Tony Pulis won the Premier League Manager of the Season award with Crystal Palace in 2014, joining an exclusive club—since the award began in 1993, only four managers have claimed the honour without topping the table. Now, as the League Managers Association prepares for its annual awards dinner this week, Pulis reflects on which managers this season truly deserve recognition: not just those who won trophies, but those who transcended expectations.
In England's professional football leagues, over-achievement has become the story of this season. While Arsenal and Manchester City have dominated the Premier League headlines, Pulis argues the real standout performances lie among those who defied the odds. Keith Andrews, in his first season managing Brentford, guided a team many expected to be relegated straight toward European qualification. Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth actually secured it, reaching the Europa League despite having to sell key players every transfer window. What makes Iraola's achievement especially striking is its longevity: he arrived at the south coast club in 2023 and has built momentum each year, not momentum lost. His first league win didn't arrive until October, his tenth attempt, yet he persevered through those early struggles to prove, as Pulis says, "if you do get time, then success can and will follow good managers."
Daniel Farke delivered similar vindication at Leeds, turning the club's fortunes around when facing real pressure in late November. He kept them in the Premier League, bucking a modern trend where promoted sides rarely survive their first season back. Regis le Bris at Sunderland achieved the same feat. Lower down the pyramid, the story only gets stronger. Andy Woodman steered Bromley to an extraordinary 21-game unbeaten run from early December through late March, ultimately winning the League Two title outright. At the same level, Paul Warne and Neil Harris led MK Dons and Cambridge United to remarkable seasons. In League One, Michael Skubala's Lincoln impressed so thoroughly that few predicted their rise, while Brian Barry-Murphy's Cardiff performed as expected among stronger contenders.
The Championship saw Kieran McKenna's Ipswich return as automatic promotion winners—a favourite's journey back to the top flight—while Frank Lampard brought Coventry to champions, securing automatic promotion after a consistent season-long performance. Both face enormous challenges ahead in the Premier League, where staying up has become a genuine achievement in itself.
What unites these stories is the recognition of managerial craft under constraint. Over the past 33 years, only 14 of the overall LMA Manager of the Year winners have come from managers who won the Premier League; seven have arrived from outside the top division entirely. Budget constraints, time to develop a vision, and institutional patience matter enormously at every level. Pulis himself notes that while he cannot reveal his three nominations, two come from lower divisions where financial limitations are stark reality for nearly every club.
As the LMA gathers this week to honour the season's standouts, the message is clear: excellence in football management isn't measured only by silverware or final league position. It's measured by what managers build with what they're given, and the remarkable progress emerging from Bromley to Bournemouth suggests that 2024–25 has been a season that refuses to let ambition be bound by budget.