JOSE MOURINHO ‘fired’ himself as a player, but he’s not the only top manager who couldn’t make it on the pitch.
“Don’t do what I play, do what I say” is perhaps the motto of the ten we’ve selected – after defying their inability or bad luck as a footballer to make it big as bosses.
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Four of them succeeded Chelsea and two of them Liverpool.
And one has become the youngest Bundesliga manager in history.
The one thing they seem to have in common is their early commitment to coaching.
Here are the stories of the managers who, instead of being-been, are a never-being bunch.
Gerard Houllier
The Frenchman was not known to have had a professional career.
He did play for seven years at amateur club Le Touquet, where he would get his first managerial job between 1973 and 1976.
He would then lead amateur club Noeux-les-Mines to the second tier before moving to Lens.
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A successful spell there would see him take over at PSG before becoming his national team boss, but he failed to lead them to the World Cup.
He would later lead Liverpool to two League Cups, an FA Cup and a UEFA Cup before being replaced by Rafa Benítez.
Two Ligue 1 titles with Lyon would follow before ending his career with a failed spell Aston Villa.
Arrigo Sachi
“I didn’t know that to be a jockey you must have been a horse,” Sacchi replied when asked about managing with no playing experience.
One of the greatest bosses of all time, Sacchi made his living as a shoe salesman while managing his local club because he was not good enough to play for them.
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And indeed he galloped to glory as a manager.
He started at Fusignano in 1973 at the age of 27 and achieved great success at Parma in 1987, where he later became the boss AC Milan twice, Italy, Atletico Madrid and finally again with Parma.
He guided the Azzurri to the 1994 World Cup final and also won Serie A in his first full year with Milan.
Jose Mourinho
The Special One’s first ruthless tactical decision was to terminate his own playing caretaker.
Deciding that he lacked the pace and power to thrive as a striker, Mourinho retired from the Portuguese lower league to coach at a school and then home club Vitória de Setúbal.
But while captaining his last team, Comércio e Indústria, he put football into perspective by saving the life of a teammate trapped in a burning car.
Mourinho, whose father won a single cap for Portugal, rose to prominence with roles as a coach/translator under English managerial legend Bobby Robson.
He launched his own hot-seat life at Benfica and Uniao de Leiria before fame struck in Porto from 2002-4, with two Portuguese titles plus Champions League glory.
Since then he has won more than enough silverware Chelsea twice, Inter Milan, RealMadrid And Manchester Unitedbefore completing the clean sweep of European trophies with current club Roma.
Carlos Alberto Parreira
Brazil’s three-time national team manager has captained five different countries at the World Cup, despite not having the slightest bit of a football career.
The winner of the 1994 World Cup even started his career at the age of 24, when he ruled Ghana in 1967.
Aside from four spells in charge of homeland giants Fluminense, he was also entrusted by Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, plus South Africa as they hosted the 2010 World Cup.
Parreira only managed twice in Europe, with Valencia and then Fenerbahçe to the Turkish crown.
Abraham Grant
Even in this list of aspiring executives, the Israeli deserves a special mention.
Grant coached the home club’s youth team Hapoel Petah Tikva at age 18.
14 years later he finally got the top job there and won the Toto Cup twice.
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Notably, Grant put Maccabi in charge of Tel Aviv and Israel before his friend Roman Abramovich made him boss of Chelsea in 2007.
But second place in both the Prem and the Champions League couldn’t save him from the ax at the end of his first season.
Then he led Portsmouth, Western Ham and Partizan Belgrade, followed by Ghana and, since December 2022, Zambia.
Other Villas Boas
Never quite the Special One II, but the Portuguese was given his first off-field job when he was SIXTEEN by then Porto chief Bobby Robson.
AVB, who was already fluent in English, found himself talking to Robson as they lived in the same apartment building.
And the Newcastle legend appointed him to the observation department of Porto.
Robson then helped Villas-Boas storm through his qualifications and achieved the C license in Scotland at the age of 17, the B a year later and the highest license at the age of 19.
Two years later, he took the obvious career choice to become… technical director for the British Virgin Islands.
But AVB then became Mourinho’s assistant at Porto, Chelsea and Inter before taking charge of Academica and Porto, with whom he won the treble title, the Portugal Cup and the Europa League in 2010-11.
But he failed to win silverware every year at Chelsea and Tottenham.
AVB went on to win the Russian crown with Zenit, but was then trophyless with Shanghai SIPG and Marseille.
Brendan Rogers
The Northern Irishman is unlike many on this list as his promising playing career was ended at the age of 20 by a genetic knee condition.
The schoolboy ex-international defender started out with local team Ballymena United before playing for Reading’s reserves until he retired as a professional in 1993.
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Unusually, he continued as Royals youth coach while playing for non-League clubs Newport IOW, Witney Town and Newbury and working for John Lewis.
Mourinho then lured him to Chelsea’s Academy before impressing the Watford, Reading and Swansea leadership with stylish, tactically astute football.
He missed out on the honor during three years as Liverpool boss but won the League and Cup double in successive seasons for Celtic, earning a Prem return with Leicester in 2019.
He steered the Foxes to historic FA Cup glory two years later.
But where would he be now if he hadn’t had to stop playing so early?
Maurice Sari
The Italian’s purely amateur playing career had its “if only I had” moments – even after failing trials with Torino and Fiorentina.
The centre-back was a one-club man with local team Figline until injuries led to his retirement at the age of 30.
His near moment came at age 19 when a move to Montevarchi was foiled only by Figline demanding a huge fee.
Sarri also turned down a move to Pontedera.
And since turning to coach in 1990, he has managed twenty-one clubs.
Guiding the 17th of those teams, Empoli, to second place in Serie B in 2014 helped transform his progress.
He went to Napoli, Chelsea (where he won the Europa League), Juventus (Serie A winners) and now Lazio.
Julius Nagelmann
Like Rodgers, the German’s hopes for a decent playing career were dashed by injury before he really got started.
He captained the 1860 Munich youth team and made it to the reserve team squad, but developed knee problems.
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Similar bad luck after moving to Thomas Tuchel’s Augsburg, so he stopped playing at age 20, became a scout and studied sports science.
Proverbs in youth coaching in 1860 Munich and 1899 Hoffenheim followed.
And in 2016, at the age of 28, Hoffenheim made him the youngest manager in Bundesliga history and somehow he kept them up
Having ruled RB Leipzig from 2019 to 2021, he is now on the hunt for his second consecutive Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich.
Ron Noads
The late Londoner had no football or coaching background, but got into football by investing as a businessman.
He was in turn involved in the ownership of FOUR clubs, starting with non-league Southall.
He was then part of Wimbledon’s early rise in the lower divisions as chairman – Dave Bassett’s famous appointment as boss.
When he moved to a similar position in Selhurst Park, he probably supervised Crystal Palacebrightest spell ever.
They won promotion to the top flight in 1989, reached the FA Cup final the following year and finished third in the top flight in 1991.
But he made waves that year with comments about the Eagles’ team’s racial mix, with key players Ian WrightMark Bright and Andy Gray leave in the fallout.
Palace was rocked after that – none more so than when Noades sold his stake to Mark Goldberg and also became a CARETAKER MANAGER, although he couldn’t save them from the fall.
Terry Venables came in as his successor and Noades left the club – finishing as chairman and then manager of Brentford.
He won promotion to the third tier in his first term.
But one of the more controversial careers in chairmanship/management ended in 2000, when he sold his majority stake to fan group Bees United and stepped down from both roles.