Ranking the 33 Man Utd players under Ferguson that became managers on their win percentage
After playing under Sir Alex Ferguson, plenty of former Manchester United players have tried to follow in his footsteps. Some have done better than others.
Wayne Rooney is the latest former United player to lose his job after a disastrous spell with Birmingham City in the Championship.
United’s all-time top scorer inherited a Blues squad that sat sixth in the Championship and left them in 20th following a dismal run of form which saw them win just two games in 15.
Rooney has insisted that this poor spell won’t deter him from continuing his coaching career, although he is set to take some time away from the game to reflect on his short-lived Birmingham career.
As a manager, Rooney has a win percentage of just 26.1% which is only better than Mike Phelan and Teddy Sheringham on this list.
Along with Rooney, the likes of Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Diego Forlan have also struggled to translate their excellent playing skills to the managerial dugout.
However, there are plenty of success stories for players who have played under Ferguson. For example, David Healy has done an excellent job with Linfield as he boasts a 63.26 win percentage after eight years on the job.
The likes of Laurent Blanc, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have also done relatively well for themselves in the managerial game as they each boast a win percentage of over 50%.
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Plenty of former United players have also done excellent jobs in the EFL over the years too. Just take Coventry boss Mark Robins as an example, who is now the longest-serving boss in the Championship.
Robins has guided Coventry to two promotions and he had them on the cusp of the Premier League last season by making it all the way to the playoff final.
The likes of Darren Ferguson and Paul Ince have also built reputations for themselves in the EFL, with Ferguson currently flying high with Peterborough in League One.
Steve Bruce has enjoyed a managerial career which has spanned over 25 years and while he might not be everyone’s cup of tea, he has achieved plenty of promotions over the years.
We’ve taken a closer look at the former United players who have played under Ferguson and have since gone into management. Using their win percentage as a manager, we have ranked them all from best to worst.
Note: several former United players have gone into non-league management, but accurate records of their managerial statistics are not available. Therefore these six names have been omitted from the list due to a lack of data: Clayton Blackmore, Peter Davenport, Neil Webb, Andrei Kanchelskis, Pat McGibbon, Simon Davies.
1. David Healy – 63.26%
2. Laurent Blanc – 60.31%
3. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 55.45%
4. Michael Carrick – 53.73%
5. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 53.17%
6. Ryan Giggs – 48.28%
7. Jordi Cruyff – 46.67%
8. Henning Berg – 45.97%
9. Gordon Strachan – 44.35%
10. Phil Neville – 43.65%
11. Darren Ferguson – 42.47%
12. Gabriel Heinze – 41.24%
13. Paul Parker – 39.6%
14. Richie Wellens – 39.4%
15. Paul Ince – 39.2%
16. Roy Keane – 38.7%
17. Mark Robins – 38.53%
18. Michael Appleton – 37.6%
19 Mark Hughes – 37.4%
20. Steve Bruce – 37.2%
21. Frank Stapleton – 36.43%
22. Bryan Robson – 36.34%
23. Henrik Larsson – 35.75%
24. Gary Neville – 35.71%
25. Diego Forlan – 34.78%
26. Viv Anderson – 34.61%
27. Jaap Stam – 34.4%
28. Chris Turner – 31.56%
29. Paul Scholes – 30.77%
30. Chris Casper – 27.06%
31. Wayne Rooney – 26.1%
32. Mike Phelan – 25.0%
33. Teddy Sheringham – 23.3%
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