A few decades ago, Nottingham Forest F.C. in the English Football League, then known as the Super League, yo-yo-ed between the top tier football and the First Division under Brian Clough. We all admired the art of his pottery skills to destroy a club and make it again. The same still happens in South Africa with Jomo Sono's Jomo Cosmos F.C. The motivation of both was different.
When one has top notch players, a massive budget top state of the art facilities at their disposal, the task of winning the championship or trophies is so much easier. There cannot be a better scenario to achieve much.
However, with below average players and a 'get by' budget, it is the ultimate task to save a team from relegation. Starting with low wages and stinking attitude of these players, man-management skills get challenged to the maximum and asking for a performance is like squeezing water from a stone.
Most celebrated managers, Zinedine Zidane, Luiz Enrique, Pep Guardiola, Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte, Carlo Ancelotti, just to name a few, have more than they need at their disposal and (will) hop from one bed of roses to the next. Then, at the other end of the line, there is that endless list of managers scrounging for finances and results, yet they are not recognised.
The 'top managers' success are seasonal, depending on who got the best players and who got a better wage bill for their top earners. With this in mind, there has been a list of perennial saviors in the English Premier League, among them, Tony Pulis and Harry Redknapp, but the ultimate and supreme manager of all time, is Sam Allardyce.
The Big Sam has done everything from pulling a team from the Championship to saving teams from sinking.
Is there any manager elsewhere with a better record.
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