Arsene Wenger, Brendan Rodgers, Louis van Gaal and the rest... all 20 Premier League bosses pictured in their playing days

Upon his arrival in English football, Jose Mourinho famously hailed himself as the 'Special One' during his first spell in charge at Chelsea.

The Portuguese has enjoyed success wherever he has gone as a manager with the Blues top of the Premier League at present in his second stint at Stamford Bridge.

As a player though, Mourinho's CV is less glamourous in comparison to his 19 adversaries - with the former Porto, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager retiring at the age of 24.

Sportsmail has scrolled through the archives and found images of all 20 Premier League managers from their playing heyday to now.

 

Arsene Wenger (Arsenal)

It's not fair to fall into the trap of believing Wenger was an entirely hopeless player.

Though he was never an international standard centre half, he did make three appearances for Strasbourg in the season they won the French title, and he also played for lower division teams Mutzig and Mulhouse, where he attempted to become a sweeper in the manner of Franz Beckenbauer.

gers who can boast a European Cup winners' medal as a player. That came in 1997 with Borussia Dortmund when he marked Zinedine Zidane in the final. His spell in the Bundesliga sandwiched between playing for Scottish clubs St Mirren, Motherwell, Celtic and Livingston in midfield.

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert (pictured left as a fresh-faced 17-year-old at St Mirren in 1986) enjoyed a stellar playing career, the highlight of which was winning the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund in 1997

Sean Dyche (Burnley)

Brian Clough never picked him at his first club Nottingham Forest but he went on to have a good career as a journeyman central defender at Chesterfield, Bristol City, Luton Town, Millwall, Watford and Northampton Town. He came closest to glory at Chesterfield, scoring in the 1997 FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough. The Premier League side eventually won after a replay.

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Not fancied by Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, Sean Dyche moved to Chesterfield in 1990 and scored in their FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough in 1997

Jose Mourinho (Chelsea)

Arguably the worst player of all 20 Premier League managers, thereby exposing as a myth that managers can only win respect by having played the game to a high level themselves. Mourinho was an average defender whose career plodded along at unfashionable Portuguese club Rio Ave, Belenenses, Sesimbra and Comercia e Industrio before he hung up his boots at 24. 

Jose Mourinho (bottom right pictured in 1987 at Comercia e Industrio) retired as a player in 1987 at the age of 24

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Mourinho (right) has become one of football's greatest managers winning titles in Spain, Italy and England and lifting the Champions League twice

Watch Jose being introduced as Mourinho Junior at Rio Ave in 1980

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Neil Warnock (Crystal Palace)

A lower league scuffler with Chesterfield, Rotherham, Hartlepool, Scunthorpe, Aldershot, Barnsley, York City and Crewe, Warnock was a winger who says he came through the school of hard knocks. Most alarmingly, he claims an opponent once put him in hospital with a ruptured spleen and hairline fracture of the ankle. 

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Neil Warnock (pictured in his playing days at Barnsley) was a winger before plunging into the hard-nosed management business

Roberto Martinez (Everton)

Dubbed one of the Three Amigos when Wigan Athletic, then in Division Three, signed him and two of his Spanish compatriots. A cultured player in Spain with Real Zaragoza and Balaguer, Martinez adapted to British football and life, and after Wigan played for Motherwell, Walsall, Swansea City and Chester. 

Roberto Martinez was a skillful midfielder and one of the 'Three Amigos' signed by Wigan, who he went on to manage in 2009 before leaving for current club Everton

Steve Bruce (Hull)

Regarded as one of the best players never to have been capped by England, Bruce's major feats were achieved in club football. After starting out at Gillingham and Norwich, Bruce spent nine years at Manchester United between 1987 and 1996, winning eight major trophies including the Double in 1994. He finished with Birmingham City and Sheffield United. 

Steve Bruce began his career at Gillingham (here is a fresh-faced central defender in 1975) and has made a success of being a boss

Nigel Pearson (Leicester)

Another centre half – is it more than coincidence that 40 per cent of today's Premier League managers were? – he was a natural leader with Shrewsbury, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough. His highlight was probably captaining Wednesday under Ron Atkinson when they beat Manchester United 1-0 in the League Cup final at Wembley in 1991.

Centre back Nigel Pearson (tackling Newcastle United's Kevin Keegan) showed leadership qualities while playing at Shrewsbury for six years through the 1980s

Pearson has made waves as manager of Leicester City - winning promotion from the second tier as champions last season

Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool)

We'll never know how good Rodgers would have been as a player. Reading signed him from Ballymena in Northern Ireland but at the age of 20 a knee condition forced him to retire from professional football. A defender, he played for non-League Newport, Witney Town and Newbury Town while he did his coaching badges.

Brendan Rodgers (top left, pictured for Ballymena in his teens) later signed for Reading but a knee injury ended his playing career

Rodgers had taken charge of Reading, Watford and Swansea City before being given a chance at Liverpool, whom he led to second place last season

Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City)

It's hard to believe given his controlled press conferences, but Pellegrini was renowned as a hard and argumentative centre half, nicknamed The Engineer. He won 28 caps for Chile and unusually played his club football for just one team, Universidad de Chile. He's made up for it since – City are his 10th club as a manager!

Nicknamed 'The Engineer', Manuel Pellegrini was an hard centre back at his only club Universidad de Chile (left), before becoming a title-winning manager

Louis van Gaal (Manchester United)

You'd never believe it but Van Gaal gained a reputation for being somewhat opinionated as a midfielder with Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ Alkmaar. His big regret was never playing a game for his first club Ajax, but he was up against Johan Cruyff for a starting position. 

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Louis van Gaal (playing for Sparta Rotterdam) watches Ajax's dazzling Johan Cryuff (left) pass him by but it's thumbs up at Manchester United at the moment

Alan Pardew (Newcastle)

Midfielder Pardew was 26 before he escaped non-League football with Whyteleafe, Epsom & Ewell, Corinthian Casuals, Dulwich Hamlets and Yeovil to sign for Crystal Palace. At Palace, he scored the winning goal in a famous 1990 FA Cup semi-final win against Liverpool before moving on to Charlton, Barnet and Reading. 

Alan Pardew took years to escape non-League football and got his big break after spending a year at Yeovil (pictured in 1986) - earning himself a move to Crystal Palace

Harry Redknapp (QPR)

One of Redknapp's best jokes is to run through his illustrious team-mates at West Ham – Bobby Moore, Sir Geoff Hurst, Billy Bonds etc and then say 'It must show how rubbish I was that we never came close to winning the league'. A winger who also played for Bournemouth, Brentford and Seattle Sounders in the USA, where he played once again with his friend Moore. 

Harry Redknapp began his career as a winger at West Ham alongside the likes of Sir Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore - he now manages QPR

Ronald Koeman (Southampton)

Most neutrals would probably agree Koeman had the finest playing career of all 20 Premier League managers. Won everything bar the World Cup with PSV, Barcelona, Groningen, Ajax and Holland. An elegant sweeper with a killer set-piece, he was part of the Dutch side who won the 1988 Euros and scored the free-kick that gave Barcelona their first European Cup win in 1992. 

Ronald Koeman had an illustrious career playing for Ajax (above), Barcelona, PSV, Groningen and Holland

Koeman watches on as his new Southampton side lose against Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham last Sunday but has made a good start at St Mary's

Mark Hughes (Stoke)

A battering-ram of a centre forward, Hughes' glittering playing career took in some of Europe's biggest clubs; two spells at Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. Finished with Southampton, Everton and Blackburn and still remembered as one of the most aggressive players of the last 25 years, and a scorer of spectacular goals for his clubs, and Wales.

Mark Hughes was a prolific striker and played for Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea during a hugely successful career. He is now at Stoke

Gus Poyet (Sunderland)

The most famous Uruguayan in English football before Luis Suarez, Poyet was a freescoring midfielder who signed for Chelsea from Real Zaragoza in 1997, having played earlier in his career for Grenoble and River Plate. He spent seven years in the Premier League with Chelsea and Spurs, winning the European Cup-Winners' Cup and FA Cup at Stamford Bridge.

Uruguayan Gus Poyet (pictured jostling with the USA's Alexis Lalas) was a freescoring midfielder for Chelsea before becoming a manager

Garry Monk (Swansea)

Monk only retired from playing this year after being appointed Swansea City manager at the age of 34. The centre half's career was going nowhere – while at Southampton he was loaned out five times to Torquay, Stockport, Oxford, Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley – before he signed for Swansea in 2004 and leading them through the divisions to the Premier League. 

Garry Monk's career was going nowhere at Southampton before signing for Swansea, where he has become the gaffer

Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham)

Enjoyed a decent career in South America and Europe with Newell's Old Boys, Bordeaux and Espanol and won 20 caps as a defender for Argentina. Unfortunately for him, but not English fans, his most memorable moment came at the 2002 World Cup in Japan when he fouled Michael Owen and David Beckham scored from the resulting penalty for England to win 1-0. 

Pochettino (captured playing as a centre half for Espanyol in November 2000) is on his second job in the Premier League with Tottenham

Alan Irvine (West Brom)

A tricky winger, Irvine signed for Everton from his first club Queen's Park but left just before the 1980s glory years under Howard Kendall. He went on to play for Crystal Palace, Dundee United and finally Blackburn under Kenny Dalglish - not a bad record for someone initially told he would be too small to make it as a player. 

West Brom boss Alan Irvine (pictured playing for Crystal Palace) had spells at Everton and Blackburn Rovers

Sam Allardyce (West Ham)

An old school big, burly moustached centre half, Allardyce played nearly 500 times for nine different clubs across three countries – England, Ireland and America. Most of his football in England with Bolton, Sunderland, Millwall, Coventry, Preston, Huddersfield and West Brom came in the lower leagues. Limerick and Tampa Bay Rowdies were his other clubs.

Sam Allardyce spent the majority of his playing career in the lower leagues and he started with Bolton (pictured above), but has hit the big time as a manager