As we continue to hand out our end-of-season awards following the conclusion of the Premier League campaign, we reveal the winner of our Coach of the Season.
Rafael Benitez, Roy Hodgson and Sean Dyche all deserve special mentions for their efforts with Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Burnley respectively, but there can only be one winner.
Pep Guardiola guided Manchester City to a record-breaking Premier League campaign. Most points. Most goals. Most wins. Guardiola’s side were sensational, becoming the first team to reach 100 points.
Their football was mesmerising and unstoppable, as they romped to the title. A run of 18 straight wins between August and December, in which time City beat Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal, may never be repeated.
They moved to the top of the table after a 6-0 away win at Watford in September and never looked like being caught.
While others will argue the Manchester United team of 1999, or the Arsenal side of 2004, are the greatest in Premier League history, with the records City have broken and the football they’ve played, they may well stand alone at the top – and that is all down to Guardiola.
Worthy mentions
Sean Dyche
Sean Dyche did a superb job with Burnley.
What a job from the Burnley boss. Dyche guided the Clarets to a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League, meaning they will be playing Europa League football next season. After moving into seventh in September, Burnley never dropped lower than ninth, picking up some excellent wins along the way, including a 3-2 success at Stamford Bridge. While their style of play may not have been the most exciting, Burnley showed a real togetherness and work ethic to finish just behind Arsenal.
Roy Hodgson
Roy Hodgson has restored his reputation with Crystal Palace.
Taking over after a shocking start to the season, in which Crystal Palace failed to score in their opening seven games, losing them all, Hodgson deserves a lot of credit for the job he did with the Eagles. Palace lost just nine more league games after that difficult start, winning 11 and scoring 45 goals in the process, as they ended the campaign in 11th. After his disastrous ending with England, Hodgson has restored his reputation at Selhurst Park.
Rafael Benitez
Rafael Benitez deserves praise for the job he did with Newcastle United.
The former Liverpool and Chelsea boss did an excellent job with what is a limited Newcastle squad. After not receiving the funds to strengthen as he would have liked, and despite goals being hard to come by, Benitez guided Newcastle to a top-ten finish, improving the levels of a number of the players. Wins at home to Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea in the second half of the season were superb results that helped secure safety.
