Leadership and tactical intelligence will carry players a long way, and it'll set them up well for a transition into the hot seat. But there are far more examples of failed ventures from former greats into management than there are successful ones.
Fortunately though, some of the greatest to have ever played the game have made the jump and replicated - even bettered - the trophy-winning moments that everybody craves from this game. Here's seven of the best examples of great players who made fantastic coaches.
Johan Cruyff
Few
players were as celebrated and, to be honest, as good as Johan Cruyff
in the 1970's. He tallied up buckets of goals for the likes of Ajax and
Barcelona in his heyday, and won eight Dutch titles over two spells with
the former. He also won the Ballon d'Or three times in four years in the early part of that decade.
But
Cruyff managed to translate his on-field skills onto the touchline
later on, and is now considered one of the game's best ever coaches.
Cruyff
managed at both of the aforementioned clubs and set the foundations for
later successes, which are still being felt today - especially in
Catalonia. He
revamped the Barcelona youth academy and implemented his new tactical
system from top to bottom, throughout every age grade and up to the
first team.
We're
all familiar with the successes of the modern Barcelona, and the key to
it has been the core of players taken from their 'La Masia' youth
academy, which was the brainchild of the Dutchman himself. He was quite
the tactician, too, and his influence has strongly rubbed off on top
modern coaches; namely Pep Guardiola.
Kenny Dalglish
Known
affectionately as 'King Kenny' to Liverpool supporters, Kenny Dalglish
is arguably their greatest ever servant. He played for and managed the
Reds to multiple successes, while he also managed to earn a number of
trophies with other clubs - such as boyhood club, Celtic.
Dalglish spearheaded Liverpool's attack through their finest period, winning six Football League First Divisions, two FA Cups, four League Cups and three European Cups,
among other honours. He took the role of player/manager in 1985 and won
three more league crowns before going on to guide Blackburn Rovers to
their solitary Premier League title in 1994/95.
The Scot is still much loved in the game, and went on to manage Newcastle United, Celtic and most recently, Liverpool once more.
Antonio Conte
Italian
national coach Antonio Conte is the first active manager to feature.
While still relatively new to top-level coaching at the age of just 46,
he's already proven himself to be one of the most tactically astute and
clever managers the game has to offer.
He
served Juventus as a player from 1991-2004, where he was often deployed
as an influential box-to-box player. He won five Serie A titles with
the Old Lady during his thirteen year stint, while also lifting the
Champions League trophy in 1996.
In his first three seasons as Juve head coach, he earned three consecutive Italian league titles, and he's set to guide his country into this summer's Euro 2016 competition in France.
Diego Simeone
As Conte ruled the roost in Turin in the 1990's and early 2000's, a
certain Argentinian warrior was making his own name at rival clubs Inter
and Lazio. His name: Diego Simeone.
English football fans may remember his playing days best for that incident
with David Beckham at the 1998 World Cup - where Beckham was sent off
against Simeone's Argentina. But despite his status as resident bad boy,
Simeone was a darn good player. He was tenacious, astute, and strong -
attributes which he also showed in two spells with Atletico Madrid
on either side of his Italian adventure.
He's shown he's able to regenerate his team and keep them successful despite repeated departures of key players, and his team plays in the image of the man himself. Simeone demands effort and respect.
Laurent Blanc
To
football fans of our generation, perhaps the defining image of Laurent
Blanc's playing days is his habit of kissing the bald head of former
Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
Blanc featured 97 times for his country on the international stage, and was part of the famous squad that won their home World Cup in 1998 and the following European Championship two years later. His club career saw him grace the likes of Barcelona, Inter and Manchester United for brief spells, but at his peak he was considered one of the best defenders around.
Blanc is already totting up the coaching honours, winning Ligue 1 with Bordeaux in 2009, while also earning two consecutive French titles with Paris Saint Germain in the last two years. And barring the mother of all collapses, a third one is on its way in 2016. Blanc will continue to be a big name in the coaching game over the next decade.
Carlo Ancelotti
The future manager of Bayern Munich has for the best part of a decade
sealed his status as one of the top three managers in the world, and
Carlo Ancelotti does it in style.
Featuring for the likes of Roma and Milan as a player, Ancelotti won almost everything there was to win at club level. He was a stylish midfielder who made up for what he lacked in a physical sense with excellent technical skills, hard work and great creativity. As a footballer, he has three Serie A titles to his name and two European Cups.
However, his affiliation with the big eared trophy doesn't end there. The Italian is the only manager to have won the UEFA Champions League three times, and he's won league titles in three different countries. Ancelotti is a hugely popular coach who favours attacking football, and he's all set to take on his first taste of the Bundesliga next season.
Pep Guardiola
And
so, to the man Ancelotti is set to replace in Bavaria next summer. Pep
is the modern icon who was profoundly influenced by the coach who
featured at the beginning of this list.
Guardiola
is widely considered as the finest manager in the game today. His
exploits with Barcelona in his first top-level coaching role were
groundbreaking to say the least, and he's played a key role in making
modern greats such as Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi the players they
are today.
Guardiola was hailed as one of the smartest players in the game even in his early first team days with Barcelona. He was key, even at 20, to their trophy-laden spell of the early 1990's, but it's his mind that has brought him to the forefront of modern coaching.
A number of trophies have followed since his introduction to senior management in 2008 in both Spain and Germany. Domestic titles and Champions League crowns aplenty. And rest assured there's more to come from Pep Guardiola, wherever he moves next.
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