The Premier League attracts many of the best players in the world, and so logic dictates that the best coaches will, at some point, ply their trade in England’s top division.
The most successful coaches of a generation, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, and latterly Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, have all won the Premier League, many times between them, and while Klopp has announced the end of his Liverpool tenure, Guardiola has shown no appetite to call time on his incredible reign at Manchester City.
Of course, for every title-chasing manager, there are dozens who fear for their jobs in a fiercely competitive results business. But the brave and innovative will stick to their guns and do all they can to mould their team into a successful unit. They have confidence in their convictions.
So, with a nod to the progress of young managers such as Gary O’Neil, Vincent Kompany, and Rob Edwards, let’s take a look at the SBOTOP choice of the three most influential managers in the English top flight…
…the three who have had the biggest impact on their teams this season.
Unai Emery: Aston Villa
Former Arsenal, Sevilla, and PSG manager Unai Emery took over at Villa Park in October 2022 following the sacking of Steven Gerrard. Having won two of their first 11 games, the Villains sat in 16th place, and then Emery arrived.
He won his first game in charge, against Manchester United, 3-1, and the team eventually finished the campaign in seventh place and in Europe. Villa have just gotten better and better this season, and they currently sit fourth in the Premier League table with Champions League football in their grasp, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
Emery’s coaching style ensured speedy progress at the Midlands club, and he prompted rapid improvement from a squad he largely inherited from Gerrard.
His attention to detail is his most potent weapon, with long meetings and deep analysis at the club’s training ground, while he has upped the player welfare by booking the squad into a hotel before each game where the pre-match preparations take place.
The 52-year-old has just extended his contract by 12 months, which will keep him at Villa Park until 2027, and that’s good news for fans looking forward to a Champions League adventure.
Ange Postecoglou: Tottenham Hotspur
Villa have a seven-point lead over Spurs, but Ange Postecoglou’s team have two games in hand, and the affable Aussie will push his team right to the last minute of the campaign.
The latest Premier League 2024 betting odds reckon it’s a step too far, and Spurs will have to settle for fifth. But, back in March, Postecoglou’s team whacked Villa 4-0 with goals from James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, skipper Heung-Min Son, and Timo Werner. And that stunning victory summed up all that the new manager has brought to the club.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a happier place; the fans enjoy the swashbuckling football they are treated to week after week, but while the idea that ‘the more we score, the more we’ll win’ holds water, it might not deliver silverware.
That won’t concern Postecoglou much as long as his team continues to attack, win games, and progress. There is certainly a culture shift at the club and reason for optimism for next season, though this one isn’t over just yet.
Sean Dyche: Everton
Another man with a clear strategy and the ability to change the culture at a club has just delivered Everton’s most comfortable season in years.
The fans at Goodison Park may not like his style, but after scraping clear of relegation for the last two years, mainly by overspending, the Toffees can watch the relegation battle from the comfort of safety.
They currently sit 15th and 11 points clear of the drop zone, and were in not for an eight-point penalty due to previous financial breaches, they would be equal 12th.
It’s no surprise that the man who kept Burnley in the Premier League for six campaigns, on a shoestring and with an average position of 13th, could do the same at a club with much bigger resources.
He’s a details man, a brilliant motivator, and he will not stand for any prima donna behaviour. His team is tough, uncompromising, and hard to beat, with two ex Clarets, James Tarkowski and Dwight McNeil, at the core of its success.
He even did a job on his old club Burnley, winning a recent match 1-0, giving 63 per cent possession to a team that was down to ten men, and scoring a scrappy winner. But Dyche is a winner, and Everton needed that. The Toffees have coasted to safety with a fine run of Premier League 2024 results, winning their last three games without conceding a goal and beating Liverpool 2-0 along the way.
Maybe rather than criticising the style of play, Everton fans should erect a statue of the man who has saved them!
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