There was at one point, no better coach in the Premier League than Newcastle United's John Carver according to John Carver.
During a stint as caretaker manager of Newcastle, back when Jose Mourinho was in the Premier League and actually living up to his moniker of 'The Special One', John Carver sat in front of the press and said, with a straight face, that he is the best coach in the Premier League.
He did qualify it by saying that's what he believes, which is a healthy dose of self-belief, for sure, but also a scary dose of delusion too.
Carver is currently assistant to another former Newcastle coach, Steve Clarke for the Scotland national side, a role which he will keep despite landing a new job.
Poland had better watch out because Carver is now the new head coach of Lechia Gdansk with the club confirming his arrival as well as hit continued involvement with Scotland in March - but there's no mention of what will happen beyond that.
“Lechia has reached an agreement with the Scottish Federation for John Carver to start working for Lechia immediately.
“At the same time, the club and the Federation have agreed that during the international break in March 2025, coach Carver will be present in the Scotland team's staff for the play-off double-header with Greece.
“The new coach met with the Lechia team and staff after the match with GKS Katowice. He will officially start working with the White and Green team on Monday, December 2.”
Lechia sit 17th in the Polish top flight which is made up of 18 sides having picked up just two wins in 17 games.
It seems like Carver has his work cut out for him, but as long as he still has that self-belief, we're sure he'll be fine, just fine.
In all seriousness, we do wish John Carver the absolute best of luck in Poland and, to a degree, with Scotland.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |