End of Season Review: Manager of the Year

Timi Iwayemi: Garry Monk (SWANSEA) – Monk is 36 years old, the same age as league legend Frank Lampard and was truly a rookie manager at the beginning of the season. He had a lot to prove transitioning from popular player to club manager and he thrived securing a record points total for the club. The Welsh side played intelligent, free flowing football on the way to an 8th place finish scoring league doubles over Arsenal and Manchester United. Even the loss of Wilfried Bony in January was unable to slow down Monk and his side as they continued to put out impressive performances.

Alternative Choices: Ronald Koeman (Southampton), Alan Pardew (Newcastle/Crystal Palace), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Nigel Pearson (Leicester)

Oluwamayowa Idowu: Another award with a lot of credible candidates. Alan Pardew won 10 in 18 games at Crystal Palace taking them to a top half finish after the mind numbing period that was Neil Warnock’s tenure. Nigel Pearson’s douchey persona belies the feat in taking Leicester from the foot of table where they had spent most of their time this season to an impressive escape secured weeks before the league ran its course. Gary Monk’s Swansea hit their Premier League record points playing decent football and taking some big scalps despite the loss of Wilfried Bony. I’ll temper that by suggesting that Swansea are not the best club to use as yardstick to judge managers as all their managers tend to look good (Roberto Martinez, Paolo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup). It’s possible that the ethic and philosophy fostered by Chairman/Director of Football and fan, Huw Jennings makes managers looks better than they actually are. For that reason, I’ll go with Ronald Koeman whose Southampton side surpassed expectations with a mish mash of homegrown players, relatively cheap imports and defensive solidity.

Michael Famoroti:  Alan Pardew. He gets extra points for orchestrating the epic failure that was Gerrard’s final game at Anfield (for now). But Pardew gets the nod here because 1) He effectively saved both Palace AND Newcastle from relegation 2) He did the former by unleashing Bolasie and Puncheon on frightened defences 3) He justified his humongous ego (even for a football manager) for the first time since the 11/12 season. Well played Guv’nor.

Somto Mbah: Ronald Koeman (SOUTHAMPTON)

The 2014 summer window for Southampton will surely rank up there as one of the worst in football history. Out went their manager Mauricio Pocchettino, Luke Shaw, Jay Rodriguez their top goalscorer from the previous season, Dejan Lovren an inspiration defensive addition from the previous season too, Rickie Lambert who had scored all the goals that propelled them to the Premier League since the club was languishing in the lower reaches of League Two, and Adam Lallana their most creative player and club captain. Even Nicola Cortese, the chairman left during the previous season. He was the reason the club did not run into administration a few years back.

The reason why Southampton was not in a relegation battle this year after the most disappointing of summers, the reason why the Saints are playing European football next year is because of Ronald Koeman. He made shrewd signings and managed the club’s wage budget excellently. Southampton’s wage bill is 55 million GBP, 16th in the league and lower than Newcastle, relegated QPR, Sunderland and Aston Villa, who all of course finished behind the Saints. The likes of Dusan Tadic, Graziano Pelle, Sadio Mane, Fraser Forster and Toby Alderweireld made an instant impact in England propelling the Saints to a club PL high of 7th position. They also conceded a league-leading low 33 goals. They allowed their opponents little space when they were on the ball with a stingy defence built around Jose Fonte, Ryan Bertrand and Nathaniel Clyne while the likes of Tadic, Mane pulled strings in attack. I mean, Liverpool must feel very short-changed after a season like the one they had.

Ronald Koeman has to take credit for pushing a club that was very low in morale in the summer to where they are now, keeping their fans more than happy in the process.

Dami Etomi: Jose Mourinho. He stated on his return to Chelsea in 2013 that his first year objective was getting into the top four. The year after, he stated his team would challenge for the premier league and this is exactly what they have done. Chelsea led the league from day one and eventually won the premier league trophy with ease. Many criticize him for his pragmatic approach but my question to them is if it is so easy to do, then why don’t more managers do it as successfully as he does? Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Hazard, Fabregas, Willian and Costa link up this season.

His man-management is second to none, as is his ability to set his team out in an exact way in order to get a specific result. He will however be desperate to improve on an extremely disappointing Champions League campaign.