The Football Rich List 2011/12: The Managers

10. Alex McLeish £6m

Aston Villa (New entry)

It will come as little consolation to Alex McLeish that he is making his debut in the Football Rich List. So far this year he's seen Birmingham City relegated under his stewardship and then a vocal portion of their bitter rivals Aston Villa react with perhaps understandable fury to his appointment at Villa Park. But the Glaswegian known to all and sundry as Big Eck loves a battle.
McLeish played for Aberdeen as a central defender under Alex Ferguson during their glory years in the 1980s when the Dons broke the Old Firm dominance of Scottish football. He made nearly 500 League appearances for the Dons, and won 77 caps for Scotland. From 1994 to 2007 he managed Motherwell, Hibs, Rangers and then Scotland before moving south to manage Birmingham from 2007 to 2011.
He started on a contract reckoned to be £1m a year there but after taking the club to ninth in the Premiership at the end of the 2009-10 season he was given a new three-year deal worth a reported £2m a year in September 2010. Within a year he was gone, turning up five days later across the city at Villa, leading to the Blues demanding £5.4m in compensation. McLeish's past contracts and his three year deal with Villa should take him to £6m easily.

FourFourTwo's Aston Villa club news page

9. Andre Villas-Boas £7m

Chelsea (New entry)

The latest Chelsea manager was born in Porto and lived in the same apartment block as Sir Bobby Robson, who was managing FC Porto at the time. Robson appointed Villas-Boas to Porto's observation department. Under the guidance of Robson, who was impressed with his fluent knowledge of English, he achieved his UEFA C coaching licence at the age of 17 in Scotland. He then had a short stint as head coach of the British Virgin Islands national team at the age of 21, before he moved onto a career as an assistant coach at Porto under José Mourinho (another Robson protégé). Villas-Boas moved with Mourinho to Chelsea and then Internazionale, but in summer 2009 he left to pursue his won managerial career.
He started back in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Académica de Coimbra, whom he led from bottom of the league mid-table safety and the Portuguese League Cup semi-finals. Porto appointed him manager in June 2010, and within his first 12 months he won the Portuguese Supercup, the Portuguese Primeira Liga, the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League – the latter victory making him the youngest manager ever to win a European competition, at the age of 33 years and 213 days.
In June Chelsea indirectly paid Porto £13.3m compensation via Villas-Boas to activate his release clause, free him from his contract and become the youngest ever Premier League manager. His three-year contract is worth £4.5m annually, more than four times his salary at Porto. It's early days for Villas-Boas – he's four years younger than Ryan Giggs – but we value him at £7m for now. If he can win the Champions League, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will no doubt reward Villas-Boas handsomely.

FourFourTwo's Chelsea club news page

8. Kenny Dalglish £8m

Liverpool (New entry)

King Kenny is back. The Kop's favourite son is now managing Liverpool again and the Anfield faithful hope that the wee Scot can return the Reds to the glory days and overturn the dominance of hated local rivals Manchester United at the top of the Premiership. In 1990 Liverpool won the third league title of their first five seasons under Dalglish, but the following February he resigned due to stress.
Dalglish popped up later that year at Jack Walker's nouveau-riche Blackburn, leading them into the Premier League and then to the title, becoming only the third manager to lead two clubs to the top-flight title, after Herbert Chapman and Brian Clough. Less happy spells followed at Newcastle and later Celtic, where he left in 2000 with a £600,000 pay-off.
In 2009 Dalglish returned to Liverpool to help its youth academy and act as club ambassador. But in early 2011 when Roy Hodgson left as manager, Dalglish returned as caretaker. In May he was confirmed as the new manager on a three-year contract worth a reported £4m a year. A strong supporter of charities, Dalglish should easily be worth £8m for now. If he returns Liverpool to their glory days, he will go a lot higher.

FourFourTwo's Liverpool club news page

7. Steve Bruce £9m

Sunderland (Re-entry)

Steve Bruce has been spending money this summer, but not his own. Under the largesse of Sunderland's billionaire Irish-American owner Ellis Short, Bruce has signed – among many others – Wes Brown and John O'Shea, his successors as Manchester United defenders. Bruce spent nine hugely successful years at Old Trafford, winning three Premiership titles and three FA Cups, before moving to Birmingham City in 1996 on a £2m-a-year, two-year contract.
He gained a reputation as a peripatetic manager but settled for six years back at Birmingham and before enhancing his reputation at Wigan. He took over at Sunderland in June 2009 and his contract at the Black Cats is reckoned to be worth £3m a year, a 50% rise on his Wigan contract. His company, Steve Bruce Ltd, showed £641,000 of net assets in 2009-10. His 20 years as a player and manager easily take Bruce to £9m.

FourFourTwo's Sunderland club news page

6. Harry Redknapp £10m

Tottenham Hotspur (Last year £10m, 8th)

By the time the FourFourTwo Football Rich List 2012/13 rolls around, Harry Redknapp may well be England manager. The FA's oscillating hiring policy is due a reversion to home-grown management, there are few other options around and he seems to have the vital backing of the press corps.
Representing his country would be a source of great pride for Redknapp. A solid rather than spectacular player, he showed an early aptitude for coaching and in his first full season as manager his Bournemouth side pulled off a classic FA Cup shock by beating Manchester United. He later led West Ham and Portsmouth into Europe, the latter via winning the FA Cup, before moving to Tottenham in 2008 in exchange for £5m compensation. He led Spurs from bottom of the league to Champions League glory nights against Inernazionale and AC Milan.
No details of his salary have ever emerged but Redknapp lives on Panorama Road in Sandbanks outside Poole – one of the most expensive areas of real estate in the world. Redknapp's house dates from 1911 and is reckoned to be worth at least £8m. But allowing for any mortgage, Redknapp should easily be worth £10m with his past contracts and current one.

FourFourTwo's Tottenham Hotspur club news page

NOT AS RICH AS Leona Lewis (musician) £12m