Former Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle United and England managers all feature, as we take a look at eight British managers that tried their hand at managing outside of England.
Steve McClaren
McClaren moved abroad in a build to rebuild his ruined reputation. He guided Middlesbrough to their first major honour in the club’s history with their League Cup triumph in 2004, as a result the Teessiders entered European cup competition for the first time.
This was enough to convince the FA to offer him the England job where his spell in charge of the national side was nothing short of a disaster. He was famously dubbed the ‘Wally with the Brolly’ after failing to qualify for Euro 2008.
He moved to Holland and took charge of FC Twente in 2008. He led the club to their first and to date, only Eredivisie title in 2010. These exploits got him a job with Wolfsburg in Germany but he failed to last a year in charge before being sacked. He moved back to FC Twente in 2012 where his unable to replicate past glories in his second spell in charge at the club.
He has since managed again in England with Nottingham Forest, two spells with Derby County with a spell with Newcastle United in between.
Steve McClaren
Graeme Souness
The Scotsman moved to Turkish club Galatasary in 1995 after relatively successful managerial spells with Rangers and Liverpool. He won the Turkish Cup and Super cup in his one year tenure.
Despite his success, his time in Turkey did not come without controversy. After beating fierce rivals Fernebache in the cup final, he placed a Galatasaray flag in the centre of the pitch that almost sparked a riot.
He had a short spell in charge at Italian side Torino that lasted just four month before he moved to Portugal. He took over the reigns at Benfica. He experimented with bringing a core group of British players, including Gary Charles and Dean Saunders to name a few, which ultimately failed. His time in charge only lasted a year and a half.
Souness famously criticised Benfica chairman, Vale e Azevedo, and he did not hold back with his opinion. “Vale e Azevedo lies when he looks in the eyes. Be careful, this man is dangerous” Souness claimed. His opinion of Azevedo would prove to be not far from the truth as he went on to serve a prison sentence for fraud.
Roy Hodgson
Hodgson’s managerial career began in Sweden in 1976 and he has since managed a number of different clubs in various countries across mainly Europe. The 69-year-old has managed in Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Norway, UAE and Finland.
In total, Hodgson has won 13 trophies whilst during his spells managing abroad. He has managed various clubs in England including Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom but has failed to win a trophy whilst in charge of an English club.
Hodgson came closest to securing silverware when he guided Fulham to unlikely place in 2010 Uefa Cup final where his side lost in extra-time to Sevilla. The former England boss has been out of work since resigning from his role as the national side’s manager after their disappointing performance in the Euro 2016 tournament.
Roy Hodgson
Terry Venables
After successful spells with London clubs Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers, he swapped England’s capital for Catalonia as he took over the reigns at Barcelona in 1984.
After being recommended to the chairman by Sir Bobby Robson, El Tel embedded an English style of play into the Spanish game. His tactics and in particular his preferred 4-4-2 formation would reap instant reward as they lifted the 1985 Spanish League title. This was Barcelona’s first domestic triumph in 11 years.
Venebles narrowly missed out on winning the European Cup in 1986 to Steaua Bucharest on penalties. He convinced Gary Linekar and Mark Hughes to join him at Camp Nou the same year as he looked to stamp a British influence onto Barcelona’s side.
However Venables was sacked in 1987 after failing to guide the club to any notable silverware since his first season in charge. In his final six months his side lost over two legs to Dundee United in the UEFA Cup.
Sir Bobby Robson
The late Sir Bobby Robson is still held in high regard by everybody associated with the game and heralded as one of the greatest managers of all time.
After guiding his Ipswich Town to European success during a fruitful 13 year spell at Portman Road as well as an eight year reign managing England, Robson moved to Holland in 1990. He won two league titles during his two years in charge of PSV Eindhoven.
After this he went on to manage in Portugal and after a two year spell with Sporting Lisbon without winning a trophy, he won four of them at Porto including two league titles in two years.
He moved to Barcelona and won European manager of the year in 1997 and won the Spanish cup, Spanish super cup and the European Cup Winners’ cup. During his one year in charge at the Camp Nou, he influenced the “Special One” Jose Mourinho to take up a managerial role within the game.
David Moyes
After a largely successful 11-year spell with Everton, the sky seemed to be the limit for Moyes as he was personally selected as replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United by the man himself.
To say that it did not go to plan would be an understatement, dubbed as ‘The Chosen One’ on his arrival, Moyes would leave Old Trafford after just months in charge.
He chose to go abroad and manage La Liga side to rebuild his reputation in November 2014. After initially making a positive impact in Spain, Moyes would be sacked the following season, leaving the side at the wrong end of the La Liga table after a poor start to the 2015-2016 campaign.
Moyes is now managing Sunderland and following their disastrous campaign where relegation is all but guaranteed, his reputation is understandably still in tatters.
Sunderland manager David Moyes
Gary Neville
The Sky Sports pundit and former England assistant manager was appointed as Valencia manager in 2015, which came as a surprise to the vast majority of people. He was given the role until the end of the 2015-2016 season.
Spanish giants Valencia found themselves in the unfamiliar position of languishing in the bottom half of La Liga. Valencia chairman Peter Lin saw Neville as the ideal candidate to steer Valencia away from trouble, despite the former Manchester United defender having no prior managerial experience and not being able to speak Spanish.
Following an embarrassing 7-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona, Neville’s days were numbered at the Mestalla and soon found himself back as a regular fixture on Monday Night Football.
Tony Adams
In what is considered as one of football’s most bizarre moves of late, former Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams was appointed as Granada boss earlier this month.
The Spanish side are currently on the brink of dropping out of La Liga. This is his most high profile job abroad after his only previous managerial experience away from England coming in Azerbaijan with Gabala in 2010, which lasted just one year. He has previously managed Portsmouth but lasted less than six months at the helm at Fratton Park.
Soon after his surprise appointment in Spain, Adams raised more eyebrows as he invited forgotten English players Keiran Richardson and Nigel Reo-Coker to train with his new side. The 50-year-old certainly has his work cut out for him and not many are backing him to steer them away from relegation.
Tony Adams reacts after being presented as new head coach of Granada
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