Top 10 Managers To Have Never Managed A Big Six Club

Managing any of the so-called big six (Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham), is tough for a lot of managers as some have found out over the years, including David Moyes, Graham Potter and Roy Hodgson who all had difficult spells at Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool respectively.

To be able to manage any of those clubs, you need to be able to manage the big name players in the team, and play a style of play that suits the players you have.

Whilst there have been some managers who have struggled in managing big six clubs, there have been some who were never given the chance including the ones on the list.

There have been a number of managers in the Premier League who have taken their club to a certain level, but were never given the chance to test themselves at a bigger club.

And here is the list of those managers who never got the chance:

Sam Allardyce

Martin O'Neill

Sir Bobby Robson

Eddie Howe

Sean Dyche

Alan Pardew

Ronald Koeman

Alan Curbishley

Roberto Martinez

Steve Bruce

10. Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce won three Premier League titles at Man United when he was a player, but he never got the chance to manage any of the big six.

He was never going to get the opportunity to do so anyway as he was a manager who managed clubs in and around mid-table and the lower half of the Premier League.

He was a good manager in between the Premier League and the Championship as he could keep a team in the Premier League, and also get a team promoted from the Championship which he did three times.

9. Alan Curbishley

Curbishley was relegated in his first season as a Premier League manager with Charlton, but he did immediately take them back up before establishing them as a Premier League side for six seasons.

He took over at West Ham a few months after leaving Charlton where he kept them up on the final day in 2007 before leading them to a 10th place finish the following season.

He was never going to get a chance at managing one of the big six because he was a manager who was more suited to managing clubs in mid-table, instead of clubs looking to qualify for Europe.

8. Sam Allardyce

Allardyce did have a one game spell as England manager in 2016 and is only manager in that role to have had a 100% record.

But despite that, he was never going to manage one of the big six clubs as he was a manager who was used to managing teams in a relegation battle and keeping them up.

He was more of a relegation expert than a manager who would get teams pushing for Europe and his track record of doing the former showed it.

7. Sean Dyche

Dyche was another manager who was more used to managing clubs in a relegation battle instead of clubs pushing further up the Premier League. But he did finish in the top 10 twice with Burnley including a 7th place finish in 2018.

He was linked with a number of clubs around the time of that season because of the job he was doing at Burnley, and I even remember Ian Wright tipping him to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

But he was never going to manage any of the big clubs because his defensive style of play would have gone down well with any of them.

6. Roberto Martinez

Martinez may have managed two high ranking international sides in Belgium and Portugal, but he's never managed one of the big six in the Premier League.

He was linked with the Liverpool job after Kenny Dalglish was sacked in 2012, but the reds went with Brendan Rodgers instead.

After winning the FA Cup with Wigan in 2013, he went on to manage Everton and he had a good first season there as he led them to a 5th placed finish.

But his next two seasons at Goodison were disappointing as the Toffees finished 11th on both occasions, despite having a good side that included the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley.

He's arguably more suited to international football than he is to club football.

5. Alan Pardew

Pardew was a divisive manager during his time in the Premier League a lot of people had mixed views about him as a manager.

But he did lead Newcastle to a 5th placed finish in 2012 and was later rewarded with an 8 year contract off the back of that.

He could've got a job at one of the big six off the back of that season and he was even a candidate for England job a few years later.

But he was never under consideration for those jobs at the time as the big six were going for bigger name managers.

He did reasonably well at Newcastle despite the negativity around him towards the end of his time there. He left for one of his ex-playing in Crystal Palace where he did well for a year, until their form dropped off massively and their big drop off in form led to him being sacked in 2016.

4. Ronald Koeman

Koeman has had two stints of managing the Dutch National Team and a spell at Barcelona, but he never got the chance to manage one of the big six in the Premier League.

He had a good spell managing in the Premier League as he led Southampton into Europe twice, despite having to deal with a number of their best players leaving, and had a good first season at Everton as he guided them to a 7th placed finish in 2017.

His time at Goodison didn't end well though as he was sacked a few months into the following season following a poor start off the back of spending a lot of money in the summer.

3. Eddie Howe

Howe is the only manager on this list who is still managing and he could still manage one of the big six clubs in the future.

He's worked absolute wonders since he's been at Newcastle as he's taken them from being relegation candidates to European contenders. He also recently ended Newcastle's long wait for trophy by winning the Carabao Cup this season.

Before Newcastle he did a great job at Bournemouth who he led through the lower leagues and established them as a Premier League club until their relegation in 2020.

2. Martin O'Neill

O'Neill turned Aston Villa into consistent European contenders as he led Villa into Europe for three straight seasons between 2008 and 2010.

His Villa team looked strong in all areas and they were arguably the best team outside the top four with players like Gabby Agbonlahor, John Carew, Ashley Young and Stiliyan Petrov in their side.

But despite doing as well as he did at Villa, he was never given the chance to manage any of the big six clubs. He could've managed at least either Man City or Spurs as they were not the clubs they are today at the time O'Neill was at Villa.

1. Sir Bobby Robson

There was only one winner of this top 10 and it had to be the one and only, Sir Bobby Robson.

He managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe during his managerial career including Barcelona and he also led England to a World Cup semi final in 1990. But he never managed any of the big six clubs in the Premier League.

Newcastle was the only club he managed in the Premier League and during his six season spell at St James' Park, he finished in the top four twice in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

He could've managed any of the big six apart from Man United who were never going to part ways with Alex Ferguson.

MY TOP 10:

1. Sir Bobby Robson

2. Martin O'Neill

3. Eddie Howe

4. Ronald Koeman

5. Alan Pardew

6. Roberto Martinez

7. Sean Dyche

8. Sam Allardyce

9. Alan Curbishley

10. Steve Bruce