news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

The power structure in English football is changing: the era of managers appears to be over

There is no escaping the cult of managers in English football. From Busby to Ferguson, Chapman to Wenger, Shankly to Klopp, Revie to Clough, Mourinho to Guardiola, it sometimes feels like one of the last bastions of the 19th-century theory of the hero making the times – as if, to paraphrase the English philosopher Thomas Carlyle, the history of English football is little more than the biography of the great men.

Some of the greatest figures are commemorated outside their clubs’ stadiums: Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley at Liverpool, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town, Don Revie at Leeds United, Stan Cullis at Wolverhampton Wanderers. These men not only won hearts, minds and trophies, they shaped their eras.

Players are idolized, but managers – the truly great ones – are placed on a higher pedestal. No doubt their modern successors are standing on the shoulders of giants.