New research has found that Rangers legend Bill Struth is the most successful football manager of all time.
The study, conducted by the team at Gambling Zone, looked at the sporting managers with the highest win rates throughout their coaching careers to discover the most successful coaches.
Struth takes first place, having coached over 1,600 games, he has an overall win rate of nearly 70 per cent. The legendary Ibrox figure led Rangers for 34 years, winning 30 major trophies, a record 18 Scottish League Championships, 10 Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups during his career. This undoubtedly makes him one of the most successful managers in Scottish and British football history.
Willie Maley is second on the list. Much like Struth, Maley also coached over 1,600 games, winning almost two-thirds (64.45 per cent) of all games. Serving as a manager for 43 consecutive years, Maley is said to be one of the most successful managers in Scottish football history. He was the first manager of Celtic, leading them to 30 major trophies, including 16 league championships and 14 Scottish Cups.
Taking third place is John “Jock” Stein, who was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup as coach of Celtic. Coaching over 1,000 games, Stein won nearly two-thirds (63.31 per cent) of all his games.
Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish League championships during his career. In his 13 years at Celtic as manager, Stein won the European Cup, 10 Scottish League Championships, eight Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups.
Rank Coach Wins percentage
1 Bill Struth 68.52 per cent
2 Willie Maley 64.45 per cent
3 Jock Stein 63.31 per cent
4 Alex Ferguson 58.10 per cent
5 Dušan Bajević 56.85 per cent
6 Valeriy Lobanovskyi 56.54 per cent
7 Ottmar Hitzfeld 54.09 per cent
8 Arsène Wenger 54.00 per cent
9 Tomislav Ivić 53.96 per cent
10 Dick Advocaat 52.54 per cent
Other findings from the report included Guy Chamberlain as the most successful NFL coach, winning over three-quarters (78.40 per cent) of every game he’s ever coached in the league, the best win percentage of any coach in NFL history with a minimum of 50 wins.
Canadian professional ice hockey player and executive Tom Johnson is the most successful NHL coach ever. Johnson won the Stanley Cup a total of eight times both as a player and manager. He coached 230 games during his career, winning over two-thirds (68.30 per cent) of these games.
And Vic Harris is the most successful MLB coach of all time, winning over two-thirds (66.30 per cent) of all the games he coached during his career, totalling an impressive 547 wins.
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