Arteta and five number twos who flopped as manager
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 24 Aug 2021 15:53 BST
- 4 min read
Mikel Arteta is at serious risk of being sacked as Arsenal manager unless he can turn around the club’s ailing fortunes very fast.
After a dismal 2021-22 season in which Arsenal finished eighth and failed to qualify for Europe, the Gunners have begun the new campaign with two straight losses.
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Arteta was appointed Arsenal manager in 2019 after three years as assistant manager at Manchester City to Pep Guardiola.
Under Guardiola, Arteta was recognised as one of the best assistant managers in the game but he has struggled to make the step up at Arsenal.
Football Transfers looks at five number twos who flopped as the number one.
Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor is remembered as arguably the greatest number two in English football history.
He formed a legendary partnership with manager Brian Clough, winning league titles with Derby and Nottingham Forest - and famously successive European Cup titles.
They fell out in the early 1980s and Taylor tried to go at it alone, returning to Derby as the actual manager. However, he failed and lasted less than two seasons as they were relegated to the Third Division.
Brian Kidd
Brian Kidd had a glorious career as an assistant manager, most notably at Manchester United where he was number two to Sir Alex Ferguson.
At United, the pair won four Premier League titles and two domestic doubles before Kidd left in 1998 to become manager of Blackburn. His stint was a disaster as they were relegated from the Premier League and he was then sacked with them 19th in the Division One.
Kidd returned to being an assistant manager and enjoyed 12 more super successful years at Manchester City under the likes of Roberto Mancini and Pep Guardiola.
Gary Neville
Great to have the @premierleague back. The Fans , Players and Referees gave us a fantastic opening weekend ⚽️ ❤️ pic.twitter.com/eT6Lbfu3DK
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) August 16, 2021
In what is still to this day his only job as a number one, Gary Neville lasted 28 games in just under four months at Valencia.
The club were placed ninth in La Liga when Neville replaced Nuno Espirito Santo in December 2015, five points adrift of the Champions League places.
When Neville was sacked in late March, Valencia had slumped to 14th and were six points clear of the bottom three. He won just three of his 16 league games and 10 of 28 in all competitions.
Before that Neville had been assistant manager for England from 2012 to 2016, being part of the quarter-final appearance at Euro 2012 and the disastrous showings at World Cup 2014 and Euro 2016.
He now works as a pundit in England.
Pako Ayestaran
Pako Ayestaran enjoyed fantastic success as an assistant coach to Rafa Benitez in the noughties.
Together they won two La Liga titles with Valencia as well as the Champions League with Liverpool, among a host of other trophies.
But after a bitter bust-up with Benitez, he left to go his own way. For the last eight years he has been a number one, but he has not lasted more than a year in all seven of his jobs. On four of those occasions his win percentage was less than 30 per cent.
Thierry Henry
One of the greatest footballers of his generation, Henry has found the move into management very difficult.
He was an assistant coach to Roberto Martinez for the Belgium national team for two spells, firstly from 2016-2018 and then again from 2021.
In between he took on two number one positions. Firstly he was a disaster at Monaco, lasting just three months and winning four games from 20 before being sacked with his side in the relegation zone. He then took over Montreal Impact in November 2019 but stepped down after a year in order to be closer to his children following the Coronavirus pandemic.
