Five greatest managers who never played professional football

There are those who say that you can’t cut it as a football manager, if you have never played professional football. Whilst it is true that you learn an awful lot from playing, there is nothing stopping you from learning all of that by just observing and being a spectator. So, this article includes the top five managers who have never played professional football.

The moment anybody says managers who have never played football, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger are usually one of the first couple of names anyone comes up with. But, on a closer inspection, I found out that both of them had actually played professional football. And although they weren’t successful, the fact that they have, rules them out of this list.

Another person who misses out is Andre Villas-Boas, who although hasn’t played professional football, can’t really be classified amongst the other five managers on the list, as he has only been managing professional for a few years. Without a doubt, before long, he will join this list, but for now, he misses out.

So, here is the list of the five greatest managers, to have never played professional football.

5. Gerard Houllier (Teacher)

Gerard Houllier

Not many can claim to have won the Ligue 1 with two different clubs. Gerard Houllier did just that when won three Ligue 1 titles, his first with PSG in 85/86 and his second with Lyon two decades later in 05/06, the third followed the very next year. In England, few Liverpool fans could forget the 2000/01 season in which he won the cup treble by winning the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup.

But, not many know that he started his life pursuing a degree in English, but had to drop out and work as a school teacher due to his father’s illness. He eventually completed his degree part-time and it was as a part of his degree, that he spent a year at the Alsop Comprehensive School, Liverpool in 1969–1970 as an Assistant, during which time he watched his first Liverpool match. He then went onto serve as a deputy headmaster of the École Normale d’Arras until he turned 26. And it was only in 1973 that he began his full-time managerial career as player-manager of Le Touquet. Although he played for the local amateur side, he never had what it took to be a pro, but he took to management instead, and turned out just fine.

4. Carlos Alberto Parreira (Fitness Coach)

Carlos Alberto Parreira coached Brazil to World Cup glory

Next on the list is Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. The Brazilian’s road to glory with his home nation began not as a player, but as a trainer. He was a physical trainer for several clubs in Brazil, when his first shot at management came with Kuwait in the late 70’s.

Parreira admits that he “started out as a fitness coach,” and that the only reason he took up a coaching job was because he was qualified. He adds “I reached a point in my life where I was so well qualified that I was almost pushed into taking on a head coach’s role. In Kuwait they asked me to take charge of their youth sides and that was the start of a long career.” And what a successful career it has been. It’s one that has included featuring in six World Cups with five different national teams, including Brazil, with whom he won the 1994 World Cup. Apart from that he has also won 2 Asian Cups, the Confederations Cup and a Copa America. Not bad for a fitness coach, eh?

3. Bill Struth (Stonemason)

Bill Struth was exceptional as Rangers manager

Back in the early 20^th century, football managers went onto managing for years on end. But, few were as good as Bill Struth at Rangers. A stonemason by trade, Bill Struth sporting career started in the field of athletics, where he made a name for himself as a middle-distance runner. It was this that helped him get a job as a trainer for Clyde and then Hearts, before he joined Rangers as an assistant in 1914. He eventually took over manager in 1920 and transformed the club into Scotland’s dominant force, winning a mind boggling 18 League titles, 10 Scottish Cups and two League Cups during his 34-year spell in charge at the Ibrox.

During his reign, Bill Struth became the first Scottish manager to win the treble and was only the second-ever manager of Rangers. He even managed to rack up a staggering 14 Scottish titles in a 19-year period, in the process lifting the premier domestic knockout trophy for the first time in Rangers history in 1928. For all of his accomplishments, there is a bronze statue of him at Ibrox Stadium. He etched his name in stone, so as to speak.

2. Arrigo Sacchi (Shoe Salesman)

Arrigo Sacchi revolutionized football tactics

Nobody has successfully defended the European Cup since Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan in the early 90’s. He was a revolutionary in the history of football tactics as he almost single-handedly abolishing man-marking in Italian football and introducing Zonal pressing, something that is very prevalent today. Although he was a successful club manager and also lead Italy to the World Cup Final in 1994, there were initially doubts about him, having never played professional football in his life. Before the World Cup, on being questioned about his credentials, Sacchi had this gem to say, “I never realized that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first.”

And although he never made it as a player with lowly amateur side Baracca Lugo, he took charge of the same side whilst juggling a promising coaching career with a job as a shoe salesman. After working with various professional clubs’ youth teams, Sacchi got his big break at third tier Parma, where he impressed Milan’s new owner Silvio Berlusconi to bring him to AC Milan, where he built a dynasty and quite possibly one of the greatest club teams of all time.

1. Guy Roux

Guy Roux

Arguably the greatest manager to have never played football is the one who just resigned in 2005 after 44 amazing years at Auxerre, in which he transformed an amateur team into one that is now known nationally and internationally. A 23-year-old Guy Roux was given the job as coach of Auxerre, although he had no experience and had only played for the club, which was still an amateur back then for nearly a decade. His experience amounted to a month of watching Crystal Palace as an “observer” and he only got the job as he promised to “balance the books and never to waste a penny”.

As a manager, he helped Auxerre reach the Coupe de France final in 1979 and in the same year won Ligue 2, which meant that they would be in Ligue 1, the following year. For 34 successive years they stayed in Ligue 1 and in the process won the title once in 95/96. After winning the Coupe de France the year before that, Auxerre were slowly developing into a major force. To add to all this, players like Eric Cantona, Laurent Blanc, Djibril Cisse and Philippe Mexes, all started their careers at this very club.

When Roux called it quits in June 2005, he called time on an illustrious career that saw him the league title once, the Coupe de France four times and also win the Intertoto Cup, whilst also reaching the semifinal of the UEFA Cup in 1993. All of which, cemented his status as a living legend and the greatest manager to have never played professional football.