Europe's Most Interesting Managers in 2011-12 and beyond.
Most of the names on this list are the next generation of managers, with former players and several unknowns having risen to the top through repeated demonstration of aptitude and hard work. The compilation is mostly off the beaten track and introduces several of the names who will be helming clubs despite not getting much screen time or column inches in the mainstream press. These are some of Europe's best managers, and most will be around for the better part of the next two decades.
Unai Emery - Valencia, La Liga
The fresh faced young manager leads the Bat, once again, out of Mes(tell)a as it seeks to get a little closer to the big two of Barca and Real. Extremely popular with the ladies, Emery is the latest in young managerial talent in La Liga. Successfully led his club to third place in the league and a decent showing in Europe despite the notorious boardroom machinations and mountain of debt at the club, Emery can handle the pressure while delivering an eye-catching, successful product on the pitch. Valencia are the third most successful club in Spain and many neutrals' choice but with Bilbao, Villarreal, Atletico, Sevilla and now, Malaga all at large, the 39 year old has his work cut out to retain Los Ches position in the league.
Andres Villas-Boas - Chelsea, Premiership
Having swept all before him in a treble winning season with Porto, where the Portuguese giants won the league, cup and Europa League title in 2011, he was scouted by and moved to Chelsea. Charged with taking back to the summit in England as well as finally scaling the peak of the UEFA Champions' League, the former protege of Bobby Robson has to prove himself all over again in the most televised and popular league in the world. A football fanatic with a keen attention to detail, his methods owe more to his understanding and passion of the sport than to any actual playing experience. The youngest top flight manager in the big leagues, at just 33, Villas-Boas is living the dream that many an armchair fan has every day. His move from Porto to Chelsea set a record for managerial transfers at 15 million euros.
Robin Dutt - Bayer Leverkusen, Bundesliga
The near namesake of this author is a keen student of the game and one of the latest prodigies from the German Coaching Academy. Having made his name with Freiburg, whom he took to sixth for the better part of the 2010-11 Bundesliga season, Dutta was offered a place at Bayer Leverkusen before the season ran out. Now at the helm of one of Germany's biggest clubs and also in the Champions' League, Dutta will be working in the big time, under scrutiny from both foreign and domestic press. Extremely highly regarded as a shrewd manager, his motivational and tactical skills, will get further hones in the cauldron of expectation and continental competition. Dutta has a bright future ahead of him and will be one of the foremost managers of his generation.
Walter Mazzarri - Napoli, Serie A
Mazzarri is the latest managerial wizard at Napoli, haven taken San Paolo team through the glass ceiling that separates Champions' League football from upper midtable. His Napoli teams are fluid, irrepressible and exciting, with the awareness and control to attack on either flank, hold the ball up or break at will. In the Champions' League this season. After a successful sting with Sampdoria where he made the Cup finalists as well reach continental competition after a sixth place finish, his last two seasons witb Napoli has seen them finish sixth and third. The spiritual successor of Marcelo Lippi, Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi but with a far more expansive style and attacking philosophy. One day Mazzarri will lead Italy to an international final in the next decade. You read it here first.
Rudi Garcia - Lille, Ligue 1
Essentially, according to Garcia, football is simple. Take a team with a couple of talented players, add in some combative defenders and robust midfielders, preach an up-tempo style while regularly drilling them to be the fittest, strongest and most enduring team and you will win all before you. Last season Lille was regarded with a degree of respect, but Garcia made them into double winners. His team are the fastest team in the league, never tires and he added sparkle with the elevation of Eden Hazard from talented youngster to world class winger. Despite losing some of his best players over the break, Garcia will ensure his team are hard to beat, a threat on the road and still the pacy juggernaut that comes at your from all sides. Probably the fittest manager on this list, and arguably, Europe, he regularly leads his charges on runs while putting them through their paces in training.
Jurgen Klopp - Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga
Klopp is the manager who looks like a mad scientist and on the touchline, acts like an inmate at an asylum. However, despite the blend between the two his acumen and abilities are undoubted, having taken Dortmund to the title last year. He is extremely youth friendly and while the resident at Ashburton Grove may lead you to believe otherwise, has created the perfect winning formula that mixes youth, attacking football and a balanced, reasonable, at times frugal, budget. His nous for flowing soccer is well known and likes to ensure his teams are as beautiful to watch as they are competitive. A stint at the helm of Bayern or the national team may soon beckon but his tenure at Dortmund is just beginning, while looking to reap several trophies and exciting memories at Signal Iduna park.
Michael Laudrup - Mallorca, La Liga
Basically, if you want your wives, girlfriends or female friends to take an interest in football, plop them in front of the couch when Laudrup is on the television or Mallorca are playing. However, behind the looks that are so easy on the eye, is a a clever, all round footballing brain that has seen success at multiple clubs in Spain, despite never quite having the financial pull, crowds or size of club to work with. Always fashionably dressed, Laurdup once won a poll for best dressed manager as well as surprisingly topping a poll that asked, what kept Spanish women up at night (watching the football wrap, hoping to get a glimpse of the Dane, was the most common answer), he may just be fighting a battle for all football fanatic men. After bringing a free-flowing attacking style that took Getafe to the last eight in the UEFA Cup and Copa Del Rey final in 2008, he is in the process of doing the same at Mallorca.
Luis Enrique - Roma, Serie A
A contemporary of and younger than Pep Guardiola, whom he played briefly with, before replacing in the team at Barcelona, Enrique was for the longest time, the first name on the teamsheet at Barcelona during the late nineties. A standout defender, attacker and all round presence on the pitch, his passion for both club and country were evident throughout his playing career. After three years leading Barcelona B, the ridiculously talented Cantera, or youth team, of the Blaugrana, during which time he took a precociously talented squad and made them even better, Enrique embarks for a spell in charge of Roma. Already very well regarded, it is only a matter of time before he returns to Spain but during his time at a top club, he will ensure his start in the big time is a good one. Expect Roma to challenge consistently again. Enrique, is all grown up.
David Moyes - Everton, Premiership
Very, very few managers have done as well or lasted as long as Moyes, at Everton. A small squad, bare coffers, passionate home support and plenty of bad-luck and contentious decisions against the big boys, has not deterred Moyes from building a tough, robust and talented team. However, it is one that can finish at either end of the table, despite being able to beat the top clubs when required. His keen eye for talent, positional discipline and a rippling attacking style has made Everton achieve above its bank balance and endure in the soccerpolis of Liverpool. Having taken Everton to fourth spot in the league in 2005, despite losing star striker Wayne Rooney, Moyes has nurtured successive waves of talent while reaching both Carling and FA Cup finals in recent years. Most neutrals would like to see him succeed and perhaps one day he will take on a bigger role, perhaps at Manchester United or Arsenal.
Marcelo Bielsa - Athletic Bilbao, La Liga
Let's face it, who would not want to see the absolutely mental but eccentrically brilliant managerial talent that is Bielsa linked with the nationalistic, stubborn and talented setup they have at Bilbao. Especially as Athletic currently retain one of their most gifted and successful corps of players ever. The Argentine coach, who took a talented bunch of technically gifted players at Chile and made them into a a major power in South America, is well suited to doing the same at Bilbao, whose pedigree and culture are those that Bielsa can respect. Arguably the best tactical manager of his generation, the bespectacled madman, at times, should be able to fashion an intelligent system out of the talent at his disposal at San Mames. At least most neutrals hope he does. Watch this space ...
Simon Grayson - Leeds, Championship
It's a source of great shame that the best rated English manager is plying his trade at a formerly great club in the second tier of English football. However it is an absolute credit to Grayson that he has been able to wring the changes through the infighting and underachieving club that is Leeds, take them up from the third division and bring them very close to promotion back into the Premiership last season. Able to meld continental techniques with old fashioned English virtues of hard work, basic marking and industry, his club are one of the favourites for promotion this season, being a good mix of both craft and graft. Once back in the top flight, Grayson may one day make the transition to national team manager, but till his star plays in Premier League, it may never get the chance to shine. Which is a pity, because he is one of the very best on the island.
Antonio Conte - Juventus, Serie A
The former Bianconeri legend who turned out for The Old Lady for 12 years in the 90s and early noughties, Conte is now back at the helm of his club, required to make them title challengers again. A solid apprenticeship at smaller clubs around Italy reached a climax with a stunning promotion with Siena, using several Juve starlets and loan players, one the way. For those who remember him bombing down the wing and tracking back to tackle many a winger, will now see him back on the sidelines, albeit on the other side and with suit, clipboard and jacket, directing affairs like a Colonel in the trenches. Conte's gift was the grind, as he never possessed the gifted natural game of many of his peers, but he made the most of what he had as a player with hard work, discipline and adhering to basic principles. All aspects that he will hope to return to his charges in Turin
Mauricio Pochettino - Espanyol, La Liga
Very much a player's coach, the former Argentine wing back performed miracles with the other club from Barcelona (The one in the blue and white stripes who play on the Olympic hill of Montjuic). Under him a revitalised and effervescent Espanyol finished 8th in La Liga in 2011, as he bridged the gap from a playing career at the same, to a spot behind the bench. Very popular with players both at Lobregat and elsewhere, his ability to get the best out of a limited squad turned heads throughout Iberia. Having been pitched into the hot seat during a tumultuous 2008-09 campaign at Cornella, he was Espanyol's third and last coach that season, taking them to 10th that season and 11th the one after. Having started off coaching several teammates during his first season, he is one of the rare managers who have the 'common' touch.
Luciano Spalletti - Zenit St. Petersburg, Russian Premier League
The inventor of the crazily effective but deliciously eclectic 4-6-0 system at Roma, the Italian is the foremost managerial talent of his peer group on the peninsula. However, due to a bad start, coupled with some ownership hot feet, he was sacked despite having consistently made the club from the capital a title contender and fashionable choice for neutrals. Quickly sought out by the modern thinking owners at Zenit, he moved to Russia to take over and further establish Russia's best, most modern and currently successful club, brining in Italian ideas, a continental approach and eventually top class foreign players. With Zenit back in the Champions' League this season, watch for the shaven-headed Italian on the touchline.
Eddy Reja - Lazio, Serie A
The manager that made Lazio a force again after a years of racist and violence infested doldrums, Reja is a fine manager whose tactical acumen, player rotation and motivation is second to none. Having marshalled Brazilian star playmaker Hernanes and linked him with the pair of aging, but evergreen Tomasso Rocchi and dynamic tearaway Mauro Zarate, all the while motivating the latter after a poor first season, he returned the Biancocelesti to the right end of the table and almost stole a Champions' League place. Teeing off this year in the Europa League, Reja's guile and cunning will be put to work, overcoming the rest of the continent's collection of top ranked clubs. Formerly at Napoli where he turned the club around after a bankruptcy and demotion to Serie C.
*Honorary mention - Quique Sanchez Flores.
Talented, but currently clubless, the former Valencia player had a solid stint back at the Mestella before serving under the madness of the Gil administration at Atleti. If he does get hired, put some money, if you are so inclined, on whatever club he takes over.
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