5 great players who made bad managers

What exactly makes a great manager? It’s hard to say really – you need tons of attributes to succeed at the top level, and the rise and fall of the likes of Claudio Ranieri shows that it’s hard to stay at the top.

Right now some of the world’s most highly rated managers – from Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola to Diego Simeone and Mauricio Pochettino – were once great players, too, representing their countries and playing at the highest level with their clubs.

It’s not a given though that great players will make great managers. In fact, sometimes former greats make some of the worst managers out there. Here are five examples.

#1 Diego Maradona

Recently voted the greatest player of all time by 442 magazine, it’s pretty clear to say that Argentine legend Diego Maradona won’t be appearing on any lists of great managers any time soon. El Diego retired from football in the mid 1990s and had a couple of failed stints with smaller clubs in his native Argentina, but it was his run as manager of the national side that lives in infamy.

Maradona was appointed boss of La Albiceleste in late 2008 to much fanfare, but after a decent start, he oversaw a shocking 6-1 defeat to Bolivia and only managed to secure qualification to the 2010 World Cup by ensuring Argentina won their final two qualifiers. After qualifying, Maradona infamously told the press to “suck it”.

Hopes were high going into the World Cup and when Argentina won all of their group games – including a 4-1 rout of South Korea – it was looking good. But then they stumbled past Mexico in the second round before Maradona’s amateurish, gung-ho tactics were cruelly exposed by Germany in the Quarter-Finals. Argentina were destroyed 4-0 and shortly after, El Diego found himself out of a job.

Essentially, Maradona’s tactics amounted to “you score one, we’ll score two”, which never tends to work at the top level. Not when you’re using an attacking midfielder like Jonas Gutierrez at right-back at least! After Argentina, Maradona went on to manage Arab club Al-Wasi, which also ended in disaster, confirming his spot as a genuinely awful manager.

#2 John Barnes

John Barnes had terrible managerial reigns at Celtic and Tranmere

Remembered as one of the most exciting players of his era – as well as a part-time rapper on England’s 1990 World Cup song – John Barnes was thrown into the deep end of management and quickly found out that he couldn’t swim at all. After retiring at the end of the 1998-99 season, it came as a shock to everyone when the winger was appointed as Celtic’s new manager, working under Director of Football Kenny Dalglish.

The appointment was a disaster from the off, and Barnes didn’t last long at all – just 29 games, one of which was an infamous Scottish Cup loss to minnows Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Unsurprisingly, Barnes was fired by Celtic and then didn’t surface until 2008, when he took over the Jamaica national team and had some success, winning the 2008 Caribbean Cup.

This must’ve helped with his confidence because shortly after he expressed a wish to return to club football. League One side Tranmere Rovers obliged and appointed Barnes as their new manager for the 2009/10 season, but somehow his term there was even worse than his time at Celtic. Barnes and assistant manager Jason McAteer were nicknamed ‘Dumb and Dumber’ by their players as the club suffered a horrendous start, winning just two of their first 11 league games.

After a 5-0 loss to Millwall Barnes was sacked again, and to nobody’s surprise he hasn’t ventured into management since.

#3 Paul Gascoigne

Paul Gascoigne's time as Kettering manager was a short one due to his alcohol problem

Arguably the most talented player ever produced by England, Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne was one of a kind but his bizarre, maverick behaviour suggested that he’d never make a great manager. Unfortunately for a handful of poor clubs, Gazza tried his hand there and unsurprisingly failed miserably.

In a suitably strange move, Gazza began his coaching career in China, before moving back to England to take charge of Boston United in the summer of 2004. His time there lasted just eleven games before he resigned for an equally bizarre reason – apparently the club wouldn’t release him so that he could appear on TV show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!

After some time out of the game, Gazza resurfaced in late 2005 to take over as manager of non-league side Kettering United. The move was an utter shambles, as Gascoigne lasted just 39 days in the job before being fired. The word was that his alcohol problems became so bad that he spent most of his time at Kettering drunk, including an incident that saw him stumble off the team bus in a drunken tumble.

Gascoigne has since stayed out of the game as his health – and mental – problems have worsened, and it’s probably best for everyone, including Gazza himself, if he stays away.

#4 Gary Neville

Gary Neville's record as manager of Valencia was truly diabolical

It’s perhaps hard to judge a manager on one brief run, but based on his tenure at La Liga side Valencia – as well as his disastrous run as an assistant coach under Roy Hodgson with England – it’s probably fair to say that Gary Neville, one of the Premier League’s greatest defenders, is not exactly a tremendous manager.

Neville’s move to Valencia was an odd one to begin with considering he couldn’t speak any fluent Spanish and had no real managerial experience outside of his work with Hodgson and England, and it wasn’t a shocker when he got off to a bad start – a loss to Lyon in his debut game sent the side crashing out of the Champions League. More disasters followed, such as a 7-0 loss to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in February 2016.

Valencia’s league form was hardly any better – they’d gone eight games without a win in La Liga since Neville’s appointment. Calls were made for him to resign but the Man United legend hung in there, and led the club to their first win under his management in February. However, the losses once again began to pile up and he was fired in March 2016.

At the time of Neville’s sacking, Valencia sat just six points clear of the relegation zone, hadn’t kept a single clean sheet and had only won three of 16 league games – a diabolical record by anyone’s standards. Perhaps Neville is simply better off sticking to punditry.

#5 Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer's run as Newcastle manager ended in a painful relegation

In the Premier League and for Newcastle United, there are few players more legendary than Alan Shearer. The striker still holds the record for all-time Premier League goals scored, and is usually rated as the best striker in league history. As a manager though, he could hardly have done much worse.

After his retirement in 2006 there were plenty of rumours that suggested Shearer was heading into management, but none of them proved true until April 2009. Newcastle’s manager Joe Kinnear had taken ill due to heart issues, and Shearer was surprisingly pegged as his replacement, taking charge for the final eight games of the season and tasked with saving Newcastle from possible relegation.

Unfortunately for Magpies fans, not only did Shearer fail to save them, but he failed miserably. His first match started badly – a 2-0 loss to Chelsea – and despite a 3-1 win over local rivals Middlesbrough, it didn’t really get much better. On the final day of the season Newcastle were defeated 1-0 by Aston Villa, and suffered a painful relegation to the Championship.

All in all, Shearer’s run as Magpies boss yielded just five points from a possible 24, one of the worst runs in Newcastle and Premier League history. With the 2008/09 season over and done with, it came as no surprise to anyone when Shearer was not given the job permanently and returned to his television work. He’s not ventured into management since.