English managers are on the decline and Spanish managers are on the rise.
This is according to an analysis of the nationalities of managers in the English Premier League, the world’s top professional soccer league. Sports publication The Athletic published an article titled “How the nationalities of Premier League managers have changed” on May 25.
“After performing well last season, Gary O’Neill was sacked as Bournemouth manager and his successor was announced as Spaniard Andoni Iraola,” said The Athletic. “This means that there will be more Spanish managers in the Premier League in the 2023-2024 season than English ones.” There are five Spanish managers. Only four are from England. In percentage terms, that’s four out of 20 clubs, or just 20%. This is the lowest percentage since the Premier League’s inception in the 1992-1993 season. In the 2023-2024 season, Enze Postecoglou (Tottenham) will be the first Australian to manage in the Premier League. Since Arsène Wenger, there have been no French managers at all, a number that has dwindled to a trickle. “A lot of Spanish managers are going to make a lot of money in the Premier League,” said The Athletic, “and it’s stylish to have a Premier League with a lot of different nationalities.”
The first time a Spanish manager became a Premier League manager was in the 2004-2005 season. Rafael Benitez led Liverpool. “Until the 1995-1996 season, 안전놀이터 the majority of Premier League managers were from England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland,” says The Athletic, “and 2004-2005 was the first season with more than 10 foreign managers.” Since then, the number of Spanish coaches has gradually increased, reaching seven in the 2022-2023 season. Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), and Unai Emery (Aston Villa). City finished first in the league, Arsenal second, and Aston Villa seventh. A breakdown of the nationalities of Premier League managers last season shows 14 different countries: England, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, the United States, and Wales. Including interim managers, there have been 39 managers who have led a Premier League club for at least one game. Only nine have managed a full season. Eddie Howe
(Newcastle) is the only English manager to lead a full season. Outside of Howe, no other English manager has managed more than 13 games on average.