Love is in the air for Valentine’s Day and so MaestroFC takes a look at some of the best relationships in football where a player and manager have ‘hooked up’ multiple times often following them around the globe to rekindle a perfect match.
Clubs (West Ham, Portsmouth & Tottenham)
It’s hard to think of a Harry Redknapp side which didn’t include Jermaine Defoe. The wheeler dealer known for transfer deadline days and more recently being the king of the jungle on I’m a celeb inherited a young Defoe at West Ham in 1999 and even sent him out of loan to his former managerial side Bournemouth.
Before Defoe could return Redknapp had moved on to a different role but the pair were to be reunited at Portsmouth in 2008 and then a year later in his next managerial role at Tottenham.
Redknapp even tried to sign Defoe from Toronto FC whilst he was manager of QPR but Defoe’s current club were unwilling to let the pair reunite again whilst the MLS season was still ongoing.
Harry is no stranger to resigning players though and also signed Peter Crouch 3 times at Southampton, Portsmouth & Tottenham as well as Nico Kranjcar, the Croatian, at Portsmouth Tottenham and then QPR on loan.
Clubs (Bury, Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers, Leeds United, Rotherham)
The goalkeepers position has always been a difficult one to fill so when you’re set on someone you can trust you might as well stick to them. That’s what Neil Warnock did with Ireland internation Paddy Kenny.
The goalkeeper played for Warnock at Bury, Sheffield United, Queens Park Rangers & Leeds United all in a row before a couple of seasons apart they reunited at Rotherham although Paddy didn’t feature for the Millers.
Clubs (Everton & Man United)
This pair are often held up as the moment Manchester United began their downfall to the edges of the Premier League ‘Big Six’ but it started out well for the two when Moyes, at Everton, signed Fellaini from Standard Liege in 2008. Fellaini isn’t your typical footballer but offered a physicality, elbows and possibly the most efficient chest control under pressure from a long ball known to man. He was perfect for Everton and Moyes who enjoyed relative success in charge of Everton. In 2013 however Moyes took over from Sir Alex Ferguson and Marouanne quickly followed as his first signing. To United fans this was a sign that the club was going in a different direction and towards the end of a poor first season Moyes was sacked leaving Fellaini behind to a number of other managers who didn’t quite know how to use him at Old Trafford.
To be fair to Fellaini, albeit in a different style to the class of ’92 he did get 12 goals in his 100+ appearances and was often used a change of gameplan which United are missing so obviously now. The two couldn’t be much further away at the minute with Moyes managing West Ham for a second time and Fellaini playing in China.
Clubs (Bolton & West Ham)
If you think players who are associated with Big Sam then Kevin Nolan can’t be too far down on that list. Creating a prolific partnership alongside Kevin Davies up front for Bolton he is one of Bolton’s most memorable Premiership players alongside the foreign contingent of Okocha, Campo, Stelios & Anelka. Both Allardyce and Nolan’s paths also took a route up to St James’ Park however they were at Newcastle at separate times but they were reunited at West Ham where 15 days into Allardyce’s reign at the Hammers he purchased Nolan from the Magpies.
Clubs (AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma & Russia)
The former England manager has a more unique story with fellow Italian Christian Panucci. The pair first met at AC Milan and then when Capello moved to become Real Madrid coach he pursued Panucci who became the first Italian to play in the Spanish League. Capello only managed Real Madrid for one season and so left Panucci behind but they were reunited at Roma where Capello once again purchased the Italian defender.
That was where the story ended for the player / manager relationship however in 2012 when Capello became Russia national team manager post England role he looked to Panucci again but this time as his assistant manager.
Clubs (AZ, Feyenoord & Southampton)
It’s fair to say that Koeman is a big recent fan of Graziano Pelle. Having become manager of AZ Alkmaar in 2009 he inherited Pelle however Koeman would only last 16 games before being sacked. Fast forward to his next managerial job in 2011 for Feyenoord Koeman at least waited until he brought in Pelle, who was by that time at Parma, by bringing him first on loan in 2012 and then permanently the following season. The pair then came to the UK in 2014 when Koeman was named the manager of Southampton. Pelle had an excellent start with the club and ended up scoring 23 goals in 60+ appearances. The pair both went their separate ways in 2016 when Koeman moved on to Everton and although Pelle was again linked with the Dutchman’s club he now plays in the Chinese Super League.
Clubs (Porto, Chelsea & Real Madrid)
The Portuguese pair have linked up on three separate occasions. Carvalho was already part of the Porto team joining as early as 1996 and was joined by the charismatic manager in 2002 winning both the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. The special one was by that point the hottest managerial target in the world and moved to Chelsea in 2004 and was quickly followed across the channel by Carvalho. Although Mourinho left Chelsea (the first time) in 2007 Carvalho stayed behind and it was only in 2010 when Mourinho made his next high profile move, to Real Madrid, that he purchased the Portuguese defender again to link up for a third time.
Carvalho is currently an assistant manager for Marseille and so you never know. They could follow in Capello and Panucci’s steps of also linking up in the managerial world.
This one isn’t quite the same as the manager/player links which have come before. Maybe had Sir Alex Ferguson managed more clubs after Manchester United there may have been a couple of players (those who were not retired) he would have re-signed. But it is remarkable how many managers have been managed by the great man himself. Here is a list of some of the examples:
Viv Anderson, Michael Appleton, Henning Berg, Clayton Blackmore, Laurent Blanc, Steve Bruce, Chris Casper, Peter Davenport, Simon Davies, Darren Ferguson, Ryan Giggs, Gabriel Heinze, Mark Hughes, Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis, Roy Keane, Henrik Larsson, Gary Neville, Paul Parker, Mike Phelan, Bryan Robson, Mark Robins, Teddy Sheringham, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Frank Stapleton, Gordon Strachan, Paul Scholes.
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