Stunning stats show number of English Managers in charge of the 24 clubs left in European competition

How many English Managers are left in European competition?

Not a lot.

A new report has looked at the nationality of the managers of the 24 clubs to reach the quarter-final stages of the three European competitions.

This week, Gareth Southgate was bemoaning the reduced numbers of players in the Premier League who are now eligible to play for England.

When it comes to the situation with English Managers, in the Premier League and European competition, the outlook is arguably even worse.

I make it four English Managers in charge of Premier League clubs currently, with Eddie Howe (Newcastle United), Sean Dyche (Everton), Graham Potter (Chelsea) and Gary O’Neil (Bournemouth). Of those, Eddie Howe is the only one of the four who was was boss of his current club when the season kicked off.

As for English Managers still in European Competition, this analysis from SportingPedia is very illuminating:

‘All three European club tournaments are now at the same quarter-final stage. Last Friday was the draw for the upcoming quarter and semifinals in the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League. This prompted the team at SportingPedia to have an in-depth look into who has been leading these quarter-finalists from the dugout and where these managers were born.

The numbers show that six of the 24 teams (25%) have an Italian manager. Four of these six coaches will see their respective sides perform in the last eight stages of the highest European echelon – the Champions League. Next in line are the managers from the Netherlands, with 4 representatives, while there has been only one non-European manager who was able to lead his team to the quarterfinals in Europe. Unfortunately for him, as of Tuesday, Jorge Sampaoli is no longer at the helm of Sevilla.’

This table then shows the breakdown club by club of the 24…

At Sevilla, they have now just appointed Jorge Sampaoli’s successor, who is Jose Luis Mendilibar. That doesn’t help with the English Managers contingent, as he is Spanish. That makes it three for Spain, two more than from England.

The thing is as well, the lack of English Managers isn’t even negatively affected by the number of Premier League clubs that have progressed to the quarter-finals of the three competitions.

Whilst five of the six Italian managers are with Serie A clubs, it is actually a 100% ‘success’ story for the English Managers in getting to the quarter-finals, as Graham Potter was the only one now in charge of a Premier League club in Europe this season, even if he didn’t start the 2022/23 campaign with Chelsea…