The Barclays Premier League might not have Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo but we’re about to enter the age of the Super Manager.
Look at some of the top name managers who will be in the Premier League next season. Mourinho. Guardiola. Klopp. Wenger. Pochettino. Conte. Ranieri.
I doubt that there has even been a better collection of managers in one league. These are giants of the game, more famous than their players, known throughout the world. They each have their own identifiable characters to ensure this soap opera will get top ratings.
Jose Mourinho is the Special One, arrogant, confrontational, a serial winner who is downright rude at times.
Pep Guardiola is the angel to his devil, creating football as art and splitting his tight trousers while doing it.
At Anfield, Jurgen Klopp is already mentioned in the same breath as Bill Shankly and Kenny Dalglish in terms of charisma if not achievements quite yet.
At Arsenal, they have their own cult hero/anti-hero in Arsene Wenger. When you consider Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool won’t be in the Champions League next season, it’s extraordinary to think Wenger has got his side there for 20 years in a row.
Then you’ve got the Italians, Antonio Conte and Ranieri. The latter has already charmed us with his pizzas, opera and Dilly Dong but Conte is going to be equally fascinating.
A coach of Juventus and Italy, he is known to be authoritarian with his players and bases his team on tough defending. Whether that works at Chelsea with Eden Hazard and Diego Costa as well as the lingering presence of John Terry is open to debate.
Despite the glittering array of names already mentioned, Tottenham believe they have the best pound-for-pound manager in the division. Mauricio Pochettino even has his own showbiz nickname MoPo and how ironic that an Argentine should prove such a massive help for English football by developing Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker.
The remarkable part is that potentially half of these world class managers will “fail” next season. There are only four available Champions League managers and 7 world class managers. Who will succeed and finish in the top four and who will fail?
One thing is for sure, it will be standing room only at next season’s press conferences as managers speak about themselves, and each other.
Last season’s title clash saw an absence of mind games between the main protagonists. That’s about to change and, like it or not, it’ll be big box-office.
