5% Villa: Premiership Managers Ranked by Playing Ability

[olaftab]

Di Matteo is number 3. I agree with the rest and only Daglish and Hughes can be rated as great players others are mediocre at best.

[Dave]

You clearly never saw Mancini in Italy.

He was absolutely brilliant for Sampdoria. And a couple of leagues ahead of Di Matteo.

[tomd2103]

I'm sure I read somewhere that Ferguson tried to make McLeish one of his first signings when he moved to Old Trafford, but it didn't work out.  Wasn't McLeish also picked for Scotland over Alan Hansen at the time?

[maidstonevillain]

Leaving aside all the nonsense about his managerial style, I'd say it's hard to judge McLeish as a player, as he only played in Scotland, albeit at a very successful Aberdeen.  Mest have been hard to separate the bottom few, as Hodgson only ever played non-league I think, although I can't say that I've heard of Rodgers as a player in any context, which is why I assume he is bottom.

He played for Maidstone, but they weren't in the League at that time as far as I know.

Edit; Hodgson I'm talking about.

[seanthevillan]

Di Matteo is number 3. I agree with the rest and only Daglish and Hughes can be rated as great players others are mediocre at best.

I'd have Mancini over Hughes, though their peaks were before my time - he was a genius.

[Mister E]

O'N was a useful player to have in the side but hardly a world-class player: Mancini and Di Matteo should be in the top 5.
But then, what credentials does Allie Campbell have to make these judgements, over any of us?

[rob_bridge]

Sorry - Mancini was better than Hughes, not as good as Daglish. Connor was better than 2 or 3 higher up in this ranking. DiMatteo higher than a couple others. Rest about right.

[rob_bridge]

O'N was a useful player to have in the side but hardly a world-class player: Mancini and Di Matteo should be in the top 5.
But then, what credentials does Allie Campbell have to make these judgements, over any of us?

O'Neill was a class player. Hughes was never World Class - he was thug who would be sent off more often if he didn't play for that lot. He didn't cut it at Barca and missed too many sitters. A scorer of great goals,not a great goalscorer or player. O'Neill was part of 2European Cup teams.
Mancini was awesome in a very entertaining team - unfortunate to lose to Barca in 1992 at Wembley.

[Dave]

But then, what credentials does Allie Campbell have to make these judgements, over any of us?

He doesn't. But I don't think he would claim to. He's a football fan, making a list like we all do.

[Californian Villain]

O'Neill above Mancini? Really? I know he won the European Cup with Forest, but that still suprises me.

.
Me too. That's not right.

[Californian Villain]

Mourinho wasn't anything like a prominent player.  Chelsea's most respected manager of the last 20 years or more?

He was a goalkeeper that never made a professional appearance - I'd call that as far from prominent as you can get.

[tomd2103]

O'N was a useful player to have in the side but hardly a world-class player: Mancini and Di Matteo should be in the top 5.
But then, what credentials does Allie Campbell have to make these judgements, over any of us?

O'Neill was a class player. Hughes was never World Class - he was thug who would be sent off more often if he didn't play for that lot. He didn't cut it at Barca and missed too many sitters. A scorer of great goals,not a great goalscorer or player. O'Neill was part of 2European Cup teams.
Mancini was awesome in a very entertaining team - unfortunate to lose to Barca in 1992 at Wembley.

Disagree with your comments about Mark Hughes, Rob.  He was a brilliant player and was probably one of the best in the world at holding the ball up.   

[1_Pablo_Angel]

O'Neill above Mancini?!?

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Kenny Dalglish - 102 caps for Scotland
Alex McLeish - 77 caps for Scotland
Mark Hughes - 72 caps for Wales
Martin O'Neill - 64 caps for Northern Ireland
Paul Lambert - 40 caps for Scotland
Roberto Mancini - 36 caps for Italy
Roberto Di Matteo - 34 caps for Italy
Martin Jol - 3 caps for Netherlands
Owen Coyle - 1 cap for Republic of Ireland

[Dave]

Not for the first time, I'm not really sure what your point is.