The Hottest Seat in Toon
Please note that figures are correct up until the end of the 2005/2006 season
Sam Allardyce is the 23rd person to have tried out one
of the hottest seats in football on a permanent basis.
Who can lay claim to be the most successful and who has got a burnt bottom?
Lets examine the stats and find out the truth! The Contenders
Percentage W/D/L - All Competitive Games
In terms of winning games Keegan (56%) is definitely the best, the only manager who won more than half his games. His nearest rivals are George Martin (49%), Bobby Robson (47%) and Duggie Livingstone (50%)
Ossie Ardilles (21%) quickly assumes his place at the bottom of the table with Richard Dinnis (29%) , Bill McGarry and Jackie Charlton (both 31%) for immediate company.
United lost 40% of their games under Ardilles; losing even more were Norman Smith (48%), Richard Dinnis (46%) and Charlie Mitten (44%)
Keegan (24%), Martin (25%) and Robson (28%) lost the least percentage of games.
Ossie's team were also draw specialists (38%) though this was a case of points lost rather than gained . Other draw specialists were Dalglish (28%), Charlton (31%) and Jim Smith (31%); so no surprise there.
The comparatively high position of Roeder (5th) and Souness (7th) is helped considerably by the number of wins gained in those matches against top-notch European sides.
Points Per Game - Domestic Games Only
This table reveals the points per game average for each manager based on three points for a win and one for a draw even when they didn't. Points gained in the Second Division have been treated exactly the same as those gained in the First Division.
This gives a more accurate reflection of the managers' success at the club but as you might expect this view tells roughly the same story.
The top 5 is relatively unchanged; Martin and Livingstone exchanging places due to the fact that Martin lost a much smaller percentage of games and Roeder being replaced by Cox.
The bottom 5 also stays fairly stable also but Jack Charlton moves up due to his significantly lower percentage of defeats. As with Dalglish, Charlton's performance is highlighted by a high percentage of draws.
The biggest movers are Roeder and Souness who plummet down the table once stripped of their Intertoto and UEFA results.
However
Although the stats do provide an indication of the relative merits of each manager they do not take into account extenuating factors; the most important of which would be the finances available to each manager at the time.
Nor do they give any bonuses for actually winning something (only Seymour, Harvey and Livingstone would benefit) or deduct points for getting us relegated.