Fav Ever England Manager

[Bally]

Its not something Ive thought about before but after watching a documentary about the 1996 Euro Championships I remembered how much I liked and admired Terry Venables all the players seemed to respect him esp Gazza and I know Revie was England manager but who was your fav and why?

[Ratscoot]

Venables rode the wave of Euro 96 and it was such a shame we didn’t win it and got to say it was one of my all time favourite tournaments.

But for me it has to be Hoddle just a massive shame he didn’t stay long enough, I felt the team was playing some great football plus I feel would have gone on and won something. When there were rumours about him coming here I was all for it, think he would have been great at Leeds and we definitely would have shown him the love.

[Muppet the Cat]

Venables was a top bloke. However, I’ll plump for Sir Bobby on the basis of us almost getting there at Italia ‘90, also he was an absolute gent who showed great dignity after a very poor Euros showing in 1988.

Strangely I do also have a soft spot for Graham Taylor, although not really for his time with England as for his time in the mid/late ‘70s managing Lincoln City. They used to tear teams apart down in Div 4 back in the day, getting promoted up to Div 3 (I think with a record points total, when it was still only 2pts for a win).

[1964white]

Sir Alf Ramsey has to be at the pinnacle of all England managers as no one has achieve his success & unlikely to do so in the future!

[The Subhuman]

and even he got lucky in 66...the 70 side was the best England team ever imo. Up there with 70 Brazil, 70 Germany, 74 Holland

[1964white]

Venables was a top bloke. However

May have been a top bloke but apart from one FA Cup he never achieved anything significant in his English domestic football managerial career

[Muppet the Cat]

May have been a top bloke but apart from one FA Cup he never achieved anything significant in his English domestic football managerial career

I know 64, difficult to disagree with that.....but I still like him

[billie1]

and even he got lucky in 66...the 70 side was the best England team ever imo. Up there with 70 Brazil, 70 Germany, 74 Holland

That ‘70 side was fantastic and I agree , the best England team I’ve seen . The only side missing from your list is the ‘82 Brazilian team who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the others imo . They were absolutely brilliant .

Alf is my favourite England manager . I do also like the present incumbent , Gareth Southgate .

[The Subhuman]

That ‘70 side was fantastic and I agree , the best England team I’ve seen . The only side missing from your list is the ‘82 Brazilian team who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the others imo . They were absolutely brilliant .

Alf is my favourite England manager . I do also like the present incumbent , Gareth Southgate .

Agree re the Brazil 82 team, second to the 70 team imo but top 5 worthy all time

[Chilli D]

Bobby Robson, great manager and a lovely bloke. Very unlucky not to win Italia 90.
I actually met him when i was 10 years old at a summer soccer training camp for boys 8 - 13.
He gave a talk and we were all in awe.

[Norm]

faaip wrote:

and even he got lucky in 66...the 70 side was the best England team ever imo. Up there with 70 Brazil, 70 Germany, 74 Holland

It absolutely was - sheer class. It was a great pity that the England establishment didn't really like him and he wouldn't conform to their wishes. He wasn't timid in making his team selections but wouldn't have won in 1966 if he had listened to the more popular choices.

There but for that semi-final we could have won in 1970 too because we deserved it on the balance of selections and performances but, as faaip said, the other big teams all came good too. The most thrilling WC ever for me.

Second for me was Bobby in Italia '90. A bunch of railway middle management were in Bolton for the week on a 'Leadership 500' course or some such during the thick of the early group games and lived in the hotel and the pub down the road - great week!

[1964white]

Bobby Robson, great manager and a lovely bloke. Very unlucky not to win Italia 90.
I actually met him when i was 10 years old at a summer soccer training camp for boys 8 - 13.
He gave a talk and we were all in awe.

A great bloke indeed!

Had a lovely conversation with Bobby sat opposite him on a tube whilst travelling to a Leeds game in London during the early 90's, so approachable & a proper gentleman

[weasel]

May have been a top bloke but apart from one FA Cup he never achieved anything significant in his English domestic football managerial career

All people remember is the 4-1 win over Holland when it comes to Terry Venables. They forget how absolutely awful we were in the run up to Euro 96 - a competition we didn't have to qualify for, how long Shearer went without scoring, how we limped to draw with Switzerland int he opening game and were a saved penalty away from Scotland equalising in the 2nd group game, that goes is and we would have been looking at elimination at the group stage. The Holland match and everything went right for us.

I liked Hoddle. He was excellent working with decent players, struggled at club level with inferior players, and had England playing to a plan. The media hated him because they saw him as intellectual and almost arrogant. As was the way, and still is, with our gutter press they love to bring people down no matter what the impact is.

[1964white]

and even he got lucky in 66...the 70 side was the best England team ever imo. Up there with 70 Brazil, 70 Germany, 74 Holland

What do you mean we got lucky in '66, we were the best team in the tournament.

That's 70's side were brilliant but managed to screw up a two goal lead. Great teams shouldn't be conceding three goals in thirty minutes when in control.

[1964white]

All people remember is the 4-1 win over Holland when it comes to Terry Venables. They forget how absolutely awful we were in the run up to Euro 96 - a competition we didn't have to qualify for, how long Shearer went without scoring, how we limped to draw with Switzerland int he opening game and were a saved penalty away from Scotland equalising in the 2nd group game, that goes is and we would have been looking at elimination at the group stage. The Holland match and everything went right for us.

I liked Hoddle. He was excellent working with decent players, struggled at club level with inferior players, and had England playing to a plan. The media hated him because they saw him as intellectual and almost arrogant. As was the way, and still is, with our gutter press they love to bring people down no matter what the impact is.

A bit like Harry & Frank, another one of the flash brigade London seems to breed.

None of them in the same league as Revie, Shankly, Busby, etc

[Norm]

1964white wrote:

That's 70's side was brilliant bu and it t managed to screw up a two goal lead. Great teams shouldn't be conceding three goals in thirty minutes when in control.

We were no longer in control by then though. It was a great team in no small measure thanks to having Bobby Charlton controlling the midfield. Alf made the cardinal mistake of substituting him when he thought the match was as good as won - I remember thinking I wish he hadn't done that and it proved to be a fatal mistake because the Germans upped their game and exploited the gaps left by his withdrawal - I think Venables was brought on in his place and he proved to be not so good, about the same level of class as when he was made our manager after O'Leary was fired.

On such things are tournaments won and lost.

[The Subhuman]

It was a great team in no small measure thanks to having Bobby Charlton controlling the midfield. Alf made the cardinal mistake of substituting him when he thought the match was as good as won - I remember thinking I wish he hadn't done that and it proved to be a fatal mistake because the Germans upped their game and exploited the gaps left by his withdrawal - I think Venables was brought on in his place and he proved to be not so good, about the same level of class as when he was made our manager after O'Leary was fired.

On such things are tournaments won and lost.

Also Banks got ill before the game.

[Norm]

faaip wrote:

Also Banks got ill before the game.

True but the Bobby Charlton substitution was the real turning point. We were really in command until then.
I agree that a couple of the German goals may have been saved by Banks but we'll never know.

[The Subhuman]

Different keeper affects the dynamic of your back 5 ...big loss

[billie1]

True but the Bobby Charlton substitution was the real turning point. We were really in command until then.
I agree that a couple of the German goals may have been saved by Banks but we'll never know.

What made the substitution worse was it was made moments after the fateful Beckenbauer goal . The other substitution that turned the game was the introduction of Grabowski who ran England ( and Cooper in particular) ragged .

I agree Norm , the 1970 World Cup was the greatest football tournament ever .