Postecoglou to Wrexham, Guardiola to Saudi and Frank upstairs? Predicting each Premier League manager’s next job

In football, we obsess over which team is going to win every competition, where every side will finish in the league and the future transfer destinations of top players.

What we talk about far less is where managers will end up, other than in the unemployment queue — which, obviously, is only a metaphorical image because in reality they’re all multi-millionaires and set for life financially.

Which club will Marco Silva call home after he leaves Fulham? Ever wondered where Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner will work next? Nope, us neither. But maybe it’s time we started.

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David Moyes

We’ll start with a nice, easy one. The wheels have already been set in motion for this. Everton had only won once in 10 matches before beating Fulham on Saturday and you can envisage a slow start to next season in their shiny new stadium, meaning Moyes gets the boot. It could even be this summer with their new owners in situ.

Meanwhile, at a certain club in east London, Graham Potter surely isn’t lasting long with a fanbase already frothing at the mouth. West Ham United will spend massive amounts in the summer but be in the relegation zone come October and in need of a messiah Moyesiah.

Come on, you know a third time makes sense.

Next job: West Ham (again)

Enzo Maresca

When considering the next destination for a manager/head coach, it’s important to quantify whether they are on an upward or downward trajectory.

Maresca can beat Sweden’s 14th-best team in the Conference League as many times as he likes, but you just get the impression the Chelsea fans aren’t going to take to him.

The owners love him, though, apparently, so…

Next job: Strasbourg

Pep Guardiola

It’s the classic Football Manager conundrum for Guardiola, who has completed Spain with Barcelona, Germany with Bayern Munich and now England with Manchester City.

What do you do after all that? Either head to South America, start a new game from scratch or venture into international management.

We’ll go with the latter. But, with the England and Brazil jobs seemingly tied up for the time being and the Spain one unlikely due to his Catalan background, who else can afford his wages?

Next job: Saudi Arabia national team

Andoni Iraola

Iraola has made smart, understated career choices as a head coach.

He first made his name with little Mirandes, taking them to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey for the first time in their history.

Then he lifted little Rayo Vallecano up to La Liga. And now he’s looking to take little Bournemouth to European qualification for the first time in their history.

So basically, he’s due to make a really bad decision and jump to a big club for a big pay-day, only to find his methods won’t be taken on board and it’ll all go horribly wrong within months.

Next job: Tottenham Hotspur

Marco Silva

Don’t you get the impression Silva is dying to head to the Saudi Pro League once as Fulham’s season peters out?

Three of his Portuguese compatriots already manage in it, plus there are a host of players from Portugal, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo. His former Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is racking up the goals in Saudi Arabia, too, and Silva is tied to the Gestifute agency, with its boss Jorge Mendes basically running the league.

It’s right. It fits.

Next job: Al Hilal

Graham Potter

Potter’s stock has fallen since those heady final days at Brighton a few years ago when he seemed destined for bigger things for some time to come.

Instead, his Chelsea tenure was brief and if his West Ham spell also ends badly early next season, he’ll be looking at a low-end Premier League club or even an upcoming Championship one if he wants to stay in England.

He’s from England’s ‘second city’ and began his senior career playing for them, so how about…

Next job: Birmingham City

Ruben Amorim

The next destinations for Manchester United’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era managers offer up a pretty eclectic list of jobs: Real Sociedad (Moyes), the Netherlands national team (Louis van Gaal), Tottenham (Jose Mourinho), Besiktas (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) and Austria’s national team (Ralf Rangnick).

Erik ten Hag is still unattached more than six months after leaving Old Trafford, and that’s something of a recurring theme. Van Gaal had five years off to recover from his United experience, while Solskjaer needed three years before he felt ready to put himself through it all again.

It’s the United way.

Next job: A very long holiday

Eddie Howe

Any successful English manager in the modern era should expect a call from the Football Association at some point.

Steve McClaren got the England job on the back of winning the League Cup with Middlesbrough, Sam Allardyce got it for keeping Sunderland clear of relegation (which, to be fair, was probably the harder feat of the two), so long-term team-builder Howe feels destined to replace Thomas Tuchel when the hire-a-winning-manager plan ends with defeat in the quarter-finals on penalties in the United States next summer.

Next job: England national team

Simon Rusk

To clarify, because you genuinely may have missed it, Rusk is currently the interim manager at Southampton.

To be honest, it’s irrelevant how good he is — an unglamorous surname like Rusk only offers a finite number of opportunities in the managerial world. He’s not going to get the Real Madrid job with a name like that, is he? Or even the Osasuna one.

Next job: Grimsby Town

Thomas Frank

With a love of set pieces and a penchant for time wasting, Arsenal seems like a natural fit for Frank, but you feel he has probably missed the boat to make the leap to a bigger Premier League club, having been in charge of Brentford for almost seven years.

Too much class to just take the Saudi money, but “too Brentford” (which has never been said before) to go anywhere else in England.

Next job: Brentford technical director

Unai Emery

He has enhanced his already excellent reputation with the incredible work he has done at Aston Villa, so you’d envisage an upwards move next for Emery, perhaps when he feels hamstrung by his current club’s issues with PSR (profit and sustainability rules)?

He has been known to jump ship in the past and if a potential (but ailing) Champions League contender comes calling at some point, you can envisage him being tempted by one last shot at the very big time.

Next job: Juventus

Fabian Hurzeler

At his current trajectory, it’s probably more likely he’ll be sacked by Brighton than get poached. They were in the Champions League places in December but have dipped down to ninth amid a bit of supporter unrest and a run of one win in seven.

With Germany’s St Pauli and Brighton as his two senior managerial posts, the 32-year-old is clearly a football hipster, so when Cesc Fabregas inevitably lands one of the top European jobs, Hurzeler will be an ideal fit to replace him at…

Next job: Como

Nuno Espirito Santo

His career has followed a pattern — remarkable success with smaller clubs (he took Portugal’s Rio Ave into Europe for the first time in their history, Wolves into Europe after 40 years away from that level and now will surely do the same with Nottingham Forest, whose previous qualification came in the mid-1990s) and average-to-poor at bigger clubs (Valencia pretty good, Porto pretty average, Tottenham… oh dear).

His magnificent work at Forest may tempt one of the big boys again, although they would have to be happy with 40 per cent possession.

Given his best mate (and agent) is Jorge Mendes, Nuno could end up anywhere.

Next job: Atletico Madrid

Arne Slot

While Premier League managers who win multiple titles are set for life and can basically do whatever the hell they want (Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Mourinho, Guardiola), one-time champions still have to forge a living for themselves.

That can lead to some unusual post-title career trajectories. Roberto Mancini’s next job after leaving Manchester City was at Turkish side Galatasaray, Claudio Ranieri resurfaced with Nantes in France after Leicester’s fairytale and Guardiola’s City predecessor Manuel Pellegrini popped up at Hebei China Fortune and then, even worse, West Ham.

Slot, then, would be wise to win another title with Liverpool, especially with not much of a career history to rely on so far.

Next job: Lyon

Vitor Pereira

He has finally found a home at Molineux after a thunderingly nomadic managerial career that has taken in stints in his homeland, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey, Germany, China and Brazil.

This being Wolves, though, expect Pereira to be short-changed in the transfer market this summer and then sacked by October when Matheus Cunha’s 19-year-old Portuguese ‘wonderkid’ replacement fails to score any goals.

Next job: United Arab Emirates national team

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Did all right in his only season managing PSV, then had a nice little stint in caretaker charge at Manchester United for a few weeks last year but has failed miserably at Leicester.

That doesn’t bode well for Van Nistelrooy, who may have to fall back on his Old Trafford past for a future career.

Next job: Regular guest on Stick to Football

Oliver Glasner

When Manchester United spend £350million ($465m) on players who perfectly fit Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation this summer and then sack him in October after a dreadful start to the new season, they’ll look for a 3-4-2-1 specialist to fill the void.

They also, as we know, love a manager who has won the FA Cup, while Glasner consistently picks jobs where he falls out with the club’s owners.

Beat Manchester City at Wembley next weekend with Crystal Palace and it’s all yours later this year, Oli.

Next job: Manchester United

Mikel Arteta

Tough one. He’s done exceptional work over a long period at the Emirates, taking Arsenal from mid-table to Premier League and Champions League title contenders, but has not won a trophy since the 2020 FA Cup. So would he land a tier-one job elsewhere?

Don’t say we’re not optimists at The Athletic — Arteta to end his and Arsenal’s trophy drought next season and then go back to where it all started for him.

Next job: Barcelona

Ange Postecoglou

A serial winner, as we all know, but what has the Tottenham job done to his reputation?

Well, after inevitably being sacked by Spurs soon, Postecoglou will want a club on the up, a club who’ll want to play attacking football, and a club who want to win a big trophy in two years.

Next job: Wrexham

Kieran McKenna

Young, up-and-coming manager? Check. Got relegated from the Premier League? Check. But stuck to his footballing principles? Check.

Next job: Bayern Munich

(Top photo: Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

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