This post was originally published on this site.
Liam Rosenior’s arrival at Chelsea offers him the chance to change the course of Premier League history for English managers and head coaches.
Since the Premier League’s inception almost 34 years ago, one of its great anomalies is that no English names have appeared on the managerial roll of honour as winners.
Howard Wilkinson, now 82 and a long-time elder statesman of the game, was the last Englishman to lift the title with Leeds United in 1991-92, but in the league’s previous guise as the First Division.
Since then, 12 managers have led their team to Premier League triumph, but no English managers have claimed the coveted crown, the list dominated by proud Scot Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 wins and Catalan Pep Guardiola’s six titles at Manchester City.
Rosenior, 41, is only the fourth permanent English manager currently in the Premier League after moving from Strasbourg – joining Nottingham Forest‘s Sean Dyche, Newcastle United‘s Eddie Howe and Burnley boss Scott Parker.
Michael Carrick is taking over from sacked Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, but only until the end of the season, and the fallen Old Trafford giants have a long road back to title aspirations.
This small ratio of English managers in the Premier League is way behind Europe’s accepted top five leagues when it comes to national representation.
Sixteen of the 20 top-flight managers in Italy are Italian, 11 of the 20 in Spain are Spanish, 12 of the 18 in Germany are German and 10 of the 18 in France are French.
Including caretakers and interim appointments, there have been 92 non-British and Irish managers in Premier League history.
The current table is led by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, followed by Guardiola at Manchester City and Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery – three Spaniards.
So why has the Premier League eluded English managers – and can anyone end that drought?
Ferguson’s empire and the foreign greats
The advent of the Premier League in 1992-93 coincided with Ferguson ending Manchester United‘s 26-year wait for a title, the first of an unprecedented 13 titles he brought to Old Trafford.
Aston Villa, under the management of Ron Atkinson, finished second that season, 10 points adrift. It was a rare case of an Englishman having a brush with this success.
Another Scot, Sir Kenny Dalglish, defied the Ferguson trend with Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95 before the Premier League became the adopted home of great European managers.
Arsene Wenger was welcomed with headlines asking “Arsene Who?” when he docked at Arsenal from Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan on 30 September 1996.
Only two foreign Premier League managers, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ruud Gullit, had preceded Wenger, who became a transformational figure with a revolutionary approach.
He won three titles – including ‘The Invincibles’ unbeaten league season in 2003-04 – a record seven FA Cups and six Charity/Community Shields, winning the league and FA Cup double in 1998 and 2002.
Chelsea then started a renaissance of their own under ‘The Special One’ Jose Mourinho, who arrived from Porto in 2004 as a Champions League winner, immediately ending a wait for a title stretching back to 1955.
This started the influx of title-winning managers from abroad, such as Italians Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte, Roberto Mancini and Claudio Ranieri, a Chilean in Manuel Pellegrini, then the German Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, who was followed by Dutchman Arne Slot.
Dion Dublin, who was in Manchester United‘s 1992-93 squad, told BBC Sport: “A lot of the foreign managers that have come over here have had success in Europe and won trophies as well, so maybe they know how to do it. Maybe that’s why no English person or manager has won it.
“The Premier League started in 1992, so things have changed a lot since then. I believe an English manager will win the Premier League, no doubt about that. When? I’m not too sure.”
Since 1992, England has proved the outlier in Europe’s big five leagues, with 29 Italian wins in Serie A, 24 Germans in the Bundesliga, 23 French winners in Ligue 1 and 14 Spanish winners in La Liga.
Have English managers had a chance?
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
This video can not be played
The instances of English managers being placed in charge of top clubs is now vastly reduced, although Newcastle United have been willing to trust managers such as Kevin Keegan – the only Englishman since Atkinson to finish runner-up when they conceded a 12-point lead to Manchester United in 1995/96 – and now Eddie Howe.
They have had the highest-placed English manager in nine seasons in the Premier League, compared to Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa‘s three.
Former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has finished as the highest-ranked English manager in the Premier League five times, ahead of Howe on four then Sam Allardyce and Sir Bobby Robson, both on three occasions.
So is the dearth of English Premier League winners down to lack of opportunity – or simply not being as good as those parachuted in from abroad taking the elite jobs?
Rosenior landed at Chelsea through a new route, getting his chance at Chelsea through the club’s multi-ownership model with parent company BlueCo.
Would Rosenior, sacked by Hull City in May 2024 then leaving Strasbourg in seventh place in Ligue 1, have been considered by Chelsea without involvement in that set-up?
Wayne Rooney, who was assisted by Rosenior when manager at Derby County, said: “Young English managers don’t really get that chance and he’s gone and he’s put the work in.
“For young English coaches, well, I think it’s massive. We don’t really see English managers at big clubs, so he’d be leading the way for us.”
Tony Pulis, who pitted his wits against the great European managerial names at Stoke City, believes there is one main reason why the Premier League’s list of winning managers has no English names.
“I would ask how many English managers have managed the top clubs in the past 25 years,” he told BBC Sport. “This is why no English manager has won it.
“You look at the clubs who have won multiple titles in that time. The teams are there, and the players are there, to win the title, but it’s usually been a foreign manager picking the team. If you haven’t got the best team, and the best players, you are not going to win the Premier League.”
Gary O’Neil, who has succeeded Rosenior at Stasbourg after managing AFC Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers, has a different view, saying: “I think it will be easy to say that English managers don’t get given the opportunity, but I don’t think that’s the full truth and completely accurate.
“I think the Premier League is the best league in the world, the most competitive league in the world with the most money, and as English coaches you need to earn that opportunity. You know no-one’s giving people top jobs as a favour. You have to earn those top jobs, and some of the coaches that have come over here and been successful are at a very, very high level.”
Which English manager can end the drought?
Rosenior looks best placed given the resources, talent and willingness to invest at Chelsea – but others have hopes for Eddie Howe and Frank Lampard.
Howe won Newcastle‘s first domestic trophy for 70 years, and their first silverware for 56 years, when they beat Liverpool in last season’s Carabao Cup final. He has also taken them into the Champions League for a second time.
Lampard’s managerial career is undergoing a successful rebuild at Championship leaders Coventry City after two spells at former club Chelsea, as well as Derby County and Everton.
Former Manchester United and England defender Phil Jones told BBC Sport: “I think the number one would be Eddie Howe.
“The job that he did at Bournemouth was incredible, what he’s done now at Newcastle – and I think given time, given the squad, given the licence to go about it and have a real go at it and a real shot at it, I think he could potentially be the one to get over the line.
“He’s managed big egos for a long period of time and as a manager you’ve got to be able to manage up, you’ve got to be able to manage down. I like the way he sees football, so I think he’s got a great chance.”
Dublin, added: “I think Frank Lampard is at the top of the list along with Sean Dyche at the moment. Whether they’re going to do it at the clubs they are at now or whether they get a move or they get poached we don’t know.”
O’Neil said: “I do think it will be done. I do think we will get an English one that manages to get themselves a top job and find that momentum and get over the line, but it is obviously a very, very difficult task. So difficult to do – but I do believe it will be done at some point.”
Graphics produced by Joe Bradshaw
