Who is the best Liverpool manager ever? We examine the finest managers to ever take the helm at Anfield and reveal the greatest Reds boss of all time.
Arne Slot has become an instant Liverpool legend after winning the Premier League title in his first season in charge and he joins a long list of famous Reds managers to have guided the club to silverware.
Some truly iconic figures have taken up their place in the Anfield dugout, from Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley to Jurgen Klopp, but who is the best Liverpool manager ever?
In this article, we rank the top 10 bosses in the club’s history and reveal the best Liverpool manager of all time.
10. Arne Slot
Arne Slot makes it into the top 10 despite only being in charge for one season.
The calm Dutchman was recruited from Feyenoord and was not expected to enjoy instant success following in the footsteps of the much-loved Klopp.
However, Slot has just guided the Reds to their record-equalling 20th top-flight title after an outstanding campaign and he will now be after more silverware in the years to come as he aims to keep the club at the very top. Given his stunning start to life on Merseyside, it’s no surprise that Liverpool are again among the favourites in the football betting to win the Premier League in the Dutchman’s second season.
9. George Kay
After impressing in charge of Southampton, George Kay was brought to Liverpool in 1936 and he was responsible for signing Paisley in 1939.
In the post-war period, Kay secured the club’s first league title in 24 years when they were crowned champions in 1947.
8. Tom Watson
Tom Watson remains Liverpool’s longest-serving manager, spending 19 years at the club between 1896 and 1915.
Watson was the boss when Liverpool were crowned English champions for the first time in 1901 and he repeated the achievement five years later.
7. Gerard Houllier
Gerard Houllier was initially brought in as joint-manager to work with Roy Evans in 1998 but the partnership didn’t work and the highly-respected Frenchman assumed full control later that year.
His finest achievement at Anfield came in the 2000-01 campaign when he led Liverpool to a cup treble – winning the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.
6. Rafael Benitez
Rafael Benitez led Liverpool to their memorable 2005 Champions League success in his first season in charge and guided the club to another final in the same competition just two years later.
The Spaniard also won the FA Cup in 2006 while keeping the Reds in the top four in the Premier League for much of his six-year reign.
5. Joe Fagan
While working alongside Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley in the 1960s and 70s, Joe Fagan quietly played a key role in Liverpool’s considerable success in that period before succeeding Paisley as manager in 1983.
In his first season in charge, Fagan incredibly won the treble when his side secured the European Cup, the League Championship and the League Cup before he left his role in 1985 after the European Cup Final of that year – the Heysel Stadium disaster – which he admitted caused him great distress.
4. Sir Kenny Dalglish
Sir Kenny Dalglish is one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players but he’s also remembered as a successful player-manager following his appointment in 1985.
The Scot is another of the club’s most revered figures and won the First Division three times and the FA Cup twice before stepping down in 1991, later admitting leading the club at the time of the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989 had taken its toll on him.
Dalglish returned as boss, initially as caretaker in early 2011, but he struggled to replicate his previous glories at Anfield and left at the end of the 2011-12 season after winning the League Cup but overseeing a disappointing eighth-place finish in the league. Nevertheless, his time at Liverpool and Blackburn established him as one of the best Premier League managers of all time.
3. Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp was in charge at Anfield for almost nine years and the charismatic German will go down as one of the club’s best-ever managers.
The former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund chief connected with what had been a disillusioned fanbase almost immediately upon his arrival in 2015 and enjoyed a thrilling spell of success from 2019 up until he surprisingly left in 2024. Over the course of his tenure, Klopp built a hugely successful team featuring some of the best Liverpool players ever, including Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker.
Klopp guided the Reds to Champions League glory in 2019 and was then responsible for ending the 30-year wait for the league title when his mesmerising attacking side triumphed in 2020.
2. Bob Paisley
Paisley succeeded Shankly and oversaw a period of huge success during his nine years in charge, winning the league six times, the European Cup on three occasions, the League Cup three times and the UEFA Cup once.
A former player, who made over 250 appearances for the club, Paisley had a quiet and understated demeanour but his record marks him out as one of the greatest ever managers in the game and, among his stunning achievements, he was the first boss to lift the European Cup three times.
He also won the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, plus an FA Cup and two League Cups and would have enjoyed much more success if it wasn’t for Manchester City’s dominance at the time.
1. Bill Shankly
Shankly, who arrived at Anfield in 1959, is widely regarded as the man who inspired the club’s success from the 1960s onwards, transforming Liverpool from a second division outfit into one able to compete with the very best at home and abroad.
The legendary Scot won promotion up to the top flight in 1962 then the First Division title two years later. He would go on to win the Championship twice more, while also guiding the club to FA Cup glory twice and success in Europe with the UEFA Cup in 1973.
Shankly shocked Liverpool when he announced his retirement in 1974 but he remains arguably the most iconic figure to ever be associated with the club.
