Up and down the English Football League, younger managers are taking their chance to show what they’re made of.
Kieran McKenna is just 37 and has Ipswich Town flying high in the Championship, whilst the team that beat them to the League One title last season, Plymouth Argyle, are also led by someone under 40 in the form of Steven Schumacher.
In the Premier League, Mikel Arteta, currently the fourth-youngest boss in the English top flight, threatened to usurp former colleague Pep Guardiola in the table last season. On the flip side, the Manchester City boss features among the older bosses in the country’s top four divisions.
Football FanCast takes you through the 15 oldest permanent managers in the Football League right now.
15
Pep Guardiola – Manchester City (52)
The Premier League is where we start, with a sizeable amount of the older managers being in charge of top-flight clubs.
Pep Guardiola features on a lot of lists, but being on one for the oldest managers may come as something of a surprise.
His trophy cabinet as a player and manager is made even more remarkable by the fact he’s been in the managerial game at the top level for 15 years. With Barcelona alone, he won nine La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues when combining his exploits on and off of the field.
This dominance of the sport has continued into his time in Manchester and he finally got over the line in Europe’s elite competition last season, beating Simone Inzaghi’s Inter in the final.
14
Erik ten Hag – Manchester United (53)
Remaining in the same city, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is in his second season at Old Trafford.
United are definitely struggling on all fronts currently, although the external noise and negativity seems to be louder than that within the organisation.
Ten Hag led the Red Devils to EFL Cup success in 2022/23, making light work of Nottingham Forest at the semi-final stage before beating Newcastle United under the Wembley arch, while he nearly made it a cup double only for United to lose to neighbours City in the FA Cup.
Prior to taking over in Manchester, Ten Hag impressed in his home country at the helm of Ajax, winning three Eredivisie titles and leading them to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.
13
Mark Robins – Coventry City (53)
Mark Robins first managed Coventry City in 2012 before quickly being snapped up by Huddersfield Town.
A decade later, the former Manchester United man is in his seventh full season at the helm of the Sky Blues in his second stint with the club.
He quickly endeared himself further to the Coventry faithful upon his return by winning the EFL Trophy in 2016/17, and was then the man to guide them up the football pyramid.
Robins led them to victory in the League Two play-offs in 2018 which saw them reach League One, and a couple of years later won the title in the third tier.
In spite of the stadium issues that Coventry have endured, they remain a very capable Championship team that only just missed out on promotion to the Premier League on penalty kicks at Wembley last year, losing to Luton Town.
12
Phil Parkinson – Wrexham (55)
Phil Parkinson has one of the most exciting jobs in the EFL currently as manager of Wrexham.
He took over in Wales in 2021 having left his previous role with Sunderland the year prior and was the man to drive Wrexham into League Two last term.
Parkinson’s team won the National League title last season ahead of Notts County thanks to a remarkable tally of 111 points. It was one of the highest-quality title races that English football has ever seen, certainly at that level.
Parkinson also previously managed the likes of Colchester United, Bradford City and Bolton Wanderers.
11
Jurgen Klopp – Liverpool (56)
Returning to the Premier League now with Liverpool’s boss Jurgen Klopp, who is now in his mid-50s.
The Reds missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time since the German boss first campaign at Anfield, with many onlookers questioning his ability to continue on Merseyside as a result.
Looking across his wider tenure, he has title wins in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League to show for it.
In Germany, he is a club legend at Mainz having played over 300 times for them and getting the club promoted to the Bundesliga as manager. With Borussia Dortmund, he got to a Champions League final and was able to overcome the juggernaut that is Bayern Munich twice in the battle for the league title, with this success putting him firmly in the shop window for the Liverpool job.
10
Paul Simpson – Carlisle United (57)
Simpson saw out his playing days as player-manager of Carlisle United, where some of his first steps in the dugout saw him achieve remarkable success.
He led the Spireites out of the Conference and won the League Two title in his initial spell, before returning to the club 16 years later to take them out of the fourth tier once again, gaining promotion into League One via the play-offs last summer.
They may be struggling this term thus far, but the Cumbrian club remain all the better for having crossed paths with Simpson.
9
Nigel Clough – Mansfield Town (57)
The Clough name is infamous in English football due to the brilliance of Brian during his time in charge of Nottingham Forest.
Nigel has continued his father’s legacy in the world of management, while playing over 300 times for Forest as a player himself.
The 57-year-old’s first job came with Burton Albion, before leaving for Derby County. A spell at Sheffield United followed, where he led them to the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 2014.
He returned to the Pirelli in 2015 before they parting ways again in 2020. Clough wasn’t out of work for long as he moved on to Mansfield Town, where he is currently doing a very good job in 2023/24 as they push for promotion out of League Two.
8
Ange Postecoglou – Tottenham Hotspur (58)
Ange Postecoglou has had a very positive impact on and off of the field in the Premier League since joining Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.
Spurs fans are particularly content with the man they now have in charge, and his journey in this sport is an interesting one.
He previously managed a number of Australian teams as well as the national team at youth and senior level.
After his tenure with Australia ended in 2017, he moved on to Japan before arriving at Celtic, where he won two SPFL titles in as many seasons.
7
Nigel Adkins – Tranmere Rovers (58)
Nigel Adkins is perhaps best known in the EFL landscape for his time in charge of Southampton and Hull City.
He also had a brief stint with Reading in the Premier League, but that didn’t go particularly well for either party as he led them back into the Championship, and lasted little over 18 months.
In 2021, he was with Charlton Athletic for a short period of time and now finds himself at Prenton Park with Tranmere Rovers.
Adkins joined the club as technical director but became manager in September of this year following the sacking of Ian Dawes.
6
Tony Mowbray – Sunderland (59)
Tony Mowbray played for three teams in his career, all of whom he has gone on to manage.
The trio in question are Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town – with most games both as a player and as a manager coming for Boro.
He never played for Sunderland, but that hasn’t prevented him from excelling whilst at the helm of the Black Cats.
Last year, his Sunderland team lost in the Championship play-off semi-finals to eventual winners Luton Town, and will be looking to go one step further this time around.
What a 60th birthday present that would be!
5
Nigel Pearson – Bristol City (60)
The first of three 60-year-old managers is former Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson.
He orchestrated the Foxes’ famous great escape in the Premier League back in 2014/15, but is perhaps overlooked for this feat due to the exploits of his successor, a certain Claudio Ranieri.
Nowadays, he is in charge of Bristol City and is doing a solid job at Ashton Gate, as the Robins look to build on their position of relative safety in the Championship and push towards the play-offs.
They finished 14th last term, though, so there is still a way to go.
4
David Moyes – West Ham United (60)
David Moyes’ first spell in charge of West Ham United was fine and nothing more, so for him to return to east London and win them a European trophy is quite something.
The Scotsman took them all the way in the UEFA Europa Conference League as Jarrod Bowen scored in the dying embers in Prague to win the cup for the Irons against Fiorentina.
He made his name primarily at Preston North End and would later replace Walter Smith at Everton, where after a narrow relegation escape in his early years, took the Toffees to the Champions League qualifiers in 2004/05. Unfortunately, that’s as close as he got, but did make the quarter-finals with Manchester United.
He also spent time in Spain with Real Sociedad after his Old Trafford sacking, and returned to England to take Sunderland into the Championship before revitalising his career somewhat through his time in east London.
3
Steve Evans – Stevenage (60)
Steve Evans is quite a character and is very capable of rubbing opposition fans up the wrong way.
He is an equally able manager, though, as can be seen from the fact that he got Stevenage promoted out of League Two last term and now has them punching above their weight at the top end of League One.
Prior to taking the job at Broadhall Way, Evans has managed a number of different clubs throughout the footballing pyramid.
It began with Stamford in Lincolnshire in 1994 and has also had spells at Boston United, Crawley Town, Rotherham United, Leeds United, Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Gillingham.
2
John Coleman – Accrington Stanley (61)
John Coleman will be known by some for various interview clips that have gone viral, but to the Accrington Stanley faithful, he is much more than that.
Coleman hasn’t taken charge of anywhere as many clubs as Evans, but that is due to his extended periods with Stanley.
The first stint lasted from 1999 to 2012, before returning in 2014 via spells at Rochdale, Southport and Sligo Rovers. His achievements include taking Accrington out of the fifth and fourth tiers, though they were relegated last term after finishing 23rd in League One.
1
Roy Hodgson – Crystal Palace (76)
There is a significant jump from John Coleman in second to Roy Hodgson in first.
To still be going at 76 is remarkable and his managerial abilities haven’t gone by the wayside, either.
Hodgson has at times been criticised for his potentially outdated tactics, but he has the likes of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise firing on all cylinders in his second spell with Crystal Palace.
Not many people can have managed as many teams as Hodgson – he has been going for nearly half a decade, after all.
Along the way, he has taken charge of Liverpool, Fulham, Inter, England, Finland and the United Arab Emirates to name just a few.
Roy Hodgson is the true embodiment of a journeyman manager.
