2 5
HERBERT
CHAPMAN
Chapman transformed
football in England. He was the
first manager to pick his own line-ups,
decide transfers and deploy a third back in
defence, responding to 1925’s offside law
overhaul. In 1919, he had been banned from
football after reportedly making illegal
payments as Leeds City boss – but it was
reversed, and Chapman won consecutive
titles at Huddersfield. He did it at Arsenal as
well, and would have had three but for his
death from pneumonia in 1934.23
ARSENE WENGER
History will recall Wenger’s
22 years as Arsenal boss
by two Doubles, seven FA Cups,
one Invincibles season and a record 49
games unbeaten. But it should also
remember how he inspired everyone around
him. Le Prof was among the last great
idealists; a coach who improved his players
by giving them freedom and the belief to
soon become world-beaters. Wenger didn’t
just remodel English football in the 1990s –
he ignited it with imagination.22
BOB PAISLEY
Liverpool’s most decorated
gaffer didn’t even want the
job. After all, how could the Reds’
long-time assistant follow Bill Shankly’s
feats? As it turned out: pretty well. Paisley
inherited excellence in 1974 but hit new
heights – after finishing second in his debut
season, Liverpool claimed six of the next
eight First Division titles and three European
Cups in five years. “People talked about
‘Uncle Bob’,” said former Red Phil Thompson.
“He was as ruthless as they come.”24
FABIO CAPELLO
Capello may not have had much luck
with England or Russia, but his club
record holds up among the best. A seven-
time league champion across spells with
Milan, Real Madrid and Roma, Don Fabio also
pocketed a European Cup medal when his
Milan mauled Barcelona 4-0 in 1994. But his
style didn’t suit everyone. In a second stint
at Madrid, Capello won a second title – yet
still got sacked. “For me, he was very
important,” commented the legendary Raul
about Capello’s original term.Bela Guttmann lived on the idea that “the
third season is fatal”, drifting in a nomadic
management career of 40 years, but never
spending longer than two seasons at any
one team. He won two European Cups and
was considered somewhat unpredictable.
But to call him ‘the original Mourinho’, as
many have done, is to do a disservice to
his extraordinary life.
Guttmann’s parents were dance
instructors; fittingly, his sides were dynamic,
mesmerising to watch and sliced through
opposition in the final third effortlessly. All
were choreographed by a gruff, flat cap-
donning great standing on the sidelines: his
teams were entertaining, but Guttmann was
the real star of any show that he took part in.
A Hungarian Jew, Guttmann was
dispatched to a forced labour camp in the
Second World War. His father and sister were
both murdered at Auschwitz, but he survived
the war and then coached Ciocanul of
Romania after the conflict ended. There, he
asked to be paid in vegetables – food was
scarce, after all – but walked away from the
role after a board member meddled with his
team selections.
During the next decade, disagreements
and disputes became semicolons in an
otherwise otherworldly management career.
Guttmann quit Hungarian team Ujpest after
a half-time quarrel over taking off a full-
back, observing the second half from the
stands after losing his argument. He left
Milan following constant rifts with the board- even though he was top of the league –
and ensured he added clauses in subsequent
contracts stating he could never be sacked
while in first place.
After a successful stint at Sao Paulo,
playing the 4-2-4 system that Brazil would
later take their inspiration from, Guttmann
settled down in Portugal. He quit Porto for
Benfica in 1959, sacked 20 players and
brought in Eusebio. The 19-year-old became
a beacon for the Eagles; the focal point for a
lethal side that captured consecutive
European Cups in 1961 and 1962.
When he didn’t receive a pay rise, however,
Guttmann famously cursed the club in
Europe for 100 years – black magic that has
so far held up through seven major finals,
and still has 40 years to run. Not even
Eusebio praying at his grave in Vienna could
lift the hoodoo.
It’s strange that Guttmann left such a
legacy without ever settling in one spot long
enough to lay roots. The Hungarian is
synonymous with half a dozen clubs, yet he
is best remembered for what he said as
much as what he achieved; for the legacy he
left more than the football his teams played.
But Guttmann was more than just a book
of stories. He was the first rockstar boss – a
canny leader who walked through hell,
would come to typify ‘method in the
madness’ and prove himself as one of the
most astute tacticians of a generation.
Truly, Guttmann really was one of a kind –
and football was all the better for having him.
21 BELA GUTTMAnn
28 The Managers FourFourTwo.comGREATEST
MAn AGERS100