A fascinating read. But when a manager wins their first title/European trophy and when they peak are not necessarily the same thing. I certainly don’t thing Alex Ferguson’s peak was at 39 or 42.
Very true - this was actually (originally) in response to another post, so it lacks a bit of context.
However, I think you could argue that most (great) managers had their peak
somewhere around the point where they first started winning major trophies.
There are clearly exceptions, though. Fergie is an outlier in most ways. Firstly, yes - his peak wasn't the Aberdeen years (clearly not). If he had what could be defined as a more or less "standard" peak, the latter would be at least 15 years
after his European success with Aberdeen.
And secondly - he never really went off the boil. He remained a top class manager until the day he retired (which is extremely rare).
Ideally, to make a list that is closer to nailing down
peak, one could include a bracket for "last major trophy won" (but even that wouldn't really do it - as peak really is something less than 100% tangible).