David Moyes and the 15 Most Overachieving Managers in Football

World football has some of the great managers the world of sports has ever seen. Greats such as Bob Paisley, Matt Busby and Rinus Michels only scratch the surface of impressive managers.

However, for every manager that gets loads of recognition, there are three or four that don't get the notice they deserve for making something out of nothing.

In an attempt to shed some light on several of those that have been overachievers for the majority or at least once in their careers, here are the best of the rest.

Terry Venables

English manager Terry Venables made a name for himself in the lower divisions with both Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers.

He ranks in the later stages of this list because he did eventually gain some recognition for those over-achievements with a job as the manager of Barcelona.

Roy Hodgson

Current West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson has always been an overachiever.

His time in hot seats around the globe, however, usually tend to be short tenures as he has only made it past 100 games three separate times, with Halmstad, Malmo FF and Fulham FC.

The highlight of his overachieving days, in my opinion, is his ousting of Juventus in the run-up to the 2010 UEFA Cup final.

Leo Beenhakker

Leo Beenhakker has many moments of great achievement, but he has one moment of over-achievement that will always make a small little nation proud.

The legendary tactician led minuscule Trinidad and Tobago to its first World Cup appearance in 2006.

Although they would be eliminated in the group stages, the significance of becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify for the world's biggest tournament is a massive accomplishment.

Guy Roux

Guy Roux is the definition of over-achievement and achievement all rolled into one.

He spent over 40 years as the manager of French Ligue 1 side AJ Auxerre.

During this time, he elevated them from the third division all the way to the top tier of French football and eventually won the club its only top flight title in 1995-96.

Throughout his whole career, he managed to make the most out of a shoestring budget, and his lasting impression on his beloved club is testament to his hard work.

Brian Clough

While his legacy will label Brian Clough as anything but an overachiever, he was just that in the beginning.

When he took the managerial role of Derby County in 1967, the Rams were languishing in the second division.

By the time he was done at Derby, Clough had taken the club from the bottom of the second division to the top of the First Division by 1972.

Alec Stock

Alec Stock is one of the finest overachievers in the world of football.

He started his overachieving ways as a player manager of Yeovil Town when he nearly took them to the FA Cup quarterfinals.

His biggest over-achievement has to be leading Queens Park Rangers to the 1967 League Cup title as the first-ever third division team to lift the trophy before taking the club on back-to-back promotion runs in the same and following year.

Luigi De Canio

Luigi De Canio has become the go-to guy for many Italian clubs in the hopes of saving them from relegation.

Serie A side Genoa have called upon him to be just that, having rehired him on April 23 to replace Alberto Malesani.

His moment of over-achievement came during his time at Udinese, when he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999-2000.

Avram Grant

When he took the help at Chelsea, Avram Grant did not even have all the licenses he needed to manage a club at the level of the Blues.

Nevertheless, Grant managed to take the club to the Carling Cup final and Champions League final and just barely missed the English Premier League title.

Even with all of that, he was let go at the end of the 2007-08 season.

Steve McClaren

Steven McClaren has never really been a head turner.

However, his 2003-04 Carling Cup trophy for Middlesbrough helped to propel him to a shot as the England national team manager.

His short-lived Three Lions career saw him move to the Netherlands to take over FC Twente, where he managed to lead them to their only Eredivisie title in their history.

Twente joined AZ Alkmaar as the only two teams to have won a Dutch Championship other than Ajax, PSV Eindhoven or Feyenoord Rotterdam since AZ won their first Eredivisie title in 1980-81.

Alan Pardew

Two years ago Newcastle United were in the Championship. After wining promotion, they decided bringing in a fresh face would be a good idea in the middle of 2010-11, their first season back up.

One of Alan Pardew's first orders of business saw club golden boy Andy Carroll sold to Liverpool for £35 million, to the horror of many a Geordie faithful.

However, Pardew has made brilliant signings, and his over-achievement of having the Magpies in the Champions League places of the EPL is nothing short of very impressive.

Lucien Favre

Lucien Favre was hired near the end of last season by Borussia Monchengladbach to save them from relegation.

That he did, but no one would have expected him to take the club from near worst to the top four of the German Bundesliga the next year, with only a point needed from their final two matches to guarantee European football next season.

Roberto Saporiti

Argentine club Argentinos Juniors was founded in 1904.

However, it took 80 years for the club to manage an Argentine top-flight title.

Roberto Saporiti was the man that delivered that title in 1984 and provided the player platform that helped the club win the 1985 Copa Libertadores under his replacement, Jose Yudica.

Osvaldo Bagnoli

Osvaldo Bagnoli will forever live in Serie A and Hellas Verona folklore.

Bagnoli led the 1984-85 Mastini to an unlikely Serie A title that remains the club's crowning achievement in their history as their only major title of any kind.

Ivan Jovanovic

Ivan Jovanovic continues to raise the bar as the manager of Cypriot League club APOEL Nicosia.

While they remain the most prominent club in Cyprus, it is on the European stage that Jovanovic has truly shined with his club.

In 2010-11, his club became the first Cypriot side to reach the Champions League group stages.

This current season, Jovanovic led them to two even larger European achievements as he took them through the group stage, through the second round and into the quarterfinals, where it took powerhouse Real Madrid to knock them out of the tournament.

David Moyes

David Moyes celebrated 10 years at the helm of Everton Football Club in March of this year.

His time on the Blue side of Merseyside has been one of near glory and a constant ability to build a strong squad out of minimal cash flow.

The closest Moyes came to a major trophy for the once-mighty Blues was the 2009 FA Cup final, which the club lost to Chelsea.

Just a few weekends ago, Moyes missed a golden opportunity to get back to the Wembley final, but his side fell 2-1 to bitter local rivals Liverpool.

If Moyes were ever given more money to invest, it is almost certain that a tougher fight for silverware would come from his side, which are always knocking on the door of a chance to be great but cannot quite cross the threshold.

Conclusion

David Moyes is no doubt the leader of the pack, but there are many more overachievers out there that did not make this list.

Who are your picks for the top overachievers?

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out more on Bleacher Report and at the links below. You can follow me on Twitter @thedailyatz and Facebook, or visit my website.