Diego Maradona, Paul Gascoigne and the top 10 great players who made lousy managers

By Steve Anglesey in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:37 10/09/09

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Maradona was arguably the greatest player ever to grace a football pitch but, let's face it, he's a lousy manager. With the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez to choose from, being boss of Argentina is hardly the most difficult job in the world but our old friend Diego seems to be making a pig's ear of it .

However, Maradona can relax in the knowledge that he is not the only former great who has struggled to cut it as a manager, as MirrorFootball's Mike Hyneman guides you through ten other playing legends who have failed to take the dugout by storm...

10) Ruud Gullit
A former World Player of the Year, Gullit made a promising start to his managerial career by leading Chelsea to FA Cup glory in 1997. But, unfortunately for the Dutchman, it was all downhill from then on as less than a year later he fell out with the board and departed Stamford Bridge. He pitched up at Newcastle soon after but another fallout, this time with Toon idol Alan Shearer, saw him on his way out of St James' Park. Since then Gullit has had similarly brief, unsavoury experiences in charge of Feyenoord and LA Galaxy.

9) Alan Ball
Ball's managerial career will forever be remembered for a disastrous spell in charge of Manchester City. Having sold Paul Walsh to Portsmouth in exchange for Gerry Creaney, Ball's shot-shy team lost eight of their opening 10 games of the 1995-96 season and were eventually relegated to the First Division after seven consecutive years in the top-flight. Although the board did keep faith in Ball, he resigned just three games into the following season.

8) Gheorghe Hagi
The Romanian legend enjoyed a glittering playing career, achieving the rare feat of turning out for both Real Madrid and Barcelona. But his managerial career has been far from a success story since he took charge of the Romanian national team in 2001, with failure to qualify for the World Cup costing him his job. Since then Hagi has had miserable spells as boss of Turkish First Division outfit Bursaspor and Romanian club sides Timisoara and Steaua Bucharest.

7) Ossie Ardiles
A former White Hart Lane legend during his playing days, Ardiles was not quite the same success story second time around. After returning to manage the club in 1993, Ardiles' attack-minded tactics were a disaster and meant Spurs could only finish a miserable 15th in his first season in charge. It was no surprise when the Argentinian was shown the door a few months into the following season, with Tottenham again languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League. Since then Ardiles has had little joy as a manager with a host of clubs around the world.

6) Michel Platini
After being appointed boss of the French national team for whom he had starred during his playing days, Platini enjoyed a promising start to life in the dugout, leading his team to eight successive European Championship qualifying wins. But his early achievements were undone when France were eliminated from the first round of the 1992 tournament and Platini was soon on his way. It would prove to be his first and last managerial role.

5) David Platt
The former England captain was given his first shot at management by Sampdoria in 1998 and endured a colourful period in charge, with other clubs expressing fury that Platt did not have the appropriate coaching qualifications. He resigned barely a year into the job, shortly before Sampdoria were relegated to Serie B. Undeterred, Platt returned to the dugout in 1999 with Nottingham Forest, but saw his tenure marred by disagreements with senior players and failure to mount a promotion challenge. He later took charge of the England Under-21 side, which again ended without success.

4) Hristo Stoichkov
The one-time Barcelona star was appointed manager of Bulgaria in the wake of Plamen Markov's resignation in the summer of 2004. His rein got off to a terrible start with failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup and it soon got even worse, with reports of feuding with star players coupled with more disappointing results forcing Stoichkov to resign in 2007. He later had a short, disastrous spell in charge of Celta Vigo and can now be seen in the dugout of South African club side Mamelodi Sundowns.

3) Lothar Matthaus
The former Germany star was handed the unenviable task of turning Hungary back into a footballing superpower in 2003, despite the fact he had been dismissed by Rapid Vienna in 2002 after guiding them to their lowest-ever league position. Perhaps not surprisingly then, his time as manager of Hungary was also a disappointment with murmurs of discontent and a string of poor results ending with failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals. Matthaus left the post in 2005 and has since gone on to manage Hungarian side Red Bull Salzburg and Israeli outfit Maccabi Netanya - and been sacked by both.

2) Paul Gascoigne
After Gazza hung up his boots in 2004, nobody ever believed the most maverick English footballer of his generation was cut out for management. Except of course Kettering Town chairman Imraan Ladak. Unsurprisingly, Gazza's tenure was brief, 39 days to be exact, with the former England star's alcohol problems blamed for his sacking.

1) Tony Adams
The former Arsenal and England captain was appointed manager of Wycombe Wanderers in November 2003, but was unable to save the club from relegation to League Two. He resigned a year later, citing personal reasons, but was given a second crack at management by Portsmouth in October 2008. A few months later though and Adams was sacked, after picking up just 10 points from his 16 games in charge.

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