Im with you, he changed football all over the world with what he did with the Dutch team.
Greatest National Team manager of all time?
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Im with you, he changed football all over the world with what he did with the Dutch team.
What? That squad was absolutely stacked with them.
Fernando Santos. He picked the worst possible tactics whenever possible and still won the euros.
Otto Rehhagel
Big Sam's win percentage is ridiculously high
probs him
Could be deschamps
Gareth Southgate, he beat a couple of teams he was meant to beat
I’m a big fan of this shout. Right up there for sure.
He’s the one for me. His impact on the game as a whole, and the sheer scale of his transformative effect on his team was incredible.
I am so convinced of the extensive nature of the doping around that team, and the lengths the Spanish legal system went to to cover it all up, that I can’t ever truly get behind accolades for those achievements. Whereas I am sure doping has been rife in football on an individual level, I believe this is one of the biggest examples of institutionally, professionally run doping programmes ever. As good as that Spanish and concurrent Barca teams were, I will forever have an asterisks next to everything they did.
Shivers down my spine thinking Southgate will be in contention if he wins the Euros
Deschamps sufferball surely up there.
Calm down. It’s only the Euros which not within a country mile of the WC as far as importance and that’s been won by plenty of managers. I’ve been telling people about the Euros happening - nobody needs reminding about the WC.
Sir Alfred Ramsey
Del Bosque and Deschamps probably.
Sir Alf Ramsey..innit.
Didn't know that, can you maybe link any good sources for me?
In terms of accomplishments, Helmut Schön is still the numero uno, methinks. Led West Germany to a World Cup title (aside from finishing 2nd and 3rd) as well as a European Championship title (aside from finishing 2nd). The 1972 vintage in particular played some delightful, free-flowing football, which surely earns him brownie points .
Someone like Rinus Michels was a greater and more influential football manager than Schön, as well as a more compelling figure as we look back fondly at the evolution of Total Football. But you have to consider his national team career in isolation, divorced from what he previously did with Ajax (which diminishes his relative stature).
On a side note, we are once again reminded of how incredible Beckenbauer was...
Someone like Rinus Michels was a greater and more influential football manager than Schön, as well as a more compelling figure as we look back fondly at the evolution of Total Football. But you have to consider his national team career in isolation, divorced from what he previously did with Ajax (which diminishes his relative stature).
On a side note, we are once again reminded of how incredible Beckenbauer was...
- 1966 World Cup: produced one of the most historically significant midfield performances at age 20, and had to be nullified by the great Bobby Charlton himself.
- 1970 World Cup: bravely persevered with a dislocated shoulder in the semi final vs. Italy in the Game of the Century, outshining several veterans on the pitch.
- 1972 EUROs: the playmaking axis of Franz Beckenbauer and Günter Netzer (which set the tone for the entire team amid their victorius campaign) is the stuff of legends by now.
- 1974 World Cup: helped arrest the march of Johan Cruyff and the seemingly unstoppable totaalvoetbal machine in the final match, the grandest of all stages.
For me, the managers who got the most out of a not-so-good material are the most incredible ones.
Rehagel for me.
Rehagel for me.
People are SERIOUSLY naming Deschamps. Mind-boggling.
Not really. National team managers are an odd bunch as there's barely any real (I mean substantial and career-changing) training involved and they're usually assessed strictly by their trophy haul. The best national teams usually had one or two outstanding (and brilliantly trained) club teams as their core — Honved for Hungary in the 1950's, Ajax for Netherlands (and Bayern & Borussia M. for Germany) in the 1970's, Barcelona & Madrid for Spain et cetera.
All that's needed from the NT managers is to find the right balance (which is tougher than it sounds) and to not feck up whatever synergies and patterns that are already implemented on the club level. So by definition you're not going to get a lot of revolutionaries in NT management as those that are usually have a legacy in club football, often with the same players (your Michels, Lobanovsky etc.).
Not often do managers truly define generations in NT sides. I'd actually rate Löw quite highly in that regard as he was crucial in reinventing the German football identity after the noughties. And Deschamp was brilliant at, well, steadying the ship, finding the right balance and dealing with problematic egos (sometimes picking a less talented player a la Giroud to replace a toxic superstar like Benzema in order to keep the squad at least somehow grounded). Did he manage the most stacked national team in the world? Yes. Did he play exciting football? Nope. But he was pretty consistent and could've won even more if luck was on his side (that Eder's goal
or Kolo Muani's miss...).Ijzeren Rinus ofcourse.