Jose Mourinho may have ended the season with two major trophies following last week’s Europa League Final win, but his management style has divided opinion amongst fans and the media throughout the season.

Mourinho has walked out of media interviews and regularly criticised his young English players in public, with Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw two who have most felt the force of the Portuguese’s tongue.

According to the UK workforce, it appears there is no doubt. The Portuguese has finished bottom of the inaugural Boot Room to Boardroom Index, which has been released today

The survey, commissioned by leading jobs board totaljobs, asked 2,000 UK workers what qualities make for a good and bad manager in the workplace. Workers were then asked what characteristics they associate with a series of famous football managers to establish a league table of which managers would be best prepared to make a move into a traditional UK work environment. * (full table and methodology below)  

Mourinho came stone last in 20th, the only manager in the entire survey whose negative characteristics were deemed to outweigh the positive.  Whilst respondents said Jose was undeniably successful (47%), almost 1 in 3 (29%) said he was ‘arrogant’ which cost him any chance of troubling the top end of the table.

The Italians fly high

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the impact he has had, title-winning Chelsea boss Antonio Conte topped the table, described by UK workers as successful (39%) passionate (30%) and ambitious (27%).  Even having been out of work since the start of the year, Leicester’s title winning boss Claudio Ranieri came second, perhaps highlighting quite how his heart-warming achievements at Leicester continue to capture the imagination of the UK public. The famous Tinkerman was described as successful (31%), passionate (26%) and humble (24%).

Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp came in third and was described as the most ‘charismatic’ manager in the table (32%).  Arsenal’s FA Cup winning manager Arsene Wenger came highest for loyalty (28%), no doubt much to the chagrin of large pockets of the Emirates fan base following this week’s news that he has signed a new contract to keep him at the club until at least 2019.  It is clear young managers from the Continent are viewed as the most ambitious, with Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola (27%) and Mauricio Pochettino (26%) all viewed as being the most ambitious of all the managers included in the survey,

The full league table is below:

*full methodology and attribution scores in notes to editors

The ‘poisoned chalice’?

Whilst current England manager Gareth Southgate manages to secure a top four finish, it is a tale of woe for many of his predecessors as England manager and how the UK workforce perceives their management styles. Four of the bottom five positions in the Boot Room to Boardroom Index are occupied by former England managers. Sam Allardyce may well be looking forward to retirement following his decision to leave Crystal Palace, but it is clear that his management style divided opinion amongst UK workers and he is only spared last place by ‘The Special One’. 29% of those polled saw ‘no attractive qualities’ to his management style and being ‘resistant to change’ was the most negative trait observed (6%).

It is clear that UK workers generally view English managers differently to their European counterparts. Whilst many European managers best management characteristics were described as being ‘successful’, ‘passionate’ or ‘ambitious’ both Roy Hodgson (15%) and Gareth Southgate (21%) had their best qualities described as ‘being humble’. Southgate was also described as being loyal (20%) perhaps due to his dedication to the England cause since Euro 1996.

The Future is Now

Football fans are often accused of romanticizing the past, but the survey found that it is often the manager in possession who benefits from the best perception amongst the UK workforce. Whilst Jurgen Klopp came third in the index after guiding Liverpool to Champions League football, former Reds managers Rafael Benitez and Brendan Rodgers could only manage mid-table finishes, coming in at 9th & 12th respectively.

Gareth Southgate comes in in fourth position and is described as having attractive management qualities including ‘being humble’ (21%) ‘loyalty’ (20%)  and ambitious (20%).  Former Treble-winning Celtic boss Martin O’Neill bucks the trend though, coming in 8th compared to former Celtic bosses Rodgers & Strachan (15th) even if Rodgers matched his compatriot’s achievement this season following last weekend’s Scottish Cup Final win over Aberdeen at Hampden Park.

John Salt, Group Sales Director of totaljobs, comments, ‘The end of the football season for players is much like the end of the calendar year for workers. It is a natural time of reflection, where employees assess their package and their relationship with their manager, which is crucial to anybody’s happiness in the workplace.

We thought the Boot Room to Boardroom Index would be a fun way to explore the popularity of football managers amongst UK workers and see who could make the easiest move from the dugout to business leader. It’s clear that the UK workforce, when it comes to watching management styles from afar, feel that ‘The Special One’ is actually anything but.’

Totaljobs have created an infographic highlighting the top and bottom end of the Boot Room to Boardroom Index and some of the characteristics of some of the UK’s most high profile managers. The infographic can be viewed here: https://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/boot-room-boardroom-index/