10 Most Influential People in British Football History [Ranked]

Key Takeaways

• The history of football in Britain has seen some iconic, legendary figures be involved in the game over the years.

• Two entrants on this list are included for their impacts as players rather than managers or executives.

• There is an argument for every entrant that, in some way, they helped revolutionise the English game.

In contrast to what some seem to believe, the history of English football stretches back long before the 1992 foundation of the Premier League. Over the last century and more, English football and British football overall has been graced by some truly phenomenal players and other figures, such as managers and coaches.

Particularly from the mid-to-late 20th century, football's stock within the world started to rise with more and more eyes coming onto the sport. England were one of the countries at the forefront of this and Scotland, particularly but not at all exclusively through the Old Firm, found themselves interlinked with continental football as it grew more popular.

The list of greats from the British game, incorporating players, managers and executives, is of an immense length, with so many legendary names having helped to revolutionise the sport in one way or another. With that being said, however, who are the 10 most influential figures from British footballing history?

Ranking Factors

The following list of the 10 most influential figures to ever grace British football was ranked based on:

• Legacy - How much of a lasting impact did each of these entrants leave?

• Impact - As a result of the entrant's tenure in the sport, how was the game itself shaped?

• Longevity - Generally, for someone to have left a lasting mark on the English game, they need to have been around it for some time.

10 Don Revie

Leeds United

Don Revie and his Leeds United team of the 1960s and early 1970s are known for being "dirty," a tough-tackling side that did not suffer fools and hardly garnered neutral support through their ways of playing. What often goes unsaid, however, is the tactical nous that Revie displayed as a manager.

Early in his time as a gaffer, Revie realised the importance of information, compiling dossiers on players and teams to keep a wide array of knowledge in one place. It would be unfair to suggest Revie invented the simple concept of recording information, though documents as detailed as his were had never really been seen before.

In the days prior to footage of other teams being accessible, or existing, Revie's dossiers were especially helpful in Europe when Leeds came up against foreign teams, something that multiple former players have attested to.

Many have debated whether Revie's intrinsic focus on data hindered United in the long run, as while the Whites won honours, they feasibly could have won many more. Revie's stint as England manager after his time at Elland Road failed. He was unable to inspire the tight-knitted bond that he had nurtured in West Yorkshire, and it is this tenure that many look towards when assessing Revie as a manager. His influence on the English game, however, simply can not be understated.

9 Jim McLean

Dundee United

"My adversaries in England were always Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez or Arsene Wenger. But, believe me, my biggest adversary in football was Jim McLean."

Such were the words of a certain Sir Alex Ferguson when speaking about Jim McLean after the former manager passed away at the age of 83 in 2020. After 14 years as a player for four teams in Scotland, McLean forayed into the world of football management, becoming boss of Dundee United in 1971 where he would remain for 22 years.

Scottish football then was much as it is now in the sense that Celtic and Rangers, the Old Firm, had a hegemony on the division. Much has been said of Ferguson's time at Aberdeen, during which he helped disrupt the comprehensive grasp that Glasgow had on the league, but less has been noted of McLean's significant contribution to this.

McLean implemented a youth policy with Dundee United, signing more experienced players in the short-term to allow his prospects to grow. Though they spent much of the 1970s developing, they reached the Scottish Cup final in 1974, the first of eight domestic cup finals that McLean's team would play.

By the turn of the decade, McLean's team were in a position to truly push for a title. They won two successive Scottish League Cups in 1980 and 1981 and in the 1982/83 campaign, Dundee United won their first, and so far only, Scottish Premiership title. The success would continue for McLean, who in 1987 guided the club to a UEFA Cup final. Though they would lose 2-1 to Gothenburg in the two-legged final, the team beat Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach on their way to that match.

The first-ever SFWA Manager of the Year stepped down from his post in July 1993, having cemented his place as one of Britain's most influential footballing minds.

8 Richard Scudamore

Premier League Executive

As seems to be the case with any executive figure in any field, Richard Scudamore was not without his critics during his involvement with the Premier League. Chief Executive from 1999 and Executive Chairman of the Premier League from 2014 until his 2018 retirement, Scudamore oversaw a number of controversies, such as third-party influence after West Ham United signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians and the suggestion of an extra Premier League game being added in the season to be played overseas.

In spite of that, however, Scudamore played a vital role in overseeing the Premier League reach its position of being the continent's envy. The English top flight is now home to the most money in football, with teams that finish at the bottom of the Premier League often making more money than champions of other, foreign divisions.

Scudamore was the man that facilitated TV deals, rights and sponsorships, all of which culminated to make the Premier League the biggest division on the globe. Quietly, Scudamore kept the league together and ticking throughout his tenure, leaving a lasting legacy on the division, even if he is less spoken of than other, more well-known figures.

7 Hope Powell

England women's national team

Hope Powell had a playing career that spanned 20 years, representing Millwall Lionesses, Friends of Fulham, Bromley Borough and Croydon between 1978 and 1998. Internationally, she garnered 66 caps for England between 1983 and the final year of her career, scoring 35 goals in those 15 years, serving as vice-captain and playing for her country at England's first Women's World Cup in 1995.

Powell, though, is perhaps more known for what she has done since retiring as a player. In 1998, the same year that she retired, she was appointed as manager of the England women's national team, becoming both the first black and first female manager of any English national side.

In this time, Powell, who was also the first woman to obtain a UEFA Pro Licence for coaching, oversaw the England set-up as a whole, rather than just the senior team. It was Powell that implemented contracts to help her players focus on their careers without fitting it around pre-existing, full-time work.

Powell was sacked as England boss in 2013, going onto manage Brighton between 2017 and 2022. Powell now works as a technical director at Birmingham City Women, where she has been since 2023, having established herself as one of the most significant footballing figures in recent years.

6 Cyrille Regis

West Bromwich Albion, Coventry City, England

A prong of the famous Three Degrees of West Bromwich Albion across the 1970s and 1980s, Cyrille Regis moved to England from French Guiana in 1962 and made his footballing debut in 1975. After stints with Molesey and Hayes, he signed for the Baggies in 1977, where he would spend seven years of his career.

During an era in which West Brom were part of the First Division, then the top flight of English football, Regis established himself as a Baggies legend. In 2004, he was voted as the club's all-time cult hero and that same year was named as one of West Brom's 16 best-ever players to celebrate their 125th anniversary as a club.

Regis joined Coventry City in 1984 where he would spend a further seven years, establishing a legacy amongst Coventry fans of a similar level to that which he left at the Hawthorns. In 1982, he made his international debut for England, becoming just the third black player to be capped by the Three Lions after Viv Anderson and former teammate Laurie Cunningham.

A statue of Regis, alongside Cunningham and Brendon Batson, stands within West Bromwich, a lasting testament to the legacy that the striker left behind him.

5 David Beckham

Manchester United

David Beckham is nothing short of a modern legend within football. Famed for his technique and signature, bending set pieces, Beckham played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, LA Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain across a glittering career that spanned two decades, becoming a cultural icon particularly within England where he is remembered as one of the national team's greatest players.

His impact as a player is unquestionable, but towards and since the end of his career, Beckham has grown more involved in the business side of the game. His move to Major League Soccer saw the creation of the Designated Player Rule, which allows MLS teams to sign up to three players that, usually, would be considered out of their salary cap.

Beckham's move to LA Galaxy also saw him negotiate the future opportunity to buy an expansion team for only (in relative terms) $25 million, which he used to help create the team now known as Inter Miami, where Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets all now ply their trades. An incredible player, beloved by fans for both his domestic and international performances, Beckham has also proven to be knowledgeable on the business end of the game.

4 Arsene Wenger

Arsenal

Though relatively unknown when he first arrived in England, Arsene Wenger had garnered 12 years of managerial experience. He spent three years in charge of Nancy before moving to Monaco in 1987, where he would remain for a further seven seasons. Soon after his 1994 dismissal, he moved to Japan to take over Nagoya Grampus Eight.

Despite a rocky start with the club, Wenger's methods soon saw the team become one of the best in the country, attracting attention from elsewhere. In August 1996, after firing Bruce Rioch, Arsenal settled on Wenger as his successor.

Given far more freedom than those that came before him with transfers and training, Wenger particularly revolutionised the English game through his dietary plans for players, methods that teams across the country would eventually turn to. It did not take long for Wenger to make an impact, finishing third in his first season and going from strength to strength.

The Frenchman earned Champions League qualification for the Gunners for 19 straight seasons and in that time, won three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and reached a Champions League final. He famously guided Arsenal to an invincible season in 2003/04 and by the time of his 2018 departure from the club, after 22 years of service, he had left an indelible mark on the English game.

3 Brian Clough

Derby County, Nottingham Forest

After a nine-year career as a player, predominantly with Middlesbrough, Brian Clough entered management in 1965, moving to Derby County in 1967 after two years with Hartlepool United. His first season with the Rams saw him make signings that would prove crucial in years to come while establishing his philosophy amongst his players, focusing on sportsmanship and respect from those he managed.

Clough's second season saw him earn promotion to the First Division and after just three campaigns in the top flight, Derby won their first league title for almost nine decades. Feuds with the board soon followed, however, with Clough and long-time assistant Peter Taylor resigning in 1973.

He served as Brighton manager for a brief time after his Derby departure, though left after less than a year of service. He then joined Leeds United to replace Don Revie, having a famously briefer stint at the club he had previously and publicly criticised.

A few months had passed since Clough's time at Elland Road when Nottingham Forest hired him, where Clough would spend the next 18 years. With Forest, Clough found form that first leveled, then went beyond, what he had accomplished at Derby. He oversaw a 42-game win streak, the first-ever £1 million signing in English football, Trevor Francis, and won one First Division title and four league cups.

Famously, though, Clough guided Nottingham to two successive European Cup triumphs in what was the club's golden age. Clough would remain with Forest until 1993, after which he never again took a managerial job. He is still a fondly remembered figure to many within English football.

2 Pep Guardiola

Manchester City

After making a name for himself with Barcelona and a stint at Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola moved to England in 2016 when he joined Manchester City as manager. In the eight years since, Guardiola has turned City from a team that consistently challenged for honours into a side that consistently win them, having earned six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four EFL Cups and a Champions League, the latter of which he won as part of a European treble.

Guardiola's style of quick-passing, possession-based football is something that the majority of teams in England now try to replicate, with the bulk of sides now aiming to play out from the back. It was the Catalan coach that spearheaded a new wave of goalkeepers that could play with the ball at their feet, a necessity for the way that Guardiola wants football to be played.

Many have been influenced by Guardiola, be it through playing under or working for him, such as Xabi Alonso, Erik ten Hag, Mikel Arteta and Xavi. That is not to say that only those who have personally seen Pep's tactics at work have drawn inspiration from them, with managers now, overall, favouring a focus on possession, a goal that has been inspired by Guardiola's work.

1 Sir Alex Ferguson

Aberdeen, Manchester United

Before the time with Manchester United that made him a global legend, Sir Alex Ferguson made a name for himself in his native Scotland as Aberdeen manager, with whom he disrupted the dominance that Celtic and Rangers had over the league. In 1983, he won a European Cup Winners' Cup with the club and three years later, he moved south to Manchester.

Ferguson would spend 27 years at Old Trafford. Though there were rough patches in his early reign, which went so far as for reports to suggest he was close to the sack, Ferguson persevered and with his determination came glory for the Red Devils. He won a record 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups and four League Cups. On the continent, Ferguson won two Champions Leagues and reached the final on two further occasions.

Always with a focus on getting the ball forward, Ferguson managed and coached an almost innumerable amount of quality players. Many of those he worked with have gone on to become managers themselves, with Mark Robins, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney just a handful of some recent examples.

A statue of Ferguson stands outside Old Trafford, just as another stands at Pittodrie, the home stadium of Aberdeen, fitting honours for the man who is British football's most influential figure and one of the greatest managers of all time.