Ranking the best managers in Premier League history
August 25, 2026 09:42
BBC Sport published a fresh ranking exercise looking at the best managers of the Premier League era, using title wins as a primary starting point. The piece narrows consideration to the 13 bosses who have won the Premier League and excludes a small group of title winners from the top 10 on various grounds — Arne Slot at Liverpool is specifically mentioned as the first to miss out, with Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte also falling short in the author’s selection.
The article also flags differing metrics beyond trophies — such as longevity, win percentage and goals per game — to justify inclusion or exclusion and to seed debate about the order of the greatest Premier League managers.
KEY CONTEXT
- The Premier League era began in 1992; only four managers have won the competition more than once since then (the BBC piece uses that as a baseline observation).
- Longevity in the competition is highlighted: David Moyes has managed 755 Premier League matches, behind only Arsène Wenger (828) and Sir Alex Ferguson (810).
- Win and goals metrics are used to compare careers: Moyes has 291 Premier League victories while Wenger and Ferguson have 476 and 528 respectively; Harry Redknapp is credited with 641 games, 236 wins and 818 goals in the competition.
- Mauricio Pochettino is singled out as the only manager with more than 100 Premier League games who has not won the title but still holds a winning percentage above 50%.
- Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City spell and subsequent time at West Ham are noted for an average of 1.92 goals per game — fifth best among managers with at least 100 matches — yet inconsistent form later harmed his standing in the ranking.