Chelsea FC: Meet The Men Who Have Played For And Managed The Blues
By Lee Fraser
Credit: By Daniel Kraski (Roberto Di Matteo) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsA player manager these days at a top level club is virtually unheard of. There have been a few players who have become interim managers whilst still playing, the latest of these being Ryan Giggs at Manchester United, but the last top flight permanent player manager was Chelsea FC’s very own Gianluca Vialli.
Chelsea FC are unusual in the fact that in our 110 year history we have had 4 permanent player managers. That figure out of a total of 33 managers (including temporary) might seem quite low but is indicative of how difficult it is to combine both the roles of a player and a manager at the same time.
Chelsea FC have also employed a total of 8 ex players as managers (including temporary) in addition to the player managers, meaning a total of 12 men have both played for and managed our club.
I have compiled these managers (excluding the 3 temporary managers) in chronological order with a brief resume of their period in charge, but what order do you think they should be in terms of what they have done for Chelsea FC?
Next: John Robertson