Is there any correlation between a players position and becoming a good manager?

Physiocrat

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Just had a thought. I can't think of any GKs or wingers who became top managers. The only strikers I can think of were Keegan and of course SAF. Most seem to be CMs or defenders. Is this right or do I just have a bad memory?
 
The only strikers I can think of were Keegan and of course SAF.

Rinus Michels *.

Clough was a striker too.

Cruyff wasn't exactly a "striker", or rather not exclusively one, but still.

Lobanovsky * was a striker (I think - someone may correct me here if I'm wrong).

Zagallo was a winger (not a typical one, granted).

Just off the top of my head.

* Michels, Lobanovsky and SAF don't look out of place in a possible top five list of managerial greats, really. In which case 3/5 would be strikers/forwards/attackers.
 
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Nuno of Wolves and Lopetegui of Sevilla used to be goalkeepers. Not much else out there that I can think of.
 
It helps when your role as a player has forced you to think about the game on and off the ball, which is partly why many central midfielders make it as managers. That area around the centre halves and central midfielders is really the nerve centre of the pitch, where players need to be tactically astute, defensively aware and commanding organisationally. All the types of experience that serve you well in management.
 
Rinus Michels *.

Clough was a striker too.

Cruyff wasn't exactly a "striker", or rather not exclusively one, but still.

Lobanovsky * was a striker (I think - someone may correct me here if I'm wrong).

Zagallo was a winger (not a typical one, granted).

Just off the top of my head.

* Michels, Lobanovsky and SAF don't look out of place in a possible top five list of managerial greats, really. In which case 3/5 would be strikers/forwards/attackers.

I forgot Clough was a striker and of course Zagallo was a winger. With wingers I was thinking of the more flamboyant ones like Garrincha and Best,
 
Shankly: midfielder
Paisley: midfielder
Stein: defender
Busby: midfielder/forward

Trappattoni: defender/defensive midfielder
Ancelotti: midfielder
Capello: midfielder

Happel: defender
Herrera: defender (no surprise there)

Maureen: translator
Sacchi: shoe salesman
 
With wingers I was thinking of the more flamboyant ones like Garrincha and Best,

Yep - I would think that category is probably under-represented. Zagallo was extremely "tactically aware" as a winger - and more of a "side midfielder", really, decades before that became a thing.
 
Shankly: midfielder
Paisley: midfielder
Stein: defender
Busby: midfielder/forward

Trappattoni: defender/defensive midfielder
Ancelotti: midfielder
Capello: midfielder

Happel: defender
Herrera: defender (no surprise there)

Maureen: translator
Sacchi: shoe salesman

Dino Zoff was a good manager wasn't he? Zenga? Lev Yashin coached Russia iirc
 
Pep: midfielder
Klopp: defender (I think - he was pretty shite at any rate).
Conte: midfielder
Simeone: midfielder

Ole (ahem): striker (but also wide forward/winger/wide midfielder).
 
Dino Zoff was a good manager wasn't he?

He managed Juve for a couple of years in an extremely competitive Serie A - and won the UEFA Cup with them. That's not too shabby, certainly. He can't be called anything beyond decent, though - I suppose - in the grand scheme of things.
 
This was FourFourTwo magazines top 100 managers of all time. Ignore the order for the purposes of this thread.

I can't be arsed to put all their positions in but I'm sure one of you fine people can so we can test this theory...

100. Roy Hodgson

99. Fatih Terim

98. Vaclav Jezek

97. Roberto Mancini

96. Gerard Houllier

95. Hassan Shehata

94. Ferruccio Valcareggi

93. Antonio Conte

92. Juan Lopez Fontana

91. Raymond Goethals

90. Claudio Ranieri

89. Jupp Derwall

88. Stan Cullis

87. Mircea Lucescu

86. Vic Buckingham

85. Richard Moller Nielsen

84. Alberto Suppici

83. George Ramsay

82. Fulvio Bernardini

81. Silvia Neid

80. Sepp Herberger

79. Enzo Bearzot

78. Leo Beenhakker

77. Marcelo Bielsa

76. Guy Roux

75. Walter Smith

74. Tina Theune

73. Didier Deschamps

72. Dettmar Cramer

71. Howard Kendall

70. Carlos Bianchi

69. Hennes Weisweiler

68. Cesar Luis Menotti

67. Gavriil Kachalin

66. Joachim Low

65. Carlos Bilardo

64. Fernando Santos

63. Emerich Jenei

62. Stefan Kovacs

61. Nevio Scala

60. Tomislav Ivic

59. Vittoria Pozzo

58. Luis Carniglia

57. Frank Rijkaard

56. Don Revie

55. Carlos Alberto Parreira

54. Willie Maley

53. Franz Beckenbauer

52. Sven-Goran Eriksson

51. Jimmy Hogan

50. George Graham

49. Aime Jacquet

48. Luis Aragones

47. Otto Rehhagel

46. Bobby Robson

45. Bill Struth

44. Tele Santana

43. Diego Simeone

42. Albert Batteux

41. Rafa Benitez

40. Jill Ellis

39. Luiz Felipe Scolari

38. Udo Lattek

37. Guus Hiddink

36. Zinedine Zidane

35. Bill Nicholson

34. Viktor Maslov

33. Kenny Dalglish

32. Jupp Heynckes

31. Helmut Schon

30. Jock Stein

29. Jurgen Klopp

28. Jose Villalonga

27. Mario Zagallo

26. Alf Ramsey

25. Herbert Chapman

24. Fabio Capello

23. Arsene Wenger

22. Bob Paisley

21. Bela Guttmann

20. Louis van Gaal

19. Nereo Rocco

18. Carlo Ancelotti

17. Ottmar Hitzfeld

16. Miguel Munoz

15. Vicente del Bosque

14. Giovanni Trapattoni

13. Marcelo Lippi

12. Jose Mourinho

11. Brian Clough

10. Valeriy Lobanovskyi

9. Ernst Happel

8. Helenio Herrera

7. Matt Busby

6. Arrigo Sacchi

5. Pep Guardiola

4. Bill Shankly

3. Johan Cruyff

2. Rinus Michels

1. Alex Ferguson
 
Nope.

The best manager is just a Scottish average striker.
Average!! He was pretty good tbf, he got 24 in his debut season at Rangers before all the mistreatment for the Catholic wife stuff happened and top scored for them in a season where they narrowly missed out on the title to an all-time great Celtic side who were European Champions at the time
 
Some more:

Del Bosque: (defensive) midfielder
LVG: midfielder
Lippi: defender
Guttmann: defender
Chapman: forward
Heynckes: forward
Hiddink: midfielder
Aragones: (offensive) midfielder
 
Average!! He was pretty good tbf, he got 24 in his debut season at Rangers before all the mistreatment for the Catholic wife stuff happened and top scored for them in a season where they narrowly missed out on the title to an all-time great Celtic side who were European Champions at the time

What do you suggest? World class?
 
fair enough I guess, he did also get a 31 league goal season for Dunfermline which are some great numbers that are hard to match without coming up with top Scottish footballing names but I know he was no McClair or Dalglish

Yeah, "average" always sounds harsh. But being "average" compared to the likes of Dennis Law or T-shirt Man doesn't mean much. He was obviously a very good player, relatively speaking - not least bearing in mind that the Scottish domestic game in Fergie's time was miles above what it has been in recent years.
 
Recent (more or less) Caf favourites:

Tuchel: defender
Hasenhüttl: striker
Poch: defender
Rose: defender
Nagelsmann: defender

Bielsa (who's always been a hipster favourite): defender too (I think).

Bonus:

Well known "dinosaurs" still (more or less) in the game:

Big Sam: defender
Moyesie: defender
Woy: defender
Brucie: defender
Pulis: defender

Pretty clear pattern there, you'd think. But:

Warnock: winger
 
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Just had a thought. I can't think of any GKs or wingers who became top managers. The only strikers I can think of were Keegan and of course SAF. Most seem to be CMs or defenders. Is this right or do I just have a bad memory?

Goalkeeper is the Drummer of the football world.

But really, looking at it deeply, the best songwriters are bassists.
 
Some other (not mentioned yet - by me) British managers of note:

Stan Cullis: defender
Bobby Robson: forward
Howard Kendall: midfielder
George Graham: forward/midfielder
Bill Nicholson: midfielder

ETA: can't leave out Alf Ramsey, of course, who was a defender (full-back).

Bonus - United managers:

Big Ron: midfielder
The Doc: midfielder
Frank O' Farrell: midfielder
Dave Sexton: forward
 
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Oh, and Don Revie - let's not forget him: forward.

But more precisely a forward who dropped down - a bit of a "false nine" in modern terms, a rare example (back then) of English football actually learning something from continental developments, as Revie's role was very much inspired by that of the legendary Nandor Hidegkuti (who famously embarrassed England at Wembley in 1953 with his unconventional game).
 
They're totally different jobs, so I'd be really surprised if any correlation once the sample size is increased enough.

Real question is why would there be any correlation ?
 
Pippo Inzaghi just coached a team that romped Série B by 18 points.
 
It makes sense that a midfielder has a better understanding of what's going on around them, but then you have people like Paul Scholes and Graeme Souness to refute that assumption.

Defenders make good managers because they get to see the whole game play out before them, but they can also be guilty of thinking football is all about how hard you tackle (hello Tony Pulis)

I wonder if there is a correlation between how many goals an ex-striker-managed team score, or how few goals an ex-defender-managed team concede.
 
Majority of the best managers aren't that good as players.
^ I think this is really important because they can "emphatize" with players better (than the previous-good-players managers) from their experiences in the fringes therefore they tend to be better at players management, which helps them a lot in the field of management.

Interestingly their positions may likely define their football style.
SAF forward --> attacking philosophy
Pep midfielder -> control/tactical philosophy
etc etc

Like always, there are always few exceptions to the rule, those that doesn't follow the patterns/"formula".

:D To answer OP's question
= yes, just a bit, to a certain small degree there is good correlation but not strictly defined.
 
Upcoming PL season, managers by position (as players):

Defenders: 55%

Midfielders: 30%

Strikers: 10%

GKs: 5%

NOTE: Maureen is counted as a midfielder - that was his position as a youth player.
 
Steve Coppell was a winger who turned into a pretty good manager. Charlie Mitten had a period in the 1950's at Fulham too.

Gordon Strachan was probably more of a wide midfielder/winger but was rated as a good manager.

It's also no surprise with low numbers. A goalkeeper only takes .9% of the team...two wingers 18% and a lone striker .9%

So 60% of every team are made up of the other two roles. You will therefore get a higher proportion.
 
I wonder if there is a correlation between how many goals an ex-striker-managed team score, or how few goals an ex-defender-managed team concede.
True, although I think it would be more nuanced in that it's how players carried out their role on the park. Good examples would be the two central midfielders Guardiola and Simeone. Pep was a deep-lying playmaker whose game was about pinging passes out to the flanks from the base of midfield. He had a flaky physique and preferred to dominate midfield through what he did with the ball than without. You can see those aspects translate to his tactical principles as a manager. Meanwhile, Simeone was a hard-working, two-way, box-to-box midfielder. He was decent on the ball, but was most renowned for his work off the ball, squeezing space in midfield, winning battles and covering gaps. Again all those principles have translated to his management of Atletico.

We can even see the same pattern amongst defenders, between the ball-playing defenders like Koeman, Lippi, Southgate or Beckenbauer who have crafted balanced and sometimes attack-minded teams, whereas a lot of your former big stoppers built teams more in their image as players (Bruce, McLeish, Allardyce, Pulis, etc).