young players. It is not like we are an ageing side, we have build for the future! But I will be there come wind, rain or snow cheering on the Yellows in the furthest corners of the country, as WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE, SING WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!

A football club will always be bigger than the manager. Adversity works in weird ways. As long as you maintain a decent home record you'll be okay.

New York Canaries ‏@NYCanaries
Good to see Martinez declare his loyalty to Wigan....after all the good jobs are filled. What a hero.

Makes a good point.

Olly its a pity your forfeit wasn't to leave now we have to suffer your inane norwich drivel

Incidentally Ipswich is the most depressing place I've ever been to.

On topic, curbs is out of the game too long, roeder has health issues, venables is geriatric and Benitez is just crap.

Benitez is hardly crap Ent, showed how good a manager he was at Valencia and then at Liverpool. I suspect people still judge Rafa on his time at Inter Milan, I personally feel they overachieved under Jose.

Ent wrote:Olly its a pity your forfeit wasn't to leave now we have to suffer your inane norwich drivel

Incidentally Ipswich is the most depressing place I've ever been to.

On topic, curbs is out of the game too long, roeder has health issues, venables is geriatric and Benitez is just crap.

How can it not be depressing when your football club is just a laughing stock

Curbishley will struggle to get another big job, 4 years out now I think.
Roeder is just awful (first hand experience)
Venables - whatever happened to him????
Benitez I like, but I think he should go back to Spain and manage there

hampo171 wrote:Benitez is hardly crap Ent, showed how good a manager he was at Valencia and then at Liverpool. I suspect people still judge Rafa on his time at Inter Milan, I personally feel they overachieved under Jose.

I agree with this.

If you look at how quickly Inter Milan have fallen, I find it incredibly hard to believe that is down to Benitez. They peaked with Mourinho, Benitez was unfortunate in that he took over while they started to fall.

There seems to be a pattern of teams struggling the year or longer after Mourinho left, Porto failed to win the league the next year, Chelsea struggled until 2009/10 season, even with a World Cup winning manager, and Inter Milan finished outside of the Champions League places last year. I think it's very harsh to blame Benitez for that fall.

We should judge Benitez on winning two La Ligas with Valencia, not Real Madrid or Barcelona and a UEFA Cup, as well as a Champions League, FA Cup and getting Liverpool closer to winning the title than any other manager since Kenny Dalglish.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that Benitez is overly selective in the teams he would now choose to manage - "big" teams willing to spend big, seems to be what he is after and nothing else.

Chelsea supposedly offered him a short term deal until the end of the year, but he turned them down as he wanted to be the full time manager. Which could either mean he's after a long-term position or it's how you see it, that he wants to be able to spend money. I think it's probably a mixture of both.

I think Benitez should try his hand at international football, it'd be perfect for him as he excels in a tournament format and no criticism could be levelled at him for his signings.

Interesting topic.

Looking further down the leagues, I am a little surprised that Dave Penney doesn't currently have a job. I know that he hasn't really hit the heights since Doncaster, a slide which led to a disastrous period in charge of Bristol Rovers. This unsuccessful and short-lived tenure seems to have tainted him but I'm sure that there are many lower league clubs who could do a lot worse than give him a shot.

Two other managers who similarly did well in the beginning but then couldn't sustain the success are Paul Ince and Iain Dowie. Unlike Penney however, I'm not surprised that these two don't have jobs, although I can't put my finger on why I feel differently about Penney than I do these two.

Off topic but while speaking of managers who got off to a great start but then levelled off, I would like to mention Martin Allen. I thought he was destined for great things a good few years ago but he didn't really live up to expectations. He does have a job though, although I thought he would be at a bigger club than Barnet (no disrespect meant to Barnet) right now.

Turning the thread on its head, a manager that I am surprised gets so many jobs, or is often mentioned for jobs while unemployed, is Gary Megson. I know that he has had success, notably at West Brom and recently Wednesday but he has also had failure and made himself pretty unpopular with his own club's fans. He just seems to have an unhealthy knack of quickly becoming a target for abuse.

Imagine you are a chairman looking for a new manager. Megson might do ok. It's maybe 50/50. But unless he does really well, the fans will be very unhappy. Displeasure, protests, falling attendances etc are far more likely than 50/50. Do you take that chance?

Maybe that's just my personal feelings towards his style but when he does get jobs, you don't often see the fans celebrating it too much.

Megson always appears to be a very unpopular choice, and hasn't really ever done well enough at a club to really establish himself as a good manager.

I think Paul Ince is possibly a good shout. I think he lost all his confidence in his skills as a manager after his time at Blackburn, so his second spell at MK Dons and Notts County went horribly wrong and he has ruined his reputation.

Zola is another to add to the list, thought he did a good job at west ham.

As for Rafa he is not crap but is severely let down by the transfers he makes. Always thought the players he bought were very teenager on football manager!

Crimey wrote:Megson always appears to be a very unpopular choice, and hasn't really ever done well enough at a club to really establish himself as a good manager.

I think Paul Ince is possibly a good shout. I think he lost all his confidence in his skills as a manager after his time at Blackburn, so his second spell at MK Dons and Notts County went horribly wrong and he has ruined his reputation.

I don't think Megson gets enough credit for his work at West Brom where he did a grand job. I'm sure when he went there they were more favoured to go down than reach the PL.

The story goes that Steve Bruce was actually offered the Wolves job, but after a few fans got wind of this appointment and kicked up a bit of a Twitter storm, Jez Moxey called him back and withdrew the offer. I know not whether this is fact or fiction, and can offer no provenance, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's true.

I think Benitez was is a decent technical coach (he is Spanish after all) and a seemingly good man manager. However his team selections were often questionable - 99 different starting XIs in a row - and he had a pretty dire record in the transfer market with Liverpool, something like a 10% success rate.