Top 5 club managers in England

[The Rational Fan]

Herbert Chapman
Matt Busby
Bill Shankly
Brian Clough
Alex Ferguson

+1. I think Herbert Chapman is #1 on that list because of his tactics innovation such as WM. Chapman's innovations were so dramatic that field hockey adopted his changes in their sport. Any manager after Chapman is better than any manager before Chapman, because he changed the game that much. Someone told me Bielsa rates Chapman as #1 worldwide, and Bielsa refers to him.

A name that i wouldn't expect you to know but which as a Villa fan i revere is jimmy Hogan. Credited with changing the game in England with more emphasis on keeping hold of the ball rather than the kick and rush (to a degree) that the English game still favoured. He started coaching way before he came to Villa, and his ideas weren't accepted at home so he went to Europe where he is also credited with developing the game there. To further highlight his influence on the world game the Mighty Magyars (for those that don't know read your football history books) credit him with their passing game that had revolutionised football, and which further influenced the Ajax system of total football that still ho,lds sway in the top echelons of club football today.

No coach/manager comes close to what Jimmy Hogan has done for football.

As for a pure manager I'd add Ron Saunders for what he achieved in his career before he left villa. I often wonder how Ferguson's legacy would look if he wasn't so lucky as to get a crop of youngsters coming through the youth team, many of whom were not just good enough to break into the first team but were genuine world-class internationals.

We should have heard of Jimmy Hogan as he was voted at the 24th greatest manager ever and he was a Fulham manager leaving after 4 games in 1907 is what i'd call ahead of his time.