1 Player from Every EPL Team Who Should Become Manager Someday
There's almost no way to predict who will become a good manager.
Sir Alex Ferguson had a decent playing career in Scotland. Arsene Wenger had a forgettable career in France. Andre Villas-Boas didn't play professionally.
And yet we're going to try to name one player from every Premier League team who should become a manager one day.
What are we thinking?
Well, international week just finished, and we miss Premier League football.
Also, this could be kinda fun.
So let's get right to it.
Manchester City
1 of 20Our choice: Gareth Barry
Why: This one kinda just feels right, doesn't it?
Rarely the most gifted player on the pitch, Barry gets by with his superior passing, game intellect and versatility.
Those seem like good traits for future managers.
Plus, we think he looks like a manager. Throw a suit on him and give him a few gray hairs around his temples—hey, you've got it!
Manchester United
2 of 20Our choice: Ryan Giggs
Why: This seems like another easy choice to us. Giggs has been playing forever.
He'd be able to lean on loads of experience to get his managerial career going.
Newcastle United
3 of 20Our choice: Steven Taylor
Why: This is based on name alone.
Doesn't Steven Taylor sound like the manager of a mid-table Championship side?
What's that? It sounds like the name of a rockstar?
Oh.
Chelsea
4 of 20Our choice: Didier Drogba
Why: Why not?
This would be so much fun. We can't see why anybody would doubt this decision.
Tottenham Hotspur
5 of 20Our choice: Brad Friedel
Why: He's already older than half the managers in the league.
He rocks the Bob Bradley Bad Man Bald Dome.
Plus, he's a goalkeeper and he's American. Some MLS team will hire him.
Liverpool
6 of 20Our choice: Jamie Carragher
Why: He's the embodiment of the Liverpool way.
(So we've been told a thousand times.)
Who better to bring glory back to Anfield?
Arsenal
7 of 20Our choice: Andrei Arshavin
Why: Because we can just imagine him in the dressing room of a lower-league English club giving a pre-game pep talk while mixing in fashion advice in rapid, angry Russian.
Dang, would that be awesome.
Aston Villa
8 of 20Our choice: Emile Heskey
Why: He already polarizes opinions. Some people think he's a brilliant supporting striker whose value is indecipherable to the masses of ignorant footie neophytes.
Others think he's useless.
Sounds like a manager in the making.
Norwich City
9 of 20Our choice: Anthony Pilkington
Why: Another great name.
But he has to go by Tony full-time.
Tony Pilkington: Yeah, that's a manager.
Swansea City
10 of 20Our choice: Gerhard Tremmel
Why: There aren't many good choices on Swansea's roster.
Gerhard Tremmel is Swansea's German goalkeeper. His career has been suitably nondescript for a future manager.
Queens Park Rangers
11 of 20Our choice: Joey Barton
Why: There are so many reasons.
The best one is that we'll get several more years of crazy quotes, feuds and insane Twitter posts even after he retires.
Stoke City
12 of 20Our choice: Peter Crouch
Why: Two reasons.
One: A lifetime of robot dances.
Two: A lifetime of his teams playing the long ball every time down the pitch.
So on second thought, that would probably not lead to very many robot dances.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
13 of 20Our choice: Wayne Hennessey
Why: Because he already has an endorsement deal lined up.
West Bromwich Albion
14 of 20Our choice: Peter Odemwingie
Why: Football needs more minority managers, and it needs more managers with really awesome names.
Done and done.
Sunderland
15 of 20Our choice: John O'Shea
Why: O'Shea once had a ton of promise. Now, he's a role player.
To us, that sounds like a perfect resume for a future manager.
This one seems inevitable, doesn't it?
Fulham
16 of 20Our choice: Danny Murphy
Why: He's got a lot going for him already.
He looks very old.
He's balding.
And he's had a good but not great playing career.
It's only a matter of time.
Everton
17 of 20Our choice: Tim Howard
Why: Because we love him.
Because he'd wear camo on the sidelines.
Because he yells at his teammates every time they give up a shot.
Because he's awesome.
Bolton Wanderers
18 of 20Our choice: Kevin Davies
Why: He's a scrappy player who loves to mix it up.
He's fearless.
And his middle name is Cyril.
Can't beat that combination.
Blackburn Rovers
19 of 20Our choice: Chris Samba
Why: Because he can intimidate anyone, from his teammates to his opponents to referees and coaches.
Plus, if he becomes a manager, his team could be unofficially known as the Fightin' Sambas.
Wigan Athletic
20 of 20Our choice: Gary Caldwell
Why: He's such a nondescript player, the kind that always seems to go into management.
Fifteen years from now, he'll be leading a team that's heading for relegation instead of playing for one.
