Predicting the return of former players to manage every Premier League club

With it now being decided by the gossipmongers that Xabi Alonso will return to Anfield when he’s sacked from Real Madrid and after Arne Slot is sacked by Liverpool, we’ve forecasted the glorious homecoming of a former player to manage every Premier League club.

We are also having fun with Jurgen Klopp to Real Madrid but that’s a different category…

We could be accused of having a Premier League bias in believing that all managers taking jobs in the Eredivisie do so with a view to at some point Make It and take over a team in the gilded English top flight.

But Van Persie has expressed that desire having impressed at Feyenoord, who sit second in the Eredivisie behind PSV, and although he fears “the door is closed” to his return to Arsenal after his switch to Manchester United , their success – though not yet trophy-laden – in employing another player of that generation in Mikel Arteta may see the famously reasonable and forgivable Gunners fans let bygones be bygones.

The degree with which a man famed for his attempts to hog the limelight wherever possible as an assistant coach will implode through what would be unbearable levels of self-importance if handed a job as top dog is too intriguing for it not to happen.

Would be nowhere near a list of managers stupid or arrogant enough to believe they have what it takes to replace Unai Emery at Villa Park, but maybe he could be their saviour after a few months of Brendan Rogers.

We miss player-coaches and while Henderson may have his sights on a bigger prize, those Saudi clubs are unlikely to come calling without the moral vacuum having some managerial experience under his belt.

Arguably not a typical Tony Bloom appointment but Savage broke the 100-point barrier as Macclesfield boss last season to win promotion to National League North with six games to spare and now has Forest Green flying high in the National League.

You’re wondering when he played for Brighton, aren’t you? Six games on loan from Derby. That’ll do.

May very well achieve back-to-back promotions as Bradford boss with The Bantams currently second in League One, playing the sort of high-pressing, passing football more in keeping with the Premier League .

Rave reviews earned through guiding Como to tenth in his first season and up to sixth – above Juventus – after 14 games in Serie A this term have seen Fabregas become one of the hottest young managerial properties around in double-quick time . Not that we ever doubted he would turn into a high-level coach on the back of a playing career in which his in-game IQ was more than a match for most.

He’s a three-time A-League Mens Coach of the Year award winner and won the Australian top flight twice before leading the Socceroos to the World Cup, where Popovic has a great opportunity to catch the eye of Palace after they were drawn in a group of life with USA, Paraguay and the winner of play-off path C, which features Turkey, Romania, Slovakia and Kosovo.

At least a caretaker role after David Moyes is poached by a big(ger) boy after taking Everton back into Europe.

He was Marco Silva’s assistant at Craven Cottage before briefly ensuring Guinea-Bissau qualified for neither the Africa Cup of Nations nor the World Cup as their manager and is now the assistant at Samsunspor.

It was at this point we started to regret this feature.

Currently very available after his 14-game stint as Montserrat boss ended over a year ago.

The infamous nameless bunch of ‘5 elite reporters’ have advised us to ‘hold on to your hats’ , not because of the ‘REAL MADRID CRISIS MEETING’ which took place after their defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday , but because Alonso is ‘willing to take a couple of months off’ before taking over from Arne Slot .

An absurd number of assumptions there, even for them, but they’re working from the perfectly believable suggestion that Alonso will at some point take over from Slot at Anfield.

Nailed on, right? We could even see a Sir Alex Ferguson-like situation where Pep Guardiola names Kompany as his successor before he departs. Please someone be in a room with Uli Hoeness to report on his reaction when that happens .

Al-Ittihad cited the need for ‘new technical staff to match the club’s ambitions’ having sacked Blanc four games into this season, though quite what those ambitions are after he led them to the league and cup double the season before isn’t entirely clear.

It would be a stunning change-up from the INEOS chiefs to replace young buck Ruben Amorim with a manager of the previous generation who’s not won anything in Europe since 2016, and then for PSG so it doesn’t really count.

He was linked with the caretaker role in some of the darkest of Amorim’s days though and there’s surely more of that darkness to come.

Guided Shelbourne to a first League of Ireland Premier Division title in 18 years in 2024 before stepping down 22 games into their title defence as they sat some 15 points off leaders Shamrock Rovers.

Linked with various coaching roles in England, including at Brentford under Keith Andrews, Duff has revealed he turned jobs down, citing his family as the reason for wanting to stay in Ireland.

The natural next step for such a humble down-to-earth good egg is to manage a state-owned football club.

Left Martin O’Neill’s side as assistant coach of Forest in 2019 over what was reported to be his desire to resurrect his own managerial career, but that fire in his belly has dwindled to little more than a smoulder as he enjoys what looks like a very cushy life as a faux-angry pundit.

Accusing Evangelos Marinakis of having “no class” is a small wrinkle that will need ironing out before what we’re sure would be a calm and amenable working relationship between owner and manager.

Mutual consented out of the door by Fylde after five wins in 18 National League games. Scored 30 Premier League in 1999/2000 though, so…

The archetype of a footballer you would think would turn into a very good manager and that will be more than enough for Tottenham despite that not being proven to any degree of certainty.

Sporting director Mark Noble “really liked” Lampard for the job when the club was scouring the market for Graham Potter replacements having been impressed by the quite extraordinary work he’s done at Coventry .

Feels like a very good bet to replace Nuno Espirito Santo when the West Ham fans get bored of Premier League security and make a bid for more attractive football to put them back in a relegation battle.

Unfortunately/amusingly, West Ham fans hate Lampard.

Reportedly applied for the Wolves job last month having won the Israeli title with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2023/2024 and the Hungarian title with Ferencvaros last season.

Nailed on to be Wolves’ Championship appointment when the lowest points tally in Premier League history makes Rob Edwards’ position untenable.