10 Great players that made terrible managers
Club football often sees the rise and fall of legends in the oddest of ways. As fans, many hope that their favorite players in the club, the ones that have served the club loyally and dutifully for long, can maybe go on to one day lead the charge from the dugout as managers of their club.There are a few success stories over time, club favorites going onto leading their clubs through glorious phases as managers after their time as a player is done, you need only look at Pep Guardiola to figure that out. However, there are instances of heartbreak too.There have been, over time, several greats of the game who stood out on the pitch for all the right reasons but managed to stand out again from the dugout as managers only this time, for reasons not so right. Let’s have a look at some incredible players who went on to become complete disasters as managers:
#1 Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness is counted amongst Liverpool’s finest players from an era where the Reds were the most dominant force in European Football. It hails as no surprise for most that Souness was always expected to dominate proceedings from midfield no matter who the opposition was.
Combative, disciplined and above all, graceful much was expected off the Scot as he entered the twilight of his career. He donned the mantle of player-manager at Rangers when his career as a player seemed to have entered its last lap and he won titles too.
He, in fact, won three of them, with a Rangers side that was being financed with riches that were considered higher than average at the time. Yet, Rangers fans never warmed up to him and he would often be criticised by his own fans with people putting his success down to money.
His return to the club that helped him graft himself into the finest defensive midfielders of the time proved to be his eventual undoing. Expected to continue the Bootroom Legacy and replace club legend Kenny Dalglish as manager, Souness was never expected to have it easy.
However, he went on to exceed everyone’s expectations and drag the most dominant force in football into the nether realm of mediocrity. He was clueless with his tactics, and wasted money on poor signings, he replaced great players in their twilight with deadwood that was overpaid. The aftereffects of his work at Liverpool are arguably felt at the Merseyside club to this date.
He moved on to Fenerbahce and returned to the Premier League with Southampton with not much success at either club but his move to Newcastle was the final nail in the coffin as he managed to drag the Toon Army, into a relegation fight, wasting a lot of money on poor signings on the way.
Souness, to this day, is a symbol of how great players won’t necessarily channel their playing ability into managerial skill.