There is no doubt about it - it takes a very special skillset to be a football manager. With a changing room full of competitively-minded millionaires to control, the demands of fans and chairmen to satisfy, not to mention the media to keep sweet it is a challenge that only the most talented can meet.
But lots of the skills that managers need – resilience, foresight, optimism and strategic ability – are the same that top poker players have in spades. So here's our rundown of how six of the Premier League's top performers could do if they decided to swap the dugout for the poker table.
Jose Mourinho
Psychology and mind games play a huge part in poker and, in this respect, Mourinho would be the perfect match for the game. He's yet to really experience the success he enjoyed at Chelsea with Man United and his strategy is still resolutely defensive – no bad thing in a poker player either.
© Getty ImagesArsene Wenger
The Arsenal manager is the butt of one of Mourinho's longest-running feuds, but that doesn't seem to have put him off his stride too much. With over 21 years in the job he obviously has the resilience that any poker player needs to see them through the lean times as well as the good and he also seems to be able to pull out a winning performance whenever it's required of him.
Pep Guardiola
He may have a huge bankroll to fall back on but Pep Guardiola is also a master tactician who should be able to grasp the finer strategic points of poker very quickly indeed. Therefore, for our money he'd be a very good bet to make it at the highest levels of the game and to quickly enjoy the level of success that he's currently achieving at the Etihad.
Mark Hughes
His nickname as a player was Sparky and Mark Hughes certainly has all the resilience needed to keep coming back to the table for one more hand. He's enjoyed great success with teams like Blackburn and rather less with QPR but his "never say die" attitude will surely set him in good stead to turn some weak hands into winning ones.
© Getty ImagesRafael Benitez
However good a poker player you are, luck's always going to be important and that could be a weak point for Rafa. Few could deny that over his career at clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea the wrong results have happened for him at critical times and at Real Madrid an oversight on his part saw them disqualified from the Copa del Rey. So, of all the six here, he's the man least likely to make it in poker.
David Wagner
It must have taken ice-cold nerves for David Wagner to sit through Huddersfield Town's penalty shootout against Sheffield Wednesday to make it through to the Premier League and it's this same self-possession that could see him clean up at the poker table. Whether the same is true of his footballing ambitions, only time will tell.
