Successful managers who started in non-League

Some managers go straight in at the very highest level of the game – think Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta; others have to commence their coaching journey in the lower reaches of the pyramid.

The latter applies to every gaffer here – all of whom eventually coached in at least the second tier of English or Scottish football, and most of them in the top flight.

These are some of the most successful managers who started out in non-League…

A title-winning manager in each of the third, fourth and fifth tiers of the English football pyramid, Merseyside native Paul Cook started out in charge of nearby Conference club Southport.

He lasted just six months in that role but made much more of an impression with Ireland’s Sligo Rovers – where he won back-to-back FAI Cups in 2010 and 2011.

Successful spells at the helm of Chesterfield and Portsmouth followed, before Cook took Wigan Athletic back to the Championship in 2018.

In 2021, he got his biggest job yet: that of Ipswich manager.

Forced to retire from playing by injury in his 20s, Danny Cowley entered management while working as a PE teacher in Essex.

Having established himself at Concord Rangers, he moved on to Braintree Town in 2015, guiding them to the National League play-off semi-finals and catching the eye of Lincoln City

With brother Nicky as his number two, Cowley steered Lincoln from the fifth tier to the third in successive seasons, as well as making them the first non-League team for over 100 years to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals – knocking out Premier League Burnley en route to that stage in 2018.

The Cowleys left Lincoln for Championship Huddersfield Town in 2019.

Glaswegian Steve Evans began his coaching career with Lincolnshire non-League outfit Stamford, having played exclusively in Scotland.

In 2002, Evans led fellow Lincolnshire outfit Boston United to the Football League for the first time in their history – although that success was shrouded in controversy: he was later convicted for tax evasion.

Nevertheless, the former Clyde and Albion Rovers striker went on to prove himself as a serial promotion winner in England’s third and fourth tiers and had a short spell in charge of Leeds.

Following in the footsteps of dad Brian was never going to be easy, but Nigel Clough’s old man would be immensely proud of his son’s managerial achievements.

Clough oversaw the remarkable rise of Burton Albion – where he spent the last decade of his playing days – from the seventh tier to within touching distance of League Two, before emulating his father by taking over at Derby.

After also managing Sheffield United, he returned to Burton in 2015 and took them from League One to Championship, keeping the Staffordshire minnows in the second tier against all odds.

Nine years on from his previous stint in the dugout at non-League Woking, Brian McDermott succeeded Brendan Rodgers as manager of Reading – who he had joined as chief scout in 2000.

In charge for almost a decade, he guided the Royals to the 2009/10 FA Cup quarter-finals and the 2011/12 Championship title, winning the second tier’s LMA Manager of the Year award in the latter campaign.

McDermott first stepped into the technical area in 1996, taking the reins at hometown club Slough.

Rob Edwards worked his way from managing hometown non-League outfit AFC Telford United to Championship Watford, via Forest Green Rovers and the England U16 team.

He lasted just 10 league games in charge of the notoriously trigger-happy Hornets – but the 2022/23 season was to have a glorious ending for the ex-Wales defender: he took Watford’s arch-rivals, Luton, to the Premier League through the play-offs, ending their 31-year top-flight exile.

Like Rob Edwards, David Pleat won promotion to the top flight as Luton boss – clinching the 1981/82 Second Division title with the club he had previously played for, and securing an impressive ninth-placed First Division finish within four years.

In 1986, Pleat moved on to Tottenham – leading Spurs to the FA Cup final in his only full campaign at White Hart Lane – before a spell in charge of Leicester and a second stint at Luton.

The former Nottingham Forest, Shrewsbury Town, Exeter City and Peterborough United winger’s first managerial job came at Nuneaton Borough.

Chris Wilder has managed in each of the top five tiers of English football – but he started out deep in non-League, at Alfreton Town of the Northern Counties East Premier Division in 2001.

Following stints as manager of Halifax Town, Oxford United and Northampton Town – winning promotion from the Conference and League Two respectively with the latter two – Wilder got his dream job in 2016, taking charge at Sheffield United.

He led the Blades from League One to the Premier League in the space of three seasons, excelling with a bold overlapping centre-backs approach and sealing a ninth-placed top-flight finish in 2019/20.

Hang on, Neil Lennon began his managerial career with Celtic, didn’t he? They’re not remotely non-League…

Yes, he did – but with Celtic B, the Glasgow giants’ reserve side, who play in Scotland’s non-League Lowland League.

A five-time Scottish champion as a Celtic player, Lennon led the Bhoys to multiple top-flight titles in each of his first two spells in the Celtic Park hotseat.

No manager has won more promotions in the English game than Neil Warnock, who first trod the technical area as gaffer at Gainsborough Trinity in 1980 – while still playing.

Warnock also served as player-manager of Burton Albion, before winning the 1986/87 Conference title with Scarborough; then, at the start of the 90s, he coached Notts County from the third tier to the top flight in successive campaigns.

He later led Sheffield United, QPR (as champions) and Cardiff to the Premier League, also managing Crystal Palace at the same level.

Graham Potter took an unconventional route to elite-level management, getting his break in 2008 at Leeds Carnegie – the football team of Leeds Metropolitan University.

But it was in Sweden that the former West Brom and York City left-back really made his mark in the dugout, taking little Ostersund from the fourth tier to the top flight and knockout stage of the Europa League.

After a season at Swansea, Potter established himself in the Premier League with Brighton – delivering the Seagulls’ best top-flight finish to date in 2021/22 – before Chelsea came calling.

Cardiff City manager either side of the First World War, Fred Stewart brought the Bluebirds FA Cup success in 1927, defeating Arsenal in the final to make them the first Welsh club to win England’s most famous knockout competition.

An FA Cup runner-up two years earlier, and a runner-up in both the Second and First Divisions, Stewart only held the reins at one other club: Stockport County, who were elected to the Football League for the very first time under his tutelage.

The last title-winning manager of the pre-Premier League era in England, Howard Wilkinson enjoyed First Division glory as Leeds boss in the 1991/92 season – having only led the Whites to the Second Division title two years earlier.

Wilkinson – who had two spells in caretaker charge of England – began his coaching career with a successful stint at Northern Premier League Boston United in the 70s.

A serial collector of silverware with Celtic and a two-time League Cup winner with Leicester, Martin O’Neill began his managerial journey in 1987 with Grantham Town.

His first notable coaching success came at Wycombe Wanderers, who he led to the Football League for the first time in their history in 1993 – and to the third tier the very next season (and almost the second tier the campaign after that, missing out on the play-offs due to a restructuring of the pyramid).

Second-tier Norwich poached the ex-Nottingham Forest and Northern Ireland star in 1995 – but O’Neill left for Leicester within a matter of months, guiding the Foxes to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in his first season.

Two League Cup triumphs in four years followed, before that glittering stint with Celtic and spells managing Aston Villa, Sunderland, the Republic of Ireland and Forest.

A two-time FA Cup-winning manager with Manchester United and a League Cup winner with Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa – the former as a second-tier outfit, beating United in the 1991 final – Ron Atkinson was one of the most charismatic figures on the touchline in England.

Having spent his entire playing career at Oxford United, Big Ron entered management as boss of Kettering Town in 1971, working his way up to Old Trafford via Cambridge United and West Brom.

Atkinson’s time in the dugout also took him to Coventry, Nottingham Forest and Atletico Madrid.

One of the most successful managers in English top-flight history, Tom Watson won five First Division titles between 1892 and 1906 – two with Sunderland then three with Liverpool, delivering both clubs’ first championships.

Also a Second Division champion and FA Cup runner-up as Reds boss, the Geordie gaffer got started in management at Newcastle West End – before taking charge of Newcastle East End.