A season full of ebbs and flows is coming to its end with most honours in the Premier League already decided. This season has been highly competitive from the start and it shows in the way the final match week hyped up. It has also been the season where Brendan Rodgers led Leicester City to its first-ever FA Cup title and Pep Guardiola has a chance of winning the historic treble with Manchester City.
Keeping all of these achievements in consideration, we’ve come up with five names who are sure shot contenders for the 2020-21 Premier League Manager of the Year Award.
BRENDAN RODGERS (LEICESTER CITY)
When Brendan Rodgers took over at Leicester City, it was to convert the Foxes into one of the top six teams in England with a limited budget as compared to the conventional ‘big six’ clubs. So far he has done exceptionally well to ruffle the feathers of these established teams and Leicester look like a force to reckon with under Rodgers. He also led the club to silverware this season, beating Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Even if they were to miss out on the Champions League spots this season, it would be considered a massive success and something good for Rodgers to build on in the coming seasons.
PEP GUARDIOLA (MANCHESTER CITY)
Pep Guardiola is often hailed as the best footballing brain in the industry and he showed his class again this season. After a disappointing season in 2019-20, his City team bounced back as champions and went on to lift their fifth-ever Premier League title. They started the season pretty slowly after a shortened pre-season but soon got up to pace and were class apart in the league. They have already secured the League Cup and Premier League and all that is left is the coveted Champions League trophy. They have entered the final for the first time in the club’s history and if they were to lift that as well then nobody would be able to stop Guardiola from picking up the Manager of the Season Award.
SEAN DYCHE (BURNLEY)
It may seem weird to see a manager from a team who will finish 17th in the league, just one spot above the relegation spot to be nominated for the Manager of the Season Award but that’s how big a job it was for Sean Dyche to keep Burnley in the Premier League this season. Since promotion in 2016, Dyche’s Burnley have been consistent in the Premier League on a very limited budget. Without any major signings in the summer, Dyche pulled off an almost impossible task of keeping the team in the league and deserves all the credit for it.
DAVID MOYES (WEST HAM UNITED)
People were sceptical when David Moyes took over at West Ham United in 2019. He had a difficult time in his first season as the club was flirting with relegation throughout 2019-20, but he turned it around and kept the team in the league which was of major importance to a club like West Ham. The next season started with a sense of vigour and with the help of a couple of decent signings, the Hammers were in contention for European football next season. Something that is nothing short of brilliant in the current scenario.
MARCELO BIELSA (LEEDS UNITED)
And lastly, it is the great man himself, Marcelo Bielsa. Pundits felt that his football was naive for the Premier League and if he didn’t change his approach of attacking football then the team would be relegated back to the Championship. Bielsa showed that Leeds’ days in the Championship are all but over and they belong in the Premier League. He persisted with his style of football and his team delivered a successful season. First time back in the Premier League after 16 years and they have secured a top-half finish. Also, it can easily be said that Bielsa’s team were the most entertaining team in the league this season.
●●●
VISIT OUR BLOG TO GET YOUR FIX FOR ALL OF THE MOST CURRENT FOOTBALL NEWS STORIES & FEATURES
