Andy Gray votes for Jock Stein as the greatest ever manager
With his allegiance to Sky and the Premiership it would be easy for Gray to put Fergie down as the top all time manager with many supporters unable or unwilling to look beyond the Premiership’s new wealth.
Gray played against Stein’s Celtic in the 1974 Scottish Cup Final and won his final international caps under Stein a decade later.
Describing the legendary Celtic manager he said: “When you become the first manager of a British team to win the European Cup (1967) with a side where every player is born within 20 miles of Glasgow, it’s quite a feat. ”
Although Fergie is now in his second decade of success at Old Trafford it took him three and a half years to win his first trophy- the FA Cup.
In that same time span Stein had led Celtic to the European Cup success over Inter Milan and three successive titles- after a barren spell of 12 years without Celtic winning the championship.
Gray’s top 20 managers make interesting reading with his first boss Jim McLean coming in at 13, one place below Howard Kendall who provided the striker with the most successful period in his career with Brian Clough No 6, Jose Mourinho at 17 and Kenny Dalglish at 20.
As Inter Milan prepare once again to attempt to win the big cup, it’s good to see that Stein’s achievements are being brought to the attention of an audience not so knowledgable about the achievements of football’s greatest ever manager.