Great Premier League players do NOT make great managers – Van Nistelrooy’s Leicester job feels like a shot in the dark

Name me a great Premier League footballer who became a successful Premier League manager?

That's not possible, because there aren't any.

Plenty of the league's legendary players have had a stint in the dugout: Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Vincent Kompany, Gianfranco Zola and Tony Adams, as well as Alan Shearer as Newcastle's interim chief.

None of them lasted too long in English top management and they all failed.

The appointment of Ruud van Nistelrooy as the new boss of Leicester therefore feels like a shot in the dark.

And a return to an era when great former players were expected to walk into a dressing room, metaphorically throw their medals on the table and immediately command respect from their new team.

It is a theory that has been debunked by the illustrious list mentioned above.

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney's career is in danger of disappearing without a trace at Plymouth Argyle, who have conceded ten goals in their last two games before he even gets a chance at a Premier League job.

And Lampard will receive a warm welcome at Millwall on Saturday in his new job as boss of Championship strugglers Coventry.

Van Nistelrooy, 48 years old, has only managed PSV Eindhoven for one full season.

It was quite a campaign, with PSV finishing second in the Eredivisie and winning the cup, while Van Nistelrooy also enjoyed a successful few weeks in charge of Manchester United – which mainly consisted of beating Leicester.

Yet it is clear that Van Nistelrooy would not be getting a job in the Premier League now if he had not been a great player: a Premier League champion, Golden Boot winner and PFA Player of the Year at United.

And while 37-year-old Jamie Vardy knows exactly who Van Nistelrooy is – having broken the Dutchman's record by scoring in consecutive Premier League games during the Foxes' miracle title campaign – many younger players won't know much about a career that peaked more than twenty years ago.

Like most clubs, Leicester have a tendency to ignore a manager's level of play: Brendan Rodgers and Steve Cooper are career coaches, Enzo Maresca is a graduate of Pep Guardiola's backroom.

So this is a left field. Van Nistelrooy, who will take charge for the first time against West Ham on Tuesday The Foxeswould be a major trend bucker if he succeeds at King Power.

Leicester is a tough job in many ways.

Longtime director of football Jon Rudkin has a close relationship with owner Aiyawatt 'Top' Srivaddhanaprabha, while senior players, including Vardy, have an unusual amount of influence.

A boozy Christmas party for players in Copenhagen on the weekend of Cooper's dismissal also suggested discipline could be an issue.

Leicester must aim high

And the club was considered lucky to avoid a points deduction under Premier League winning and sustainability rules just because they were in the Championship at the time they were charged.

Then there is the matter of expectation level. At most newly promoted clubs, the only goal is survival. And at most clubs outside the 'Big Six' the ambitions are limited.

Yet at Leicester 'unrealistic expectations' are perfectly reasonable.

Along with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, the Foxes are one of only four clubs to have won both the Premier League and FA Cup in the last ten years.

So how can anyone say it's unrealistic for Leicester to aim high when they've won the title more recently than Manchester United and won anything more recently than Arsenal, Tottenham or Newcastle?

Van Nistelrooy proved as caretaker at Old Trafford that he looks and sounds the part: with his beard, turtleneck and quotable, he has the PR credentials to match his playing fees.

But he faces a very difficult task. And he could also be the hope of any major Premier League player looking for a shortcut to top management.

David Moyes right?

REMEMBER once again the reason for West Ham's 'David Moyes Out' campaign, after the Scot masterminded the most consistently successful four-year run in the club's history.

Under Julen Lopetegui, the Hammers are fourteenth, in contrast to three top-half finishes and three consecutive European quarter-finals, including a first trophy in four decades under Moyes.

In black and white terms, what Moyes achieved at the London Stadium virtually hit the glass ceiling for any club outside the elite.

There were complaints about the playing style, but there is little evidence that anything is sexier under Lopetegui.

Indeed, there doesn't seem to be any coherent playing style.

VAR 'triumph'

ANOTHER victory for VAR in Brighton on Friday as Stockley Park spent three minutes ruling that Southampton 'scorer' Cameron Archer was onside.

Only to decide with about a minute left that his teammate Adam Armstrong – who was definitely offside – disrupted the game, making the first decision irrelevant.

The ridiculous amount of time it took to eliminate a potential winner meant the match lasted 103 minutes.

It's almost like they don't really care about competitive gamblers.

Manchester fallen?

FOR A THIRD of the season there is no Manchester club in the top four of the Premier League.

By the time the derby takes place on Sunday, City versus United could be a real mid-table clash.

Is it possible that Manchester will be without Champions League football next season for the first time since 1995-96, back when England had just one representative at the top?

Title race 'completed'

COLE PALMER, whose deadpan media interviews are almost as entertaining as his sublime football skills, responded dismissively when asked if Chelsea were in the title race after a 3-0 win over Aston Villa left them joint second with Arsenal.

And he was right. There is no title race. Liverpool have completed it.

Normally you might think the leaders' trip to St James' Park represents a potential minefield, but on Saturday Eddie Howe congratulated his team on a performance that saw the number of shots Crystal Palace 16 Newcastle 1.

Take PA system

Am I just getting old and irritable – as opposed to middle-aged and irritable people – or are PA systems on football fields getting louder and louder and PA announcers becoming more and more annoying?

Point of ref

REFEREES have become very strict about sign language.

Waving imaginary cards is punished with real cards, along with performing a gesture on the TV screen to insist on a VAR review.

So why not tackle the most annoying and widespread hand gesture of all: the wagging of a finger at a referee by a player who has just committed a clear foul?

I would go for a mandatory six-match suspension or even a sine die ban.

Recurrence of dream denied

The cancellation of FA Cup replays has been hugely controversial and on Sunday, seventh-tier Harborough Town showed us why.

A dramatic late equalizer away in League One Reading should have given the part-timers a 3-3 draw, a rematch at home and a place in last night's third round.

Instead, they suffered the decidedly less romantic outcome of leaving after conceding twice in the opening minutes of extra time.

Ash hopes

THE AUSSIES were packed at home in their first Test against India, while England – with a potentially explosive group of fast bowlers – won well in New Zealand.

Could next year's Ashes Down Under be a real competition instead of the usual carnage?