Over the next few weeks, the voting will take place for the League Manager's Association and Barclays Premier League Manager of the Year awards, and it's worth thinking about who is in contention to win them.
The latter should be pretty straightforward. Only once has the award not been handed out to the manager who won the Premier League title that season, back in 2000-1 when George Burley guided his newly-promoted Ipswich Town side to fifth place in the league and (as it then was), a UEFA Cup spot.
Following on from that, it's safe to assume that one of Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger will be using that particular trophy to decorate their mantelpiece. With Chelsea two points clear of Man Utd and three of Arsenal with just five games to and trading at 1.6 on Betfair for the title, the engravers are surely already checking the correct spelling of Carlo Ancelotti.
The League Manager's Association award is more likely to go to a manager whose team have exceeded expectations and over-performed given the strength of their team, rather than actually winning the title.
That's why David Moyes has won this award on no less than three occasions since joining Everton, despite never coming close to winning the title. He's unlikely to be winning it again this year with a seventh place finish in the league the best he can realistically hope for and no real success in any of the three Cups his side were in. The way I see it there are three strong candidates, though a lot obviously depends on what happens between now and the end of the season.
The first guy I feel is in with a shout is Roy Hodgson. Two years ago to the day Fulham were heading for The Championship and needed a late Danny Murphy goal at Portsmouth on the last day of the season to avoid the drop.
Now they're sitting pretty in mid-table whilst taking out the likes of former UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk and former Champions League winners Juventus in the Europa League. If they went all the way, Roy would be a strong candidate for the award.
As would Harry Redknapp, though I feel he'd either need to finish fourth in the league or go on and win the FA Cup to really make a case for being given the award. I also like the credentials of Alex McLeish.
Having recruited experience campaigners such as Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson and Kevin Phillips rather than investing heavily in terms of transfer fees, he's guided Birmingham City to the dizzy heights of ninth, when many would have thought they'd be scrapping to avoid a swift return to The Championship, having just been promoted.
My vote would be on one of these three, though if Carlo Ancelotti won the title in his first season in English football, I'm not sure many could say he didn't deserve it.
Sir Alex has once again done a remarkable job this season when you consider he lost two of his most important assets in Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez last summer, and if he somehow managed to go on and win the Champions League, he'd certainly be in with a shout.
The latter should be pretty straightforward. Only once has the award not been handed out to the manager who won the Premier League title that season, back in 2000-1 when George Burley guided his newly-promoted Ipswich Town side to fifth place in the league and (as it then was), a UEFA Cup spot.
Following on from that, it's safe to assume that one of Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger will be using that particular trophy to decorate their mantelpiece. With Chelsea two points clear of Man Utd and three of Arsenal with just five games to and trading at 1.6 on Betfair for the title, the engravers are surely already checking the correct spelling of Carlo Ancelotti.
The League Manager's Association award is more likely to go to a manager whose team have exceeded expectations and over-performed given the strength of their team, rather than actually winning the title.
That's why David Moyes has won this award on no less than three occasions since joining Everton, despite never coming close to winning the title. He's unlikely to be winning it again this year with a seventh place finish in the league the best he can realistically hope for and no real success in any of the three Cups his side were in. The way I see it there are three strong candidates, though a lot obviously depends on what happens between now and the end of the season.
The first guy I feel is in with a shout is Roy Hodgson. Two years ago to the day Fulham were heading for The Championship and needed a late Danny Murphy goal at Portsmouth on the last day of the season to avoid the drop.
Now they're sitting pretty in mid-table whilst taking out the likes of former UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk and former Champions League winners Juventus in the Europa League. If they went all the way, Roy would be a strong candidate for the award.
As would Harry Redknapp, though I feel he'd either need to finish fourth in the league or go on and win the FA Cup to really make a case for being given the award. I also like the credentials of Alex McLeish.
Having recruited experience campaigners such as Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson and Kevin Phillips rather than investing heavily in terms of transfer fees, he's guided Birmingham City to the dizzy heights of ninth, when many would have thought they'd be scrapping to avoid a swift return to The Championship, having just been promoted.
My vote would be on one of these three, though if Carlo Ancelotti won the title in his first season in English football, I'm not sure many could say he didn't deserve it.
Sir Alex has once again done a remarkable job this season when you consider he lost two of his most important assets in Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez last summer, and if he somehow managed to go on and win the Champions League, he'd certainly be in with a shout.
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