They’ve made their way to the top of the managerial ladder, but it wasn’t always plain sailing for the Premier League bosses during their playing days.
Some rose to the top of the game, others quietly plied their trade in the background while a few barely made an impact.
But how good was your Premier League manager as a player? Sportsmail finds out…
Arsenal – Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger arrived as an unknown quantity in English football 21 years ago after a playing career that was more obscure than his managerial career.
He spent it mainly patrolling the midfield in the lower leagues of France while he continued his academic studies on the side, before a taste of Ligue 1 success right at the end.
He began at Mutzig in 1969 before eventually ending his career at Strasbourg 10 years later while helping to run the youth and reserve teams.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger ended his modest playing career in midfield for Strasbourg
Bournemouth – Eddie Howe
As ever with young managers in the game, injuries curtailed Eddie Howe’s playing career.
As in management he made his name at Bournemouth, playing over 200 times before becoming Harry Redknapp’s first signing at Portsmouth in 2002
A serious knee injury on his debut ended his season and was a portent of things to come. He returned to Dean Court where he played another three seasons before packing it in at 29 and moving towards coaching the reserve side.
Just over a year later he took over from Jimmy Quinn.
Eddie Howe was forced to quit at the age of 29 when at Bournemouth due to injuries
Brighton – Chris Hughton
Chris Hughton’s playing career was Tottenham through and through.
He came through the youth ranks at White Hart Lane and played nearly 400 games at left-back between 1979 and 1990.
Hughton was part of the Spurs team that won back-to-back FA Cups in the early 1980s and lifted the UEFA Cup in 1984, while he also went to Euro 88 and the 1990 World Cup with the Republic of Ireland.
He played out the final years of his career at West Ham and Brentford before retiring at the age of 34 in 1993.
Chris Hughton played nearly 400 games for Tottenham between 1979 and 1990
Burnley – Sean Dyche
A youth team product at Nottingham Forest in the late eighties, back when Brian Clough was in situ, but Sean Dyche failed to make a single first-team appearance at the club.
It was in a seven-year spell at Chesterfield that Dyche made his name at centre-back, captaining the Second Division side to an FA Cup semi-final berth in 1997.
An 18-year playing career also encapsulated spells with Millwall and Watford before Dyche hung up his boots in 2007 after two seasons with Northampton.
Sean Dyche spent seven years at Chesterfield and scored a penalty in an FA Cup semi-final
Chelsea – Antonio Conte
One of the most decorated former players in the Premier League, Antonio Conte lifted five Serie A titles, the Champions League and UEFA Cup at Juventus.
After six years at Lecce, Conte became a mainstay of the Juve midfield during his 13 years in Turin and was handed the captaincy.
Despite a glittering career in club football, Conte did not garner similar success on the international field. He won only 20 caps and was part of the Italy squads that finished runners-up at USA 94 and Euro 2000.
Antonio Conte won five Serie A titles during a glittering career at Juventus
Crystal Palace – Roy Hodgson
As traveled as Roy Hodgson the manager is, it is perhaps surprising that Hodgson the footballer only dipped his toes into foreign waters for one season in South Africa.
The Crystal Palace boss is back now where it all started, however, after coming through the youth ranks at Selhurst Park.
Apart from one year at Berea Park in Pretoria, Hodgson’s playing days never took him away from the south of England or into the upper echelons of the English pyramid; Tonbridge Angels, Gravesend and Northfleet and Maidstone United to name a few.
In 1974 he was put in charge of Swedish club Halmstads to begin a nomadic managerial career still going strong 43 years later.
Roy Hodgson has returned to where it started after coming through Crystal Palace’s youth side
Everton – David Unsworth/ Sam Allardyce
Everton through-and-through. David Unsworth came through the youth system at Finch Farm, made his first-team debut in April 1992 and was part of the last Everton side to win a major trophy in 1995.
He left for West Ham in 1997, where he spent only one season after his family failed to settle in London. Then followed a bizarre move to Aston Villa, where he lasted only a month and didn’t play a single game, before returning to Goodison Park.
Another six years and over 200 games for Everton followed before he was eventually released, joining up with Harry Redknapp again, this time with Portsmouth.
Infamously he began the 2006-07 season with Sheffield United, but signed for Wigan in the January, before scoring from the spot to send his previous employers down on the final day of the season – and keep Wigan in the Premier League.
Davd Unsworth came through the youth system at Everton and won the FA Cup in 1995
Huddersfield – David Wagner
Jurgen Klopp’s best man enjoyed a steady playing career in his native Germany, and was even part of the Schalke side that clinched the UEFA Cup title in 1997.
Despite youth appearances for the German national side, he qualified to play for the USA due to his American father and earned eight caps between 1996 and 1998.
The striker played for eight different clubs in a 15-year playing career that saw him strike up a friendship with Klopp that helped launch his name in management.
David Wagner was part of the Schalke side that clinched the UEFA Cup in 1997
Leicester – Claude Puel
Claude Puel began football career as a youth with Castres FC, before Monaco spotted him as a teenager in 1977.
Puel never looked back from there, staying for 19 years at the Stade Louis II and serving seven of them under Arsene Wenger.
From defensive midfield he played 601 times, won two Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups.
Leicester boss Claude Puel spent his entire 19-year playing career in Monaco’s midfield
Liverpool – Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp’s playing career saw him work his way from front to back. Starting as a striker he eventually wound up in the centre of defence during a 14-year playing career that included 11 years at Mainz.
He scored 52 league goals for the German club in the second division, but during his modest playing days he was always planning for beyond.
Klopp’s fascination with the tactical side of the game led him to take evening classes in a bid to extend his career into coaching after the end of his playing days.
It bore fruit when Mainz coach Eckhard Krautzun was sacked on the eve of an away game in February 2001. In stepped Klopp, and the rest is history.
Jurgen Klopp began his playing career as a striker but ended it as a defender at Mainz
Manchester City – Pep Guardiola
Probably the best former footballer currently managing in the Premier League.
Six La Liga titles, a European Cup and a Cup Winners’ Cup arrived for Pep Guardiola in a storied 18-year career in the game.
Johann Cruyff took a young Guardiola under his wing after he rose through the ranks at La Masia, making him the focal point of Barcelona’s glorious 1992 side.
After 17 years at the club he finally left in 2001 for pastures new, but his later years were marred by injury and controversy before he wound down his days in Mexico via Qatar.
That he has managed to marry a coaching career that more than compliments his playing career is no mean feat.
Pep Guardiola won six La Liga titles during a storied 17-year playing career at Barcelona
Manchester United – Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho entered football determined to follow in the footsteps of his father, but he was never a fine player.
A playing career that garnered under 100 professional appearances in the centre of midfield for Rio Ave, Belenenses and Sesimbra ended in 1987.
Despite moving almost seamlessly into the world of coaching, attending courses and studying relentlessly, it was only when the post of interpreter to Bobby Robson at Sporting Libson emerged that Mourinho’s second career really took off.
Jose Mourinho played fewer than 100 professional games during his playing career
Newcastle United – Rafa Benitez
Another of the modern-day tacticians who had to work the long way round to reach the top of the game because of an unremarkable playing career.
Rafa Benitez came through the youth ranks at Real Madrid in the seventies while studying for a degree in PE.
A year on the sidelines halted his progress and saw him drop down to the third and second divisions with Parla and Linares.
After missing the entirety of the 1985-86 season he was forced to retire at just 26, before returning to Madrid as a youth coach and working his way to the top.
Rafa Benitez had to work the long way round to establish his coaching career
After a spell in the Real Madrid youth setup he also turned out for Parla and Linares
Southampton – Mauricio Pellegrino
A tall, languid centre-back, Mauricio Pellegrino enjoyed nine years at Velez Sarsfield in Argentina before he was snapped on loan by Louis van Gaal at Barcelona.
It was at Valencia, though, that he enjoyed his best years – six of them – winning two La Ligas, the UEFA Cup and fine-tuning his game under Hector Cuper and then Rafa Benitez.
He missed out on the biggest club prize of all, though, after missing the decisive penalty that saw Bayern Munich lift the Champions League in 2001.
The Argentine international rejoined Benitez at Liverpool for the second-half of the 2004-05 season but looked all at sea in the fast pace of English football.
Mauricio Pellegrino had a successful spell at Valencia but a brief half-a-season with Liverpool
Stoke – Mark Hughes
Deadly goalscorers don’t often seem to rise to the top of the managerial game, but Mark Hughes is one of the few exceptions.
The Welshman enjoyed a glittering 18-year career, much of it at the top of the European game, beginning at Manchester United before spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
A second spell at Old Trafford brought two Premier League titles before Sparky played out the second-half of his career scaling down the table from Chelsea, to Southampton, to Everton and eventually Blackburn.
A return of 224 goals in 799 professional appearances is the envy of many of his contemporaries.
Mark Hughes enjoyed a glittering 18-year playing career across the European leagues
Swansea – Paul Clement
Of all the managers in the English top-flight, unarguably it is Paul Clement who had the least auspicious playing career of all.
The Swansea boss never progressed beyond the non-league level with Bandstead Athletic and Corinthian Casuals between 1988 and 1994.
From the age of 23 he began to embark on a career in coaching and worked at the Chelsea Centre of Excellence while holding down a job as a PE teacher at Glenthorne High School.
Paul Clement never managed to progress beyond non-league football in his playing days
Tottenham – Mauricio Pochettino
Mauricio Pochettino’s playing career may not have been distinguished, but took him from South America and across two of the major leagues in Europe.
A graduate of Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina, the former centre-back enjoyed two spells with Espanyol – twice claiming the Copa del Rey – either side of a four-year sojourn in France, which took him to PSG and Bordeaux.
Remembered most famously in this country for cotentiously bringing down Michael Owen in the penalty area in the 2002 World Cup, from which David Beckham slammed home that infamous, redemptive spot-kick.
Mauricio Pochettino played in Argentina and across two major leagues in Europe
Watford – Marco Silva
At the age of just 40, Marco Silva has already established himself as a manager with a track-record across Europe, from Portugal, to Greece and finally England.
But in his 15-year playing career as a right-back, the Watford boss never left his homeland – and barely departed his home city of Lisbon.
He only ever made two top-flight appearances in that time, with Belenenses and then Campomaiorense.
Retired in 2011 at the age of 34, with over 300 professional games and a meagre eight goals in his locker.
Marco Silva never played outside of Portugal during his 15-year playing career
West Brom – Gary Megson
A tough-tackling defensive midfielder by trade, Gary Megson played for nine different clubs during an 18-year playing career.
Starting out at Plymouth Argyle in 1977 Megson went on to make 78 appearances there, and over 200 in two separate spells at Sheffield Wednesday.
A career high-point came at Norwich, who he helped finish third in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992 and reach the UEFA Cup for the first time as a result.
It was there that Megson’s managerial leanings began, with a brief spell as caretaker in spring 1995 before the sudden departure of Martin O’Neill saw him return for good later that year.
Gary Megson’s 18-year playing career began at Plymouth in 1977 and ended at Shrewsbury
West Ham – David Moyes
Another former central defender who has made his way in the managerial world, it may surprise many to learn that David Moyes’ playing career began in Iceland.
Half-a-season with the IBV youth team in 1978 prepared Moyes for a 19-year professional career that encompassed seven clubs both north and south of Hadrian’s Wall and over 550 appearances.
At Celtic he won the league before years in England spent flitting from Cambridge United, to Bristol City and Shrewsbury.
Dunfermline came calling in 1990, and a brief spell at Hamilton Academical, before the new West Ham manager wound down the final six years of his career at Preston.
West Ham boss David Moyes played over 550 professional games in England and Scotland