The League Managers Association likes to think outside the square when awarding its Manager of the Year prize and that is why Swansea boss Michael Laudrup is a worthy favourite with bookmakers after the English Capital One Cup final resulted in victory for the Danish legend’s Swans side.
With Swansea having thrashed Bradford at Wembley Stadium to win its first major trophy in its 101-year history and on track to record its highest end-of-season league placing since the 1981-1982 English First Division campaign in which it finished sixth, Laudrup deserves to be trading at odds of around evens for this term’s LMA Manager of the Year gong.
According to bookmakers, it is around 16-1 bar the top two in the betting – Laudrup and Manchester United chief Alex Ferguson, whose Red Devils team are almost unbackable to collect their record-breaking 20th English championship.
The LMA Manager of the Year award came into existence in the 1993-1994 English Premier League season. Ferguson has won 11 top-flight titles during the prize’s short lifetime, plus four English FA Cups, three English League Cups, two UEFA Champions Leagues and a host of other significant domestic and international honours. But the football knight has only won the gong three times (1999, 2008 and 2011).
Long-serving Everton boss David Moyes, under whose guidance the Toffees are yet to win a piece of silverware, has been voted LMA Manager of the Year three times also (2003, 2005 and 2009). Arsene Wenger (2002 and 2004) and Steve Coppell (2006 and 2007) are the other multiple award recipients.
Last term, the LMA honoured Alan Pardew for his managerial work in steering Newcastle to European qualification for the time since the Magpies rejoined the English Premier League in 2010. Another reason in Pardew’s win was how he had won over Newcastle’s supporters, many of whom were hostile to him succeeding Chris Hughton and voiced their opinions through a range of communications channels.
This term, the LMA ought to honour Laudrup. Taking over from Liverpool-bound Brendan Rodgers was never going to a piece of cake, even for a legitimate football legend such as the 48-year-old Dane. After all, Rodgers was the man who had led Swansea to the promised land of the English Premier League and done so with the Swans playing attractively as well.
But Laudrup has built on the Swansea foundations laid by Rodgers and Roberto Martinez before him, making not one but several outstanding signings and, of course, masterminding the triumphant English Capital One Cup adventure that will long live in the memory of every Swans supporter.
If one believes everything that one reads in the British tabloid newspapers – not a good idea on the whole – then Barcelona and Real Madrid are considering asking Swansea for permission to speak with Laudrup about their managerial positions. Laudrup moved from Barca to the Meringues in 1994, one of very few players to make the direct switch and, unlike Luis Figo, he is still loved by both sets of ultras.
Not much can sully Laudrup’s reputation between now and when the LMA Manager of the Year votes are cast and, while there is no set date for this season’s awards ceremony, the odds are that it will be before the European club tournament finals for that has been the case in recent years. So it could well be inconsequential if Manchester United wins the UEFA Champions League under Ferguson or, say, Tottenham takes out the UEFA Europa League under Andre Villas-Boas.
The LMA Manager of the Year prize is open to managers in any of England’s top four divisions and three times bosses of sides outside the top flight have taken it home. But Malky Mackay looks the strongest of this term’s non-English Premier League candidates and it is difficult to see the Cardiff chief getting the nod against of his local rival.
For those interested in adding the LMA manager prize into a cheeky little accumulator, then I like Gareth Bale for player of the year to bump the odds a little.
