Tuesday 17 May 2016 08:55, UK
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 manager.
Alan Curtis and Francesco Guidolin (Swansea City): B-
Guidolin has come in and done an unbelievable job to steady the ship. People talk about Swansea's style of play - they had to change that in a relegation battle and I think you have to give him credit for doing that. I would be looking to give him a 'B-'.
Curtis - who has taken up the reins on numerous occasions - did a very good job and knows the players inside out and he steadied the ship as well.
Rafael Benitez (Newcastle United): B-
Benitez came in and it was always going to be difficult for him to be successful and keep the team up. He tried to get his point of view across and their form did pick up and the points picked up as well. It is going to be so important if Newcastle can keep him, but obviously it is not going to be Newcastle's choice.
Mark Hughes (Stoke City): C+
It has been a bit of an up-and-down season for Hughes. Yes Stoke won on Sunday against West Ham, but their home form has been patchy and I think they have lost more games at home this season than they have in any other season in the Premier League.
He has brought in some good players and I think it is just about getting them all to gel, but it is going to be an interesting summer for Hughes because Stoke now consistently finish in that 11th-10th mark. It will be interesting to see what he does in terms of cash being available and what players he is going to bring in, while there is also a lot of talk about Everton with him as well.
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal): C
I don't think that anybody could believe that they were going to go ahead of their big rivals Tottenham a week ago, but they did it. I think Wenger will be a little bit frustrated, as a lot of other managers will be, because it was such an open title race.
Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City): C
He will probably be disappointed with the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, in that they did not do more. He will be another manager who will be frustrated and annoyed that they did not make more of a fist of it and actually get to the top of the league. They started really well and people talk about how in February the situation with Pep Guardiola coming in took the players minds' off things - I disagree with that because as a player you then have to prove to the new manager that you are good enough in the remaining games.
Tony Pulis (West Bromwich Albion): C
You know what you are going to get with Pulis - he ensured safety for the team and while some people argue that his style of football is not attractive enough, he is the man you want if you want stability.
Guus Hiddink (Chelsea): C
Hiddink came in and steadied the ship and made sure there were not any more stories surrounding Chelsea in terms of a worsening position in the league, but he was never going to be there long-term.
Garry Monk (Swansea City): C
I was very surprised when Sweansea got rid of Monk - he had a good start to the season, then got a few poor results and was relieved of his duties, which was unfortunate. I didn't think it was deserved at the time and so I will be giving him a 'C'.
Louis van Gaal (Manchester United): C-
It has been a disappointing season for Van Gaal and United. He is another one who will be thinking: 'What could have been?' They have been so inconsistent and the way that the manager has set the team up at times in games has not been to the advantage of the players.
Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool): C-
Liverpool obviously felt the time was right after the Merseyside derby in October to part company with Rodgers and I don't think it was a case of Rodgers doing an awful job, but more the fact that Jurgen Klopp was available. It was probably a case of not wanting to lose him to another team. From Rodgers' point of view, that made it difficult for him, although I would say that at the time he probably was not having a great season.
Alan Pardew (Crystal Palace): C-
Palace started the season unbelievably and they were almost level with Tottenham around Christmas time - you could see the football they wanted to play. But then they struggled for goals from the centre-forward position and that will be something Pardew wants to address drastically in the summer.
Alex Neil (Norwich City): C-
Norwich were always there or thereabouts under Neil and I don't think the signings he made in January were poor and he got the ones he wanted in key areas, but obviously it wasn't enough.
Jose Mourinho (Chelsea): D
It was incredible to see what happened to Mourinho and the champions, but he has still got a fantastic reputation and I think that he will get a big job. But it ended up turning sour at Chelsea and you would probably look at where he finished there and you would have to say a 'D' as it was not great, was it? But as I said, in my opinion he is one of the best managers around.
Roberto Martinez (Everton): D
It was a very tough time for him before he got relieved of his duties. He had a certain way of playing, particularly at home, and the amount of games Everton lost at Goodison Park didn't sit well with the supporters. I think it was the fact that he did not adapt at times. If you look at the squad he has, they should unquestionably be a lot higher and challenging the top six. Obviously you are only as good as how your team do when you are the manager and they did not perform well enough.
Dick Advocaat (Sunderland): D
It was not great with Advocaat and he went early.
Steve McClaren (Newcastle United): D
McClaren was a really interesting appointment as he obviously left Derby after failing to get them promoted and then he got such a big job with Newcastle. His signings in the summer and then January were not really what Newcastle needed - they were good players, but not what the club needed.
Tim Sherwood (Aston Villa): D
Sherwood lost key players in the summer like Christian Benteke, Fabian Delph and Ron Vlaar and did not replace them. I think the key thing for him at the start of the season was he could never settle on the system he wanted to play. Unfortunately, because he is a good young manager and you want to see him be successful, it did not work out for him.
Remi Garde (Aston Villa): D-
Garde came in and never looked comfortable at Villa. It was a strange appointment in that he had no real experience of the Premier League - OK he played in it a while back, but in recent times nothing whatsoever - so I did think it was a strange appointment and he did not really change anything at all. He didn't bring in any players in January - whether that was down to him or the board, I do not know.
Eric Black temporarily took over from Garde in March until the end of the season, but the interim Villa boss has not been given a grade.
What do you think? Do you agree with the ratings? If you are reading on sky.mnosports.com leave a comment below or tweet us @SkyFootball.
