5 brilliant footballers who were better as managers

#1 Sir Alex Ferguson

Ferguson celebrating one of his many league title wins

Given he's perhaps the greatest manager of all-time, it's mostly overlooked that Sir Alex Ferguson was a decent forward in his day. He only played in his home country of Scotland, but scored goals at every team he found himself at.

He played for Rangers and he finished there with an excellent 35 goals in 66 games, including a good tally in Europe. He only left the Glasgow club due to off-field problems with management and could have achieved more with them if he had stayed.

Ferguson never won a major title as a player but swiftly ensured that wouldn't happen as a manager. First he somehow broke up the Celtic and Rangers dominance of Scottish football, with his superb Aberdeen side of the 1980's winning 3 league titles; they even famously beat Real Madrid to seal the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup, a crowning achievement for a provincial Scottish club.

It's amazing to think that Ferguson might not have enjoyed all the success he eventually did at Manchester United. So bad was his start with the club but their fans are still thankful that the United board persisted with him through the troubled times.

Ferguson eventually saw off every challenge to his dominance, from Arsene Wenger's foreign revolution at Arsenal in the late 1990's, to Jose Mourinho and Chelsea's spending spree at Chelsea in 2004.

The length of his time at Old Trafford is astounding but speaks so much of his mental power and managerial ability. He, without doubt, transformed English football, putting his club above Liverpool as the biggest in the country. He even retired on top, bowing out as a league winner yet again in 2012/2013.

13 EPL titles. 5 FA Cups. 2 Champions League wins. The record definitely speaks for itself.