The recent sacking of Roy Keane as Ipswich manager got me thinking about one of my pet theories. Top players very rarely make top managers.
The one exception to the rule is Kenny Dalglish in his first spell as Liverpool manager and then at Blackburn. It will be interesting to see how he does back in the Anfield hotseat twenty years on. Dalglish apart though, most of the great players of the last twenty-five years who have made the step into the technical area have found success hard to come by.
Glenn Hoddle was let down by his man-management and PR gaffes. Kevin Keegan always seemed to be one hard-to-take result away from falling on his sword. John Barnes made little impact at Celtic and Tranmere. Alan Shearer's brief reign at Newcastle ended in relegation. Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, Peter Shilton, Trevor Francis - the list goes on and on. Mark Hughes has had a steady career in the dug-out without ever really scaling the heights.
The one outstanding player of recent times to be making a decent go of management is Roberto Mancini. His record in Italy was excellent, and his Manchester City side are in with a shout of the Premier League title this year. The next few months will be the real acid test though.
But if top footballers hardly ever make top managers, what sort of people do? Well, the record shows that the great managers of recent times - Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho - wer fairly average during their playing careers. In fact, virtually all of the established Premier League managers - Redknapp, Bruce, Coyle, Pulis, Moyes, McLeish, McCarthy - were solid if unspectacular pros. Certainly not superstars.
So will David Beckham be winning the Manager of the Year trophy in ten years' time? Not very likely. But of course, with Beckham, you just never know.
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