8 managers to never win a trophy in English football

Highlights

• While there are plenty of trophies on offer to win, some managers struggle to get over the hump.
• Despite managing hundreds of games, a league triumph or a cup success continues to elude many top bosses.
• GIVEMESPORT now takes a look at eight of the best managers to have never won a trophy in English football.

Trophies are seen by many in football as the ultimate way of judging a football player or manager’s career. They are what the figures in the sport crave the most and the players and managers held in the highest regard in the history of the sport are often some of the most decorated.

However, there have been many great players and managers down the years who never won a major honour in their career. This could be down to many things such as loyalty to a certain club, specialising in other aspects of management rather than competing for accolades or simply just bad luck.

When it comes to bad luck, there are few worse sufferers in Premier League history than Mauricio Pochettino, as the Carabao Cup final defeat his Chelsea team suffered against Liverpool in February 2024 marks the third final the Argentinian has lost on British soil. Given this unfortunate track record, we thought we’d take a look at some of the other most well-regarded managers in the league’s history who never won a trophy.

Ranking factors

These managers have been ranked based on their points-per-match (PPM) record across their managerial career in the Premier League. So join GIVEMESPORT as we look at eight top managers who never won a trophy in English football.

8 Alan Pardew

1.24 PPM – 318 games managed

Alan Pardew has enjoyed an eventful managerial career, having taken charge at multiple Premier League clubs. After spending three seasons in the lower leagues at Reading, he took West Ham into the top flight in 2005 before a brief stint at Charlton Athletic, following his dismissal from Upton Park in December 2006.

After a few years spent outside the top flight, Pardew returned to the Premier League as Newcastle United manager, leading them to an impressive fifth-place finish in 2011/12, before leaving for Crystal Palace in 2015. It was at Selhurst Park that he came closest to tasting glory when he led the Eagles to an FA Cup final in his second season in charge, but they were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United. Pardew also had a short, unsuccessful spell at West Brom during the 2017/2018 season, and has not returned to the Premier League since he was sacked by the Baggies.

7 Sam Allardyce

1.26 PPM – 541 games managed

Sam Allardyce is one of the most iconic managers in Premier League history who has earned a reputation as a survival expert, although his PPM ranking has been significantly lowered by his previous two attempts resulting in failure. Big Sam was first introduced to the Premier League when he led Bolton to promotion in 2001, and consistently had the Trotters punching above their weight before he resigned in 2007 and moved around with Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham over the subsequent years.

In 2015, he pulled off two successful rescue missions in back-to-back seasons with Sunderland and Crystal Palace, either side of a short spell as England manager which ended in disgrace after allegations of malpractice. Allardyce then led Everton to a top-half finish after a disastrous start to the 2017/18 season before enduring the first Premier League relegation of his career with West Brom in 2021, and then again with Leeds United two seasons later.

6 Mark Hughes

1.29 PPM – 467 games managed

After an outstanding playing career spent with the likes of Man United, Chelsea and Barcelona, Mark Hughes quickly settled into management, spending five years as Wales coach and then four years as Blackburn boss. He left Ewood Park for Man City in 2008, but wasn’t given enough of an opportunity to win silverware with the club, lasting only 18 months under the new Abu Dhabi United ownership.

Subsequent short spells with Fulham and QPR followed before Hughes became Stoke City manager in 2013. Hughes spent four-and-a-half years with the Potters, leading them to three ninth-place finishes in a row, but was sacked midway through the 2017/18 season with his side in 18th place. He soon moved on to fellow relegation strugglers Southampton, who he was able to keep up by the skin of their teeth at Stoke’s expense, but he was soon fired by the Saints after a poor start to the following campaign. His only job since has been with League Two outfit Bradford City.

5 Glenn Hoddle

1.31 PPM – 258 games managed

Glenn Hoddle made a name for himself as a player and that name clearly carried weight throughout his career in management which wasn’t quite as spectacular. At the age of 36, he became player-manager of Chelsea, leading them to the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995 and 1996 respectively, at a time when the West London outfit weren’t expected to be challenging for trophies, before landing the England job in 1996.

Hoddle was sacked by the Three Lions in February 1999 after refusing to apologise for comments made about disabled people and returned to club management with Southampton, helping them stay up in the 1999/00 season before taking the Tottenham job the following campaign. Hoddle led Spurs to the League Cup final in 2002, but they were unexpectedly beaten by Blackburn before he was sacked after a dismal start to the 2003/04 season. He would never return to the Premier League.

4 Martin Jol

1.37 PPM – 201 games managed

Martin Jol is the first foreign name on this list and only managed two Premier League clubs, but was still able to make a meaningful impression on the league during that time. The Dutchman arrived in England as Tottenham’s new assistant manager in the summer of 2004, but quickly became the manager following Jacques Santini’s resignation after just 13 games.

He would lead Spurs to back-to-back fifth place finishes, missing out on Champions League qualification on the final day in 2005/06, before he was sacked in October 2007, mere months before the club went on to lift the League Cup with the squad Jol had assembled. After a few years managing in Europe, he returned to the Premier League as Fulham manager in 2011, spending two-and-a-half seasons at Craven Cottage before he was sacked in December 2013 with the Cottagers in the relegation zone.

3 Kevin Keegan

1.55 PPM – 267 games managed

Kevin Keegan is one of the most beloved figures in the history of Newcastle United, after he came so close to delivering them their first top-flight title for 69 years in 1996. Within two years of leading them to promotion to the Premier League in 1993, he had the Magpies 12 points clear at the top midway through the 1995/96 season, but they were eventually caught by Manchester United, after Keegan had directed an infamous rant at United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, saying, ‘I will love it if we beat them! Love it!’

He resigned midway throughout the following season and had brief spells as Fulham and England manager returning to the Premier League as Man City boss in 2001. He announced his retirement in 2005, but returned as Newcastle manager in 2008, only to resign just eight months later after a disagreement over the running of the club.

2 David O’Leary

1.56 PPM – 262 games managed

After a distinguished playing career spent with Arsenal and Leeds, O’Leary was appointed manager of the latter in October 1998 after his boss George Graham joined Tottenham. The Lilywhites spent heavily under chairman Peter Ridsdale and the O’Leary was expected to deliver silverware at Elland Road.

However, despite consistently leading them to finishes in the top five, as well as the Champions League semi-finals in 2001, the Irishman was unable to deliver any trophies and was sacked in the summer of 2002. The following season, he became Aston Villa boss and spent three unremarkable seasons at the club before leaving by mutual consent in the summer of 2006. Besides a brief stint in charge of Al-Ahli in 2010-11, O’Leary never returned to football management.

1 Mauricio Pochettino

1.75 PPM – 281 games managed

Mauricio Pochettino is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the modern Premier League era, with the sixth-highest win percentage in the competition’s history to his name, but has yet to lift a trophy in eight seasons on British soil. The Argentinian was appointed manager of a struggling Southampton team in January 2013 and steered them away from the relegation places before delivering an impressive eighth-placed finish the following season and landing himself the Tottenham job.

In five-and-a-half seasons, Pochettino assembled an outstanding squad at White Hart Lane that was able to challenge for league titles and reach two finals, including the Champions League final in 2019, but always seemed to fall short at the final hurdle. After a slow start to the 2019/20 season, he was fired by chairman Daniel Levy and spent eighteen months at PSG, where he finally won some silverware, before returning to the Premier League to become Chelsea manager in the summer of 2023, and losing his third final on British soil as his team were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final in February 2024.