Sam Allardyce returns: Which Premier League manager would be the best in a bar fight? | OneFootball

With Sam Allardyce returning for Leeds’ final four matches of the season, we can expect the return of all his antics on the touchline.

Big Sam has never been afraid of a shouting match or winding up staff or players – just ask ex-Swansea man Chico Flores – and he has probably had a few scraps in his life as well.

He’s probably not shy of a pint either. And that begs the question – which Premier League manager would do the best in a pub fight?

In WWE Royal Rumble-style fashion, Planet Football pitted all 20 top-flight managers against each other to see who would fare best.

And while their list is good, we think we can do better…

Which Premier League manager would fare best in a pub brawl?

20. Ryan Mason (Tottenham Hotspur)

19. Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace)

18. Eddie Howe (Newcastle United)

17. Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

16. David Moyes (West Ham)

The only reason why Mason comes in last on this list is because of the career-ending injury that he suffered as a player.

And well, Hodgson at 75 years old isn’t going to go looking for trouble, is he? He seems like someone who would move away from a pub fight if it ever broke out.

So it makes sense that both these men are bottom of the list. And the next one works too, because in our eyes, Eddie Howe seems too nice to get involved in a pub scrap. That boyish smile is not the look of man who starts fights or gets involved when one kicks off.

Lampard, however, is never afraid of making himself heard. Who can forget the words he and Jurgen Klopp exchanged at Anfield?

But that ended in a thrashing for him. And given how dispirited Chelsea look with him at the helm, he’d have something to say after a few but probably wouldn’t do much about it.

And while Moyes looks like someone who’s been in a few scraps over the years, like Hodgson, he probably can’t be bothered with it all in his old age.

15. Unai Emery (Aston Villa)

14. Thomas Frank (Brentford)

13. Ruben Selles (Southampton)

12. Gary O'Neil (Bournemouth)

11. Erik ten Hag (Manchester United)

Maybe it’s their mannerisms or the nice guy attitude that both of them seem to carry, but can you really see Emery or Frank throwing hands?

The Brentford boss has shown he won’t back down from any tension, having strong words with Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi earlier in the season, but for the most part, he seems like a nice bloke.

It would take something big like a glass being thrown at their heads to provoke either of them.

And while Selles and O'Neil might be placed a bit high on the list for some people’s taste, there’s something steely about them.

Both men aren’t exactly featherweights either, and while we’re not sure they would start anything, you would back both of them to hold their own.

Ten Hag, meanwhile, looks like he wants to kill someone at certain points on the touchline.

There’s a ruthlessness about him, and although he never kicks off in a way some other managers might, he might be tempted to have a go at someone after a few beers.

10. Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)

9. Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)

8. Marco Silva (Fulham)

7. Steve Cooper (Nottingham Forest)

6. Julen Lopetegui (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Arteta’s attitude really helps him in this list, with that dogged determination Arsenal have shown this season arguably stemming from their manager.

He doesn’t look like a big drinker, but he has a few pops at people every now and then on the touchline without any booze, so imagine what he’d do after a few at his local.

But you cannot put him above the man who taught him everything he knows.

Like Arteta, Pep probably isn’t the biggest drinker, but his wars with Mourinho at Barcelona are likely to help him out if anything kicked off.

Marco Silva, meanwhile, just looks like he’s got something about him, like he wouldn’t let anything said to him in a boozer slide.

Another man who fits that description is Forest's Cooper, who gets the edge on the Fulham boss because he just seems like a man who loves a pint after games.

And given how he has got his Forest side fighting against relegation, you’d think some of that fighting spirit comes out after a few.

Lopetegui looks like he'd fare better than most though. A man who is animated on the touchline and who picks fights with referees would surely be someone who wouldn't back down if a bar brawl broke out.

5. Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

4. Dean Smith (Leicester City)

3. Roberto De Zerbi (Brighton)

2. Sam Allardyce (Leeds)

1. Sean Dyche (Everton)

Time for the European places now though.

Klopp certainly looks like he can handle a few drinks, and given the trouble he can cause on the touchline without them, he would most likely be the one to start the scrap in a pub.

But we don't see him triumphing over the four men who finish in the Champions League spots. A surprising achievement given that three of those teams are battling relegation.

Leicester's Smith, along with assistant manager Craig Shakespeare, wouldn’t look out of place as extras in Green Street. If they weren’t managing a club, you could definitely see them in a boozer with fans ahead of games, and throwing insults at the opposition.

De Zerbi is a rogue shout for a top three finish, but while not looking like a man who ventures into many boozers, he isn’t afraid of starting on other Premier League managers. Just ask Frank and ex-Tottenham boss Cristian Stellini.

That mentality, along with some liquid courage, definitely puts him above most managers on this list.

And the top two just had to be these two, didn’t they? There’s not much to split them either.

But seeing as Dyche has a pub named after him, and this is a pub brawl first and foremost, it would be illogical to put him anywhere other than number one.