Manager of the season

The Premier League Manager of the Season award should be announced shortly. There are a few stand-out candidates:

Nigel Pearson - Leicester have spent most of the season in the bottom three, but look like they'll be safe now. Despite their position, they've played positive football all season, and have now found results to match. The size of his task is shown by the fact that the other two promoted sides have gone straight back down, despite Leicester probably being favourites of the three to do so.

Alan Pardew - If Pulis got Manager of the Season last year for keeping Palace up after a bad start to the season, then surely Pardew deserves as much credit for turning round the shambles Warnock left behind? 18th when he took over, they now look a decent side with plenty of attacking threat and are safely ensconced in the mid-table.

Tim Sherwood - Divides opinions on his quality as a manager, but there's no denying he's turned Villa's season around, and has rejuvenated a number of players who were performing way under their potential. Cleverley, Benteke, Delph all look massively improved under his stewardship.

Garry Monk - Was seen as something of a risk after taking over from Laudrup, but has guided Swansea to the top 8 and their highest league points total.

Are there any other candidates? Koeman's done a great steadying job. In December Big Sam would have looked a shoo-in.

Who do you think will get it? My money's on Sherwood, though all of these four deserve massive plaudits.

Don't really see how Sherwood can get manager of the year, given the fact he was only appointed mid-way through February & Villa could still go down?

I'd go for Mourinho, signed players who were influential this season, that transformed them into Champions, only losing two games.

LiamB wrote:Don't really see how Sherwood can get manager of the year, given the fact he was only appointed mid-way through February & Villa could still go down?

I'd go for Mourinho, signed players who were influential this season, that transformed them into Champions, only losing two games.

Whilst I agree Sherwood should not really be picked for manager of the season us going down now looks extremely unlikely. Hull would need to win their last two games, given these are Tottenham away and Man Utd at home this looks unlikely. Even then it would be contingent on us not picking up a couple of points in our last two games. Until it is mathematically certain you are technically right, but us going down is now hugely unlikely.

Surprised Mourinno hasn't even had a manager of the month award this season considering Chelsea have led from start of finish. He'd be my choice personally.

I would give an honourable mention to Mark Hughes. Goes about his business.
Stoke always seem to do pretty well.

Probably go for Koeman though at Saints, considering the players they lost.
They have done very well to be where they are.
Obviously hope its 3 defeats in a row saturday for them though.

I’d probably go with Mourinho. Think because of the resources available to him there the quality of the job he has done can get overlooked. As Paul has already said he has bought extremely wisely. He has also got an ageing centre half in Terry to look ten years younger than he is in terms of his performances, has also managed a large part of the season without his main striker but still got results, add into that the sheer brilliance of Hazard all season and for me Jose has to get this award.

Good shout on Hughes Westi, when you look over the last few seasons he has spent remarkably little there and has improved their style of play massively.

Chelsea have achieved exactly what they should have at the start of the season, for me the manager of the season is someone who has taken their team beyond expectations so would either be Pardew or Pearson.

Were Chelsea out an out favourites? No. City were defending champions, remember. Mourinho & all the other managers spent, his signings worked & transformed chelsea from third last year to champions with ease this year. That's called performing above expectation, surely? Superb management & only two losses. Pearson was being laughed at mid way through the season, only a revival towards the end has made him look suddenly very good. Pardew has just done what Pulis did, I'd rather give the manager of the year award to Mourinho, otherwise, we should just rename the award, 'which lower positioned manager has done best' or something like that. It's gojng that way anyway, previous winners are Pardew, Pulis & Hodgson....

Agree that it should'nt be a manager who is in charge of a bottom 7 side, as they have been down the bottom all season.

Agre with HH, thats why I think Koeman.

Koeman and Mourinho are the two best candidates this season, for me. I'd give it to Koeman.

Appreciate that the league wasn't on a platter for Chelsea, but they were favourites with the bookies in August, albeit not by much of a margin. On the other hand, Southampton were being tipped for a relegation dogfight in a lot of quarters given the loss of their manager and so many key players last summer. The European football bubble has burst in recent weeks but for Koeman to have even got them in the hunt for that, while still managing to play a pretty easy-on-the-eye brand of football, is very impressive.

I can only praise Pearson through gritted teeth, as he's an absolute helmet of the highest order, but he'd be a good bronze medal winner if Leicester stay up as is looking likely now. I thought they were dead and buried six weeks ago.

I personally don't get the Koeman one. Are people seriously being fooled by this 'tipped for relegation' rubbish. Sums up how little English people know about european football, other than the PL & the signings they made. I mean, Southampton spent over £56m on some quality, quality players & signed Elia on loan. You telling me they were heavier favourites for relegation than teams like Hull, QPR, Sunderland, Villa, even Newcastle. You must be joking. Yeah, Koeman did a good job & they hanged around the top 4 around xmas but, after that, they started playing quite poorly, Pelle stopped scoring, Tadic went AWOL & have slowly just faded away into no-mans land. That's just my opinion, it's not like Southampton have seriously over-achieved to mesmeric levels, they are only four points clear of Swansea.

Liam, why would English people know that much about European football, for the majority their only view of it is the Champions League when they play against the English side. Southampton were tipped for relegation when they lost almost their entire first team so it is an entirely understandable opinion that they would struggle, how many people truthfully knew who Pelle or Tadic were?

Liam, I phrased it as "being tipped for a relegation dogfight in a lot of quarters." for a reason. I get what you're saying about them not being heavy favourites for relegation, but there were plenty who thought it was a possibility and an outside chance.

I personally don't think any manager has had a season which really stands out as exceptional, but I do think Koeman has got his team punching above their weight as much as anyone else, all things considered.

Tadic was a star in the Eredivisie, most assists out of any player for the last four years & Pelle had banged 60 goals in two seasons with Feyenoord. Aldeweireld has always been a quality defender & Forster a top keeper. I'm sure even the most fans with a basic knowledge of football had heard of all these players, surprised if they had not, even the media should have known that these were top signings.

I see what you're saying HH about them being tipped after they lost the players, however, I still think people are judging Soton on that remark about relegation, because it was such a drastic, stick in your mind thing, without taking into account what happened post the sale of those players.

I cant believe no one thinks John "im the best coach in the league" Carver will be in the running.....

I watch as many Villa games as i can, tv or going to games.
Watch the odd premiership game not involving Villa.
Championship, league's 1&2, some FA cup and CC.

Thats enough for me.

No interest in watching La Liga, German, Dutch, French league's

Gone off the game over the last 10 or so years, so my viewing is limited.

So I would never heard of Tadic etc before they came to the prem, no bother.

Saints have done better from where people thought they would have been.
Know a fair few Saints fans and they certainly didn't think they would be where they are now, with 2 games to go.

To be honest Liam I don't watch the Eredivisie hence why i've made no comment about Depay, I haven't watched anywhere near enough of him and that's a player my own team are signing let alone someone like Tadic. Truth be told I watch English football and that is it so didn't have a clue who Pelle was before he came over here.

westisbest wrote:I watch as many Villa games as i can, tv or going to games.
Watch the odd premiership game not involving Villa.
Championship, league's 1&2, some FA cup and CC.

Thats enough for me.

No interest in watching La Liga, German, Dutch, French league's

I find watching those leagues is a remarkably effective means to get divorced.

Got to be Mourinho. Chelsea were probably level pegging at the bookies with City at the start of the season, and they've decimated their rivals.

I'd go for Monk as second over Koeman. Don't think he gets the credit he deserves. They've lost influential players over the season, (Michu, Bony, Vorm), ad have performed better than last season.

I don't see how Pearson and Pardew can be considered. They've inspired teams to great 6-8 game bursts but have also overseen some long runs of disappointment as well.

The thing about Southampton wasn't so much doubt about the quality of their players, it was just how much turnover they'd had. People weren't expecting them to hit the ground running like they did.
And to be fair, even at Feyenoord most pundits took one look at Pelle's goalscoring record and wondered what the hell they were thinking when they signed him.

Turnover plus players adapting meant there was no guarantee Southampton would hit top half. And expectation levels meant that probably would have been fine.

I don't much care for the argument that Chelsea managers or the like should not get the award as they are the favourites to win the league. The league will always be won by one of the favourites, the economics of the league determine that. If we always have this mindset would we want to look back in ten years when Mourinho has left the UK potentially with a CV that shows three or four league titles, a similar number of domestic cups and potentially a champions league, but in our infinite wisdom not a manager of the year award. Does not seem quite right to me

cant vote for mourinho, he's basically won the title with the best team while no other teams have chased at all. city their main rivals have had a awful season, while the rest were never title challengers

koeman deserves big credit, most on here were tipping them for relegation when the fire sale was on, but he's brought in better players for half the cost

also think monk has done very well, i really expected swansea to struggle this season and they have breezed it while selling their best player

but my vote goes for pearson, people may not like him. he is a bit of a d!ck but keeping leicester in the league is a great achievement, qpr and burnley have both failed showing how difficult it is

Rowley wrote:I don't much care for the argument that Chelsea managers or the like should not get the award as they are the favourites to win the league. The league will always be won by one of the favourites, the economics of the league determine that. If we always have this mindset would we want to look back in ten years when Mourinho has left the UK potentially with a CV that shows three or four league titles, a similar number of domestic cups and potentially a champions league, but in our infinite wisdom not a manager of the year award. Does not seem quite right to me

thats not really the question for me, we all know mourinho is a great manager but which is the harder achievement winning the title with that chelsea team or keeping leicester in the league? for me its the latter hence why i would go pearson over him

fergie only won it a few times over all his tenure, and two of them was when we won champions league and one when we werent favourites for the title. chelsea have underachieved elsewhere this season with a poor champions league and fa cup

ferguson won it 4 times? funny man u fans saying jose cant win it 'because he has the best team'

joe kinnear has more LMA manager of the year awards that Mourinho. Think we know the system is flawed

Really whoever wins it will hardly revel in it.

League is at the worst standard it has been for a long time.

Had Chelsea progressed in the Fa Cup then Mourinho might have a case but winning the league with the best team just isn't an outstanding achievement, their rivals teams have all been awful this season too. The managers of league winning team tend to only win the award if a) they were against it in a tough season or b) if they had remarkable season overall, neither of which applies to Chelsea this year.

LiamB wrote:ferguson won it 4 times? funny man u fans saying jose cant win it 'because he has the best team'

joe kinnear has more LMA manager of the year awards that Mourinho. Think we know the system is flawed

Yeah Ferguson won the league 13 times, 2 cls (including trebles), 2 doubles etc

Ent wrote:Really whoever wins it will hardly revel in it.

League is at the worst standard it has been for a long time.

Ent is correct here - has to be either Mourinho or Koeman tbh

LiamB wrote:ferguson won it 4 times? funny man u fans saying jose cant win it 'because he has the best team'

joe kinnear has more LMA manager of the year awards that Mourinho. Think we know the system is flawed

yeah winning the treble in 99 and the champions league in 08 were shocking seasons for us im sure we were big favourites to do that. care to name who should have won it in those years then?

LiamB wrote:ferguson won it 4 times? funny man u fans saying jose cant win it 'because he has the best team'

joe kinnear has more LMA manager of the year awards that Mourinho. Think we know the system is flawed

The treble season, the premier league and champions league double season, the god awful 2012/13 winning the league and the 2011 league champions who progressed in both Champions and Fa cup, not exactly the standard title winning years that he won it.

Hard to believe he didn't win in 94 or 96.

Leicester staying up probably isn't as big an achievement as Chelsea winning the league. Keeping a team in the league is an achievement, but they've been in the bottom three most of the year and will finish close to the pack that go down, not outstripping them and taking a surprise top 12 finish. Leicester, in contrast to Burnley, could spend about £15m on Kramaric and Ulloa, whilst afford the wages of Huth and Cambiasso.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Leicester staying up probably isn't as big an achievement as Chelsea winning the league. Keeping a team in the league is an achievement, but they've been in the bottom three most of the year and will finish close to the pack that go down, not outstripping them and taking a surprise top 12 finish. Leicester, in contrast to Burnley, could spend about £15m on Kramaric and Ulloa, whilst afford the wages of Huth and Cambiasso.

they had the second lowest wage bill in the prem this season, only behind burnley

and half of what qpr, newcastle and sunderland all spent yet still above them in the league

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11552941/Man-Utd-news-United-overtake-Man-City-with-Premier-Leagues-highest-wage-bill.html

I don't think i'd judge a team on QPR's achievements.

They still threw money at stuff where they could, having done so for years in the champ too, and will do little more than stay up. Its an achievement, but its not running away with the league convincingly, winning the league cup etc.

People just love to hate Jose & his style of winning, so wish someone like Koeman or Pearson to win the award, when in reality, their achievements aren't that spectacular. Don't really care if the PL has been of a lower standard, you've still got to get the job done, so winning the League & Cup double is impressive & only losing two games.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:I don't think i'd judge a team on QPR's achievements.

They still threw money at stuff where they could, having done so for years in the champ too, and will do little more than stay up. Its an achievement, but its not running away with the league convincingly, winning the league cup etc.

]

threw money at stuff? they had a net spend of 8.5 million. if you add that to what they spent on wages they still come second bottom just against other teams wage bills!

i fully expected chelsea to win the title, they did so. more comfortable due to citys awful season. but they have been poor in other major competitions.

John wrote:People just love to hate Jose & his style of winning, so wish someone like Koeman or Pearson to win the award, when in reality, their achievements aren't that spectacular. Don't really care if the PL has been of a lower standard, you've still got to get the job done, so winning the League & Cup double is impressive & only losing two games.

league and cup double is the fa cup and league, league cup is just a ok cup to win. nothing to shout about. as a big club fan you take it but certainly not too worried about doing much in it. just shows that chelsea's reserves are also the best

Manchester United would kill for a league cup right now, actually any cup, so to disregard the trophy is pretty pathetic. Jose has done the double, they've been the best side in this country & he would deserve the award, so I think you should accept that fact, instead of all his Man U jealousy coming through.

Also, did the Chelsea reserves win that cup, didn't look like the Chelsea reserves to me playing at all in the semi or final.

I think you should just debate a subject without making it into some Man Utd are now rubbish thread argument yet again.

compelling and rich wrote:

Rowley wrote:I don't much care for the argument that Chelsea managers or the like should not get the award as they are the favourites to win the league. The league will always be won by one of the favourites, the economics of the league determine that. If we always have this mindset would we want to look back in ten years when Mourinho has left the UK potentially with a CV that shows three or four league titles, a similar number of domestic cups and potentially a champions league, but in our infinite wisdom not a manager of the year award. Does not seem quite right to me

thats not really the question for me, we all know mourinho is a great manager but which is the harder achievement winning the title with that chelsea team or keeping leicester in the league? for me its the latter hence why i would go pearson over him

fergie only won it a few times over all his tenure, and two of them was when we won champions league and one when we werent favourites for the title. chelsea have underachieved elsewhere this season with a poor champions league and fa cup

As you know CnR I'm a villa fan so have no horse in this particular race, but I do think there is something of an obsession with giving these awards to managers who keep a team up unexpectedly. Reality is this happens almost every season, is the nature of the beast. Do think if we follow this line of thinking every season we run the risk of the award never going to someone who actually wins something occasionally. Personally think Ferguson only winning it a handful of times over his 20 odd years only serves to underline the flaw in the line of thought that seems to prevail with regard to this award.

Jose for me. 2 defeats all season is quite incredible.

only losing two games, winning the league & league cup is average, according to united fans.

LiamB wrote:Manchester United would kill for a league cup right now, actually any cup, so to disregard the trophy is pretty pathetic. Jose has done the double, they've been the best side in this country & he would deserve the award, so I think you should accept that fact, instead of all his Man U jealousy coming through.

Also, did the Chelsea reserves win that cup, didn't look like the Chelsea reserves to me playing at all in the semi or final.

ha telling me what i would do are you? talking nonsense as well as per, like i said i would take the league cup but wouldnt see it as any great achievement. call me arrogant but neither have i been celebrating getting top four like arsenal have in previous years. united should be challenging for the title, it was only lvg first season so didnt expect too much too soon but if you think united fans would take winning the league cup and coming 5th next season then your deluded

didnt realise the league cup was only won over three games

It's nothing special according to football fans unless you think Ferguson should have won 13 times which none of us United fans have said. You have a rather absurd obsession with a team and it's fans.

Rowley wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

Rowley wrote:I don't much care for the argument that Chelsea managers or the like should not get the award as they are the favourites to win the league. The league will always be won by one of the favourites, the economics of the league determine that. If we always have this mindset would we want to look back in ten years when Mourinho has left the UK potentially with a CV that shows three or four league titles, a similar number of domestic cups and potentially a champions league, but in our infinite wisdom not a manager of the year award. Does not seem quite right to me

thats not really the question for me, we all know mourinho is a great manager but which is the harder achievement winning the title with that chelsea team or keeping leicester in the league? for me its the latter hence why i would go pearson over him

fergie only won it a few times over all his tenure, and two of them was when we won champions league and one when we werent favourites for the title. chelsea have underachieved elsewhere this season with a poor champions league and fa cup

As you know CnR I'm a villa fan so have no horse in this particular race, but I do think there is something of an obsession with giving these awards to managers who keep a team up unexpectedly. Reality is this happens almost every season, is the nature of the beast. Do think if we follow this line of thinking every season we run the risk of the award never going to someone who actually wins something occasionally. Personally think Ferguson only winning it a handful of times over his 20 odd years only serves to underline the flaw in the line of thought that seems to prevail with regard to this award.

i think its a fair award, lets face it the title winning manager isnt going to give a toss about it, he's won the league he's got his credit. its voted by fellow managers who realise its not just about the top teams and it wouldn't be much of a competition if you just gave it to the league winner every year. why even bother having it?

It comes to the point that if Chelsea had lost more and made the race tighter people would probably think Mourinho had done a better job.

Leicester staying up isnt even a surprise. In terms of money, they've had years outspending teams in the champ.

Reckon Mou or Koeman really. Say what you want about the quality Koeman got, but he still needed to meld them together, and were it not for the late season continued falter, given Utd's malaise, they could still have given CL qualification a real go.

On the other hand, you've got to give it Mourinho. He's been ruthlessly efficient. I take an argument about him having the best squad etc, but this is Chelsea's first title in five years. They've hardly, I don't think had a squad which wasn't top three in that time, but couldn't win it. It's not as simple as buying talent, and putting them on the park. When you factor in his Champions League exit, and the fact that the side which knocked them out basically got run over by an eighteen wheeler the next round, it does take the sheen off a tad, but I'm not sure how big a consideration that is.

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:It comes to the point that if Chelsea had lost more and made the race tighter people would probably think Mourinho had done a better job.

Leicester staying up isnt even a surprise. In terms of money, they've had years outspending teams in the champ.

you make them sound like city! ive already shown you that they haven't spent loads of money this season and last season in the championship they had a net profit on transfers, even if they had spent look at the likes of derby and forest to know its still no certainty. you still give them credit, you sure you don't want to give leicester any credit because you dont like pearson?

I like Pearson, actually. Think he's been a breath of fresh air not afraid to be himself or afraid of the media. A human. I imagine i'd like him more than most managers if I met them.

But you haven't watched their dealings in the Championship over the years since their foreign owners came in. They hoovered up talent like a Championship Chelsea. Swapped managers and wanted a quick fix. I'm happy they are staying up because they look like they're gonna do it the right way; good football and patience in the boardroom. But it isn't a huge achievement, hes kept them up, not climbed mountains with them.