60 TOMISLAV IVIC
59
VITTORIO POZZO
The only gaffer to successfully defend
a World Cup, Italy’s pioneering Pozzo- a prodigious 400m runner who later
studied in England and became pals with
Manchester United star Charlie Roberts – also
led his nation to gold at the 1936 Olympics.
‘The Old Master’ wanted orderly defences,
and his teams were notorious for their win-
at-all-costs attitudes; one game against
England became known as the ‘Battle of
Highbury’. But win they did, with Jules Rimet
trophies in both 1934 and 1938.
58
LUIS CARNIGLIA
Carniglia was Real Madrid’s
first ego-settling coach: an
Argentine who expected graft and
collective spirit from his galacticos. He
pushed Ferenc Puskas into a renaissance
period of his career and wasn’t afraid to drop
the Hungarian for the 1959 European Cup
final – which cost him his job, despite Real’s
2-0 win over Reims. Carniglia – a Ligue 1
champion at Nice in 1956 before lifting the
Fairs Cup at Roma – had also guided Los
Blancos to European glory in 1958.57
FRANK RIJKAARD
Rijkaard was a strange appointment
for Barcelona in 2003 – his only past
club gig ended with Sparta Rotterdam’s
relegation from the Eredivisie. Barça had
finished 6th, 4th and 4th in the three
campaigns preceding his arrival and needed
a reboot. It didn’t take long: by 2005, Rijkaard
had made them champions again. A year
later, they went one better and won their
first European Cup since 1992, built around
the talents of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o.
“He always said that he wanted to give joy
through football,” Andres Iniesta told FFT.Jose Mourinho has won the league in four
different countries; as has Carlo Ancelotti.
Also on the list is Tomislav Ivic, the man
Mourinho himself once described as “the
greatest coach of them all”. Here’s why...
HAJDUK SPLIT (1974, ’75, ’79)
Ivic briefly stepped up from youth-team boss
to manage Hajduk Split’s first team in 1972,
defeating rivals Dinamo Zagreb in the final of
the Yugoslav Cup. When he assumed control
for the 1973-74 campaign, he was taking
over a side that had just come 9th in the
Yugoslav League. That season, though, Ivic
led them to a league and cup double,
securing only their second league title since
- Repeating the feat 12 months on, he
quit to join Ajax, but later claimed another
league title in 1978-79 after returning to
Croatia for a second spell.
AJAX (1977)
Ivic had been hand-picked for the Ajax job
by predecessor Rinus Michels, gaining
admirers after Hajduk had given PSV an
almighty scare in the quarter-finals of the
1975-76 European Cup. As it turned out, he
required such kudos. Upon arriving at a club
that had bagged three straight European
Cups at the start of the ’70s – but hadn’t
topped the league for three years since
Johan Cruyff’s departure – he was met with
a player rebellion that had to be resolved
by chairman Jaap van Praag. The Ajax chief
was very glad he did: Ivic put the
Amsterdam side’s winless streak right at
the first attempt.
ANDERLECHT (1981)
By the early 1980s, Ivic had moved to
Belgium and was tasked with getting another
big club back on track – Anderlecht hadn’t
celebrated a title for seven seasons. Again, he
ended that drought in his maiden campaign,
then steered them to the semi-finals of the
European Cup in 1981-82. Anderlecht beat
Juventus, before succumbing to eventual
winners Aston Villa.PORTO (1988)
When Ivic landed in Portugal, Porto were the
reigning European champions but had fallen
short to Benfica in the Primeira Liga. Not only
did he immediately correct that – losing just
one league game in 1987-88 – he also lifted
three more trophies: the UEFA Super Cup
after victory against Ivic’s former club Ajax,
then the Intercontinental and Portuguese
cups. His feats impressed a young Mourinho,
who had often studied his training sessions in
the flesh.
Ivic later won the Copa del Rey with Atletico
Madrid, but it would prove to be his last major
trophy as a manager. He is often credited with
a league crown in a fifth country: the Croatian
coached Marseille during 1991-92, but
stepped down midway through the season
when war in his homeland intensified, to
concentrate on moving his family to France.
Following his retirement, Ivic visited
Stamford Bridge and met Mourinho, who
presented him with a copy of his biography.
“To the greatest coach of them all,” Mourinho
had inked inside. “I hope one day to win as
much as you.”18 The Managers FourFourTwo.com
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