Few English managers have been able to consistently challenge at the top of the Premier League. This is no secret. In fact, despite the competition now being around for over three decades, an English manager is yet to get their hands on the country’s most prestigious domestic prize.

During the three decades since the Premier League’s 1992 inception, we’ve witnessed Spaniards, Frenchmen, Germans, and even Scots lift the trophy, yet top-flight glory has still eluded England’s greatest managerial minds. This doesn’t mean to say there’s a surplus of general English managerial talent in the game; indeed, England’s four-tiered Football League system, unique to anywhere in the world but Germany, means there are vast numbers of successful English managers operating at various levels of the football pyramid.

Nonetheless, management among England‘s biggest, most prolific title-winning clubs is exclusively dominated by those from Europe and beyond. So, if English managers haven’t been overseeing Premier League title wins, what have they been doing? GIVEMESPORT’s list of the Premier League’s top 10 greatest English managers will analyse the relative success and evaluate the reputation of each within England’s most elite sporting division, as we rank the tacticians from tenth to best.

Ranking Factors

• Over-achievement
• Longevity

10 Alan Pardew

Great things were expected of the former Newcastle and Crystal Palace boss

Once upon a time, Alan Pardew signed a record-breaking eight-year contract at Newcastle United, with expectations that the English manager could install a winning culture at the St James’ Park club, something that had evaded them for quite some time.

Though just two years into Pardew’s ambitious eight-year deal, the Wimbledon-born manager left Tyneside after an underwhelming campaign in which Newcastle finished 9th. A subsequent spell at Crystal Palace, where the boss narrowly lost out in the FA Cup final to Manchester United in 2016, ensured Pardew’s place in the top 10. Sadly, he is one of a few big names to never win a trophy in English football.

9 Glenn Hoddle

A great footballer that failed to succeed as a manager

Undoubtedly, Glenn Hoddle is better known for his playing career, with his talents among the greatest the nation has ever produced. Still, Hoddle’s managerial journey to the Premier League started with him as a player. Sort of. Hoddle was the player-manager of Swindon Town‘s 1992-1993 promotion campaign to the Premier League, before controversially taking a full-time management job at Chelsea.

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Hoddle did okay during Premier League spells at Chelsea and Southampton (with a period in charge of England), but left his beloved Tottenham Hotspur in 18th place, before getting the sack early in the 2003-2004 season.

8 Joe Royle

Royle pulled off one of the Premier League’s greatest underdog stories

Royle oversaw an unlikely promotion to the top-tier for Oldham Athletic, who have since become the first former Premier League club to drop out of England’s Football League system. What’s more impressive, he kept the Greater Manchester club in the Premier League, too.

Though the first season was prior to the 1992 re-branding of the Premier League, Royle, against the odds, delivered the Latics a three-year spell in England’s elite football league. Royle’s heroics eventually earned him moves to Everton, where he achieved a sixth placed finish and won the FA Cup, and Manchester City where he achieved back-to-back promotions to the Premier League.

7 Alan Curbishley

Curbishley was essential to Charlton’s stay in the Premier League

Another manager most admired for his heroics with one of the Premier League’s lesser-fancied sides, Alan Curbishley, brought Premier League football to Valley Parade in eight of his nine seasons with the South East London club. In the 2003-2004 season, Curbishley achieved Charlton‘s highest-ever finish, a remarkable 7th place in the Premier League.

A subsequent spell with fellow London club, West Ham United, saw Curbishley steer the club away from relegation in his first season, and achieve a 10th placed finish in his second year. Curbishley won two of the opening three games of the 2008/2009 season before resigning due to a disagreement with the board. His achievements were not quite as dramatic north of the Thames, but an overall very solid career in Premier League management.

6

Atkinson helped Aston Villa finish second in 1993

Ron Atkinson’s second-place Premier League finish with Aston Villa during the 1992-1993 season is the joint highest of any English manager in the history of the Premier League. So, with this in the bag for Atkinson, you might be wondering why he has such a low place on our list.

It proved to be a one-hit-wonder for Atkinson, who ended up managing just 200 Premier League games. The manager was eventually sacked by Villa with The Lions 19th in the Premier League table, before comparable Premier League dismissals at Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday, and Nottingham Forest.

5 Sam Allardyce

The mastermind of several successful relegation battles

Sam Allardyce, best known for his record-breaking short stint as England manager, has a long history with the Premier League. Allardyce’s Premier League career began by building his Bolton Wanderers team all the way up to a shock four-year stint in the division’s top half. During his later career, Allardyce had steady Premier League spells with Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, and Everton, before failing to save West Brom and Leeds United from relegation.

With his large frame and confident mannerisms, the Englishman is fondly and fearfully remembered as one of the most intimidating managers in the history of the sport.

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4 Kevin Keegan

Englishman’s Newcastle side came desperately close to winning the league

Kevin Keegan has probably come closer than any English manager to winning the Premier League. A midfield great in his playing days, Keegan’s Newcastle United sat 12 points clear of Manchester United in the 1995-96 campaign before an almighty collapse which saw the Old Trafford club snatch the title. Keegan famously ranted on live tv in response to comments made my Sir Alex Ferguson during the title race, declaring he’d “love it if we beat them [Manchester United]” to the title.

But Keegan’s overall Premier League career is fairly impressive. The former Liverpool hero guided Newcastle to four top six finishes before promoting Manchester City back to the Premier League, where he solidified the club in mid-table.

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3 Roy Hodgson

The veteran has managed more than 400 Premier League games

Roy Hodgson‘s managerial career started in 1982 and, unless anyone hires the 76-year-old in the coming months and years, ended in 2023. Though it wasn’t until 199, by which point Hodgson had managed Inter Milan in Serie A, that the Croydon-born boss would embark on his long Premier League journey.

Hodgson enjoyed a sixth place finish with Blackburn Rovers, before a lengthy absence from the Premier League where he’d take on roles in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Italy. Eventually, Hodgson settled in his home country, where he took Fulham all the way to the Europa League final and was rewarded by being given one of the biggest jobs in the country; the manager of Liverpool. His time at Anfield wouldn’t work out, but he’d still go on to manage the national team, West Brom, Crystal Palace, and Watford.

2 Sir Bobby Robson

Robson’s Newcastle team was feared by Alex Ferguson

The late Sir Bobby Robson had spells at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Barcelona, Sporting CP, Porto, and PSV, but it was his time in the Premier League that was, perhaps, the most impressive. Robson, who holds the greatest points per game (PPG) of any English manager in the Premier League, 1.60, competed with Man Utd and Arsenal for the title during the 2001-2002 and 2002–2003 seasons with this Newcastle United team.

He would rank first on the list, but for his lack of longevity in the Premier League. Robson has legendary status among supporters, players, and managers alike. After his passing in 2009, Sir Alex Ferguson said:

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1 Harry Redknapp

A true Premier League great

What club do you think of when you hear the name Harry Redknapp? The manager, whose 647 Premier League matches managed is only beaten by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, had several successful spells with different clubs in the Premier League. During the 1990s, Redknapp oversaw a strong period at West Ham United, where the East London club would finish as high as 5th in the Premier League and produce several world-class talents in the process.

Redknapp would promote Portsmouth to the Premier League, win the 2008 FA Cup, finish 7th in the table and earn a place in the UEFA Cup. Next, Redknapp would take the manager’s job at Tottenham, where he’d help Spurs qualify for the Champions League for the first time. Redknapp will be remembered for his charisma, his transfer nouse, his ability to build likeable sides and deliver them relative success for sustained periods of time.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt – correct as of 2/03/25