Shortly after England’s loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024, boss Gareth Southgate announced he was resigning from the position he had held for eight years. After 102 games in what has been dubbed the best, worst and most impossible job in football, the former Middlesbrough manager decided the time was right for a chance, both for him and the Three Lions.
Heavily criticised by some, adored and hugely respected by others, there are also many who feel Southgate did a very good job, but could have done better. Irrespective of how you judge his spell in charge of the national men’s team, it is now consigned to the history books. It therefore seems like a fitting moment to take a look at how he, and other bosses over the years, have got in terms of their win percentage.
Unless you’ve been consciously trying to avoid football of late, you’ll know all about the many records Southgate and his team have created. For England, making a final in a major tournament is huge progress – truth be told, winning a knockout game is. But how do the cold, hard stats of win percentages look?
One Man Stands Alone… Big Sam
We will look at how the outgoing boss got on shortly, but if we are looking solely at win percentage, there is one man who leads the way ahead of all the rest. That man, rather surprisingly, is the one that Southgate replaced as England manager: Sam Allardyce.
Sadly for England and Allardyce, he was at the helm for just a single game. Big Sam left the post, officially by mutual consent, after allegations of corruption following an undercover newspaper operation. He was England boss for 67 days and just a single game, which England won 1-0, leaving him as the only manager in the history of the job to boast a 100% winning record.
Southgate Leaves with Head Held High… Very High
Gareth Southgate should be very proud of what he achieved, leading the Three Lions from a shambolic low of last 16 defeat against Iceland at Euro 2016 to back-to-back Euros finals, plus the semis and quarters at the World Cup. That success is backed up by his winning percentage too.
As noted, the former Crystal Palace centre back was England’s manager for 102 games. England won 61 of those, drawing 24 and losing just 17. That gives him a percentage overall of just under 60% – or 59.80392% to be overly exact about things. It should be noted that the wins include games won in extra time, but not the three penalty shootout victories Southgate oversaw. He was just the third England boss to reach the century of games in charge, behind Walter Winterbottom and Sir Alf Ramsey, who managed 139 and 113 respectively.
King Capello Underrated?
.jpg){kind=link}
Fabio Capello was the England boss for 42 games and with 28 wins he won exactly two-thirds of the games he was manager for. That win percentage of 66.67% makes him easily the leading boss of England if we ignore those who only stuck around for 67 days!
Capello’s England were very strong in qualifying but unfortunately didn’t produce the goods on the big stage. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, the Three Lions won nine out of 10 games. However, at the tournament itself they won just one out of three in a weak group containing USA, Slovenia and Algeria, and then got hammered 4-1 by Germany in the last 16.
If we assess a boss only by their winning percentage, one might say that Capello is underrated, or underappreciated, in terms of his time with England. However, beating minnows in qualifying and friendly games is one thing, but really it is tournament football that truly matters.
Sir Alf, England’s Only Champion
.jpg){kind=link}
The debate will rage as to whether Southgate’s two finals, including a first on foreign soil, plus a semi at the World Cup in 2018 and a valiant effort in the quarters when losing to eventual runners-up France in 2022, mean he should be viewed as his nation’s greatest-ever manager. Most, however, will point to silverware as the only metric that matters and so Sir Alf Ramsey, the only Three Lions boss to win something of substance, will probably win the debate.
The former Ipswich boss backed up his 1966 World Cup win with a very strong winning percentage of 61.1, a fraction higher than Southgate’s. He led England to 69 wins, 27 draws and 17 defeats from his 113 games in charge.
Other Notable Managers
Over the years the role of national manager has been undertaken by many men, including several caretakers. Three of those “temps” – Stuart Pearce, Peter Taylor and Howard Wilkinson (twice) – had spells that lasted just a single game and their failure to win leaves them stuck on an ugly zero per cent.
However, the worst record of any permanent boss goes to Kevin Keegan, who was in charge for 18 games and won just seven (38.9%). Under the ex-Newcastle United boss, the Three Lions were poor at Euro 2000 and were eliminated in the group phase.
Graham Taylor fared a little better, managing to win just over 47% of his games (18 from 38). However, as well as leading a really dismal showing at the 1992 European Championship, the former Watford boss was at the helm when England failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
Terry Venables, Taylor’s successor, was much-heralded and led England to a Euros semi. However, despite that strong performance, Venables won less than 48% of his games, so had stats very similar to Taylor. Below we can see the stats of all other full-time (both in terms of being during the post-1946 full-time era and also not being caretaker bosses) England managers.
- Glen Hoddle, 28 games, won 60.7%
- Ron Greenwood, 55 games, won 60%
- Sven-Goran Eriksson, 67 games, won 59.7%
- Roy Hodgson, 56 games, won 58.9%
- Walter Winterbottom, 139 games, won 56.1%
- Steve McClaren, 18 games, won 50%
- Sir Bobby Robson, 95 games, won 49.5%
- Don Review, 29 games, won 48.3%
Winning Percentage Does Not Tell Full Story
It should be clear by now that the winning percentage of an England manager, and indeed any manager, does not tell us the full story. Winning 55% of games as boss of Man City would get the gaffer sacked, whereas winning that frequently at clubs like Fulham or Crystal Palace would see the man in charge highly praised.
However, with the England job, different expectations are not the only thing that complicates matters. England play a large number of friendly games, and the calibre of opposition can vary enormously. They also play most games in qualifying and now the Nations League as well, but these only matter to a certain extent. Of course, a side must qualify for a major tournament before they can win games at one, but really, it is the results in World Cups and European Championships that truly matter.
And here, draws can be as good as wins, if they are enough to see England top the group or simply qualify for the knockout phase. Equally, results in penalty shootouts are crucial. Win or lose, the stats record this as a draw, but a penalty defeat in the last 16 is seen as a failure, whereas a win that then sees an extended run is a success. So, whilst we can draw some conclusions using winning percentage, this stat certainly does not tell the full story.