A logical conclusion for any renowned player having played football for more than 10 years would be to become a football manager and garner praise. In the past we have seen legends like Diego Maradona trying his luck in becoming the best football manager. Off late Gary Neville, Zinedine Zidane and many players are trying to be a successful coach for their respective clubs.
However, there is an old saying in football that states “great players can never become great managers”. Legends like Diego Maradona (Argentina), Sir Bobby Charlton (Preston, Wigan), Alan Shearer (Newcastle) and many more failed to get success in their coaching career.
At the same time fabulous players like Kevin Keegan (Newcastle), Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool), and Jupp Heynckes (Bayern Munich) have enjoyed a successful coaching stint. So the main question here is, does being a legendary football player makes the player a better manager?
Legendary players often get better job prospects as a manager earlier than their lesser renowned counterparts because of their recognition and influence within the game. But obviously there is a lot of difference from being a player to a manager, as this transition is the most difficult to cope with, especially for younger players in their early 40's who rush directly to management job without improving their coaching skills. All of us need to realise that playing and coaching requires different skill sets and also there is no evidence that being a good player is an advantage for being a football manager.
So for likes of Zidane, Neville, and many others, to be a successful manager like Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, they need to address a few crucial things such as having best and unchallenged preparation techniques, good relations with players, taking pressure off players and last but not the least tactical awareness of opponents.
