By Ollie Irish
Number one, bitches
The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), which sounds like a tremendously fun place to work, has voted Arsene Wenger the No.1 football coach of the last decade. Wenger > Fergie, Mourinho, Allardyce, Megson, Brown et al.
The IFFHS used some “equitable” criteria to come up with its ranking – number of times a coach says “I did not see the incident…” after a game, maybe? (Zing!) Their top 10 coaches of the last decade reads as follows:
1. Wenger
2. Fergie
3. Mourinho
4. Crapello
5. Hiddink
6. Ancelotti
7. Scolari
8. Bielsa
9. Rafa Benitez
10. Lippi
Selected others: 13. Sven, 21. Houllier, 28. Bruce Arena, 88. Avram Grant, 92. Roy Hodgson, 110. Mick McCarthy, 126. Arry Redknapp
Wenger is undoubtedly a world-class gaffer, but it’s been a decade of two halves for the studious Frenchman, with a distinct lack of silverware in the second half of the Noughties. You’d think that might count against him. Not in this case.
I would go with something more like this:
1. Fergie, 2. Mourinho, 3. Ian Holloway Wenger
What’s your top three?