5 shocking managerial appointments in the footballing world

#3 Jose Mourinho to Tottenham Hotspur

Mourinho shocked the world when he took up the reins of Tottenham Hotspur

One can call him arrogant, one can call him self obsessed, but no one can deny that the Special One isn't truly an extraordinary manager.

After making a name for himself in his homeland with Porto – where he won two league titles, one Champions League – and a host of other titles, Mourinho moved to Chelsea in 2004.

He quickly established himself as one of the best coaches in the world.

After securing a double in his first season, the Portuguese proceeded to win one more title and the FA Cup before his departure to Inter Milan where he won two Serie A titles, including the coveted treble in the 2009/10 season.

Success with Real Madrid followed in the form of the La Liga, Copa del Ray and Spanish Super Cup before a return to Chelsea in 2013, where he secured another double.

The Special One’s magic touch continued at Manchester United where he won three trophies in his first season in the form of the Community Shield, Carabao Cup and Europa League before departing in 2018.

Now one wouldn’t expect a manager of Mourinho’s calibre to be out of work for too long, yet he took almost a year off – choosing to focus on punditry – before sealing his next move.

And when he did, he sure did it in style – shocking the entire football world by making a return to London by replacing Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham boss.

The world was stunned, not least the Tottenham players – whose reactions of utter shock were captured in Amazon’s recent fly-on-the-wall All Or Nothing documentary.

Mourinho led Spurs to a sixth-place finish in his first season. He got off to a wonderful start in the 2020/21 campaign, whose highlights include a stunning 6-1 victory over former club Manchester United.

For a time, his team looked like genuine title contenders before slipping to their current 9th place standing.

Where Mourinho goes from here is anyone’s guess, but then again it’s the Special One we’re talking about, so expect the ridiculously unexpected.

---

#2 Avram Grant to Chelsea

Chelsea shocked the football world by appointing Grant as manager

One can’t have a list of five managerial appointments that shocked the footballing world without Avram Grant’s name featuring amongst the very top.

Then again the number of shock managerial appointments at Chelsea can be an article in itself, which we’ll leave for another day.

A personal friend of Blues owner Roman Abramovich, the Israeli arrived in London as Chelsea’s Director of Football after managing a host of clubs in his homeland as well as the national team followed by a short stint as Portsmouth’s Technical Director.

Following Jose Mourinho’s acrimonious exit on September 20th, 2007, Grant took over the reins on October 11th, naming Steve Clarke and Henk ten Cate as his assistants.

Grant’s appointment was met with much shock and anger by Chelsea fans due to him neither possessing a top-flight coaching certificate from UEFA nor its B or A level certifications.

The players didn’t take too kindly to his appointment either, and even went on to state that his methods were ’25 years behind the times’ as well as belittling his ability to manage a big club like Chelsea – so much so that some of his staff even considered leaving the club.

His first game in charge was a 2-0 humbling against Manchester United, but what followed was nothing short of brilliant.

Grant’s Chelsea proceeded to go on a 16-game unbeaten streak, including a famous 6-0 thrashing of Manchester City – following which he was tied down to a lucrative four-year contract.

More success soon followed, with Chelsea narrowly losing to Tottenham in the 2008 League Cup final and posing a serious threat to Manchester United’s title hopes before eventually finishing second.

However, the highlight of Grant’s rein will undoubtedly be taking Chelsea to the Champions League final, something not achieved even under Mourinho. They lost the final in a painful fashion to eventual winners Manchester United in a nail-biting penalty shootout in the Moscow rain back in 2008.

Grant left his position soon after, and later stated that he declined a chance to remain as Chelsea’s Director of Football.

---

#1 Arsene Wenger to Arsenal

Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal as an unknown and left as a legend

Did you really expect anyone else to lead this list?

After making a name for himself in his homeland as manager of Nancy and Monaco as well as Japanese outfit Nagoya Grampus Eight, Wenger arrived in England to take the reins of Arsenal as a virtual unknown, an event immortalised by the Evening Standard’s legendary ‘Arsene Who?’ headline.

Le Professeur quietly went about revolutionizing the game by rejigging the diets and training regimens of players – skills he picked up from his time in Japan – as well as making robust changes to the scouting system.

And the results?

They came in the form of a double in 1998, followed by another in 2002, an FA Cup in 2003, and their legendary Invincibles triumph, wherein they ended the entire season unbeaten, in 2004.

Not to forget the noteworthy signings made under Wenger, which include Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars, Freddie Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka, Kolo Toure, Robert Pires, Gilberto Silva, Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Alex Song, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – all of whom made Arsenal the global superpower that it is today.

Wenger’s shrewdness in the transfer market, highlighted by bargain signings being sold for a king’s ransom later, was one of the main reasons why Arsenal were still able to compete with the biggest clubs in the world despite their money-sucking move to the Emirates back in 2006.

When Wenger called time on his fabled 22-year Arsenal career in 2018, after winning an astonishing 17 trophies and permanently changing the game forever, it’s safe to say that the world knew who he was.