Top 10 Up-and-Coming Coaches in World Football

Terry CarrollContributor IIIAugust 17, 2012

Top 10 Up-and-Coming Coaches in World Football

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    Time will tell whether Tito Vilanova will be a great coach. He was Pep Guardiola's sidekick for four years, before being handed the biggest job in football. If he survives this season, he might make our list in future.

    What is the definition of a "young coach" in football? Does Roberto Mancini qualify, at 47? Or Robin Dutt? The trouble is that relatively few coaches get a senior league job before they are 40 and then they have to achieve success.

    For the purposes of this article, we've applied an arbitrary cutoff at 45.

    It would also be great to include Hope Powell, the coach of the Team GB women's football, who is highly rated by male peers. She is 45.

    Given that most of the world's most famous sides are European, it is no surprise that our list is all European. That doesn't mean there aren't good coaches in South America or the Far East, for example. Hong Myung-Bo may well make the category in future years. He was certainly impressive with his Korean team in the Olympics.

    So the oldest in our list is 45 and the youngest 34. See how many of the names you can guess and, if you have better suggestions, please post them below.

Roberto Martinez

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    Yes, you read correctly: Roberto Martinez, not Roberto Di Matteo. Robby doesn't even make our list, which may be controversial for some, but let's look at the facts:

    He may have led Chelsea to the Champions League win, but he was manager for just over two months, so we won't know till he writes his autobiography whether AVB laid the foundations and the players finished the job.

    Robby was manager of West Brom for 18 months, taking them into the Premier League, but was fired six months after the start of the season. After failing to get the Birmingham job, he was picked up by Chelsea to be assistant to AVB. The rest, so far, is history.

    No, our choice here is Roberto Martinez and a worthy one.

    In June 2009, Martinez was being courted by Celtic as well as Wigan. We shall never know what success he would have achieved in the SPL, but he has succeeded against all the odds at Wigan.

    Spanish by birth, he was one of the "three amigos" who joined Wigan as a player in 1995. His relationship with owner Dave Whelan was formed then.

    Whelan has stood by his manager all the way since 2009, and Martinez has returned that loyalty. 

    He may have angered Swansea's fans when he left them, but could not turn down the chance to manage a Premier League club. They may have struggled to retain their place for the last three seasons; many managers would have probably taken them back down to the First Division.

    At the end of last season Wigan beat Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle to take them seven points clear of relegation. For many, it was the way they played their football as much as the achievement that impressed.

    It is no surprise that Martinez has been courted by Aston Villa and, recently, Liverpool, during his time at Wigan. Dave Whelan would let him go to a big club if he wanted to; that's why he gave permission for Liverpool's approach. But this talented, intelligent, thoughtful young manager wants to stay and complete the project.

Brendan Rodgers

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    Brendan Rodgers also interviewed for the Liverpool job and, to the surprise of some people, was appointed.

    Fenway Sports know how to build a successful sports club; they did so with Boston Red Sox. John Henry has, however, said Liverpool will take longer.

    Rodgers is a fascinating character. He never played football at the highest level, having to retire in 1992 due to a genetic knee condition when he was 20. His coaching began with Reading youth team and progressed to Chelsea's Reserves, where he worked under Jose Mourinho.

    His first managerial appointment was with Watford and from there he followed Steve Coppell into Reading but only survived six months.

    He was out of work for seven months before following Martinez into Swansea City, where he was massively successful. In his first season in charge, he led them into the Premier League through the playoffs.

    What made people sit up and take notice last season was not just that against all the most dire predictions they survived and indeed finished 11th, but it was the way they played their football. For some people, Swansea became their "second team to watch."

    Fenway Sports appear to be building a setup similar to top European clubs; Rodgers plays with a style similar to Barcelona, that encourages holding possession and winning it back within seven seconds if it is lost.

    His biggest challenge may well be blending his new signings and the remaining squad players to play his preferred style. Arguably one of the most talented young coaches in the UK, if not Europe, he may well get more time than his predecessor to restore Liverpool's fortunes.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

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    Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is equal second-favourite with one UK bookmakers to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United, alongside Pep Guardiola and behind Jose Mourinho.

    The boy has come a long way since he used to sit on the substitute's bench beside Ferguson taking notes. He was a student of the game. By the time he came on, he invariably knew exactly how to go for the jugular with the opposition.

    But he led Molde to the Norwegian championship and thereby the Champions League in his first season at the club.

    This was his first managerial appointment, but he also coached United's Reserves to considerable success for two years. This was a period that has led to the emergence of more young prospects than United have had for years.

    There was reported interest in him by Aston Villa earlier this year, but he chose to stay in Norway. Whether he succeeds Sir Alex or not, only time will tell. If Mourinho does, Solskjaer's time could come within five years.

Slaven Bilic

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    Slaven Bilic was a popular player for West Ham and Everton. He finished his playing career at Hajduk Split and managed them briefly, before eventually being appointed to coach Croatia's U-21 team.

    He had played for his national team 44 times, so it was not entirely surprising when he graduated to manage them—highly successfully, including beating England. 

    He stayed in the job for six years, despite being linked with numerous high-profile club jobs. Finally he agreed to join Lokomotiv Moscow after Euro 2012, having claimed he had approaches from Premier League clubs.

Paulo Bento

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    Paulo Bento has done an outstanding job managing the Portuguese national side. They came within a whisker of beating Germany in Euro 2012, exceeding most people's expectations.

    More significant, they did it with perhaps only one genuinely world-class player, Cristiano Ronaldo, although Nani can come close and Fabio Coentrao may get there. They also had no striker of any great merit.

    His playing CV was pretty impressive, with spells at both Benfica and Sporting, as well as 35 caps for the national team. He finished his playing career at Sporting and immediately took on coaching the juniors before graduating to first-team coach.

    While he never won the League with Sporting, he won the Cup and the Super Cup twice. He had a win rate of 60 percent both there and for Portugal, where he succeeded Carlos Queiroz.

    It is still early, but at 43 Bento is young for a top manager and his best days are ahead of him. Don't be surprised if a top La Liga or similar European side picks him up in the next few years.

Frank De Boer

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    Frank de Boer had a stellar playing career, including 328 games for Ajax and 112 for the Netherlands.

    His card is marked for an equally successful career as manager/coach. At 40 he was appointed to one of Europe's top jobs, managing Ajax, and as a former Barcelona player was rumoured to succeed Pep Guardiola (h/t goal.com).

    Whether he ends up there one day or not, this is a guy who is going all the way to the top. He has started well, winning the Dutch League twice in his first two years as Ajax manager.

Didier Deschamps

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    No wonder Deschamps' name keeps coming up when top managerial vacancies occur, such as Chelsea. His management CV matches his playing career in terms of the quality of teams in more than one country.

    He played for Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia and 103 times for the French national side,

    In the last 11 years he has managed Monaco, Juventus and Marseille before finally being persuaded to take over the French national team from Laurent Blanc after Euro 2012.

    Still only 43, the way he is going, he will have his pick of the plum jobs in the future.

Andre Villas-Boas

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    It's hard to know who has taken the bigger gamble, AVB or Daniel Levy, at Tottenham. With the imminent departure of Luka Modric and having failed to agree terms for Adebayor, there is some turmoil at the club.

    It is of course an opportunity for Villas-Boas to mould Spurs into his own way of thinking, much as he wished to at Chelsea, and Brendan Rodgers will try at Liverpool.

    These are "modern managers" who may one day be compared with Pep Guardiola in their ability to "reinvent" football.

    The jury is out as to why AVB was perceived to fail at Chelsea. Was it "player power"? It seems likely that he was hired to re-engineer them with young talent and somewhat puzzling that he wasn't given the chance to complete the exercise.

    While Chelsea finished a country mile behind United and City, we shall never know whether they would have won the Champions League if AVB had stayed. Roberto Di Matteo doesn't look like the guy to complete the task, even though his lord and master seems to have been rejuvenated in his passion.

    The Portuguese has even less football experience than Brendan Rodgers, having never been a professional. This makes his success even more remarkable.

    He managed British Virgin Islands at the age of 21 and later joined Jose Mourinho's coaching team at Porto, following him to Chelsea and Inter Milan.

    In 2009 he got his first coaching job at Academica in the Primeira Liga, but it was the style of football as much as his success in keeping them up that brought him to the attention of club owners across Europe.

    Eventually it was no real surprise that he returned to Porto, winning four major trophies in his first year. That was enough to persuade Roman Abramovich to pay Porto 15 million Euros to release him, let alone what his salary must have been.

    The rest, as we know, is history. 

    Daniel Levy is a shrewd negotiator and, having declined to renew Harry Redknapp's contract after Spurs missed out on a Champions League place, went out and persuaded one of Europe's top young coaches to replace him.

    The world will be watching to see if he succeeds. If he does, his star could ascend like Mourinho's; otherwise, he could become yet another bright young prospect working his passage like Steve Cotterill and Chris Coleman.

Jurgen Klopp

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    OK, so no surprises for guessing who is No. 1, but no difficulty in picking the second best.

    Jurgen Klopp had an unremarkable playing career spent entirely at Mainz 05, where he played 338 times as a striker, scoring 52 goals.

    He took over as manager immediately upon retirement. He took them into the Bundesliga and the UEFA Cup during his seven-year spell, but also took them down again before resigning.

    With amazing prescience, the Board of Borussia Dortmund picked him up, having finished 13th in the Bundesliga the season before.

    In just four years, Klopp has completely disrupted the German League. Having beaten the mighty Bayern Munich in the Final of the SuperCup in his first year, he has gone on to depose them as masters of the Bundesliga.

    They have won the title in each of the last two years, but more impressively last season won with the greatest points total, ever.

    He is also an outstanding developer of players. Shinji Kagawa has gone to Manchester United, but Robert Lewandowski is one of the most prolific strikers in the world; Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic are a world-rated centre-back pairing. And that's not even mentioning Mario Gotze or Marco Reus.

    Dortmund are set fair for continuing success, with a highly lucrative production line of talent. The question is not just which players will leave for big bucks, but also where Klopp will go next. He may be as desirable a property as any of his players.

Pep Guardiola

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    Is there a better manager in the world? Will he be as good as anyone in history? Only time will tell. Maybe next time, we shall be writing about his successor at Barcelona.

    The footballing world was not shocked when Pep resigned from Barcelona. He is the hottest property in football, including players and coaches. 

    What was surprising was that he said he needed a 12-month sabbatical, claiming he was exhausted after four years. 

    Was this true, and is it a risk factor for anyone employing him in future?

    Or was it because he wanted to recharge his batteries to take on one of the other top jobs in world football? The most likely destinations appear to be Chelsea or Manchester United. 

    Abramovich would move heaven and earth to get his man. He is not favourite to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United—Jose Mourinho is.

    Still only 41, if he wants to remain in football in a coaching capacity he can choose his job for the rest of his life. Personally, he would be my choice at United.

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