The Premier League’s 10 best-dressed managers

The English Premier League does not only boast of some of the world’s best footballers. It also parades some the greatest – and best-paid – managers. But who among this elite team of managers rank among the best dressed?

Why do they even wear suits when they are overseeing a sport where players end up very dirty and sweaty after just one and a half hours?

According to new research by scientists at the University of Portsmouth, the clothing that coaches wear can have a direct effect on the players’ perceptions of his ability.

Dr. Richard Thelwell, who headed the research, said that managers who wear suits on match days and tracksuits on training days are more likely to get the best out of their teams.

 “In our study, coaches wearing a suit were perceived as being more strategically competent than those wearing sporting attire,” he said.
 “However, when wearing sporting attire, they were perceived to be more technically competent than those in a suit.”

Because the suits are actually work clothes, many managers don’t really go for designer suits from Saville Row. However, a few managers have shown that they are men of style and have taken this opportunity to make fashion statements on and off the field.

The list would have been a lot more exciting if the debonair Roberto Mancini, suave Andre Villas-Boas and urbane Roberto Martinez were still managing Premier League teams. But, as they say, you can’t have it all.
 

So, here are the Premiership’s 10 best-dressed managers – according to this blog.




1. Pep Guardiola – Manchester City

Guardiola  Picture: GQ.com

Guardiola’s perfectly cut slim suits and his trademark skinny tie are as sexy as the football his teams play. The Spaniard’s dressing also epitomizes his sleek style on the football field. He is trendy and stylish and his suits fit him like a glove. He dresses with effortless cool.

Last year the 45-year-old signed a four-year personal endorsement deal with Gore-Tex, a company renowned for making comfortable and durable outdoor clothing.

For the duration of the deal, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss will appear in print and online advertisements as Gore-Tex carries out a global promotional campaign for its windproof and waterproof jackets and shoes.

Guardiola is also a brand ambassador for global sports brand Adidas, a testimony to his appeal.

2. Jose Mourinho – Manchester United

Mourinho   Picture: mainlinemenswear.com

Mourinho can often be seen sporting Armani, Ermenegildo Zegna and Hugo Boss designs. Little wonder, he has coached teams in some of the world’s fashion capitals – Milan, Madrid and London.

Manchester United’s recent bad run has made the “Special One” ditch his suits for more casual clothes in the dugout.

However, the Portuguese remains one of the Premier League’s more stylish managers. His endorsement of huge brands like Hublot watches, Jaguar, BT Sport, Adidas, Atlantis Hotels, Lipton Tea and EA Sports is no fluke.

Recently he also signed a two-year deal with Heineken worth £4 million. This huge portfolio of endorsements earn him around £10 million a year on top of his £12 million salary. That effectively makes him the highest paid manager in the world. He doesn’t have an excuse not to dress well.




  

3. Mark Hughes – Stoke City

Hughes    Picture: Daily Mail

Hughes, wherever he is, always looks sharp. He constantly appears in the dugout in well-tailored suits and brilliant striped ties. From his days as manager of Blackburn Rovers, the 52-year-old Welshman has always appeared on the touchline looking like a fashion model.


The former Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona player never has a hair out of place, even when Stoke is going through a rough patch – which happens a lot.
 Hughes, who won a truckload of medals as a player, was the first player to win the PFA Player of the Year twice (1989 and 1991). However, Sparky hasn’t won any major trophy yet as a manager. If only there was a prize for best-dressed manager!

4. Arsene Wenger – Arsenal

Wenger   Picture: Daily Mail

When he is not struggling with the zip of his over-sized overcoat, Wenger, Arsenal’s longest serving manager, can appear rather dashing. At 67 he still looks fit and trim, making his suits sit perfectly on his athletic body.


Those who mock the Frenchman’s frequent struggles with his zip may not know that he is actually a man of style. When he was featured on the cover of L’Equipe’s Sport & Style supplement there were gasps of delight from friends and foes alike.

Wenger also showed his class by introducing up-market Lanvin suits to Arsenal’s first team players. The outfit is slim-fit double-cuffed white poplin shirts, Arsenal-red ties, dark navy cardigans and shiny black derby shoes.

This, says The Telegraph, makes Arsenal “by far and away the best dressed team in Britain.”

That’s the same style the Professor wears on match days. But he really needs to ditch that overcoat.

5. David Moyes – Sunderland

Moyes   Picture: Daily Mail

The 53-year-old manager is under enormous pressure as his bottom-of-the-league team struggles. But that has not affected his dressing.

The former Everton and Manchester United manager always looks like he’s going to a business meeting and not overseeing a struggling Premier League team. The personification of cool, he manages to look unfazed as his hapless team loses match after match.

If only Moyes could get his team to play as well as he dresses, Sunderland would be way up the Premier League table.






6. Alan Pardew – Crystal Palace

Pardew   Picture: The Sun

Pardew is always impeccably dressed and looks like a perfect gentleman. His slim six-foot frame makes clothes sit on him comfortably and sophisticatedly. But as they say, the hood dies not make the monk. The 55-year-old Englishman is feisty and controversial.

Pardew, who was described as “a dangerous and distant animal” by the BBC in 2003, has been involved in several spats with fellow managers, match officials and even opposing players. Last season he called then Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini “a f*king in old c*nt.”

In 2014 the FA fined him a whopping £100,000 for head-butting a Hull City player. After all the skirmishes, the gentleman in him comes out again and he usually apologises for his misdemenours.

As manager of Newcastle, he won both the Premier League Manager of the Season and the LMA Manager of the Year in the 2011-12 season. He can easily win the best-dressed English manager. After all, he is the highest ranked manager from England in the Premier League.


7. Slaven Bilic – West Ham


Bilic    Picture: famousfix.com


Slaven Bilic has a degree in Law but he could easily be mistaken for an actor, courtesy of his piercing eyes and athletic 6ft 2in frame.

Although the 48-year-old Croatian is not particularly trendy, his suits sit rather well on him.

In 2014, the former Everton and West Ham defender graced the cover of GQ, an international monthly magazine known for men’s fashion and style.

On that day he apparently forgot all about football and turned into a fashion model, posing for a photo shoot. The result, to say the least, was fabulous.

 8. Sean Dyche – Burnley

Dyche   Picture: TalkSPORT


If you hear Sean Dyche’s voice without seeing him you would be forgiven for not associating him with top-class dressing. He has the voice of gravel.

But Dyche is far from rugged. He dresses impeccably always. Even when he’s not wearing a jacket, his fitted white shirt and tie make him stand out.

He may have inherited his dress sense from his father who was a management consultant for British Steel Corporation. And he has a passion for good shoes.


“I don’t have an Imelda Marcos obsession,” he told the Lancashire Telegraph, “but I love a good pair of hand-made leather shoes.”

The Englishman, who has guided the club to two promotions to the Premier League in three seasons, says Burnley’s team spirit is based on “old-fashioned values.” However, his dress sense is certainly not old fashioned. After all, he’s just 45, one of the youngest managers in the Premier League.

9. Claudio Ranieri – Leicester 


Ranieri   Picture: Daily Express

Claudio Ranieri is Italian. So he must be a man of style – even if it is subtle.

Last season, Ranieri, a very simple and unassuming man, was promised £1.5 million if he could keep Leicester in the Premier League. But he ended up winning it, getting a £5 million winning bonus instead.

He also created one of the most improbable victories in the history of football, defying bookmakers’ odds of 5000 to 1. Now he has become the most popular man in the city.

While endorsing Leicester-based clothing company Just Hype, he tweeted, “As an Italian man, I love fashion. Give the guys at @justhype a follow, a very Leicester based company.”

The 65-year-old much-travelled Italian made the world sit up and watch his unfancied team win the Premier League. Now if he gives you fashion tips, it’s better you listen. After all, he is Italian. And he is a winner.

10. Tony Pulis – West Bromwich Albion

Pulis   Picture: www.radiojambo.co.ke

I know some people would love to hang me for including baseball cap-wearing and track-suited Tony Pulis in this list. Many actually consider him the worst dressed manager because of his ubiquitous baseball cap.

But you can pardon me for including the West Brom boss in this list. Because when he decides to wear a suit, the 58-year-old grandfather actually looks dapper.

The Welshman has a reputation for achieving results on small budgets. He also has the enviable record of never being relegated as a player, coach or manager. Maybe that’s why he goes for what he is really comfortable in while on the touchline. But admittedly he also looks pretty comfortable in a business suit.

Someone should please advise him to wear it more often.