2015/16 PL manager grades

Former Manchester United and Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham has given us his verdict on how each manager has fared during the course of the 2015/16 Premier League season.

Most clubs have stuck with the same man in charge from last summer, but there are those who have been forced to part company with their bosses during the course of the campaign, and some who have even had three men at the helm.

So how well did your team’s coach perform during the campaign? Did they get an ‘A’ or an ‘F’, or somewhere in between? Read on to see what grade each top-flight manager has been awarded for his season’s efforts…

Claudio Ranieri (Leicester City): A+

How high can you go? He has had a phenomenal season and it has to be as high as you can go, which is an ‘A+’ without question. With the group of players that he has got and how calm he has been, this season has been unbelievable and it has been a fairy tale for Leicester City and as great a story for the Premier League.

Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham Hotspur): B+

The last couple of weeks have been tough for Pochettino, but that should not cloud over what has been an excellent season for Tottenham. They are a team that are just going to get stronger and stronger – I do not think there is any question about that – and a team with plenty of youth. I think Pochettino is really on to something there with Tottenham.

Eddie Howe (Bournemouth): B+

Howe has had a fantastic season, absolutely magnificent. I loved the way he stuck to his principles when people said he needed to change things. He made a key signing in the winter transfer window in Benik Afobe and it has been very, very tough for him with their injuries. I think he has done an absolutely fantastic job at Bournemouth.

Sam Allardyce (Sunderland): B+

Allardyce picked up the pieces after Dick Advocaat left and did a wonderful job. I think his January transfer signings, compared to Norwich and Newcastle, were more attack-minded and he wanted to build from the back. And he did the job with a game to spare.

Ronald Koeman (Southampton): B

Koeman has enjoyed an excellent and fantastic season. Year after year Southampton lose a lot of their better players and then they build the team again and this season has been no exception. They had a fantastic end to the season and for me he has to be looking at a ‘B’.

Slaven Bilic (West Ham United): B

Bilic and West Ham have had an incredible season. At the start of the season, going into the Olympic Stadium this summer, people were saying the aim was to keep them in the Premier League. And a lot of people, including me, thought his appointment was a big risk. But the players he has brought in, like Manuel Lanzini and Dimitri Payet, if you look at what they have done at the football club, it is nothing short of outstanding.

Quique Sanchez Flores (Watford): B

He has now left Watford, but he did ask for a break clause in his contract last summer and so it will be interesting to see where he ends up next. But he has stabilised the club in the Premier League this season. Watford had a fantastic start before they seemed to run out of steam, but the job was already done, so you have got to give him great credit.

Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool): B-

I think what Klopp has done is he has come in and looked at the January transfer window and not bought any players – all the players that were at the club at the time have been on trial. You will see the big difference that he makes in the summer with the players that he brings in. He has obviously got them to two finals and they have got a great chance in the Europa League. The players have bought into how he wants to do things and he looks like a fantastic coach and man …

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