1. Graham Taylor
2. Ray Lewington
3. Aidy Boothroyd
4. Steve Harrison
5. Steve Perryman
6. Glenn Roeder
7. Kenny Jackett
8. Brendan Rodgers
9. Colin Lee
10. Dave Bassett
11. Gianluca Vialli
I've been meaning to do a list like this for ages and with the departure of BR and arrival of MM it seemed as good a time as any. Hopefully you've figured out that the list is in order of best to worst. If not then this probably isn't the blog for you.
The thing that strikes me most is just how hard it is to judge places 2-9. Over the last 30 years we've had one truly amazing manager and then a lot of mediocre ones and two who nearly tore the club apart. But those mediocre ones are all much of a muchness
If you split Graham's two reigns in charge, it goes without saying that he'd be in positions 1 and 2. One would be the first reign and two the second reign. He is like the No.1 single that outsells the rest of the Top 40 put together. His achievements dwarf not only those on the list but also those who managed the club before him.
Yet some dork from up the road questioned why GT is a legend on the WO site today.
Consider Graham achieved a fourth 'tier' championship and promotion from tiers 3 and then 2 (yes, I hate using the word 'tier' but just so everyone understands what we're on about). A League Cup semi final, runners up spot in the top flight (automatic qualification to the group stage of the Champions League by today's standard) followed by four highly respectable mid table finishes. The last 16 of the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup final and the FA Cup Semis. The third tier championship and promotion via the playoffs from the second tier.
Consider all the achievements of the others from 1920 when we joined the Football League. Promoted from the fourth tier, champions of the third tier. FA Cup semis three times. Promoted from the second tier via the playoffs and League Cup semi finalists once. And that's it.
Judging the others achievements against each other is a tricky job.
Ray Lewington is someone I have a lot of time for. From a league point of view he didn't do anything stunning but when you consider the turmoil the club was in following the Vialli/ITV Digital fiascos the man can be considered a saviour. It would've been so easy for us to fall into a spiral of self destruction but through Ray's no nonsense management he not only steered us to safety but also took us on a hugely enjoyable cup run.
Just as the club was getting back on its feet we then had the tragic death of Jimmy Davis. Yet again, Ray acted with supreme professionalism in taking a team that was clearly hurting and wanting the season to finish before it had even begun to safety. How easily and understandably we could have gone down that season.
In his third season he took us on an equally enjoyable League Cup run before Simpson wheeled the axe. I have no doubt that Ray would've steered us to safety in the same way Aidy did but I doubt he would've ever taken us any further than surviving the Championship. But given what the club went through both before and during his reign that is a huge achievement in itself.
Was Aidy a genius for taking a club who were favourites to go down, up to the Premiership via the playoffs? Or was he just a rookie manager who got lucky and had one good season in charge and a fairly easy draw to the FA Cup semis? I think we'll only be able to judge that one when he gets another job, although I can't imagine Swansea wanting to go from beautiful football to hoofball.
Did Steve Harrison do well to take the team devastated by Dave Bassett's wrecking ball style of management, up into the playoffs only to go out on an away goals rule that has now been scrapped? Or was he just able to ride on the remaining bits of Taylor success for that season before it all went wrong? Like Aidy its a difficult one to call.
Perryman did okay before leaving us for White Hart Lane. He avoided relegation after the Colin Lee disaster and had memorable wins in his third season in charge against Cantona's Leeds in the League Cup and Newcastle in the league. Glenn Roeder's reign was similarly okay. The high points were the 4-3 win against Bolton, an entertaining two legged League Cup tie with Spurs and finishing a decent 7th the season before he got the boot.
Kenny Jackett could have been great. He was just unfortunate that during his time in charge there was a much larger man looming over him who, fairly obviously, wasn't completely done with football management. It was only a question of when rather than if Taylor would take back full command. I think Kenny's day still might come. I certainly hope so. You wouldn't wish Millwall on him forever.
Which brings us to Buck. Difficult to place him at all really. I've ignored the gut reaction of placing him down in the hall of shame as that would be all about his departure rather than what he did when in charge. But similarly part of the reason its difficult to place him is because his reign was so brief. Its full of contradictions. He started badly but learnt quickly. He led us to an impressive 13th yet we only achieved safety after our 45th game. He used the loan market well yet got us Bridcutt and Rose. So he is in the middle. The John Major of recent Watford managers. In our history he will only merit a sentence and will always be remembered more for leaving rather than anything he actually did as our boss.
Colin Lee was a poor choice who never felt right and was never going to work. Too much at too early a stage in his coaching career. Steered us to safety after taking over from Harrison but barely won a game after that.
That just leaves the real villains of the last 30 years. Bassett only escapes finishing bottom because he didn't manage a whole season and didn't leave us as financially screwed as Gianluca. Maybe this is a tad unfair as the Italian probably did not foresee the collapse of ITV Digital but at the same time he did call us the Manchester United of the division so clearly had no financial sense and not much of a footballing one either.
Where will Malky fit into the table? I'm not going to try and predict exactly where but a mate emailed me today to ask me how I thought MM would do. I replied that I thought he would be with us for three comfortable but not sensational Championship seasons. As long as we don't look seriously in trouble of going down we'll stick with him but eventually will let him go by mutual consent with the excuse being something like 'he's taken us as far as he can.' So I guess he'll slot in somewhere between numbers 2 and 9.
