Hardest managerial job in football?

tentan

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Which club or country would be the hardest to manage? In terms of pressure, expectation, spotlight, criticism and everything?

I know they easy answer would be any 'big' club or nation. But if you had to narrow it down which would be the hardest?

I'd say probably Real Madrid or Brazil.

Real Madrid - Expected to win big trophies every year, toxic fans with a ruthless board as well.

Brazil - Expected to win every game and tournament they enter. The whole world expects them to do well every time.
 
I think it’s quite a subjective thing; there’s so many personalities in football and such different environments.
 
North Korea, failure probably wouldn't just be the end of your career
 
Any top brazilian club who's on a rough patch is a very tough challenge. For example: Corinthians has 24M supporters, and due to the club rich history the expectations are always high no matter what.
And the supporters are fierce: if they sense a player is not giving 100% on the pitch, they pay them and their family a visit :D
 
tentan said:
Which club or country would be the hardest to manage? In terms of pressure, expectation, spotlight, criticism and everything?

I know they easy answer would be any 'big' club or nation. But if you had to narrow it down which would be the hardest?

I'd say probably Real Madrid or Brazil.

Real Madrid - Expected to win big trophies every year, toxic fans with a ruthless board as well.

Brazil - Expected to win every game and tournament they enter. The whole world expects them to do well every time.
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Agree with those 2 - especially Madrid. IIRC, i think Brazil has actually been "patient" with Tite, compared to previous managers - albeit some of them had more than 1 tenure as head coach.

But yeah, both sets of fans/expectations not only demand winning/success, but also winning/success while playing "beautiful" football.
 
Madrid is a hard one. Even if you achieve success you still won't be overly appreciated because winning is so common for them.
 
I’d probably say one of the major international teams, based on you are quite restricted to what you can do in an international role over a club role.

No transfers, No day to day training. Here’s your 1-2 week window every 2 months or so to get a team together. Have to keep a really wide eye out for players all over the place. An entire nation of people are looking at you if there’s a feck up. The media is ready to stab you in the face too. You’re probably fielding complaints from the clubs too, who are asking to not play their players.

So I would say the likes of England, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina etc where the expectations to do well is ramped up to the extreme. Just look how England managers have been treated in the past, mocked relentlessly in the press.
 
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horsechoker said:
England
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Nah, we're easy as our expectations are so fecking low as long as you get to the quarters then the England fans and media will be happy. The desire for a trophy at this point is just a dream due to our previous failures, we're the Tottenham of National teams.

I'd say clubs with a history for quick Manager changes are the most difficult. Chelsea has to be right up there, along with the obvious Madrid.
 
You started and ended the thread in the first post. :lol:

If we are looking at other leagues I'd say Chelsea, United and Everton are particularly difficult jobs currently. Dortmund and Schalke perhaps in the Bundesliga?
 
I'd say we were certainly up there under Woodward. Big expectations, big pressure, and a complete mess behind the scenes.
 
Lay said:
Madrid is a hard one. Even if you achieve success you still won't be overly appreciated because winning is so common for them.
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between Perez, the two team league and the fact most top players are desperate to sign for them, the conditions to win are arguably better there than anywhere else. I think it’s a hard job but if you’re a top manager you’re practically guaranteed success at Madrid
 
Real Madrid easily IMO.

They accept nothing less than excellence or at the very least the path to excellence. Their fans, media and even the players have zero tolerance for mediocrity. I can only imagine how their fans would have treated someone like Rangnick for example, where some of our fans viewed him as the Messiah, Ralf would've been chased out of the country after a month or two.

The Bayern job is also a tough one, they almost run like an American sports team where the front office try and take equal if not more responsibility for the success of the team. The figures at Bayern from sporting director, football execs and CEO are all very vocal and can undermine the managers at times. You definitely need thick skin to manage there, it's FC Hollywood indeed.
 
Besides the obvious choices already mentioned I would say Bayern because:
- Winning the league counts next to nothing, it's the norm
- You have to play their way, pressing, attacking football, score lots
- The manager is not at a sugar daddy club to buy everything he wants
- As a manager you have to be in a good relationship and not to upset the major stars which are there for a long time, eg. Neuer, Muller
 
I don't think the Madrid job is that difficult? You get lots of financial backing, virtually all players want to play for Madrid so you never have to worry about attracting or keeping players. You're pretty much guaranteed champions league football every year.

I've always thought that the Everton job was one of the hardest. Unrealisic expectations, toxic fanbase, in the shadow of their neighbour, difficult to attract players.

Joe Royle was the last manager to be a real success at Everton, and he left in 1997!
 
Zen86 said:
I'd say we were certainly up there under Woodward. Big expectations, big pressure, and a complete mess behind the scenes.
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How? Not a single one of our managers was sacked for actually failing to win. They were sacked because they fell miles and miles off the bare minimum.
 
MegadrivePerson said:
I don't think the Madrid job is that difficult? You get lots of financial backing, virtually all players want to play for Madrid so you never have to worry about attracting or keeping players. You're pretty much guaranteed champions league football every year.

I've always thought that the Everton job was one of the hardest. Unrealisic expectations, toxic fanbase, in the shadow of their neighbour, difficult to attract players.

Joe Royle was the last manager to be a real success at Everton, and he left in 1997!
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Not really. Madrid don't financially back the managers as such. They'll happily buy players knowing that they might not be useful/wanted to the current manager, get rid of players favoured manager just so they're in a better position to succeed later on under the next manager(s).

Madrid back themselves to always win. The managers are disposable consumables.
 
I know it's easier to look at our own club because we're across the detail, but I honestly think this was one of the hardest in football when EtH walked in. The last decade backs that up as well.

Every area you could look at was more or less malfunctioning. I would say the solitary positive was Ole and Ralf set such a low benchmark and he had money to spend, at least for one window and we don't know how that will continue.

The negatives were squad morale, player politics, quality of squad, non existent recruitment strategy, distant and incompetent owners, continual focus and expectation on Man Utd that is in contrast to our actual level in the preceding seasons.

It's only looking somewhat like it may be manageable because great leaders make the difficult look simple. He may be one if he continues.
 
Madrid, Brazil, United, England, Bayern I'd say.

Any job where expectation is absolutely huge and pressure comes from day 1 really.

United - are probably the exception on that list in that expectations have fallen somewhat in the last 10 years. But their is a massive scotsman shaped shadow looming over everyone who takes the job that so far no one has been able to shake off, though Ten Hag is showing signs the club have finally moved on.

England - Every generation is practically a golden generation, every team is underdogs but secretly faves by a media that lumps pressure on. Theres always someone better but you are expected to win nonetheless. Southgate being oblivious to this doesn't change it.

Brazil - I mean its Brazil right, kinda like England only with the actual weight of previous success on your back.

Bayern - You're the only horse in the race, losing is not an option.

Madrid - Sometimes even winning the league can't save you.
 
Agree with those who mentioned Bayern (you don't win the UCL, you've been rather underwhelming no matter how impressive your Bundesliga title might have been) in terms of expectations.
But they can't be the answer because at worst, their manager will get booed heavily and get the axe.

I won't be surprised if in some places, failing managers have to fear for their lives.
 
We're up there.

We've basically had 2 successful periods post ww2 and both were helped by absolute giants of the game and everything else was a hit and miss to put it lightly so there's certainly a precedent for how fecking how hard this job is.

You could argue most of it is due to board incompetence but still that should count as well, in terms of absolute fan pressure and expectations you've basically answered yourselve but I guess it bears mentioning that the pressure on other high end clubs with a history of regularly winning trophies is pretty much comparable aka your bayerns and juventuses of this world.

I'm sure there are some more obscure Candia out there that other posters are more privy too, like for example im pretty sure the expectation at a club like the Egyptian al ahly could hellish.
 
Lately I'd say Barça. At Madrid the pressure is arguably even bigger but at least you get some competent management.
 
Celtic and Rangers, win the league and you're a hero, finish second and you're sacked. GVB brought Rangers to a Europa league final beating a lot of good teams including Dortmund. 6 months later in an injury crisis he is sacked. Celtic sacked Ronnie Delia despite winning back to back leagues because his football was dreadful and boring to watch.
 
Real isn't that difficult a job provided you're actually half decent as a manager. Best everything, never in danger of falling out of the CL places, all of the best players in South America and Latin Europe would walk across broken glass to play for them. And their managerial turnover is so high that if you fail, it won't really affect your future job prospects.

PSG would be a better shout because their own domestic league is a slam dunk and you are judged solely on the CL. And they probably have the best side in the world on paper so no excuse for failing. Also a lot of their players are insanely successful in their own right, so if you fail with them then it exposes your own limitations as a coach rather than theirs as players. Poch's stock has been badly affected because his being shite there was much more apparent than it would have been at another top side.
 
fergiewherearethou said:
Besides the obvious choices already mentioned I would say Bayern because:
- Winning the league counts next to nothing, it's the norm
- You have to play their way, pressing, attacking football, score lots
- The manager is not at a sugar daddy club to buy everything he wants
- As a manager you have to be in a good relationship and not to upset the major stars which are there for a long time, eg. Neuer, Muller
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Bayern?!

As in Germany? Munich?

As in Bundesliga, where you don't have a competition in the last 20 years?

And you get to buy every talent that arises in that same league for peanuts because everybody wants to go to Bayern?

Could have fooled me.
 
Real Madrid and Barcelona were the real leaders in this department. Bayern, United, and Chelsea are also on this list. The expectations from the fans are high and all of them are very successful clubs since 1999- present.
 
DickDastardly said:
Bayern?!

As in Germany? Munich?

As in Bundesliga, where you don't have a competition in the last 20 years?

And you get to buy every talent that arises in that same league for peanuts because everybody wants to go to Bayern?

Could have fooled me.
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It is difficult more than you think. You have to deal with a lot of superstars who have a lot of powers in the dressing room. Their superstars are also known for their egos and hard to be controlled. Like @fergiewherearethou said, you must play attractive football and score a lot of goals. Bayern's traditions have been known about don't like defensive/anti-football. You must also deal with a lot of pressure from their fans, board members, players, or even Uli Hoeness. Losing 2-3 consecutive games could mean that you have a lot of chances to be sacked and their players wouldn't support you if you are not good enough. Bayern also plans to get into at least the semi-finals of UCL every year they compete. If you perform mediocre at UCL, you also have a lot of chances to be sacked too.

At least, I would say, you must have a strong enough mentality to stay at Bayern.
 
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