How has each England manager in history fared in their first game in charge?
As Sam Allardyce prepares for Sunday, he can take comfort in the fact that the only permanent England manager to lose his opening game was the man who delivered England’s solitary World Cup to date - Sir Alf Ramsey. So if all goes wrong against Slovakia, he would be in very good company.
We’re not suggesting the game should be thrown by any means, but Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren and Roy Hodgson - three of the more unpopular and unsuccessful England managers in recent times - all won their first matches comfortably.
Slovakia are out at 16/5, with the Draw 23/10 and England the favourites at best-price 21/20 .
| Manager | Tenure | First Game |
|---|---|---|
| Walter Winterbottom | 1946-62 | Ireland 2-7 England |
| Alf Ramsey | 1963-74 | France 5-2 England |
| Joe Mercer (interim) | 1974 | Wales 0-2 England |
| Don Revie | 1974-77 | England 3-0 Czechoslovakia |
| Ron Greenwood | 1977-82 | England 0-0 Switzerland |
| Bobby Robson | 1982-90 | Denmark 2-2 England |
| Graham Taylor | 1990-93 | England 1-0 Hungary | Terry Venables | 1994-96 | England 1-0 Denmark | Glenn Hoddle | 1996-98 | Moldova 0-3 England | Howard Wilkinson (interim) | 1999-00 | England 0-2 France | Kevin Keegan | 1999-00 | England 3-1 Poland | Peter Taylor (interim) | 2000 | Italy 1-0 England | Sven-Goran Eriksson | 2001-06 | England 3-0 Spain | Steve McClaren | 2006-07 | England 4-0 Greece | Fabio Capello | 2008-11 | England 2-1 Switzerland | Stuart Pearce (interim) | 2012 | England 2-3 Netherlands | Roy Hodgson | 2012-16 | Norway 0-1 England |
