As managers go, Boualem Mankour is the definition of a globetrotter, having held jobs in France, China, Tunisia, DR Congo, Turkey and Luxembourg before settling into his latest role, that of rebuilding the Mauritius national team.
There’s a lot of work to be done, and in order to get the best out of the local and expat players who will be eligible for his squad, he will need a lot of inspiration, which he told Onze Mondial he draws from the current Everton, Leeds United and Tottenham managers.
The Algerian sat down with the French newspaper, and when asked who he looked up to in the managerial game, Mankour picked out his favourite three, comparing them to the main protagonists in Sergio Leone’s famous Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
He said: “The Good is Ancelotti (Everton). He’s very close to his players, they all appreciate him. The Bad, that’s Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds). I’d even say the crazy one. They said he’s crazy, but many have inspired themselves from him. And finally, José Mourinho (Tottenham), he’s the Ugly, the devil.
“He didn’t invent football, but he reinvented himself, adapt himself to every team. He didn’t have a great career as a player, but he studied a lot. He reads a lot of psychology books. He was clever, he’s a careerist. You can like him or not, but you need to have a lot of respect for what he’s done. We’re all a bit ugly when you’re a manager”.
A nice little fun quote in these dire times, and few will argue with how Mankour separated the Everton, Leeds and Tottenham managers.
Perhaps Bielsa isn’t bad, per se, but in French, the film title translates to Le Bon, la Brute et le Truand, literally meaning the Good, the Brute and the Crook.
Even if you translate them literally, it still makes sense, although maybe Mourinho might have a few things to say about being called a crook.
