Football Managers are very significant to any club, country, and fanbase associated with football. Being at the heart of the culture, system, strategies, recruitment, selection, management, and whatnot, a football manager has to superintend numerous aspects of football. All those factors determine how a team plays and its eventual success and failure. And those managers who tend to do most of those well for longer tend to be successful. Today we discuss some of the most successful football managers in the history of football. Success can be a very subjective term, and in this piece, we would do that by citing the football managers who registered the most wins in their managing careers.
5. Bill Struth – 789
William Struth a.k.a Bill Struth was the second-ever manager of the Scottish Football Club Rangers. He was in charge of Rangers for 34 years from 1920 to 1954. He only oversaw Rangers as a Football Manager and won 30 major trophies for the same; a record 18 Scottish league championships, 10 Scottish Cups, and two Scottish League Cups. The Scottish manager held the fort for the Rangers in 1180 games. He won 789 of those games, maintaining a very healthy winning percentage of 66.83.
4. Mircea Lucescu – 871
Mircea Lucescu is one of the most decorated football managers of all time. In more than four decades of managerial career, the Romanian manager has been in charge of as many as 12 football clubs and two countries. He has been at the helm of 1453 games, winning 871 out of them. It means he won 59.94% of his total matches. He has won 38 trophies as a manager in total, out of which he won 22 as the manager of Shakhtar Donetsk. In 12 years at Donetsk, he led the side in 573 games and won 395, triumphant in almost 69 out of every 100 matches. That’s a magnificent record. Currently, Lucescu oversees Dynamo Kyiv where he has already left his imprint by lifting 3 trophies in one and a half years.
3. Arsene Wenger – 919
Most renowned for his time in Arsenal as their Manager, Arsene Wenger established himself as one of the greatest managers and football minds of all time. In his 22 years as the Arsenal Manager, Wenger won 3 Premier League Titles, 7 FA Cups, and Community Shield on 7 occasions. He managed the Gunners in 1234 games, winning 707 out of them.
Wenger started his managerial career at Nancy in 1984, where he won just 33 of 114 matches. Then he took the reins of Monaco, before joining Arsenal in 1996. He took control of 1707 matches as the football manager and won 919 matches, with a career win percentage of 54.
2. Willie Maley – 1,039
William Patrick Maley is arguably the most successful manager in Scottish football history. The first manager of Celtic Football Club called the shots at the club for forty-three consecutive years as a manager. In those 43 years (1897-1940), Maley presided over 1612 matches and won 1039 of them, securing a sound winning % of 64.45. During his tenure, Celtic were the Scottish League Champions on 16 different occasions. He won 54 other trophies as the Celtic Manager. Maley was precisely at the wheel for 42 years and 5 months, making him the second longest-serving manager for any club, only behind Fred Everiss (45 years, 9 months, and 30 days at West Brom).
1. Alex Ferguson – 1,253
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson, considered by many as the greatest football manager of all time, has got the most number of wins under his belt. In his 39 years of managerial career, he managed as many as 2155 games. It means that he won 58.1% of all his matches, which is a remarkable record.
Ferguson started his reign as a manager from East Stirlingshire in 1974 where he won 9 out of 17 matches. Then he managed St Mirren (169 games/74 wins), Aberdeen (459 games/272 wins), and also Scotland (10 games/3 wins). Soon after, he took charge of Manchester United on November 6, 1986. Fergie won 895 out of 1500 matches at United. In 27 years as United manager, he won 13 League titles, 5 FA Cups, 3 Champions League titles, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, and 17 other trophies. He won 51 trophies as a manager, making him one of the most successful ever to do it.
