Speculation continues to mount on who Milan Mandaric will choose as the next manager of LCFC with the difficult task of building on Nigel Pearson’s reign at the club, therefore we are looking for someone who can guide the club to again make a strong challenge for promotion this season
With that in mind, as a benchmark, here are the records of the 3 most successful managers of recent times prior to joining LCFC.
|
Prior to LCFC |
Games |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
% Won |
% Not Lost |
|
Little |
83 |
35 |
21 |
27 |
42.2% |
74.7% |
|
O'Neill |
132 |
61 |
32 |
39 |
46.2% |
75.8% |
|
Pearson |
50 |
11 |
17 |
22 |
22.0% |
66.0% |
Although generally the Trust believes we should be looking for a manager with a win ratio of 40% or greater and a not lost ratio of around 70%, Pearson’s record prior to joining us was quite poor, however his record while managing the club surpassed both Little and O’Neill, although obviously no Premiership games to reduce that record, their 3 records while managing our club were
|
At LCFC |
Games |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
% Won |
% Not Lost |
|
Little |
178 |
76 |
58 |
44 |
42.7% |
67.4% |
|
O'Neill |
223 |
85 |
70 |
68 |
38.1% |
68.6% |
|
Pearson |
107 |
55 |
22 |
30 |
51.4% |
79.4% |
With Simon Grayson clearly ruling himself out of the running today, here are the records of the 14 other names that have cropped up the most so far….
|
Candidates |
Games |
Won |
Lost |
Drawn |
% Won |
% Not Lost |
|
Sousa |
75 |
25 |
20 |
30 |
33.3% |
73.3% |
|
Dowie |
295 |
115 |
106 |
74 |
39.0% |
64.1% |
|
Rodgers |
55 |
19 |
23 |
13 |
34.5% |
58.2% |
|
Coleman |
293 |
95 |
117 |
81 |
32.4% |
60.1% |
|
Reid (Billy) |
269 |
113 |
85 |
71 |
42.0% |
68.4% |
|
Mowbray |
297 |
133 |
106 |
58 |
44.8% |
64.3% |
|
Southgate |
150 |
44 |
63 |
43 |
29.3% |
58.0% |
|
Ince |
166 |
76 |
57 |
33 |
45.8% |
65.7% |
|
Parkinson |
294 |
114 |
93 |
87 |
38.8% |
68.4% |
|
Curbishley |
791 |
302 |
288 |
201 |
38.2% |
63.6% |
|
O'Driscoll |
536 |
203 |
180 |
153 |
37.9% |
66.4% |
|
Robins |
173 |
71 |
61 |
41 |
41.0% |
64.7% |
|
Adams |
528 |
198 |
167 |
163 |
37.5% |
68.4% |
|
Brown |
195 |
63 |
78 |
54 |
32.3% |
60.0% |
Sousa clearly leads the way at the bookies, however the reason Swansea failed to make the play offs last season is clearly down to the lack of victories, as Sousa has the best record of all the candidates in only losing 26.7% of the games played.
The style of play he encourages his players to produce is good to watch, however Swansea fans dis-appointed to miss out on the play offs blame his tactics of sitting on a single goal lead, rather than going for a second to seal victory.
In terms of managers who have achieved win ratios of more than 40%, Paul Ince leads the way at 45.8%, however having managed over 100 games more, Tony Mowbray’s win ration of 44.8% is also impressive.
A surprise name that has cropped up is Billy Reid at Hamilton, and while some City fans fear the same result as Craig Levein and therefore prefer a manager with English League experience, his record of 42% wins and 68.4% unbeaten games, is actually the strongest set of combined ratios.
The logic of employing managers who have failed at local rivals Coventry has brought into question in many City fans eyes the merits of Iain Dowie & Chris Coleman, neither have strong records, infact Dowie’s seem to be getting worse, as he only managed a 57.1% unbeaten record at Coventry, while his recent spell at Hull yielded only a 11.1% win ratio.
The other most frequently tipped name is Brendan Rodgers, however his unbeaten career record is nearly the worst of the candidates mentioned at 58.2% and the worst record of Southgate is primarily based on Premiership games, so Rodgers record is far from an inspiring read.