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Decipher Soccer Awards 2009 : The Managers of the Year 2009

Published by Ian John on December 29, 2009

2009 has seen some of the best managers in the world pitting themselves against each other on a regular basis. For the next three days we are going to look at the best managers of 2009 in four categories. There is an award for the best manager outside of the EPL, the award for best manager in the EPL in 2009, an award for best international club manager and an award for the best international team manager.

Manager of the Year 2009 : Managers outside of the Premier League : Billy Davies (Nottingham Forest)
Billy Davies last foray into the Premier League with Derby County was something of a disaster and he was sacked midway through Derby’s desperately poor season. However he found a job at Nottingham Forest in League one, led them to promotion last season and now his side sit in the play off positions in the Championship and look likely to mount a serious challenge to regain their Premier League status. With a brand new stadium on the horizon and an exciting young squad packed with talented players, Davies looks like he could be set to lead Forest back into the top flight. A very good manager and one well deserving of the award.

Manager of the Year 2009 : Premier League Club Managers : Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspurs)
Fans of Sir Alex, Carlo and Arsene may bristle, but there’s no doubting the impact Harry Redknapp has had at Spurs since taking over. When he did the club were bottom of the table and hadn’t won a game all season long. His first game in charge saw them defeat Liverpool and the club has not looked back since. Their form over the latter half of the season was excellent and certainly worthy of a place in the top six. As a result Spurs were safe long before the final few weeks of the season. The new season has seen them confirm that level of consistency and the club now has real aspirations of finishing in the top four. Not a bad twelve months work when you consider they were favourites for relegation not twelve months ago.

Manager of the Year 2009 : International Club Managers : Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
This is probably the easiest award ever to hand out. When you take over as manager of the club you have played for and supported since you were a small child, going from ballboy, junior player, senior player, international and then onto coaching and eventually management, there is a lot of pressure on you. When that club is Barcelona, the pressure is ten times that of any other major club. So when you come in and lead your team to win every single trophy that they entered for in 2009 and in doing so, played some of the most open, attractive football the world has seen in many years, then you fully deserve the accolades. How can Guardiola top 2009? Simple, do it again in 2010. An incredible season, perhaps a once in a lifetime achievement.

Manager of the Year 2009 : International Team Managers : Bob Bradley (United States)
What?!?!? I hear you shriek. Not Dunga? Not Fabio Cappello? Not the obvious choice of Vicente Del Bosque? No. Not for me. Bob Bradley’s US team have qualified again for the finals beating Mexico to finish top of their CONCACAF qualifying group, not only that during the rehearsal for the finals in the 2009 intercontinental championships, the US defeated Egypt and then Spain to reach the final, where they held a 2-0 lead over Brazil. Had they managed to hang on, it would have been the surprise result of the decade. But it does underline the quality that the US team now possesses and it is a warning to England not to underestimate them as group opponents in the World Cup next summer.

Image Courtesy of ***Hobbes8Calvin*** at Flickr.com

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