Every boss who deserved Premier League Manager of the Season over Mikel Arteta | OneFootball

The Premier League Manager of the Season award has gone to the man in charge of the team that won the league. Consider us shocked.

Only once in the past 10 years has that not been the case. Jurgen Klopp picked up the prize for 2021-22, despite Liverpool finishing as runners-up to Manchester City by one point.

In fact, Klopp was only the fifth manager in the award’s history to be given the prize without lifting the league trophy, after George Burley (Ipswich) in 2000-01, Harry Redknapp (Tottenham) in 2009-10, Alan Pardew (Newcastle) in 2011-12 and Tony Pulis (Crystal Palace) in 2013-14.

And you could argue it makes sense for the Premier League winning manager to also be the competition’s manager of the season. They were the one to catch; the one who achieved what everyone else didn’t.

But then it does make the award feel a bit pointless. It also undermines the achievements of the managers of smaller clubs who punched above their weight.

So congratulations Mikel Arteta. You got there in the end. Runners up no more, it had to happen some day. Third-highest net spend in the Premier League since you took charge and all that.

In fairness, Arteta himself is probably one of those managers who could have deserved this award in seasons gone by without winning the league.

But sorry, Mikel. We’ve picked out four managers who were more deserving of the award this season.

Andoni Iraola

Was Arteta even the best Basque-born manager in the Premier League this season?

Iraola has gone out on a high from Bournemouth, making him one of this summer’s most in-demand managers.

Bournemouth went unbeaten in their last 18 league games of the season. Funnily enough, their last loss was to Arteta’s Arsenal in their first game of 2026, but Iraola managed to get revenge with a 2-1 win at the Emirates in April.

Bournemouth’s best-ever top-flight unbeaten run before this season was 11 games long, also achieved by Iraola the season before. He genuinely smashed it out of the park.

And that was even after losing most of their defence in the summer, and then top scorer Antoine Semenyo in January.

A sixth-place finish and the promise of Europa League football next season – for the first time in their history – are the rewards for Iraola’s efforts in his final season in charge of the Cherries.

Keith Andrews

Forget how it went for him at Spurs, Thomas Frank was always going to be a tough act to follow at Brentford.

And when they handed the reins to Andrews for his first job as a manager – after previously being their set-piece coach – it was a bold move.

Brentford were tipped for relegation by many. Andrews had other ideas and led them to the top half, finishing above the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle and, yes, Spurs.

OK, Brentford actually finished on fewer points than they did last season. But it was only by three – most would have expected more.

Buoyed by the goalscoring exploits of Igor Thiago, Brentford were contenders for a European spot, missing out on a Conference League place only by goal difference.

Andrews was on the shortlist for manager of the season, but never even got a manager of the month award (just the one nomination too, for February).

His levels of overachievement this season have been underappreciated.

Regis Le Bris

We doubt anyone had Sunderland finishing just six places below Arsenal in their pre-season predictions.

Clubs coming up from the Championship have been finding it ever harder to compete in the Premier League recently. Before this season, the last six went straight back down.

But not Sunderland. They were sitting pretty in the top half for the whole first half of the season and never dropped any lower than 13th.

And even when Le Bris’ future was bizarrely called into question due to the huge size of Sunderland’s ambitions, he responded by steering them into Europe.

Compared to recent trends, coming seventh was a huge achievement. Yes, it was with a vastly improved squad than the one he brought Sunderland up with, but Le Bris got the best out of his group.

Shoutout to Daniel Farke for also bucking the trend of promoted teams going straight back down. He exceeded expectations with Leeds, but not quite enough to be in manager of the season territory.

Le Bris, in contrast, definitely deserved to be in the conversation.

Unai Emery

Yes, the award for the Premier League manager of the season is for precisely that – not a manager’s efforts in all competitions – so we can’t be swayed too much by Emery winning the Europa League with Aston Villa.

But for Emery not to even be on the six-man shortlist for the award felt like a major oversight.

He improved Villa’s position in the table by two places compared to last season, enough to earn them Champions League football even if they hadn’t won the Europa League.

Around December time, there were debates over whether Villa were actually outside contenders for the title themselves. They weren’t in the end, but that’s a symbol of how Emery has transformed their ambitions.

They did at least finish above the defending champions Liverpool (whose downfall is a whole other tale). Moreover, no manager gained more points against the Big Six than Emery all season.