Top 8 EFL Championship players most likely to become a manager one day | OneFootball

Management remains one of the best post-playing career options for players, and here are eight Championship players who might make the grade.

The career of all professional footballers has a shelf-life and moving into management is one of the most viable options for them once their playing days come to an end, so here are eight current Championship players who could make the grade.

Better nutrition and training have helped to lengthen the amount of time that a player can extend their playing career, but the time still comes when they have to hang up their boots and think about doing something else instead.

Professional football is a highly competitive industry. Players are expected to commit everything to the game from a very young age, but it remains a fundamental truth that the life-span of a playing career is limited. Only the best - some might say the luckiest - make it into their thirties near the top of the game, and this insecurity informs a lot of the decisions made by players throughout their careers.

The options for a player approaching their mid-30s can be limited, with coaching and the media the most viable options. Vastly improved pay has shifted this dynamic, somewhat. For players in the top two divisions, wages have risen to such a level that working after retirement from the game might not be a necessity, if they've been careful with their money or invested it wisely while playing.

But it remains a fact that the majority of head coaches and managers are former players, so here are eight currently plying their trade in the Championship who could make it in the dog-eat-dog world of football management.

Jake Cooper

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Millwall's Jake Cooper reaches his tenth anniversary with the club in January after signing for them from Reading in 2017, and over that time he's been the Lions' Mr Dependable.

He's made 42 league appearances or more in each of seven of the nine years that he's been with the club, and he had the experience of playing for England's under-18s, under-19s and under-20s early in his career.

Now 31 years of age, Cooper has proved his leadership skills on the pitch time and time again for Millwall, and although he should still have a few years left of his playing career, it would be no surprise to see him transfer into coaching once he decides to retire from playing.

Luke Ayling

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Defender Luke Ayling signed a new contract with Middlesbrough at the end of March 2026, committing his future to the club until the end of the 2026-27 season, but at 34 years old he'll surely already be starting to think about his post-playing career options.

Ayling spent the majority of his playing career with Leeds United, where he played under Marcelo Bielsa, Daniel Farke and Jesse Marsch, amongst others. He's also captained both Leeds and Boro, demonstrating that he has the leadership skills that would be necessary in a managerial position.

And over a playing career which has already taken in well over 600 games, he's spent time playing in the Premier League, the Championship and League One, giving him a breadth of experience that few other Championship players can match.

Ayling also has family pedigree in the management game. His cousin Dean Lewington is an MK Dons legend, who's had three spells as their caretaker-manager, while his uncle Ray Lewington had a 38-year coaching career, including four years as the assistant England manager and spells in charge of Brentford and Watford.

Kenny McLean

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Speaking to Glasgow newspaper The Herald all the way back in 2011, St Mirren manager Danny Lennon praised a then-19-year-old Kenny McLean by saying that the young midfielder "will remain level-headed" amid speculation of a big-money move.

That level-headedness has served him well. McLean ended up staying with the Buddies for a further three and a half years before moving on to Aberdeen in 2015, but it was his move to Norwich City which really gave him the opportunity to prove himself.

Over those eight years, he spoke in November 2023 out when things haven't been going well and his comments three months later about the "honest conversations" that the players had been through over their downturn also hint at someone with the interpersonal skills needed to be a success as a manager.

Now the captain of the club, McLean was rewarded with a new two-year contract at the end of 2025-26 season so it may be at least a couple of years before his playing career comes to an end, but with 61 Scotland caps and eight years under his belt at Carrow Road, he could well be considered suitable for a transition into management once that happens.

Ryan Manning

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Ryan Manning had rather divided opinion at Southampton since joining after his QPR contract expired in 2023, and the Saints were rewarded with a considerably improved performance from the defender throughout the 2025-26 season.

The left-back has spoken eloquently about the pressures of playing in the past. Speaking in 2023 about his career and future plans, he said: "You have to make most of it when things are going well for you and make sure you can be set up financially for when you might be out of favour, when you might be out of contract and things aren’t going well. You have to be able to prepare for that as best you can while times are good."

Manning has only just turned thirty, so it could be a few years before his playing career comes to an end, but such level-headedness marks him out as someone who'd be capable of taking on the complexities of managing a group of players himself.

Liam Lindsay

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Demonstrating an ability to deal with adversity and frustration says a lot about someone's character, and as one of the nearly men of the Scotland national team over the last decade, the Preston North End defender Liam Lindsay has certainly had to deal with that. He's long been associated with a potential call-up to play for his national team, but while that finally came in October 2024, he remains without an international appearance.

Despite this, Lindsay has just kept going for Preston North End. As reported at the time by the Daily Record at the time of his call-up, he said: "Being a centre-back, I don’t think you hit your peak until a little bit later in your career. I’ve got experience now. Maybe not internationally, but domestically, and I’ll lean on that." It's not difficult to see how a mindset could translate well into a managerial setting.

Last season wasn't especially easy for him, with just 17 starts in 26 appearance for the Lilywhites, but Lindsay is still only 30 and has several years left in his playing career. When that comes to an end, the resilience that he's shown throughout it could serve him well as a manager.

Matt Godden

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Now 35 years of age, Matt Godden spent much of last season in something of a mentorship role at Charlton Athletic last season even though injuries disrupted his own progress on the pitch. He managed just 11 appearances for the Addicks in 2025-26, but with Charlton's two top scorers, Sonny Carey and Charlie Kelman, both being a decade younger than him, they'll doubtlessly have been taking cues from the former Coventry striker.

And Godden had a fight on his hands to get this hands to truly establish himself in the EFL. Over the course of five years at the start of his career while contracted with Scunthorpe United, he was sent out on loan to six different non-league clubs and eventually spent two years in the National League South with Ebbsfleet United before being picked up by Stevenage.

His career trajectory was firmly upward, through Peterborough United to Coventry City, and he was kept by the Sky Blues despite a succession of injuries. Such experiences can have a profound effect on a player, and Godden could find such experiences valuable should he look to pursue a coaching career once he hangs up his boots.

Jimmy Dunne

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Jimmy Dunne to Sheffield United was one of the ongoing transfer sagas of the first half of 2025 before the matter was settled by him signing a new contract with Queens Park Rangers in June. When he signed the contract, the club's CEO Christian Nourry said: “Jimmy Dunne will put every ounce of his blood, sweat and tears on the line for this football club."

Dunne was rewarded with the QPR captaincy a couple of weeks later, even though former captain Steve Cook was staying with the club, and at the time of this announcement Dunne was keen to point out the importance of Cook's influence on him: "Thankfully, I have Steve around who handed the armband over to me and said a lot of nice things to the group about me. He talked about how we can develop our leadership style together, because there are other experienced heads in the group."

The new captain, who'd ended the previous season as Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Year and Junior Hoops' Player of the Year, is a hugely popular player at Loftus Road, and he continued his solid performances throughout the 2025-26 season, with 39 appearances, three goals and three assists. A clear leader and extremely hard worker, Dunne has a temperament that could well transition into management although, at 28-years-old, he may have many years left in his playing career.

Kieran Trippier

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When Kieran Trippier left Newcastle United for Wolverhampton Wanderers during the summer, he was explicit about his interest in moving into coaching, with the former England defender saying: "I've got a lot of people to lean on, definitely see myself as being a coach in future."

Others certainly seem to be of the view that he has excellent leadership skills too. In this report of his departure from St James' Park in May, Jonjo Shelvey described him as a "natural leader", while the then-Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said of him that: "He's been outstanding on the pitch. He's been a really good leader and deserves to go with all the plaudits."