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Things are going fairly well for the Owls this season under Danny Rohl. But, is the German coach actually in the top ten when it comes to Sheffield Wednesday managers in terms of win percentages?
Despite a Steel City derby defeat just before the international break, Sheffield Wednesday are still lurking just outside the top six and can still call themselves an outside candidate for the play-offs this season.
Since Danny Rohl’s arrival in S6, the Owls have escaped relegation in spectacular fashion, and have now gone on to push up the Championship table and think about potential promotion to the Premier League.
He’s done a terrific job with Wednesday, so much so that Southampton might steal him in the summer. But, is Rohl even one of the best Sheffield Wednesday managers? Let’s find out.
Who is the best Sheffield Wednesday manager – ranking the top 10 by win percentage
We’ve scoured the history books to look at the long line of Sheffield Wednesday managers over the years to determine who is the best, at least when it comes to the metric of win percentages. Here’s the top ten.
10. Trevor Francis – 41.12%
Ron Atkinson’s 41.53% rate between 1989 and 1991 would have actually put him in the top ten, but he’s let down by a brief 27-game spell in the 1997/98 campaign where he registered a win rate of just 33.33%, leaving his cumulative average at dead on 40% overall.
Trevor Francis played under Atkinson at the end of his career, and when he hung up his boots, he replaced his former boss in the Owls dugout. He was highly popular among the fans, and managed to guide Wednesday to both the League Cup and FA Cup final in his second season, though he lost both to Arsenal.
The Wednesday legend took charge of a massive 214 games, winning 88 of them to clock a 41.12% average. His stint in S6 may well be better known for letting the great Eric Cantona slip through his fingers, though.
9. Carlos Carvalhal – 42.75%
Speak to the Sheffield Wednesday fanbase and you’ll find that plenty still pine for this Portuguese coach. Carlos Carvalhal arrived in 2015 with few in England knowing anything about him, but he quickly proved his worth by guiding the Owls to a top-six finish in his first season, ultimately missing out in the play-off final to Hull City.
Carvalhal had them in the play-offs again the following year, after finishing fourth in the Championship. However, Wednesday were left broken hearted once more, with a penalty shootout defeat to Huddersfield Town.
He departed in December 2017, but left behind a strong connection to the Owls faithful, and a 42.75% win rate from his 131 matches. You’ll find plenty of Carvalhal players in our compilation of the best Sheffield Wednesday XI, and that’s no coincidence.
8. Arthur Dickinson – 42.76%
There is no one alive today who will remember the work of Arthur Dickinson, but he was the first of many Sheffield Wednesday managers, way back in 1891.
He is the club’s longest-serving manager, having taken charge of a whopping 919 games across a 29-year period. That’s impressive enough, but he also won close to 400 matches, to register a 42.76% win rate. Bravo.
7. Jimmy McMullan – 42.86%
Another name for the older generation, Jimmy McMullan took on the Owls job in 1937 and lasted out until 1942. Sadly, his tenure was of course interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, meaning he was only able to rack up 77 games as Sheffield Wednesday manager.
33 victories from those matches delivered a respectable 42.86% win rate for McMullan.
6. Robert Brown – 44.33%
Going even further back in time, Robert Brown took stewardship of Sheffield Wednesday after Arthur Dickonson left the club in 1920. He stuck around for a long time, too, clocking up 600 games exactly over a 13-year period.
Of those, Brown won 266 to record a 44.33% win rate. He also took Wednesday up to the Football League First Division in 1925, and then secured back-to-back league titles in 1929 and 1930. Suffice to say, he’s one of the most successful Sheffield Wednesday managers on this list.
5. Howard Wilkinson – 44.71%
A Sheffield Wednesday player back in the day, albeit briefly, Howard Wilkinson was always destined to step into the dugout at Hillsborough one day. When he did, he ended up managing the club for 255 games, and securing a 44.71% win rate overall.
He dropped down a division to take the job in the first place, but quickly got Wednesday promoted to the Second Division in his first season, before establishing them at that level over the next four years.
4. Gary Megson – 45.16%
Gary Megson racked up 233 appearances for the Owls as a player across two spells, but it took him a while to make it back there as manager. Sadly, his stay in S6 was a fairly brief one, with just 62 games in charge.
Still, Megson racked up an impressive 45.16% win rate over that time. His dismissal in February 2012 is still regarded as an odd decision, though. The iconic coach had Wednesday in third place in the League One table, and had just helped the Owls defeat their bitter rivals Sheffield United. Who knows what he could have achieved had he been allowed to stay longer?
3. Vic Buckingham – 47.01%
Harking back to the 1960s, we have Vic Buckingham making a big jump in that win rate, with a brilliant 47.01% success from 134 games between June 1961 and April 1964.
Buckingham arrived at Sheffield Wednesday having just coached Ajax, and he returned there when his time in S6 came to an end.
2. Darren Moore – 51.16%
His time at Hillsborough may have come to a fairly unceremonious end, with a fallout with chairman Dejphon Chansiri suspected as the cause of his departure, but you cannot argue with Darren Moore’s success with Sheffield Wednesday.
Granted, most of his wins came in League One whereas most of his peers were fighting in the second tier or even the Premier League, but Moore instilled a real fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude in the Owls, typified by their stunning play-off adventure in 2023.
1. Harry Catterick – 55.80%
Harry Catterick spent three years in S6 and goes down as the most successful of all Sheffield Wednesday managers when it comes to win percentages. It’s not even close, either. Catterick recorded 77 wins from his 138 games in charge, amounting to a huge 55.80% win rate.
During his time with Wednesday, Catterick won the Second Division title in 1959. He then reached the FA Cup semi-final the following year, and Wednesday were league runners-up to Tottenham Hotspur in 1961.
How does Danny Rohl compare to Sheffield Wednesday greats?
As you may have noticed, Danny Rohl does not make it into the top ten of Sheffield Wednesday managers. At least, not yet.
The young German coach is ranked 11th, just behind the great Trevor Francis. Rohl has a 40.74% win rate from his 81 games so far, but that will all change by the end of the season, one way or another.
How many more games he has for the Owls beyond that remains to be seen beyond. Wednesday fans think Rohl is off in the summer, so he may never breach the top ten after all.
The worst Sheffield Wednesday managers
The crown no one wants unfortunately sits on the head of Xisco Munoz. The Spaniard won zero of his 12 games in 2023.
Munoz was brought in to replace Darren Moore after the promotion season, but made way for Rohl soon after. Fans have never quite understood the thinking behind Munoz’s appointment, and rightly so.
Tony Pulis wasn’t much better, with just one win from his ten games in 2020. Again, disagreements between the manager and Chansiri were cited as an underlying issue. Pulis never managed again after that spell with Wednesday.
Steve Burtenshaw is the worst to have made it to over 50 games. He recorded a lowly win rate of just 19.12% from 68 games back in 1974-1975.