Wednesday 27 May 2015 13:25, UK
Following Jose Mourinho’s award for the Premier League Manager of the Year on Friday, we've taken a look at the contenders for the LMA Manager of the Year.
The accolade, which is handed out after a vote taken by managers throughout the Premier League and Football League, is awarded on Tuesday.
Brendan Rodgers won the award for Liverpool’s title-chasing season last term, but here’s who’s in the frame this time around.
Jose Mourinho may be odds-on for the award but he’s up against the history books, with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger the only previous managers to win both the Premier League title and the LMA award. The ‘Special One’ also led the Blues to Capital One Cup final glory – their first silverware since the 2011/12 FA Cup win – in only his second campaign back at the club. Mourinho has turned Stamford Bridge back into a fortress, with zero defeats and just eight goals conceded in the league, while recruiting Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa to do the business at the other end of the pitch.
The rise of Eddie Howe has been a remarkable and relentless one, leading Bournemouth from the lowest echelons of the Football League to the Premier League in five campaigns. The Cherries snatched the Sky Bet Championship title on the final day to crown a dream campaign, having started the season as 20/1 outsiders, and did so in some style, scoring 98 times. They will now compete in the top tier of the English game for the first time in their history, with Howe’s status a club legend assured at the age of 37.
To say Southampton have surprised a few people this season would be an understatement. Tipped by many to go down following an exodus of first-team regulars, Ronald Koeman stepped up to the plate and transformed the club. During a successful playing career with the likes of Barcelona, Ajax and the Dutch national side, Koeman made a name for himself as a great thinker and a tactician and the 52-year-old has instilled this in a Saints team that has secured a seventh place finish in his first season in charge. Defensively, Southampton had a Premier League record second only to champions Chelsea.
Alan Pardew can't be accused of shirking a challenge. After six years at Newcastle, the former Palace midfielder decided to call time on his spell on Tyneside in favour of a move back to Selhurst Park – the Eagles were in the relegation zone and 6/4 to go down. Palace had won only three times in the Premier League before the 53-year-old confirmed his return to his old stomping ground but his impact was immediate with four wins in his first five matches in charge – three of which were come-from-behind successes. Further back-to-back victories, including the scalp of defending champions Manchester City, ensured Palace's top flight survival in early April and enhanced Pardew's chances of following up his success of 2012 with a second LMA award.
At just 36, Garry Monk appears to have a bright future ahead of him as a manager. The former Swansea captain has guided the club to an eighth-place finish – their highest ever in the Premier League – in only his first full season in charge. Not only was it the Swans’ best performance in a Premier League campaign, but it is so by some distance, with 56 points beating their previous record by nine points. At 12/1, he’s an outsider for the LMA Manager of the Year, but he’s quite rightly ranked in the top-five candidates.
Considering Nigel Pearson was odds-on favourite to be the next managerial casualty in the Premier League as recently as February, his ranking as sixth-favourite in the LMA Manager of the Year odds is a mark of how quickly things can turn around at the lower end of the table. Indeed, his price of 40/1 to win the award might have been even shorter had it not been for a series of ill-disciplined episodes, but guiding the Foxes to safety against the odds sees him in the running as an outsider. Leicester are 1/7 to stay up next year too.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s fine job at Burton Albion has not gone unnoticed by the bookmakers, but the former Chelsea striker is a major long shot for the award at 100/1. Another Football League manager, Steve Cotterill, is the same price as Hasselbaink, while Watford's Slavisa Jokanovic (100/1) is worth an honorary mention, but Eddie Howe (5/4) is by far the Football League’s biggest hope. For the record, on-par performances from Arsene Wenger and Louis van Gaal make the big-name managers 100/1 outsiders also.
