Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

So, Alex Ferguson had nearly 27 years at Man U, and Wenger is at nearly 19 years and counting at Arsenal, both of course with consistent qualification for top level European football.

Anyone with similar success and longevity in the last 3 or 4 decades at any big continental club? At Real, for example, you need to go right back to Munoz (60s + early 70s) to find a manager who was in post for 5 years or more.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Guy Roux, from 1961 to 2005 at Auxerre.

Longevity, that is, not success, although he developed talent at a remarkable rate.

[Borracho]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Thomas Schaaf managed Werder Bremen for almost a decade and a half.

Cruijff lasted for eight years at Barcelona.

[seand]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Guy Roux managed Auxerre for a bit over 40 years, including a run of 36 years. Valery Lobanovskiy was at Dinamo Kiev for a couple of decades.

Not exactly continental but Ronnie McFall is still going strong at Portadown after 29 seasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_McFall

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Portadown isn't on a different continent, it's in a different century.

Cruijff lasted for eight years at Barcelona.

yea, though I may walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil, because I'm the biggest cunt who has ever set foot in this valley.

[ursus arctos]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Roux may not have won as many trophies as Ferguson, but leading a club from a town of 40,000 to a French title, four Coupes de France, a European semi-final and decades in the top flight is a singular achievement. The club still hasn't recovered from his departure, and while they are in the cup final (against PSG on Saturday), they are also still in Ligue 2.

BTW, Schaaf and Eintracht Frankfurt parted ways this morning.

[Alderman Barnes]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Green Calx wrote: Thomas Schaaf managed Werder Bremen for almost a decade and a half.

As did Otto Rehhagel.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

ursus beat me to the punch about roux. roux reminds me more of dario gradi though, than anyone else.

[ursus arctos]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

I was going to make exactly that comparison, which really puts Roux's achievements into stark relief.

Though Gradi managed a railway workers' club, whereas Roux's was the local priest's idea for keeping kids off of the not-at-all mean streets of Auxerre.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

the big difference between gradi and roux is the forty or fifty bigger clubs between him and the top flight.

[ursus arctos]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

There were more than that many between AJA and the top flight when Roux joined the club.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

True, but I think my point is more that the average attendances of the ligue 1 clubs outside the top five is pretty much comparable with the championship. while the average attendance in league one, is broadly comparable with league 2. there's twenty premier league sized clubs missing in the french pyramid.

both managers have achieved enormous things, but it's a hell of a lot harder to climb the English pyramid than the french one, which is I suppose why crewe barely scratched the second tier under gradi.

[ursus arctos]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

That's fair.

It's also harder to climb now than it was when Roux did it (as indicated by AJA's current travails). It also helped that Auxerre is rather well off and in a region that lacks a traditional football power, which one can't say for Crewe.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

heh, and neither in their pomp had to deal with something like EPPP.

[Tony C]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote:

both managers have achieved enormous things, but it's a hell of a lot harder to climb the English pyramid than the french one, which is I suppose why crewe barely scratched the second tier under gradi.

Which is why Clough's achievements in England are revered above all others.

[treibeis]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Alderman Barnes wrote:

Thomas Schaaf managed Werder Bremen for almost a decade and a half.

As did Otto Rehhagel.

And, of course, there's former schoolmaster and army officer Volker Finke and his 16 years at Freiburg.

They never won anything that 'your Fergusons' would consider to be worth winning, but what Finke achieved there was still outstanding.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

clough's achievements were extraordinary, I can't help but notice though that he broke the transfer record three times. and tried to do it a couple of more times, without informing his board.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Jorge Jesus has been at Benfica now for 6 years, winning the league title 3 times. I imagine he will stay at the club until he retires, given not only his success on the pitch but also in the transfer market. He also can't speak English and I can't see him learning it any time soon, his unique personality make him fairly unemployable in other countries. I think he'll remain in charge until his late sixties.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

surely being in charge of Benfica for six years, is equivalent to wenger being in charge of arsenal for 20 years?

[danielmak]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Mircea Lucescu has been with Shakhtar for more than a decade. I don't know how trigger happy presidents are in Ukraine, but that length of time at a club with big ambitions is certainly respectable. I don't watch that league, but Shakhtar has been very fun to watch in the CL and UEFA Cup/Europa League.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Is the position of manager viewed the same across Europe as it is in Britain? I get the impression that in Spain and Italy, in particular, the 'head coach' is probably no more important than the goalkeeper, which is why clubs happily swap them every couple of years or so, and some coaches have ended up managing three or four of the top clubs in the same country in their careers?

[3 Colours Red]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

danielmak wrote: ...trigger happy ...Ukraine

You may want to rethink your phrasing there.

[anton pulisov]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Jack Reynolds, a Brummie, managed Ajax for 24 years.

Rinus Michels credits him with professionalising Ajax and setting the standard for playing under a single footballing system from youth up to senior level.

Something to think about next time you hear the Dutch taking credit for single handedly inventing football.

Another interesting fact about Ajax is that their manager before Jack Reynolds was Jack Kirwan from Dublin, and Irish international who also played GAA for Dublin. He was Ajax's first ever full-time manager and was responsible for Ajax being promoted to the Dutch top flight for the first time.

Jack Kirwan made Ajax one of the biggest teams in Amsterdam, and Jack Reynolds later made Ajax the biggest team in Amsterdam and, later, the Netherlands.

[beak]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Antonio Pulisao wrote: Jack Reynolds, a Brummie

Aye?

I always thought his being born in Manchester and starting off at City made him one of ours..

[Tony C]

Continental clubs' Fergusons and Wengers

Of course Vic Buckingham is cited - by Johan Cryuff amongst many others - as developing the style consequently referred to as 'total football' when he was at Ajax . He later adopted the philosophy at Barcelona and Sevilla although was barely recognized in Britain.