The Premier League Manager of the Season is an annual

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

award presented to managers in England. It recognises the most outstanding manager in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

each season. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the league's sponsors and is announced in the second or third week of May. The award was established during the 1993–94 season by then-league title sponsor Carling. For sponsorship purposes, it was called the Carling Manager of the Year from 1994 to 2001, the

Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylized as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. , Barclays had over ten million customers in the United Kingdom. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June 1966, initially as a charge card, but followi ...

Manager of the Year from 2001 to 2004, and since 2004 known as the

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

Manager of the Season. In 1994, the inaugural Manager of the Season award was given to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

manager Sir Alex Ferguson for retaining the league championship. The current holder of the award is

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

manager

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing ...

. The most awards won by a single manager is eleven, achieved by Sir Alex Ferguson between 1994 and his retirement in 2013. He accounted for more than half of the awards in that period of time. In 1998

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

became the first non-British manager to win the award, and received it on two further occasions with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the Britis ...

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the ...

and Jürgen Klopp are the only managers other than Sir Alex Ferguson and Wenger to have won the award on more than on one occasion, with the two first being the only managers other than Ferguson to win the award in consecutive seasons. Five managers have won the award without winning the Premier League trophy in the same season, reflecting the weight of their achievements:

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

in 2000–01, having guided

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

to fifth place in the league, after only securing the club's promotion from the First Division the previous season;

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In h ...

in 2009–10, for steering

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

to a top-four finish for the first time in twenty years,

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final ...

in 2011–12, having guided

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

to their highest position in nine years,

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...

in 2013–14, for steering

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

from bottom of the league in November to an 11th-place finish, and

in 2021–22, after finishing second with

in a tight battle for the title, finishing just one point off the top despite being 14 points behind in January.

History

The Premier League was formed in 1992, when the members of the First Division resigned from

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. These clubs set up a new commercially independent league that negotiated its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The inaugural season had no sponsor until Carling agreed to a four-year £12 million deal that started the following season. That same season, Carling introduced the Manager of the Month and Manager of the Season awards, in addition to the existing

manager of the year award In Major League Baseball, the Manager of the Year Award is an honor given annually since 1983 to two outstanding managers, one each in the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner is voted on by 30 members of the Baseball Writ ...

presented by the

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 3045 as ...

. The first Manager of the Season award was presented to Sir Alex Ferguson after winning the Premier League with Manchester United for the second consecutive season. Kenny Dalglish was awarded the accolade in the 1994–95 season, having guided

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

to their first league title in 81 years. Despite losing to Liverpool on the final matchday, Blackburn secured the championship when Manchester United failed to beat

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

the same day. Manchester United regained the Premier League the following season, resisting

's threat, and successfully retained the championship in 1996–97, ensuring that Ferguson became the first manager to win two consecutive awards. Arsene Wenger

Arsène Wenger was the first non–British manager to receive the Manager of the Season award, having led Arsenal to the top of the Premier League in 1997–98, his first full season at the club. This achievement was significant given that Arsenal were, at one stage, 12 points behind leaders Manchester United. After a climactic finish to the 1998–99 season, Sir Alex Ferguson was presented with his fifth managerial award for winning the Premier League with Manchester United. The club beat

on the last matchday to secure their fifth championship in seven years, and in the following week completed a treble of trophies consisting of the domestic league,

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

and

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Ferguson received the accolade again in 1999–2000, as Manchester United finished 18 points above second-placed Arsenal. Ipswich Town manager George Burley was the winner in 2000–01, the first time the award did not go to a league-winning manager. Ipswich Town, who won promotion to the Premier League from the First Division in the previous season, finished fifth and qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. Burley triumphed over Sir Alex Ferguson, who led Manchester United to their third consecutive championship title, and

manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, U ...

, who guided his team to three trophies and a berth in the Champions League. Wenger was named the Manager of the Season for 2001–02 after guiding Arsenal to thirteen consecutive wins towards the end of the season – a run which ensured the club regained the Premier League trophy. For winning his eighth Premier League title with Manchester United, Ferguson was given the award in the 2002–03 season. Wenger was the outstanding winner for the award in 2003–04 as he managed Arsenal to an unprecedented achievement of winning the league without a single defeat. Reflecting on Wenger's accomplishment, a Barclaycard Awards Panel spokesperson said "Arsène Wenger is a very worthy recipient of this accolade and has sent his team into the history books. Arsenal have played exciting attacking football throughout the season and finishing it unbeaten is a feat that may not be repeated for another 100 years." Chelsea manager José Mourinho was chosen as the recipient for the 2004–05 season for taking the club to its first league championship in 50 years. Chelsea finished the season with a league-record 95 points, 12 points ahead of runners-up Arsenal, scoring 72 goals and conceding 15 in the process. Mourinho won the award a second successive time the following season – the first foreign manager to do so – as Chelsea won their second Premier League title. Sir Alex Ferguson collected the award for the 2006–07, 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons, in a period when Manchester United regained the domestic title after a four-year drought and retained the trophy for a further two years. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was presented with the award at the end of the 2009–10 season, having guided the club to fourth position and a spot in the following season's Champions League at the expense of

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. In May 2011, Sir Alex Ferguson picked up his tenth Manager of the Season award for leading Manchester United to a record 19th league title. In May 2012,

won his first Manager of the Season award after guiding

to their highest position in nine years. In May 2013, Sir Alex Ferguson picked up his eleventh Manager of the Season award for leading Manchester United to a record 20th league title.

became the first Welsh recipient of the award in May 2014, for guiding

from bottom place to 11th.

Winners

Awards won by nationality

Awards won by club

References

External links

Premier League website
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Sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

1994 establishments in England Awards established in 1994 England 2