His record in the championship really isn’t as good as people are making out. He’s OK but nothing better. In terms of points per game he just about squeezes into the top 25 since the foundation of the championship. If you look at PPG in the 2nd tier since the 80’s then he only just squeezes into the top 50. 2 places behind Danny Wilson and 11 places behind Gary Megson….
Plays a pretty basic brand of football as well. He had a good spell here with us and managed a lot of games over his career. Far from a top manager though.
You need to take into account resources though.
At Rotherham it is widely accepted he did an incredible job keeping them up when they were a lost cause. He got them 1.5 points per game which, when contrasted with someone pushing for promotion, would look worse in black and white but is a far greater achievement. Arguably the galvanising job with Huddersfield where he got 1.43 points per game was also commendable.
He kept QPR out of danger then won the league with them, got binned after promotion and no backing and Mark Hughes came in, spent a fortune but did no better in terms of performance.
Cardiff had spent ages out of the top flight, were unfancied and he got them up too.
Boro were heading for relegation under Woodgate. He didn’t manage to turn them into a promotion team but then again neither did Wilder nor Carrick. But he saved their bacon.
At Palace he managed them through very difficult financial circumstances as the club struggled.
The only place things didn’t really happen in terms of saving or promotion was Leeds.
His time at United had us return to the top flight for the first time since the 90s.
If anything he gets unfairly labelled.
“He can’t do it at the top level” they say; nobody already at the top level with adequate resourcing ever gave him a chance. He only really, aside from a Caretaker stint at Palace, got teams up under his own steam and then was expected to compete with an uncompetitive budget.
As so starts the vicious circle. He overachieves to get a team there, he’s then woefully under-resourced and as such he fails to keep them up and he’s deemed not good enough.
Meanwhile ‘name’ players like Lampard and Gerrard waltz in at Chelsea and Villa with only a fraction of the managerial skills and man management because they were once well known when it came to playing.
He probably regrets not taking the Chelsea job all those years back when he was at Notts County. Even though Chelsea themselves were a bit tinpot back then, he might have lifted himself in the consciousness of the football snobs who are easily attracted by name managers.