Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Paisley is the greatest

Mark Lawrenson believes Bob Paisley is the greatest British manager of all time.
Man Utd boss Alex Ferguson is earning plenty of plaudits on his 20th anniversary in charge of the Old Trafford outfit and while BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson was quick to praise Ferguson's achievements he said Bob Paisley was still the greatest manager this country has ever produced.

"If Sir Alex Ferguson did take time to reflect on his 20th anniversary as manager of Manchester United yesterday I bet one regret was at the forefront of his mind. Because personally, I don't think he has won enough European Cups - and I think he knows that too," said the former Liverpool defender.

"Of course, you can't argue with his record or deny his greatness, but what's the greatest honour in club football? It's being champions of Europe and I think Fergie will be disappointed that he hasn't taken those chances to add to the one success in 1999.

"This is why, in terms of who the greatest manager in English football history is, I go for Bob Paisley. I know everyone has their favourites in this debate - Clough, Busby, Stein, etc - and I know I'm biased because Bob signed me for Liverpool.

"But the fact is he won the European Cup three times and is the only manager in history to have done it. It's the most difficult test and it's a great achievement to do it once, which Ferguson deserves credit for.

"But then Rafael Benitez has done it once. And Jose Mourinho. And Jock Stein and Matt Busby. And Brian Clough broke up Paisley's monopoly of the trophy by taking it twice.

"But out of all these great managers, the man who won three in just five years is my personal number one and I have a feeling that even if Ferguson goes on for another 20 years , he'll never match what Paisley did on the continent."

Great Red North @ 8:09 am

great red north