Unemployed coach won Premier League manager of the month more recently than Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola might be on the brink of leading Manchester City to a historic fourth title in a row but the Manager of the Month awards might not reflect City's dominance.

In what will astonish most football fans, and not just City supporters, Guardiola has not won a Manager of the Month award since December 2021. Guardiola actually picked up the award the previous month too, however since then it's been slim pickings for the City boss.

In the time of Guardiola's Manager of the Month drought, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has won six, United's Erik ten Hag and Ange Postecoglou have three, Villa's Unai Emery has two and while Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp has just one so does former Burnley manager Mike Jackson. In fact, there's a manager who is not even in work as a coach right now who has won the award more recently than City's Spanish manager.

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Then Wolves manager Bruno Lage picked up the award in January 2022 in his season with the Midlands club. Lage's time at Wolves was a rollercoaster with this Wolverhampton side initially praised for their attacking and exciting playing style.

The Portuguese coach was credited with improving the club's younger players and a strong run during the winter months where in January, Wolves won all three fixtures that month including a 1-0 away at Manchester United. Lage eventually brought Wolves up to seventh place, just a few points off fourth, with the club even being tipped to battle for the Champions League spots, however, it all began to unravel the season after.

Wolves spent more than £100m in the summer transfer window and after a miserable run, Lage and his coaching staff were sacked, with the club 18th in the league and with Wolves having scored just three goals. Guardiola has picked up 11 Manager of Month awards in this time with City but with the Spaniard on the verge of taking City to their fourth title and another FA Cup final on the horizon, it's somewhat strange that he hasn't won the award for over two years.

While Guardiola has picked up the likes of two Premier League titles, a European Cup and an FA Cup in that time, Lage was appointed Botafogo manager in July 2023, after almost a year without coaching, however, he was sacked in October last year after eight games without a win.