10 Great players that made terrible managers

Club football often sees the rise and fall of legends in the oddest of ways. As fans, many hope that their favorite players in the club, the ones that have served the club loyally and dutifully for long, can maybe go on to one day lead the charge from the dugout as managers of their club.There are a few success stories over time, club favorites going onto leading their clubs through glorious phases as managers after their time as a player is done, you need only look at Pep Guardiola to figure that out. However, there are instances of heartbreak too.There have been, over time, several greats of the game who stood out on the pitch for all the right reasons but managed to stand out again from the dugout as managers only this time, for reasons not so right. Let’s have a look at some incredible players who went on to become complete disasters as managers:

#1 Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness is counted amongst Liverpool’s finest players from an era where the Reds were the most dominant force in European Football. It hails as no surprise for most that Souness was always expected to dominate proceedings from midfield no matter who the opposition was.

Combative, disciplined and above all, graceful much was expected off the Scot as he entered the twilight of his career. He donned the mantle of player-manager at Rangers when his career as a player seemed to have entered its last lap and he won titles too.

He, in fact, won three of them, with a Rangers side that was being financed with riches that were considered higher than average at the time. Yet, Rangers fans never warmed up to him and he would often be criticised by his own fans with people putting his success down to money.

His return to the club that helped him graft himself into the finest defensive midfielders of the time proved to be his eventual undoing. Expected to continue the Bootroom Legacy and replace club legend Kenny Dalglish as manager, Souness was never expected to have it easy.

However, he went on to exceed everyone’s expectations and drag the most dominant force in football into the nether realm of mediocrity. He was clueless with his tactics, and wasted money on poor signings, he replaced great players in their twilight with deadwood that was overpaid. The aftereffects of his work at Liverpool are arguably felt at the Merseyside club to this date.

He moved on to Fenerbahce and returned to the Premier League with Southampton with not much success at either club but his move to Newcastle was the final nail in the coffin as he managed to drag the Toon Army, into a relegation fight, wasting a lot of money on poor signings on the way.

Souness, to this day, is a symbol of how great players won’t necessarily channel their playing ability into managerial skill.

#2 Diego Maradona

Considering his status as a living legend amongst the Argentine people for his exploits as one of the greatest footballers to have ever adorned the game, there was great fanfare when he took over the reigns as Argentina manager in 2008.

Having beaten Diego Simeone to the post of national team manager, you can imagine what went on after was a complete case of what could have been. While Simeone constructed his career as a club manager eventually going on to shape arguably the most combative side in world football at the moment, in Atletico Madrid of Spain, Diego Maradona dented his status as a legend of the game with his somewhat disastrous reign as manager.

Maradona was never a man to mince his words but his offensive relationship with the media bordering on the abusive was not very well taken by his employers at the time. All would have been forgiven however if he did his talking on the pitch too as he often did as a player.

Alas, there was no love lost here as the performances on the pitch were wildly inconsistent with a decent victory often peppered by results as bewildering as a 6-1 loss to Bolivia. The 2010 World Cup finals proved to be anticlimactic as Argentina managed to progress from the group stage but were hammered 4-0 by Germany in the knockouts.

The AFA rather sheepishly withdrew from their word to extend his contract and effectively sacked him after much consideration and debate over sacking a national legend. El Diego went onto get sacked in other jobs as well with a stint in Dubai being equally disastrous.

#3 John Barnes

Liverpool legend John Barnes joined his erstwhile teammate on the list of great players who made terrible managers when he decided to call time on his playing career after brief stints at Newcastle and Charlton following his best years at Liverpool and Watford.

In his prime as a player, ‘Digger’ as the Kop fondly called him, was unstoppable. He rose to prominence as one of the best wingers of the era and went on to become one of the best players to don an England shirt scoring one of England’s best ever goals at the Maracana against a completely bewildered Brazil side in a friendly.

Often debated is the fact that his stature as a player suffered since his best years as a player coincided with the ban on English clubs from European Competitions following the Heysel Disaster. Many claim that his prime years in Europe could’ve catapulted him into a more revered status and made him more of a household name across Europe.

As spectacular as his playing career was, his managerial career was definitely a disaster. He joined Celtic alongside fellow Liverpool Legend Kenny Dalglish but his stint there was an unprecedented disaster as it took only a few games and poor results for the Celtic fans to go seek his dismissal.

His stint with Jamaica thereafter which was a reasonably good stint for him, raised his hopes of landing a job in the club management strings of English football. But his subsequent stint as manager of League One side Tranmere Rovers proved to be his own personal waterloo with his atrocious spell saw him sacked in a matter of four months after poor results were peppered by alleged squad discontent as to the aptitude of the manager. He has since, reshaped his career as a TV Pundit.

#4 Tony Adams

The heartbeat of a once unstoppable Arsenal defensive juggernaut, Tony Adams was touted to have a really big future in the management strains of football. Vociferous, Disciplined and a Leader by any stretch of the imagination, Adams was the sort of player who could galvanize a team at the drop of a hat and he was expected to carry that facet of his playing characteristic into his job as a manager at Wycombe Wanderers in League One.

When he joined them, Wycombe were in a relegation scrap and escaping the scrap turned out to be beyond his team at the time. Yet, his stint with the same team in League Two was not all that better off and it seemed evident that they needed a change.

Tony Adams chose to continue his education as a youth team coach in the Netherlands with various clubs and found his way back into English Football with Harry Rednknapp taking him on as an assistant at Portsmouth but when Harry Redknapp left the Portsmouth, Tony found himself in the hotseat again. It didn’t work out for poor Tony as Portsmouth only managed a meager 10 points in his 16 games in charge which prompted his sacking. His career as a manager has not picked up since.

#5 Bryan Robson

Captain Fantastic for a Manchester United side considered to be a sleeping giant, Robson was the embodiment of professionalism and ambition as a player. He bore talismanic capacity for his team as a player and wore the Manchester United Jersey and Captain’s Armband with distinction.

He was also fondly remembered for his role in the national team in his playing days. Management, for many of his admirers and critics (he only ever had a few), seemed the natural progression of career paths for the much-liked player.

Unfortunately, none his managerial stints seemed to possess even an ounce of the very inspiration he embodied as a player except for perhaps his first season at Middlesbrough as manager during which the club won Division One and managed to the Premier League.

Robson’s remaining time at Middlesbrough was quite inconsistent as he managed to take a heavy spending side to the cup finals but also managed to get them relegated and promoted again only to finish his stint with a string of disappointing results that led to his departure from the Teeside club.

Thereafter he had stints at Bradford City (ended in relegation for the Division One team) and West Bromwich Albion (he nearly got them relegated and the season after completed the job) followed by stints at Sheffield United(where he ran into a public spat with fans and poor results on the pitch) and the Thai national team (a job he quit after an indifferent two years in charge). Bryan Robson has since stopped his career in management and holds ambassadorial capacity at Manchester United.

#6 Marco van Basten

Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkaard formed the spine of the AC Milan team that dominated Europe across what is considered the golden period in Milanese football history. Van Basten in his prime was a player of unparalleled technique and quality.

It became the fancy of many to see what the trio would go on to achieve in their prime as players. Unfortunately, that was not to be for Van Basten as injury forced him to retire at the young age of 28. His career as manager, however, refused to pick up at all.

After being appointed the Dutch National Team coach in 2004, he would inherit a squad of young players expected to dominate Europe but could do nothing to extract such potential. His stint at Ajax thereafter was an unprecedented disaster, subsequent stints at Heerenveen and AZ were far from spectacular. A brief return to the Dutch National Team setup as an assistant coach was his last association with coaching at the highest level.

#7 Edgar Davids

Edgar Davids was one of the most technically proficient combative midfielders of his era. A true stalwart of the game with a distinguished and decorated career which stood to be the envy of many, Davids was another one who harboured a long-standing desire to live a successful career as a manager.

Unfortunately, his attempts at a career after his playing time were met with a completely blunt demise when his decision to start his managing career as player-manager of a League Two side in 2012 backfired to no end for every party in the agreement.

Not only was Davids the center of numerous bemusing controversies including refusing to go to away matches that required overnight stays, he happened to be Barnet’s best and worst player thanks to his ability and poor disciplinary record on the pitch respectively. He eventually got Barnet relegated and so ended his career as a manager.

#8 Roy Keane

Roy Keane was an absolute brutal player to be up against if you were an opposition player in midfield. Keane was especially known for his complete ‘take no prisoners’ attitude to the game and his steely approach to the game found its way into his stint as manager at Sunderland as he took Sunderland into the Premier League from the Championship being christened ‘Championship Manager of the Year’ along the way.

That perhaps has been the shining light in a career as manager which has spiraled downwards since. Keane couldn’t get consistent performances from his Sunderland team and his differences with upper management saw him resigning. Ipswich was more of the same for Keane.

After a decent start, Ipswich ended up on a dastardly poor run of form from which they could only partially recover. A team fighting for promotion ended up in the middle of the Championship table. Thereafter he could only serve in two stints as assistant manager. One stint with the Republic of Ireland national team and the other with Aston Villa was the last we saw of Roy in the managerial circuit.

#9 Gennaro Gattuso

In his prime, Gattuso was one of the best defensive midfielders on the planet. Not the most, technically gifted, Gattuso pushed himself to the brink every time he took to the field. His combativeness in combination with his absolutely brilliant positional sense carried him through many a big game against the best players on the planet of his time.

If only they could help him in his managerial career which for the lack of a better term could be simply put as ‘lacklustre’. His first appointment manager was at Swiss Team Sion, who themselves were playing host to a trigger-happy owner having appointed and sacked four managers before Gennaro, in one season!

Gattuso went onto to be the fifth, after which he joined Palermo. There he lasted six games. He tried his luck in Greece. He was met with a club clamoring to come out of financial difficulties. Gattuso currently coaches Italian Lega Pro side, Pisa.

#10 Gianfranco Zola

Here’s a man who brought a smile on so many faces when he would play. Arguably Chelsea’s best every player, Zola also played alongside Maradona in the inspired Napoli sides of the late eighties and early nineties. What will hurt Zola is that he had begun his career as a manager with some promise.

A West Ham side bereft of identity turned to Zola who was with the Italian U21 coaching setup back then. West Ham began poorly under him but soon turned the tide by playing with a sense of fearlessness and grace that had the supporters on their feet.

Unfortunately changes in the fortunes of the team on the pitch and off it sent Zola spiraling as he had his contract terminated. He was snapped up by Watford, whom he almost got promoted to the Premier League that season. Eventually a poor run of results saw him sacked. He lasted ten games at his next appointment which was at Serie A strugglers Cagliari. He has taken to coaching in Qatar since.

Edited by Staff Editor