Younger cohort now dominates Premier League dugouts as older managers dwindle
On 29 August 2026 the Premier League’s collection of managers has shifted noticeably younger: most top-flight coaches are in their 40s and only four are aged 50 or over.
Those four are David Moyes (63), Unai Emery (54), Oliver Glasner (52) and Régis Le Bris (50); Moyes is three months younger than José Mourinho. The youngest two managers are Matthias Jaissle, 38, and Fabian Hürzeler, 33.
The pathway into management has changed from the era when most bosses were ageing former players. Hürzeler came through the youth systems at Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich and, at 22 and partly because of an ankle injury, decided to focus on coaching. Jaissle was part of the Hoffenheim team that rose through the divisions to the Bundesliga before knee and achilles tendon injuries ended his playing career at 26. Other examples of recent managers who followed playing careers into coaching include Andoni Iraola, Michael Carrick, Gary O’Neil and Álvaro Arbeloa.
Clubs and countries have become more accepting of coaches who did not have long professional playing careers, echoing Arrigo Sacchi’s idea that "a jockey does not need first to have been a horse." Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann are cited as having taken similar early coaching routes in Germany, a pattern that helps explain the influx of younger managers.
At the same time there are fewer older coaches in the top flight. The piece notes that an experienced generation — Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew — aged together while some of their tactical traits, such as low blocks, direct play and a focus on set pieces, re-entered the mainstream.
The demands of modern club management are described as exhaustive. At Ipswich, Kieran McKenna required coaches to present plans at 6am that he would alter, then sent those plans to training-ground staff to set up pitches and drills; he checked layouts, down to where players should stand and where water bottles would be placed. During sessions McKenna walked between each unit, intervening to advise or amend; coaches watched sessions back and reported improvements before preparing the next day’s drills for a 6am presentation. In 11 v 11 practice games McKenna was the only coach on the touchline and, over five years at Ipswich, no drill was ever repeated in exactly the same form; after a third promotion in five seasons he felt exhausted and in need of a break rather than facing what the article calls an "ungrateful Premier League" that would further sap his reserves.
By contrast, the article recalls Brian Clough’s seasonal holidays and infrequent training attendance, with input described as sharp, erratic and impressionistic. Four decades on a top-level manager typically oversees a team of coaches and analysts that probably outnumbers the players with whom he has direct contact, must engage with boards and sporting directors, and often has limited autonomy — though the success of Mikel Arteta, who has a more traditional role and "seems to micromanage everything at Arsenal," is noted as an exception. Managers are liable to be dismissed after a short run of poor results; the article says the pressure is enormous and the margin for error minute.
Some managers have moved into international roles or taken breaks from club football. Carlo Ancelotti took his break from the club game at 66, Jürgen Klopp at 56 and Thomas Tuchel at 50; the piece suggests management’s appeal may be easier to sustain at international level, where duties can be spread into occasional spells and a major tournament every other year. The article concludes: It is no theatre for old men.
