Top 5 football managers currently without a job
While footballers receive all the glory and attention with the spotlight focused on them as gladiators on the battlefield, managers are equally if not more important in the overall functioning of a team.
From tactical innovations, player management and pre-game analysis, the modern-day manager is extremely important. It is for this reason that football teams go all out in their bid to get the right manager.
There is a saying that players are as good or bad as their manager makes them. And while this might be open to debate, it cannot be denied that managers are crucial to the success of failure of any team.
The dynamic nature of players' contracts means that football management is an extremely volatile field, with managers' jobs usually the first on the line whenever things start going south. Consequently, it is not an unfamiliar sight for managers to constantly revolve in and out of employment; there are always more than a handful of top-quality managers out of a job at any given point in time.
With the coaching situation at some top clubs like Tottenham and Arsenal less than assured, it is understandable that the attention of fans has turned to the market to scour for potential replacements for their under-fire managers.
In this piece, we look at the top five managers who are currently without a job.
Note: While Luis Enrique might be a top-quality coach out of a job, his decision to take a break from football management due to personal reasons renders him ineligible for this list.
Honorable mentions: Marcelino, Javi Garcia
#5 Laurent Blanc
In what was a very distinguished playing career, Laurent Blanc represented some of the biggest clubs in the world including Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Marseille. He won almost everything there was to win at club level, and he was also one of the stars as France won their maiden World Cup in 1998.
Upon retirement Blanc ventured into coaching, and in his first managerial stint he led Bordeaux to the double in 2009. The team also impressively topped a Champions League group containing Bayern Munich and Juventus en-route their quarterfinal run in 2010.
Blanc was subsequently appointed as the manager of the French national team in the summer of 2010. However, he stepped down from the role after Les Bleus' sub-par display at Euro 2012.
A successful three-year spell followed at PSG. It was under Blanc, the capital club began their unprecedented dominance of the French league.
In total, PSG won 11 trophies with him in charge, including consecutive domestic trebles. But Blanc was dismissed from the position in the summer of 2016 after failing to guide an expensively assembled PSG squad to the latter stages of the Champions League.
He has been without a job since then. These days, Le Président can be found spending his time on golf courses around the world.
That said, having been linked with numerous high-profile jobs in the past, the 53-year-old could well be tempted to leave the 'gentleman's game' for the 'beautiful game'.
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