Celebrating 1,000 games: England's 15 full-time managers ranked

Over England's 999 international matches, 15 different full-time bosses have taken charge of the Three Lions for at least one game.

Admittedly, some have been much more memorable than others and some have held the reigns of England's most important job for a long time, in contrast to others - we're looking at you, Sam Allardyce.

Some have led this great nation to the latter stages of major tournaments before coming up just short off the mark, whilst a fair few have failed to even qualify in the first place.

And only one has ever led us to glory on the biggest of stages.

But looking back, how do they all rank from worst to best when we size them up?

Ahead of Gareth Southgate's men's 1000th international against Montenegro at Wembley on Thursday 14 November, we take a look...

15. Kevin Keegan

Coming in at 15 is Three Lions playing great Kevin Keegan, who took charge of the team between February 1999 and October 2000.

Unfortunately, Keegan's time as Three Lions boss wasn't quite as successful as his 10-year playing stint for his nation as he finished up with a win percentage of just 38.9 (the worst of any full-time England manager), despite guiding the side to a major tournament in the form of the 2002 UEFA European Championship.

14. Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce currently possesses the best win percentage of any Three Lions gaffer with a flawless 100% - he would have snapped your hand off for that had you offered him it when he replaced Roy Hodgson in summer 2016.

What Allardyce wouldn't have wanted, however, was for his tenure to last just one match, a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Slovakia. Thus was before he left his role by mutual consent following the infamous "pint of wine" video - one can only wonder what could have been.

13. Steve McClaren

Largely branded the worst manager in England's history, it's often forgotten that Steve McClaren's Three Lions win ratio stands at a respectable 50%.

However, it's difficult for most to see past the night that brought his stint at Wembley crashing down like a house of cards, defeat to Croatia when only a draw was needed for qualification to EURO 2008. He will forever be remembered as "a Wally with a Brolly."

12. Don Revie

After years of success at Leeds United, Don Revie assumed the England position in 1974 and would hold onto it for three years before quitting due to the aggravation of the job.

In spite of winning a trophy in the 1974-75 British Home Championship, Revie failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championship and could only record 14 victories in the 29 games he presided over in the most important job in England.

11. Graham Taylor

Along with the likes of McClaren, Graham Taylor tends to go down in the list of more forgettable Three Lions gaffers but did still achieve something in his reign, qualification to a European Championship - something England had only achieved twice in the 20 years previous.

Although the chop would await the Watford legend just a couple of years later when his talented team underperformed in 1994 World Cup qualifying and never made it to USA '94. Like Revie, Taylor lasted just three years.

10. Roy Hodgson

As we move into the top ten we find Roy Hodgson, a man who was rather plunged in at the deep end just before a major tournament when he took the reins from Fabio Capello.

The managerial journeyman did well at EURO 2012, however, qualifying for the knockout stages as group champions before a narrow exit at the hands of the soon-to-be finalists Italy in a penalty shootout.

But early elimination from the 2014 World Cup and embarrassment against Iceland at France 2016 made for Hodgson and his eye-catching 58.9% win ratio.

9. Glenn Hoddle

A theme beginning to occur in this countdown is promising managers having their Three Lions tenures cut short by off-field matters and that couldn't be truer in the case of 1996-1999 boss Glenn Hoddle.

The Tottenham Hotspur great's England had shown some exciting signs at France '98 despite being dumped out on penalties by Argentina in the round-of-16 but Hoddle's sacking wasn't too far around the corner as he was given his marching orders in early 1999 having claimed the disabled were being punished for sinning in their previous lives.

8. Ron Greenwood

To the slightly less bizarre now and the legendary Ron Greenwood at number eight, a traditional gaffer tasked with picking up the pieces of Revie's reign and returning the nation to the glories of the Sir Alf Ramsey era.

It took time for Greenwood to instigate some improvement for England, first by qualifying for a European Championship and then the second group phase of a World Cup before resigning and retiring in 1982 with a win percentage of 60.

He was also a trailblazer having picked England's first black player Viv Anderson, famously saying "Yellow, purple or black - if they're good enough, I'll pick them."

7. Fabio Capello

Of Three Lions managers that have taken charge of more than one game, 2008-2012 gaffer Fabio Capello has the highest win percentage - a pretty impressive feat.

His tenure, whilst blighted by some bizarre selections including the likes of David Nugent and 33-year-old Kevin Davies, is a story of what could have been.

Could England have beaten Germany at the 2010 World Cup had Frank Lampard's goal been allowed to stand and could Capello have at some point delivered that elusive second major tournament triumph had he not resigned over the John Terry racism scandal?

6. Sven-Goran Eriksson

Although he could never get England's golden generation to live up to their full potential, Sven-Goran Eriksson still only slimly misses out on a place in our top five.

The maverick Swede revolutionalised the way the Three Lions play football after replacing Keegan in 2001 and also recorded some of the country's best major tournament finishes this decade by reaching the quarter-finals in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups as well as the 2004 European Championship - achieving then the best points percentage of any England boss in major tournaments.

His contract was terminated by mutual consent after the 2006 World Cup.

5. Walter Winterbottom

There was always going to be a place in the top five reserved for the England managerial pioneer Walter Winterbottom, the Three Lions' first-ever manager.

Winterbottom took to the helm after it was decided in 1946 that a full-time boss would be appointed as opposed to the previous use of an FA official and a trainer usually from one of the London clubs.

Between then and 1962, Winterbottom is widely acknowledged for laying the foundations for Ramsey's future groundbreaking success and to this day remains the nation's longest-serving gaffer.

4. Terry Venables

Terry Venables may have only been in charge at Wembley for a fraction of the time of someone like Winterbottom but "El Tel" left a lasting imprint on English international football.

The former Barcelona manager had announced his resignation before he even faced a competitive match in the build-up to the 1996 European Championships tournament that England would host.

Venables was to throw in the towel after the competition due to several court cases which would interfere with his 1998 World Cup preparations, not before leading the Three Lions to the semi-finals as football fever hit the nation, only to miss out on the final after penalty shootout heartbreak against Germany.

3. Gareth Southgate

And to the current England boss Gareth Southgate who kicks off the top three, the waistcoat-wearing genius has rescued his country from the embarrassment of the Allardyce saga to the top four of the FIFA Coca-Cola World Rankings.

The former Three Lions centre-back is credited with capturing the imagination of the nation with his emphasis on youth and exciting style of play which led England to qualification for and a fourth-place finish in the 2018 World Cup, which was followed by third in the inaugural UEFA Nations League.

The sky very much seems like the limit for the English under Southgate and it will be exciting to see if he can break that over-50-year-old major tournament duck.

2. Sir Bobby Robson

Who could forget the iconic Sir Bobby Robson? Certainly not us as the world football great takes his pride of place as the second-best ever England manager in our countdown.

Whilst Robson never quite got his head around the European Championship during his eight years (1982-1990) at the helm of the Three Lions, his team's performances in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups will never be forgotten, quarter-final defeat only by the hand of Diego Maradona at Mexico '86 and semi-final heartbreak against West Germany to the tune of Gazza's tears at Italia '90.

The 2002 knighthood receiver had already decided to step down before the latter tournament. He came so close...

1. Sir Alf Ramsey

No one should have to explain why Sir Alf Ramsey is the greatest England manager of all time but we're going to do it for the fun of it anyway.

He led the Three Lions to their best-ever performance in the European Championship by finishing third in Italy in 1968!

We joke, of course. Ramsey was the creator of the most immense moment in English sport in the famous summer of 1966, victory in the World Cup final at Wembley over the West Germans and England's only major tournament glory to date.

The Sir was a football visionary who will take some beating if anyone else fancies becoming England's top gaffer - a win percentage of 61.1 in 11 years and over 113 matches says it all really.