Who are the most enjoyable team?

You’ve just lost your fifth game in a row. Your star striker, a 31 year old with a gammy leg, has been forced to work overtime this Saturday for Asda, and the fans – all two of them – have put together a petition to get you sacked. Sometimes managing isn’t always fun – but some are a lot more enjoyable to coach than others.

I am the sort of manager who enjoys a promotion chase as opposed to a relegation fight. Granted, my Royal Affair story was never going to be about my Champions League winning side (although, saying that, we are second in the league at the moment) but in general I enjoy trying to take a side up the leagues, or challenging Chelsea for the Premiership crown.

In the big league – the Premiership – the most enjoyable team undoubtedly is Arsenal. Chelsea may have the big bank balance, but Arsenal’s talent is somewhat greater to manage. Whenever I want a quick and fun game, Arsenal are the team. The squad is not made up of huge names throughout – one could say that Thierry Henry is the only player whose name ranks above many of the Chelsea squad. Chelsea have some great players, but with somewhat inflated ego’s. Arsenal, on the other hand, have a young and richly talented team.

Winning the Premiership is a challenge – moreso than attempting to do so with Chelsea – but with £20m in the bank and a fantastic team, trying to bring home the silverware in every competition while building up one of the best young sides in the world is fun. People say that Chelsea have bought the title with quick-fix solutions, and you can easily see why and how this claim gets barted about so often. The revolving door is constantly set to ’swing’ at Stamford Bridge, whereas the likes of Emmanuel Eboue – signed for £1.5m in 2004 – are now showing that they can compete with the best. This isn’t an article examining Chelsea and Arsenal, but I can’t end without this final point: Arsene Wenger certainly knows talent when he sees it. Buy ‘em young against Buy ‘em big: and while the latter may bring immediate success, I really do think that Arsenal could soon be challenging Chelsea again in the real life Premiership with a squad made up for half the price of the Blues.

Everyone has their own favourite team to manage, not always, I must add, the persons supported team. Some of the other sides I always enjoy managing are Liverpool, West Brom and a rotating-selection of lower end Premiership teams: Reading, West Ham, etc.

But who do you enjoy managing? What makes them so ‘fun’ to play with? Please let me know!