An Arsenal FA Cup hero and Wales icon, now learning the trade in the Oxford United dugout after a Cardiff caretaker spell. Spent half his playing career in the treatment room - he and old Arsenal pal Jack Wilshere were physio-room regulars. Big name, no track record yet.

A bright young coach who built attractive, front-foot sides in non-league before taking charge at The Shay.

Aidy Boothroyd reached the Premier League with Watford at just 35, all motivational posters, drilled set pieces and relentless positivity. The clubs got smaller afterwards - Coventry, Colchester, Northampton - but the conviction never dimmed. The England Under-21s gave him a stage too.

He learned from the best. Or the worst, depending on your perspective. Middlesbrough players link.

Grimsby and Walsall legend, pass-and-move at the heart of everything. Took Grimsby from the old Fourth Division to the second tier - then signed half their squad for West Brom.

A Charlton institution - two promotions out of the second tier and years of punching above their weight, then a steady West Ham. Quietly excellent.

Reading, West Ham, Newcastle, Crystal Palace - promotions, an FA Cup final and a touchline dad-dance that will outlive us all. Charismatic and streaky.

Stepped up from Swansea caretaker and did well enough to land the job permanently. A popular dressing-room figure finding his feet in the dugout.

A genuine play-off specialist - promoted Norwich and Sunderland, took Millwall to the brink. Peaks exactly when it matters.

A Stevenage favourite as a player - and scorer of that famous halfway-line Wembley volley for Rotherham - now leading the club he loves with his heart on his sleeve.

A no-nonsense former centre-half who took charge at Scunthorpe, organising the Iron from the back and grinding out the hard yards.

A long-time number two - notably alongside Darrell Clarke at Port Vale during their promotion - who stepped up to lead Tranmere in his own right. Organised and respected.

Dover and Eastleigh - old-school, all-action, the kind of gaffer who looks like he could still do 90 minutes himself. Gets every yard out of a squad.

Took Tamworth up and into a famous FA Cup tie, building a tight, well-drilled side on a non-league budget.

A former Coventry and Leyton Orient defender who built solid, scrappy sides at Banbury and Brackley.

Took Bromley to the League Two title on the smallest budget in the league - in only their second season in the Football League.

A lift early on, then... well, Barry things start happening. Strange things. He also thinks he is still at Peterborough. Birmingham, Peterborough players link.

Starts like a house on fire, then the fallouts begin, chairman, press, whoever's nearest. The only question is how long the good form survives the mood. Forest, Derby, Preston players link.

A young manager handed the Yeovil job, asking his Glovers side to play with the handbrake off.

Masterminded Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang to the 1988 FA Cup, beating Liverpool with pure togetherness and bedlam. A character to his core - later had a famous training-ground fight with one of his own players as Wales boss.

Promoted Swansea from the Championship. Liverpool to the brink of a Premier League title. Celtic trebles. Leicester into the Champions League. Then a Netflix documentary in which Brendan Rodgers, very carefully, explained how he had learned to speak. He was not joking. He is still very good at football management.

Built a lovely young, possession-based Rochdale side and coached Manchester City’s elite youth before Cardiff. Football the right way, win or lose.

Loved at Reading, where he won the league in 2012 with brilliant team spirit and players who ran through walls. Could never recreate it anywhere else - just ask Leeds fans.

Arsenal's double-winning midfielder who took Rushden & Diamonds into the Football League as Conference champions in 2001.

Bryan Robson, England's Captain Marvel, took Middlesbrough up as player-manager and to two cup finals, signing Juninho and Ravanelli along the way. Later came West Brom's last-day 'Great Escape'. Big nights, big names, gloriously unpredictable results.

Came from Braga, ended up at Sheffield Wednesday playing the most expansive 4-4-2 the Championship had seen in a decade. A play-off final and a semi-final. Then he beat up a £20 note in the dressing room after a Steel City defeat, wrote a book about football and life, smiled his way through every press conference. Son of Jose. Lives in Wednesday fans' hearts.

Took both Huddersfield and West Brom from the bottom half up to the play-offs on tactics alone. Drills a side until it hums.

A respected non-league coach who climbed through the ranks at Eastbourne and Hastings before taking the Sutton United job.

Fulham's bright young manager and a Wales hero for the Euro 2016 semi-final run - but his Sunderland spell ended in relegation. Capable of brilliance and disaster.

Brendan Rodgers' assistant for the best part of a decade - Celtic, Leicester, you name it. Got the Birmingham City job for 24-25 and turned them straight into L1 champions with the most expensive squad the level had ever seen. Possession football, tight defence, polished media. The blueprint for the modern up-and-coming gaffer.

Newcastle up. Brighton up. Forest never quite. The quietest man in the building, the most respected man in the dressing room. Never has a bad word for anyone, never gets a great word from anyone either. Reserved. Effective. Possibly the most underrated promotion specialist of the century.

A progressive, analytical coach who made his name at Curzon Ashton before taking the Solihull Moors job. Process over panic.

Won League One with Charlton in 2011-12 with a then-record 101 points. League One Manager of the Year, and a gentleman of the game.

Pick the right formation and he'll get more out of your squad than anyone. Sheffield United players link. Shape is everything.

A Leicester City title-winner and Austria captain who swapped the Premier League and MLS for the dugout in the lower leagues. Box-office name, rookie boss - an experiment worth watching.

Club legend back at Barnsley in the dugout. Walked away via mutual consent half a season later - still a hero.

Brought into Milton Keynes Dons as a late rescue act in League One, promising there was a plan - then sacked before the season even finished. Nobody ever discovered what the plan actually was.

Three Championship titles in five attempts. 2018-19 Norwich was simply score-more-goals-than-the-other-team football, cinema from start to finish. Leeds the same trick three years later. Refuses to bring on a sub until the 88th minute every single time. Process. Process. Process.

One full season at Barnsley: tiki-taka, an unbeaten home record and promotion, finishing second behind Luton with the best defence in the league.

Lincoln City from non-league to League One with his brother Nicky alongside him. The 16-17 FA Cup quarter-final run - first non-league side past the fifth round since 1914 - is now folklore. Pompey next, Huddersfield, now Cambridge United. The Cowleys do cup shocks and grit-in-the-air promotions.

Performed the miracle at Sheffield Wednesday after the worst start in the club’s history, dragging them clear when relegation looked nailed on.

Look up “disaster” in the dictionary and you’ll find his mugshot - sacked after one win in nine at a fresh-from-the-play-offs Huddersfield, then carried a 30% win rate to Doncaster.

LMA Manager of the Year 96/97, took Barnsley to the Premier League playing like Brazil. Then sacked from Wednesday after an 8-0 at Newcastle. Then bottled promotion every season at Bristol City. Then at Swindon. Then Sheffield United. Starts well, always. Finishes... differently.

24 years at Crewe Alexandra across the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions. David Platt sold to Bari. Danny Murphy to Liverpool. Dean Ashton. Robbie Savage. Neil Lennon. Seth Johnson. Dele Alli. The academy was the business model. Gradi was the academy. Vale Park could have named a stand - he was Crewe.

One of Massimo Cellino's revolving cast of Leeds United managers - Milanic lasted 32 days and six games without a win before the door swung shut behind him. Blink and you missed him.

Four promotions with Peterborough. FOUR. He leaves, the club crashes, he comes back, takes them up again. Sir Alex's son but a Championship-and-L1 lifer in his own right. Attacks first, asks questions later. Knows London Road better than the groundsman.

A towering, calming presence who took Sheffield Wednesday up via the play-offs after THAT comeback, with promotions and steady jobs across the EFL. His Wednesday press conferences were a genre: Erm... erm... erm... Watch them. You'll understand.

Dave 'Harry' Bassett built Wimbledon's Crazy Gang and hauled them from non-league to the First Division on route-one football and a dressing room nobody wanted to visit. Sheffield United, Watford and Leicester followed. Direct, abrasive and ruthlessly effective. Aesthetes need not apply.

A serial promotion machine - AFC Fylde out of non-league, Hartlepool back into the EFL, and Stockport climbing the divisions. Long throws, set pieces, two big units up top and a remorseless winning habit.

Five steady years at Forest Green Rovers in non-league - then Massimo Cellino plucked him from obscurity to manage Leeds United, and sacked him 70 days later. Knows this level inside out. Two divisions up, the lights were too bright.

Took Doncaster Rovers out of the Conference via a famous 2003 play-off run, the start of their charge up the divisions.

Made his name building youth-led Crewe sides and winning promotion from League Two, before taking charge at Grimsby. Organised, principled, develops players.

A long-serving Newport academy and coaching figure who stepped into the breach when needed. Knows every player and every corridor of Rodney Parade.

His pressing turns over better sides, but he throws away leads against teams that sit back. Got Huddersfield promoted with a -4 goal difference - one of the most improbable feats in Championship history. Huddersfield, Norwich players link.

Sheffield United, the first and last club he’d ever manage. His existence often feels like a pipe dream - might as well have had David Weir the Paralympian at the wheel.

Dragged Barnet out of the National League as champions after years of near-misses. A non-league specialist who builds relentless, attacking sides on a budget.

A net negative on any squad. He's happier with 90s British lads around him - without them he's lonely and worse. Wolves, Doncaster, Wrexham players link.

A proper Championship manager who gets the best out of English squads. Villa players link.

Took Morecambe to the L2 title in 20-21 - their first ever EFL silverware. Plymouth before that. Defensive, gritty, doesn't pass the ball when he can clear it, hates losing more than he likes winning. Mazuma Stadium had its moment.

Oxford United's hometown hero. Came in after Liam Manning jumped ship to Bristol City and didn't just steady the ship - he guided his boyhood club to promotion at Wembley. City Football Group pedigree, calm in possession, the kind of feel-good story the lower leagues live for. The Kassam roared.

Stevenage and Nuneaton - a non-league grinder who wears every result on his sleeve. Confrontational, committed, and box office on the touchline.

1 win in 18. Big Dunc arrived at Forest Green, moved into a caravan next to the training ground, enforced the vegan policy, held meetings over vegan soup, banned outside food, and won once. Once. In eighteen games. Then Forest Green were relegated. The caravan remained.

Took Bournemouth from the bottom of L2 (with a points deduction) to the Premier League. Did it again at Newcastle. Won the Carabao Cup. Champions League. The boy from Amesbury still talks like he's at Dean Court. Will never be more loved anywhere than at the Cherries.

Player-manager at Barnet in 12/13 - a Champions League winner with the orange goggles, slumming it in League Two. Wore the number one shirt one game just because he could, and was sent off more than once for his trouble. The ego never got the memo about the level: he still trusts himself over anyone in his own squad, in literally any shirt. Glorious, ridiculous, and somehow it worked.

A young, data-driven English coach forged in Belgian football and at Burton. Bright ideas, modern methods, still proving himself at this level.

Won the Championship at a canter with Leicester playing slick, possession-heavy, Guardiola-influenced football before the Chelsea job called. Positional play to the last detail.

The youngest head coach in MLS history, who broke club records at Minnesota United - then left for West Bromwich Albion and was sacked after 44 days without a single win in nine games. A glittering CV that did not survive contact with the Championship.

Not a manager at all - the Forest owner who storms onto the pitch, picks the side and sacks anyone who disappoints. Money and menace in equal measure.

Which Frank are you getting? Super Frank is genuinely good. Fat Frank collapses down the stretch. You don't choose. Derby, Chelsea, Everton players link.

Long hair, leather jacket, rock-and-roll energy. Got Wycombe Wanderers - tiny club, smallest budget - all the way to the Championship via the playoffs in 19-20 and then KEPT them up. Adams Park was a fortress. Long throws were the brand. Adebayo Akinfenwa was the talisman. QPR sacked him quickly, which was unfair.

A serial non-league winner across Heybridge, Dagenham, Rushden and Woking. Gung-ho, loud, and forever one signing away from the perfect side. The games are never boring.

EFL Tim Sherwood. The Middlesbrough disaster still gets brought up first. Sacked at Birmingham. Sacked at Sheffield Wednesday. Got Leeds within touching distance of the Premier League and somehow didn't get them there. Hot start at every single job, cold finish at every single job, like clockwork. The most predictable manager in the EFL.

Promoted Blackpool out of League Two and steadied Blackburn, Bradford, Salford and Burton (plus a Scottish title at Dundee). A dependable, no-nonsense lower-league operator.

A combative midfielder turned manager who took Cambridge United, Luton Town and Southport through the Conference years. Old-school, hard to play against - on the pitch and on the touchline.

Title winner with Wigan after the post-administration rebuild. Then kept Exeter up while working with the smallest budget in the EFL. A quiet Scotsman with a temper underneath. His teams over-perform their wage bills every single year.

Took Yeovil Town from non-league to a League One playoff final at Wembley, then did it all again at Bristol City - the Championship playoff final in 2008. Cheltenham, Northampton, Yeovil twice. Gary Johnson builds tiny clubs into giant-killers with bright, attacking football and a chip on his shoulder the size of Somerset. Lee Johnson's dad, and a better manager than most give him credit for.

Gary Megson got unglamorous clubs up and kept them there for two decades - West Brom's famous yo-yo seasons, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday, Stockport. Never flashy, frequently grumpy, reliably hard to beat. The points just quietly pile up.

Pulled off a Wembley double with York City in 2012 - the FA Trophy and the National League play-off final in one season, taking the Minstermen back up.

Reliable for thirty games, nervy for the run-in - Birmingham, Derby and Stoke all found the top six easier to reach than to hold. Best watched with a healthy cushion already banked. Birmingham, Derby, Stoke players link.

A vastly experienced ex-QPR midfielder and former Aldershot and Wycombe manager who returned to the dugout at Wealdstone.

Cut his teeth in non-league with AFC Telford before stepping up through the Shrewsbury coaching ranks to the top job. Hard-working, unflashy, building from the ground up.

Did brilliantly at Ipswich - promotion via the play-offs and a fine UEFA Cup run - then dragged Southampton to the play-offs. Attacking and likeable.

Took Barnsley to safety with the most aggressive pressing the Championship had ever seen. Then off to MLS with Red Bull New York, then back to Salzburg. The pressing works brilliantly until the legs go. Always do. The Austrian gegenpress doesn't translate when it's January in Doncaster.

Got Bristol Rovers promoted on nothing in 89-90. QPR to fifth in the Premier League. Tottenham. The mullet became one of football's most recognisable hairstyles. Gerry Francis, the mullet, and a team that consistently exceeded expectations. A lower-league hero who graduated.

Guided Watford to a play-off final via one of the most dramatic semi-final winners the Championship has ever seen - Troy Deeney's injury-time strike in 2013 - only to lose the final itself. West Ham, Birmingham and Watford links. So close, every time.

Everyone manages Watford. EVERYONE. Zola did it too, gave them ALL the flair, took them to the playoffs, then drifted off. Then West Ham. Then Cagliari. Then Birmingham. Then Watford AGAIN. The smile is the same in every job. The results are different in every job. Italian. Beautiful. Often a tiny bit lost.

A Southampton legend as player and manager, plus Coventry, Celtic and a season at Middlesbrough. Funny, fierce and a serial overachiever.

Boring bloke, brilliant high press. Does not like flashy footballers - hard-working Brits only. Bradford, Fleetwood, Salford.

Took Ostarsund from the Swedish fourth division to the Europa League. Swansea Championship survival on the way. Then Brighton - four seasons of progressive, patient football. Then Chelsea and 600 million pounds and a sacking before Easter. He remains a very good Championship manager.

Manager, director of football and chairman all at once - he rescued Hereford from ruin and the Conference and dragged them back to the League, after earlier success at Shrewsbury and Wolves.

His kids call him 'medal winner'. Fitness first, last and always - players training 9 to 5 like it's a factory shift. Mr Stevenage, back-to-back promotions on the bounce, and a self-described Chris Wilder's number one fan. The squad is the fittest in the league by April. Whether they still like him is another matter entirely.

Straight-talking Northern Irishman. Multiple promotions with Hull City and Doncaster Rovers. Currently at Peterborough where he might be about to swap dugouts with Darren Ferguson again. Loves to attack. Flair is key. Don't wind this man up. Strong dislike for referees.

Revolutionised Brighton in their first season at the Amex - League One title, Championship, playoffs. Got Sunderland to Wembley for a League Cup final. Then memorably announced he didn't believe in relegation while managing a club sitting in the relegation zone. It is complicated.

Notts County paid Crawley Town compensation for his services - because the owner wanted a Liverpool legend in the dugout, nothing more. The results were dreadful. Oldham, Barnet, Crawley before. A genuinely great player who never translated any of it to management. Hired for the badge on his old shirt, not the one on his CV.

Wheeled and dealt his way through more clubs and more transfer deadline days than anyone, always working the phone from the car, always convinced the next signing solves everything. A squad picked up from all over suits him best. Portsmouth, QPR players link. Expect the unexpected, and possibly a fax machine.

Came in at Birmingham in early 26 and managed to be proud of every single defeat. 'Proud of the boys today.' Lose 4-0? Proud of the boys. Lose 5-1? Proud of the boys. Get smashed at home? Proud of the boys. Hall of Shame manager - somehow the players keep playing for him. Just.

Iain Dowie gave the English language 'bouncebackability', hauling Crystal Palace off the floor and into the Premier League through the play-offs. A sports-science obsessive with a famously distinctive profile and an even bigger personality. Oldham, Charlton, Coventry and QPR all had a go of him.

The nearly-man of League One. Strict 3-5-2, 70% possession every week, and a habit of declaring his side the best in the division - while never quite getting promoted.

Draft attackers. He'll find a way to get the ball in the net. Don't worry about defence - outscore them. Blackpool, QPR, Crystal Palace, Plymouth players link.

The 2017 Championship playoff final: Reading vs Huddersfield. Famously the worst Wembley final in recent memory. Danny Ward had conceded 40 league goals. Stam's Reading still lost on pens. Then Jaap Stam left for MLS. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody saw the final coming either.

One of the great English talents of his generation, now learning the trade from the touchline. Big ideas, big name, no track record yet.

A 16.7% win rate at York. Announced he’d step down if he didn’t get a result, drew, announced he’d step down - then somehow got “promoted” to Chief Executive. Also caught fare-dodging on a train while manager.

A West Brom and Scotland midfield favourite who stepped up from the coaching staff to lead the club he served for a decade. Heart on his sleeve, learning on the job.

Led Watford to the 2019 FA Cup final and has managed across the Premier League, La Liga and beyond. Calm, organised, experienced at the top.

An England and Premier League goal machine taking his first managerial role at Woking. The finishing was never in doubt; the dugout is a whole new game.

Morecambe’s longest-serving manager and club legend, who kept the Shrimps in the EFL for years, returning to the club he is synonymous with.

A Stockport cult hero and total maverick - fought a player on the team bus and got off at the services, refused Sky interviews because they would not fix his SkyBox, and at Accrington fans threw hotdogs and coffee at him at half-time after a 3-0 loss. Normal stuff.

The Bald Eagle. Success at Derby, Oxford and Portsmouth - a proper old-school operator who got clubs punching up.

Premier League hitman turned Championship manager. Massive personality, accent thicker than ever, soundbites for days. Burton, QPR, Northampton, Burton again. Goals when his strikers click, nothing when they don't. The kind of manager who looks like he should manage the country he played for. Then he gets sacked.

The former defender steadied Rochdale through their National League years, building a tight, honest side as one of their own.

Took Shrewsbury Town straight back out of the Conference in 2004, beating Aldershot on penalties at Wembley to undo the previous season's relegation.

A snarling old-school hard man from the dirty Leeds era who managed Bristol City twice and Stoke with width and attacking intent - and would square up to anyone at seventy.

Joe Kinnear kept Wimbledon punching miles above their weight in the Premier League for years, then took Luton, Newcastle and Forest. Brilliant, blunt, and the author of a press-conference rant so spectacular it became legend. Never, ever short of a word, printable or otherwise.

All-out attack. Promoted Manchester City and came so close with Ipswich. Goal, goal, goal.

Won promotion with Bristol Rovers and then talked, and talked, and talked - more airtime than answers. A divisive motormouth who turns a dressing room sour and has genuinely hurt players. The type of shithouse who makes enemies of his own squad.

A softly spoken operator who has quietly overachieved everywhere he has been - a non-league title with Macclesfield, a promotion at York and a promotion push at Port Vale. Never a headline, always a tidy job.

Took Cambridge United from the fourth tier to the brink of the inaugural Premier League with uncompromising long-ball football - and long grass in the corners to slow the game down. The media hated it. It worked.

Built Accrington Stanley from a tiny non-league outfit into a regular EFL side. Left, came back. Left, came back. Same beard every time. The Crown Ground is half-pitched by him. Promotion in 17-18 to League One was the crowning glory of two decades of work. The milk advert pays for everything else.

Spent years developing talent in the Everton and Wigan academies before his first managerial job at Accrington. Knows how to get the best from a young squad.

Had Birmingham flying before they sacked him for Wayne Rooney, then steadied Blackburn and took the Derby job. A meticulous, disciplined organiser who makes teams hard to beat.

Player turned manager turned first-time promoter in his first full season at the helm. Took Portsmouth out of League One with the kind of football that had Fratton Park believing again. Captain to coach in a year. Built right.

Sixteen years in the Port Vale dugout - 1983 to 1999 - across the Second, Third and Fourth Divisions. John Rudge built tiny Burslem sides that beat clubs twice their size, sold his best players (Earle, Beckford, Foyle was bought though) and rebuilt every time without ever losing the plot. The most loyal, most underrated lower-league manager of his generation. Vale Park named a stand after him. Rightly.

Has managed more L1 and L2 clubs than most fans have visited grounds. Oldham, Plymouth, Notts County, Chesterfield, Carlisle, Mansfield. Every single one a struggling side. Every single one safer when he leaves than when he arrived. The lower-league lifer's lower-league lifer.

A lower-league institution - promoted into the EFL three times with Maidstone, Dagenham and Luton. His catchphrase says it all: you're either pregnant or you ain't. Never too high, never too low.

Charlton Athletic's captain for the better part of a decade, lifted them out of L1, then took the manager's job. AFC Wimbledon next, kept them up. Lower-league lifer who actually played the level. Loved by his dressing rooms because he knows the score.

Quietly promoted Northampton and kept them punching above their weight. Understated, organised, effective.

Mourinho's assistant for years - Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter. Got his own gig at Monaco, then turned up at Barnsley. Lost his mind. Crawled around the dressing room making CAT NOISES before a game that ultimately sealed their relegation on the final day. That actually happened. The Reds fans still can't talk about it.

Won the Coupe de France with Rennes - beating PSG in the final - and led them into the Champions League before a spell at Strasbourg. Continental pedigree, now testing himself in England with QPR.

Newport County to the Football League. Then Leyton Orient back to League One. Orient celebrated the promotion and weeks later Justin Edinburgh passed away. He was 49. The club played the following season in his honour. A football man to his bones. Loved where he worked. Loved by where he worked.

Took MK Dons to the Championship for the first time, with long, reasonably successful spells at MK Dons, Charlton, Oxford and Salford. Never short of a word.

Two Rochdale promotions in two different stints. Built Dale into a Cup-shock factory - the kind of night that gets onto Match of the Day for the right reasons, just barely. Bolton in 19-20 was the disaster: administration, points deduction, kids thrown in, relegation. Spotland still loves him though.

No drama. No headlines. Just a solid, dependable manager. Wolves players link.

Took Manchester City to the Division One title in 2001-02 with 99 points and a 31-6-9 record - score five, concede four, win 5-4. Newcastle's 'entertainers' coach who memorably lost it on Sky Sports. England manager. Mighty Mouse. The original gegenpressing - just with worse defending.

A Roots Hall legend as a player, Maher guided Southend back from the financial brink and won the FA Trophy in 2026. Loyalty, spirit and a club brought back to life.

Signs Ross Fitzsimons at every single club he manages, and becomes a regular at the local pub. A man of habit.

FA Trophy winner with Brackley Town and a Nuneaton mainstay. A cup specialist whose sides save their best for the big day - and sometimes forget the league in between.

He makes your weaker players look like bargains and tightens the defence. Draft honest pros and let him work. Ipswich players link.

Swedish manager who turned Boro into a Championship goal machine. High tempo, high press, relentless attack. Then the playoff spot beckoned. Then the triangle of doom. Then it beckoned again. And again. The jumper survived. The spirit was tested.

0 wins in 9 games. Read that again. ZERO. Tried to impose City's possession football on a Wigan side that just needed direct balls and a clean sheet. Got more passes off than results. The Africa Cup of Nations winner couldn't win at the Brick Community Stadium. Everyone wanted him to succeed. Nobody actually expected it.

Lawrie Sanchez headed the goal that won Wimbledon the 1988 FA Cup, then made his managerial name taking Wycombe to an FA Cup semi-final from the third tier. He engineered Northern Ireland's giant-killing wins too. The man you want for a one-off shock.

L1 title at Wigan in 21/22. Then sacked by the new owners by November the following year, took Reading down twice, became the most hated man in Berkshire. The football is dreary. The points are real. The fan reaction is something else.

A Crewe man who took over the famous youth-led, pass-and-move tradition and kept the Railwaymen playing the right way. Promotes from within, plays football the Gresty Road way.

Passionate. Committed. Occasionally too committed. Charlton, Birmingham players link.

Took Huddersfield on the longest unbeaten run in the club's history, then got sacked fourth in the table - couldn't let them express themselves after a 3-0 Play-Off Final loss. Also kept Birmingham up on goal difference via a 90+3 equaliser, won 3 of 33 at Blackpool, and once picked a balanced side of five right-footers and five left-footers.

A vastly experienced goalkeeper taking his first steps in management at Huddersfield. Knows defending inside out; everything else is brand new.

Bristol City, Sunderland and a taste for drama - his sides go on monster winning runs and equally grim slumps. Loves a post-match quote and a questionable outfit.

One of the great lower-league survivors. Kept Charlton afloat through the homeless Selhurst years and took them to the top flight, then promoted Middlesbrough into the inaugural Premier League. Decades of keeping clubs up on no money.

17 May 2007. Torquay United. Press conference. Ten minutes. Phone call from the chairman. New consortium. New management required. Leroy Rosenior took the call with remarkable dignity and was sacked before the ink was dry.

Built a hard-to-beat Ebbsfleet United (Gravesend & Northfleet) and won the FA Trophy at Wembley. A defender's manager - organised, gritty, awkward to play against.

Got Bristol City into the Championship playoffs for the first time since 2008 - 24/25 was special at Ashton Gate. Quiet, methodical, builds projects. The Robins finally have a manager who doesn't get torched by Wednesday morning.

Possession football and clear ideas - 15th then 7th with Hull, then real success at Strasbourg before a Chelsea-ownership entanglement. A little Derby interim cameo too. Hull and Derby links.

Lou Macari won the European Cup at Manchester United, then managed like a drill sergeant - fitness first, discipline always, no nonsense ever. Promotions at Swindon and Stoke were built on organisation and hard running. Cross him at your peril.

Boreham Wood's long-serving young manager, repeatedly dragging one of non-league's smallest clubs into the National League's upper half, with an FA Cup run or two along the way.

Built Notts County from non-league back to EFL safety with possession-based football the level rarely sees. First EFL season since their return: 89 goals scored, 86 conceded. Then Swansea came calling. The football is gorgeous. The results below the Championship are too.

An estate agent who founded Dorking Wanderers, dragged them up the pyramid one promotion at a time, and refused to hand any of the jobs to anybody else. Manager, owner, chairman, head of recruitment and self-appointed head of media, all under the same flat cap. Will tell you he built it, because he did. The interviews are a sport in themselves.

High risk, high reward. You'll score more but you'll leak too. Draft the best attackers you can find. Leeds players link.

106 goals. 106 goals. 2021-22 Championship. Fulham. One hundred and six. He makes teams with capable forwards into goal machines and teams with great forwards into something frightening. The Portuguese manager who found the cheat code: attack until the net breaks.

Led Cambridge to their first Football League promotion in years in the lockdown season - despite being predicted to struggle.

Won the National League play-off final with Forest Green Rovers in 2017, taking the club into the EFL for the first time in its history. A possession-minded operator who got them up on a modest budget.

A Manchester United and Wales great who managed Blackburn, Manchester City, QPR, Stoke and Southampton in the Premier League, now plotting Carlisle United an escape from the fifth tier. The aura remains; the division does not care.

If your season's gone wrong by the halfway mark, he drags you back. If it's going fine, you won't notice him. Coventry, Huddersfield, Barnsley players link.

Former derivatives trader on the Chicago trading floor who became a football manager. Brentford as director of football during their analytics revolution, then Rangers, then Forest, then QPR. Attacking, principled football at every club. The plan isn't always the result. The plan is always attacking.

Got the gig off the back of Barnsley reaching the play-offs - then a horrible run saw him sacked as Barnsley went down beneath a Derby side on minus 21.

Arrived from the Swedish league and pulled off a minor miracle to keep QPR up, before a tougher second year and a Leicester move that ended in the sack - three points off the playoffs, contributing to their eventual relegation. Bright, progressive ideas; inconsistent execution.

Mad Dog Martin Allen's motivational methods are the stuff of legend. Players jumped in rivers. Camped in forests. Cycled to away matches. It worked - Brentford's Great Escape from administration being the most famous. Then everyone realised he was a bit crackers. The squad usually works out what he is around month eight.

From non-league Wycombe to a career that lit up Leicester, Celtic and Villa. A motivator without equal who got clubs punching far above their weight.

Fist-pumped after a 3-0 loss at Burton, railed against non-negotiables until everyone had enough - then walked into Notts County and got them promoted first season. The contrast tells you everything. Young, ambitious, attack-first, and the crumpled water bottle is always in hand.

A Walsall legend as a player who returned to manage them - and then delivered what fans called the biggest bottle in the club's history when promotion slipped away. Heart on his sleeve, slight neck twitch, the fans love him right up until they don't.

A Wycombe legend as a player who has carried the same hard work and togetherness into the dugout - no airs, all graft.

Came up through the Rotherham academy and coaching staff before stepping up. A proper club man who knows every corridor of the place.

A long-serving coach handed the Fleetwood reins in a crisis. A safe, familiar pair of hands keeping the ship steady while the club finds its feet.

Came through Exeter City as a player, captain, coach and then manager. Promoted them from L2 in 21-22 with a quietly effective rebuild. Rotherham came calling, took him, then sacked him by Christmas. Back at the Grecians, presumably, until he isn't.

A vastly experienced lower-league operator - Oxford, Lincoln to the play-offs and an EFL Trophy, plus a spell as Leicester assistant. Knows exactly how to organise a side at this level.

Big talk, burner accounts on Twitter, and very little to show for it on the pitch.

A barnstorming 22/23 with Boro from nowhere. A fine man-manager who gives stars the freedom to shine - but a stubborn lack of a plan B can cost him.

First ever manager job and he wins the L2 title with Cheltenham in 20-21. Then Barnsley playoff final the year after. Huddersfield next. Wing-backs everywhere, three at the back, the classic modern progressive coach. Polished and respected throughout the EFL.

A Newport County legend as player and manager - promotion via the play-offs and a string of famous FA Cup upsets over Leicester, Middlesbrough and Leeds along the way. Rodney Parade's own.

5 games to go. 5 points adrift. Newport County. Everyone had written them off. Flynn had not. They survived. Then they beat Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, drew at Man City, and reached the playoff final. Twice. The escape artist works best when there is genuinely no hope.

Took Northern Ireland to Euro 2016 against the odds and steadied Stoke in the Championship. A shrewd, pragmatic operator who overachieves with limited resources.

An England youth coach and Leeds interim before Lincoln - modern methods, detailed planning, a coach’s coach.

You won't score many but you won't concede many either. Grinding works - until the results dry up. Keep winning and he's solid. Stop winning and things get worse. Wolves, Sunderland, Ipswich, Cardiff players link.

Two Manager of the Season awards, four promotions, managed in all four divisions. Most impressively guided Port Vale through administration to promotion - while transfer-listing the entire squad after three straight defeats.

Cool, calm, composed - proper League Two ball and a play-off master. The man behind Jamie Vardy at Fleetwood.

Deadly serious about the 4-4-2, deadly serious about very little else, except Mexico, a country he has never forgiven and never will. Convinced there is gold in English strikers everyone else has given up on, and no amount of evidence will shift him. Give him two forwards nobody rates and watch him back himself anyway. Norwich, Plymouth, Hull players link.

A Catalan coach who spent years as a respected assistant before getting the Hull City job. Mid-table teams like Hull are his level - tidy possession football, quiet competence, no fireworks and no disasters. The kind of manager who keeps you up and occasionally flirts with the top half. Underrated and undersung.

The pressing is relentless early on, then the legs go and the form goes with them. Cardiff seems to find a way to distract him every time, too. Luton, Stoke, Charlton players link.

Kept AFC Wimbledon punching above their weight for years on next to nothing and steadied Notts County - calm, organised and never flustered. The definition of a safe pair of hands.

From player to radio commentary to the U18s to first-team manager. His teams scored plenty but had never heard of defending - more likely to draw 4-4 than 1-1 - and he loved a big old slow centre-half.

A Liverpool academy coach who took Blackpool up through the play-offs, with a spell as Aston Villa assistant in between. Calm, modern, methodical.

Steady hand at Altrincham, keeping the Robins competitive among the National League full-timers.

Millwall's all-time top scorer turned Millwall manager. Game plan: long ball, set pieces, MILLLLLL. The away end's chant? MILLLLLL. Hated by his own fans whenever the long ball doesn't work. Loved by his own fans whenever it does. Has been every Cardiff manager's nightmare for a decade.

Leeds United's academy chief turned repeat caretaker - kept throwing in the youth and kept winning, nurturing a golden generation of Leeds prospects.

Nobody has racked up more promotions at more clubs, and it is always the same trick: a dressing room welded together, not eleven strangers in the same kit, plus a knack for finding something extra away from home. Cardiff, QPR, Palace, Sheffield United players link. He IS the Championship.

Had Barnsley sat 6th and in the play-offs after a mixed season - then got sacked before the semi-final. You never quite know.

Hartlepool's record-appearance midfielder turned player-manager, leading the club he served for over a decade before stepping down. Heart over everything.

He'll improve the squad. Whether that's enough for the board is another question. Southampton players link.

Brian's boy, but in no way a copy. Took Burton Albion - a club that barely existed two decades earlier - all the way to the Championship on the tiniest budget in the division. Derby, Sheffield United, Mansfield too. Soft-spoken, organised, principled. Won't spend what he doesn't have, won't say a word he doesn't mean. The most understated overachiever in the game.

He gets results. He also gets in the papers. Leicester players link.

Dependable and likeable, he took Norwich back to the Premier League after nearly a decade away - cue Delia and the let us be having you speech - then managed Northern Ireland.

A Reading cult hero as a player, now steadying the ship in the dugout amid off-field chaos. The fans are firmly with him.

He tightens the back and lifts your 70-78 system players. Build a winning run and he might treat the squad to a takeaway - results occasionally vary. Wolves, West Ham, Forest players link.

Spent more time taking selfies and signing washed-up ex-Premier League names than managing - left Cardiff in a relegation scrap, then did a million media appearances convincing himself he’d keep them up.

A 1978 World Cup winner and Spurs legend who managed with breathtaking attacking idealism - Swindon play-off winners, WBA back up via the play-offs, and a famously cavalier Spurs side.

Got Burnley promoted via the playoffs. Left them for Bolton in the Premier League and took every member of his staff including the kit man. Got Bolton relegated. Then bounced around clubs within a 30-mile radius of the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, FOREVER. The loyalty is to the postcode, not the badge.

Promoted Swindon with the most famous press conference in L1 history - 'You like the party? No party until promotion is secured.' Then nearly relegated Sunderland in two months while squaring up to his own players in training. The fascist salute at Lazio that never went away. A winner. A lunatic. Both forever.

Won L1 with Wigan in 17/18 (98 points) without ever getting out of first gear. Beat Pep Guardiola's quadruple-chasing City in the FA Cup - the only manager with a 100% record against Pep. His voice cracks mid-sentence when he gets excited. Plays a 4-2-3-1 every single game of his life and would die before changing it. Recently took Chesterfield back to the EFL.

National League champions with Mansfield Town in 2013, ending the Stags' exile and taking them back into the Football League.

A decade at Sutton United, building a famously tight non-league side that reached the FA Cup fifth round in 2017 and knocked hard on the EFL door. Loyalty and togetherness, weaponised.

Barnet's Conference title in 2005 and years on the England C bench. A thoughtful, understated operator who quietly got clubs promoted.

Organised, hard to beat, not exactly loaded with cutting edge - his sides can go quiet in front of goal for weeks at a time. Sheffield United, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday players link.

Dragged Grimsby out of the non-league doldrums twice and took Shrewsbury to their highest highs. A genuine lower-league resurrector.

Big name, no idea. Long-ball football that never worked - and gives his son special treatment.

Promotions with Bradford City and Wigan. A serial Premier League promoter. (Please do not mention Derby.)

Started 09-10 by getting pumelled 7-1 by Colchester. Then he stole their manager. Then he ran away with the league. The beginning of the Holt-Hoolahan Norwich that climbed all the way to the Premier League. Then Aston Villa got him and the magic stopped. Wolves relegated him. Forever a Carrow Road god.

Took Carlisle straight through League Two in 2006, then came back 18 years later, steadied one of the club's bleakest periods and went up again. A Brunton Park hero.

Took Plymouth Argyle from League Two to the Championship. A classic Scottish manager - hard-working, honest, completely at home in the lower leagues. Got Swindon up. Got Sheffield Wednesday stable. Plymouth, Swindon, Wednesday, Southampton. He ate the lot.

At Exeter for an eternity - a play-off maestro who bottled Wembley more times than you can count. The lower league’s Pep. M&S, if it were a football manager. The flat cap.

Two promotions with Rotherham. Then Derby. Universally liked, properly respected, never out of work. Speaks to journalists like a human being. Trains every session. The Millers ran through walls for him. Promotion master and, importantly, a good bloke.

A Uruguayan with a fearless attacking philosophy from his Valladolid days. Thrilling on his day, chaotic on his worst - Watford pulled the trigger early.

The architect behind the infamous “Barrowcelona” side - lovely football from one of the smallest clubs in the league.

Drove Sunderland to a record 105-point title in 1999 - just three league defeats all season, with Kevin Ball driving them on. Passionate, demanding, a winner.

Peter Taylor took charge of what feels like half the Football League - Gillingham, Hull, Leicester, Brighton, Palace - and, for one night as England caretaker, handed David Beckham the captain's armband. A lower-league lifer with one unforgettable footnote in the big time.

The cameras follow him everywhere. His most famous moment: Hull went 4-1 up against Man City and Jimmy Bullard scored, then ran to the dugout and mimicked Brown's half-time team talk in front of 40,000 people. Brown laughed. Eventually. Hull players link.

Took Colchester United to the Championship for the first time in their history. North Wales Red Dragons promotion later in his career. Plus Bradford, Bolton, Sunderland - he's been everywhere. Pragmatic football, set-piece focused, gets clubs over the line. Steady Eddie is the brand. The promotions are the trophy cabinet.

Arrived with Norwich looking destined for League One and the suspicion that scoring violated club policy - then turned them into Poundland Prime Barcelona. A bald angel sent from heaven.

A Champions League winner who dropped into the second tier and won the Championship title with Newcastle in 2017. Meticulous, organised, a clear level above at this tier.

Took a Sunderland side that finished 16th the year before to a top-six finish, then a play-off run for the ages - five straight defeats before the play-offs, then three late winners in a row, capped by Tommy Watson's extra-time strike in the final. Sunderland back in the promised land.

First season in the league and he guided Sunderland to promotion via three late goals in three games. Til the end.

An Eastleigh stalwart brought back to steady the ship amid financial reality, seeing out the season at the Silverlake.

Swindon Town L2 title 19-20 (the COVID-shortened one with the points-per-game controversy). Then Leyton Orient L2 title in 22-23. Salford City in between. Slick suit, attacking football, doesn't suffer fools. The Doncaster academy graduate as a manager.

Took Forest Green to L1. Watford sacked him after 10 games. Luton got him into the Premier League. Walked out on Middlesbrough mid-season because Wolves came calling. Wolves sacked him by April. Pretty-boy footballers' manager who'd leave his own grandma for a £20k pay rise. Bristol Rovers fans still chant about him too.

A former Newcastle and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper taking his first managerial role at Gateshead. Learning the trade from the other end of the pitch.

The famously combustible ex-midfielder and TV pundit took the Forest Green hot seat, all blonde mane and big opinions. Entertaining, divisive, never quiet.

He makes your worst players look like signings and your best players look confused. The better your squad, the more he holds it back. Swansea, Wigan, Everton players link.

Voted the Millers' greatest ever manager - back-to-back promotions and then three years in the Championship. Tranmere love him. Rotherham love him. Old-school grit, no airs, no graces. Won't talk about himself, will fight for his players. The lower-league hero everyone wanted as a granddad.

Half a century in management across four decades and as many countries - England, Liverpool, Fulham to a European final, Palace survival. Vastly experienced, deeply organised.

He demands everything. Whether the dressing room can handle it is another matter. Sunderland, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich players link.

A manager with fantastic ideas who never quite makes them work with the players he's got - and that high line, my word, the HIGH LINE. Pushed up to the halfway flag against anyone with pace. Southampton, Reading (where he was genuinely loved), Hull, Sheffield United. The football is progressive. The defending is a horror film.

He has a way of playing. He won't change it. Ever. Southampton players link.

Over 800 games of dependable EFL management - Leyton Orient, Cardiff, Coventry - with no promotions and no relegations. Loved a cap and a prawn cracker.

Took a Wigan side with the best defensive record in L1 and dragged them into a relegation fight by November. Famously says fans can't criticise him because they 'don't have their coaching badges'. Calls 'calamity' a 'calamighty' - which sums him up nicely. Walked out on Preston one game into the new season after committing to staying. The vibes are toxic. The interviews are unmissable.

The eternal caretaker at Tottenham - twice took interim charge at Spurs in his twenties and kept getting passed over for the permanent gig. Now in his first proper job at West Brom, still convinced the answer is to invert the winger.

Got Forest agonisingly close to the Premier League, then agonisingly not quite there. The nearly man of the Championship play-offs. Forest players link.

Big Sam ball. Play-offs with West Ham, promotions and survival jobs everywhere. Nobody organises a defence and a set piece like him. Also the only England manager sacked after one game - a hotel sting got him. Loves a pint of wine.

A journeyman midfielder - Port Vale, Northampton, Newport, Motherwell - who moved straight into coaching and took interim charge at Barrow. Raw, energetic, one to watch.

Led Macclesfield Town out of the Conference and into the Football League in the mid-90s. A Manchester United legend who built a tight, honest side that punched miles above its budget.

Led Crawley’s great escape in 22/23, then one of the most shocking promotions ever in 23/24 with a load of unknowns from non-league - having been tipped to finish dead last.

He's only as good as the players around him. Fulham, Bournemouth, Burnley players link.

Pack the squad with English players - nationality matters more with Dyche in charge. Burnley players link. Defence wins leagues.

His passing game pulls weaker teams apart, but the very best sides press it and punish you. Bournemouth, Doncaster, Forest players link.

Hull City. Transfer embargo. No money. Owner crisis. Manager merry-go-round. Then this Croatian with no Championship experience took them up. Nobody saw it coming except him. Then they remembered the financial issues and the next season was less fun.

Finally ended Preston’s play-off curse, thrashing Swindon at Wembley in 2015 - one of four League One promotions across Blackpool, Leeds (automatic), Huddersfield and PNE.

The longest-serving manager in the EFL - took Harrogate Town from the depths of non-league all the way to the Football League across more than fifteen years at one club. The ultimate continuity boss.

West Ham, West Brom - promotion and a rock band on the side. Charismatic, attacking, a touch chaotic.

He's got promotions on his CV. Give him what he needs and he'll deliver. Watford, Fulham, Sheffield United players link.

Managed Macclesfield and Southend. You guess the reason why it didn’t quite work out.

Promotions with Bury and Burnley, plus Blackpool and Hull - and a manager who once all but sacked four players live on the radio. Old-school, combustible, never short of an opinion.

He turns up and goals happen. Draft from Birmingham, Hull, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday - he's managed them all.

Low-budget Swansea City? No problem - playoffs. Nottingham Forest with one point from seven games? Sacked everyone said. Up they went via the playoffs instead. Steve Cooper never missed the playoffs in the Championship and went a step further every single time. The ultimate slow-burn promotion specialist.

Steered Reading to the Championship title in 2005-06 with a scarcely believable 106 points - still the highest points total in English second-tier history. Calm, meticulous, one of the division's true greats.

He's never stayed anywhere long. Don't get too attached. Reading, Bristol City players link.

A Cheltenham legend who took them from non-league up the divisions, plus promotions at Burnley and Bristol City. Came back from a life-threatening illness as passionate as ever. Loses 4-0, comes out and tells you we battered them. A serious Ian Holloway.

He turns 0-0s into 1-0s with late goals. You won't enjoy it but you'll grind results. Leeds, Rotherham, Mansfield players link.

Not a manager - the lifelong Boro chairman who bankrolled the good times and never met a grievance he would not take to court.

Still the most booed man to ever take charge of Blackburn Rovers - the away end sang his name just to remind him they hadn't forgiven him. The football went as flat as the mood. Not much manager link potential.

Long-serving at Dover Athletic, repeatedly dragging a tiny budget into the National League's top half. Maximum out of minimum.

You'll concede more - except the random games 'Schteve' turns into a tactical genius. Completely unreliable. Middlesbrough, Derby, QPR players link.

Guided Braintree Town up into the National League, an upwardly mobile young manager on a tight budget.

Took Southend from League Two to the Championship with back-to-back promotions including the League One title - and beat a Rooney-and-Ronaldo Manchester United side in the League Cup. The only team with a 100% record against them.

Took Plymouth to 101 points and a L1 title that beat THAT Ipswich side in 22/23. Three years later, turned Bolton into mentality monsters - playoff winners in 25/26 on the back of a stream of substitute goals and 87th-minute winners. Lose 0-1? No you don't. He's bringing on a striker.

Led York City to the 2025-26 National League title on a club-record points total, taking the Minstermen back into the Football League. Calm, organised, ruthless. Previously built a strong Wealdstone side.

A Bradford City icon as both player and manager, with spells at Motherwell and Scotland. Wears his heart on his sleeve and gives a club every last ounce of himself.

Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce was the most ferociously committed left-back England ever produced, and he managed the same way - all heart, all volume, studs in. Man City, a return to his beloved Nottingham Forest, a long stint with the England Under-21s. The football was rarely pretty. The passion was never once in doubt.

An American gridiron coach who can't name the offside rule but builds the tightest dressing room in the division - biscuits with the boss, a BELIEVE sign, and a squad that runs through walls. AFC Richmond players link.

Won the 2011 play-off final to carry fan-owned AFC Wimbledon into the Football League, nine years after the club was formed from the ashes.

Stepped up from Watford caretaker and did far better than anyone expected, earning the Plymouth job. An early-career manager on the rise.

Every scouting report, every set piece, every weakness - he's already found it. Your squad will outperform. But there are consequences.

What you see is what you get. A small but dependable boost and a calm dressing room. The chaos of the Championship doesn't rattle him. Sunderland, Middlesbrough, West Brom players link.

Never relegated. Read that again. Never. Relegated. Set pieces, long throws, 1-0 every Saturday with a Rory Delap rocket from the touchline. The Britannia Stadium became the most miserable away day in English football - Stoke essentially unbeatable at home for two seasons running. Baseball cap glued on. Wins ugly. Beautiful in its way.

Took Barnsley from nowhere to the Championship playoffs in 2020-21 with the most aggressive pressing in the league. Catchphrase: 'Winning is sexy'. The Tykes finished 5th. Then a £4m payday at West Brom turned into a £4m sacking by Christmas. Watford the same trick a year later. Pressing works until the legs give out. Always do.

A record-breaking Championship title with Burnley before the Bayern job. Possession football, relentless quality. The best title-winning side the division has seen in years.

Jürgen Klopp's elite-development coach at Liverpool, hand-picked to bridge academy and first team. High-intensity, modern ideas, now his own man at Swansea.

The name still fills a room, but management is a different game - Derby fought back from a 21-point deduction under him, Plymouth found no such magic. Individual star quality never quite adds up to a team on his watch. Derby, Plymouth players link.

Belgian-British manager who openly credits Football Manager as a formative influence on his tactics. Reims. Lens. Then Southampton - 21st place, a 22k fine, and an exit before spring. His replacement got them to the Championship playoffs in 4th. Will Will Still still be asked about that? Every. Single. Time.

Won promotion to the Premier League with Watford in nine months, then was harshly sacked weeks into the next season. Resurfaced at Sheffield Wednesday and oversaw the worst start in the club's history - two points from ten games, not a single league win, gone in 92 days. Bank the points early.