Great players who were also great managers

thisisnottaken1

Full Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2023
Messages
4,713
Location
Edinburgh
There aren’t many, are they?

I think this might have already been a thread (sorry) but yeah. Most of the greatest players in history have been pretty meh as managers (for example, Maradona), and most of the greatest managers in history were nothing special as players (not even necessarily bad). The only man of whom I can think who could be regarded as one of the best ever players and one of the best ever managers would be Johann Cruyff.

Anybody else?
 
Zidane, Conte, Ancelotti surely qualify. Could argue Pep, it was at the top level
 
Saved.

Ojwj35y.png


Might be controversial but I think all of them were.
 
Last edited:
There are more bad players who were also bad players to be fair.
 
Gehrman said:
I love the title
Click to expand...
feck! I just noticed the error. :lol: I’m slightly tipsy so do excuse me.

And yes, Zidane is a good shout of a great player who was a good manager. Won League titles with Juventus and Real Madrid, the champions league with Real Madrid, and the World Cup with France as a player; and won three consecutive Champions Leagues, as well as two league titles, with Real Madrid as a manager. Definitely not a record to be sniffed at.
 
Last edited:
Beckenbauer wasn't a manager for long but still won World cup with West Germany in 1990. Also reached the final in 1986.

I always thought he got to the European cup final with Marseille but seems he left halfway through that season. Then spell at Bayern Munich winning league and Uefa Cup.

The Zidane of his day in managerial terms.
 
FootballHQ said:
Beckenbauer wasn't a manager for long but still won World cup with West Germany in 1990. Also reached the final in 1986.

I always thought he got to the European cup final with Marseille but seems he left halfway through that season. Then spell at Bayern Munich winning league and Uefa Cup.

The Zidane of his day in managerial terms.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. That’s a good shout as well.
 
Does Pep count? Won everything with Barca as a player.

Some others that spring to mind.

Deschamps - captained and managed France to a world cup win, won Champs League with two clubs and loads of league titles and then managed Monaco to the final.

Conte - multiple time Serie A winner, won Champions League as a player and went deep in international tournaments. Pretty banging managerial career but no European trophy somehow.

Capello - a better managerial career than his playing career but won Serie A loads of times with Juve and Milan
 
Not sure about Deschamps as a player, when Eric Cantona disparagingly referred to him as the water carrier in the French team :lol::lol::lol:
 
2 man midfield said:
Zidane, Conte, Ancelotti surely qualify. Could argue Pep, it was at the top level
Click to expand...

Conte? Guardiola wasn't a great player (Laudrup's response to a journalist's poorly worded question about playing with Guardiola comes to mind -- something along the lines of "I guess you could say he played with me"), but he was surely better than all that.

Beckenbauer and Zagallo'd each won world cups as both players and coaches. Didier Deschamps' resume is impressive, if dull -- not unlike his record as a player. Capello and Trapattoni were both Italy international (Capello even scored some goals), though I wouldn't know how highly they're regarded. Maldini and Baresi are always very good staff members on FM.

I'm fairly sure Di Stefano's record stands to casual scrutiny (ISTR he'd won a league title with Valencia, and possibly Madrid). Reijkaard's legacy is somewhat questionable, but he was very successful at Barcelona. Bernd Scuster likewise managed one title with Real.
 
Querulous Megapode said:
Conte? Guardiola wasn't a great player (Laudrup's response to a journalist's poorly worded question about playing with Guardiola comes to mind -- something along the lines of "I guess you could say he played with me"), but he was surely better than all that.

Beckenbauer and Zagallo'd each won world cups as both players and coaches. Didier Deschamps' resume is impressive, if dull -- not unlike his record as a player. Capello and Trapattoni were both Italy international (Capello even scored some goals), though I wouldn't know how highly they're regarded. Maldini and Baresi are always very good staff members on FM.

I'm fairly sure Di Stefano's record stands to casual scrutiny (ISTR he'd won a league title with Valencia, and possibly Madrid). Reijkaard's legacy is somewhat questionable, but he was very successful at Barcelona. Bernd Scuster likewise managed one title with Real.
Click to expand...
Yeah Conte, he was a mainstay in the juventus side of the 90s that was the best in the world.
 
2 man midfield said:
Yeah Conte, he was a mainstay in the juventus side of the 90s that was the best in the world.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make him any better than Guardiola though, and isn't even something you can't claim word for word about Pep, too (substituting "Barcelona" for "juventus").

I want to say Conte was largely a squad player at Juventus by the time they started reaching CL finals (injuries may have played a part in it, I wouldn't really know), with fairly equal playing time to players like Tacchinardi and Lombardo, and well behind Deschamps or (when they were there) Jugovic, Zidane, el al. Pep was actually an important cog in Barca's build-up play.
 
Joahn as mentioned, Beckenbauer of course, Zagallo, Di Stefano won a couple of titles too, Simeone on his role was a high profile player, obviously Guardiola, he was a fantastic player, Del Bosque, Luis Enrique, Carletto, Deschamps, Zizou, Mancini (not fond of him as a coach, but an accomplished one), Marzolini was a fantastic player and as a coach he wasn't great but he had a great title with that Boca of Maradona and Brindisi under his belt.

PD: Menotti was a good player, a very technical one, played in Santos with Pele.
 
Last edited:
A lot of great shouts I'm embarassed to have blanked on, but the one that hurts the most is definitely Enrique.

Alf Ramsey's another manager who had a substantial international career I can't actually contextualize. Luis Aragones was a very accomplished player, and ultimately manager. Kenny Dalglish's had a prolonged period of meaningful success. Kevin Keegan was high-profile for a while.

And obviously Xavi's not a proven failure yet.

Would Felix Magath count on either front?
 
I'm not saying he was a great, but George Graham, won the English league title, FA Cup, Fairs Cup and League Cup as a player, and then 2 league titles, the FA Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and 3 league cups as a player.

So winning league titles, domestic cups and continental silverware both as a player and a manager is very good going. Arsenal still haven't won a European trophy without the involvement of Graham.

Winning hoards of trophies at the highest level as both a player and a manager, must be doubly special.
 
Maybe not a great player but Vicente del Bosque had a pretty respectable playing career: 339 appearances for Real Madrid, with 5 league titles and 4 domestic cups won. Miguel Muñoz who is Madrid's longest-serving manager also had a very successful playing career there and was the club captain for the early European Cup wins.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
Ronaldo. Won a sht load of trophies and managed Portugal's final in the Euro 2016 and won it :lol:
Click to expand...

Deschamps was great for France, Juventus, Nantes and Marseille. He was a very good DM and also a great leader, he won almost everything while always being a key player. Now was he a glamorous player? No.
 
If we take this to the really top end and look at a list of the best 10 players ever and then the best 10 managers ever, is anyone on both lists? I don't think so.

How far down do you have to go? Cruyff might make the top 20 in both lists.
 
I think that's an insanely low opinion of Cruyff on both counts.

Beckenbauer also seems highly accomplished in multipe managerial and adminstsrative roles overall (not strictly coaching, true), but I'm only very superficially familiar with his post-playing career.
 
Fitchett said:
Not sure about Deschamps as a player, when Eric Cantona disparagingly referred to him as the water carrier in the French team :lol::lol::lol:
Click to expand...
He just doesn’t like him much and never did. Deschamps was absolutely outstanding, never the flashiest but he’s genuinely one of the best defensive midfielders of all-time (certainly ahead of the likes of Makélélé in my book). His workrate, determination, tactical nous & leadership were unmatched. Won everything there was to win as a key player — multiple CLs, World Cup, Euros, league titles…

Don’t get me wrong, he’s not Cruyff, Zidane or Beckenbauer but he was a genuinely great player that became hugely underrated later on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.