2014/15 Premier League Manager Power Rankings

The music has stopped, and the 20 Premier League clubs have all ended the season exactly where they deserve to be over 38 games.

For some clubs, the campaign has been one of unprecedented success. For others, it's been one to forget. But what about the managers?

Four clubs changed their bosses before the season even started (West Brom, Tottenham, Southampton and Crystal Palace), but here we'll power-rank just where all the managers finished based on expectations, performance, job security and general competence.

Every man who has been a full-time boss of a Premier League club will feature on this list, but where will your team's main man finish?

25. Neil Warnock (Crystal Palace)

After becoming the first new manager appointed during the season when Tony Pulis surprisingly left Crystal Palace just before the campaign, Neil Warnock suffered the indignity of being the first boss to lose his job in 2014/15. He was sacked with the club in the relegation zone in late December.

A run of just three wins in 16 league games did in the veteran boss, but as we'll discover later, that proved to be a pretty clever decision from the Eagles.

24. Alan Irvine (West Bromwich Albion)

Coming just two days after Warnock's dismissal from Palace was Alan Irvine's departure from West Brom. A union which never quite seemed to be a good fit ended with the Scot's sacking as the Baggies hovered just above the relegation zone.

Irvine won just four of his 19 Premier League games and was sacked after a 2-0 loss in West Brom's final game of 2014.

23. Paul Lambert (Aston Villa)

Would Aston Villa have been relegated if they hadn't sacked Paul Lambert in mid-February? It was certainly looking that way.

The Villans were in the relegation zone, having remarkably scored just 12 goals in 25 matches when they dismissed the Scot. They then scored 19 in their remaining 13 league games and reached the FA Cup Final. Good call.

22. Harry Redknapp (QPR)

Plenty saw the season that QPR and Harry Redknapp experienced coming from a long way off, as the club again relied on a group of expensively assembled players to try and dig them out of several, often self-inflicted holes.

Redknapp resigned in early February with his club sitting second-last in the league, a position they weren't to improve upon.

21. Gus Poyet (Sunderland)

Gus Poyet became the final managerial sacking of the season when he left Sunderland in mid-March following a disastrous 4-0 loss at home to Aston Villa.

The Mackems were just outside the relegation zone then, and ultimately that's where they ended up. However, there is little doubt that the decision to change bosses proved to be the correct one, as Poyet's reign rather quickly turned sour.

He might have escaped relegation on the final day of the season, but there is little doubt that John Carver's time in charge of Newcastle United was nothing short of disastrous as the club spiralled towards self-destruction.

Nine defeats from 10 games meant that their battle to avoid the drop went to the final day of the season.

Although the Geordie and lifelong Newcastle fan has declared his interest in taking the job on a full-time basis, it would be a huge surprise is Mike Ashley and Co. decide to give it to him.

As we know, Queens Park Rangers' relegation wasn't really Chris Ramsey's fault.

He took over in February following the resignation of Harry Redknapp when much of the damage had been done, but he never steered Rangers close to safety during the campaign.

Indeed, QPR were 19th in the table when they changed their manager and ended up at the bottom, with 6-0 and 5-1 defeats to Manchester City and Leicester in their final two away games of the campaign underlining the task that Ramsey will have on his hands in the Championship.

Relegation on the final day of the season seemed to come as something of a shock to Steve Bruce and Hull City, who for a while looked as though they would get out of trouble as the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland and Aston Villa all struggled.

In truth, though, Hull never quite had enough all season despite getting good results on the road at Anfield and the Emirates and Etihad Stadiums. Bruce's failure to mould a group of decent players into a cohesive team proved their undoing.

You can expect plenty to want out of the KC Stadium this summer and generate plenty of interest.

It was a curious season for Sam Allardyce and West Ham, who saw results deteriorate the louder that talk over the manager's future became.

At one point tipped for a European place, the Hammers saw their season spiral downwards once it became abundantly clear that Allardyce's contract wasn't going to be renewed this summer.

The 2-0 loss at Newcastle on the final day of the season made it eight defeats in the final 12 matches and ensured that a campaign which looked certain to end in a top-half finish finished up with them in a disappointing 12th.

West Ham confirmed that Allardyce was leaving the club on the final whistle at St James's Park.

He won plenty of friends during the campaign for his no-nonsense approach and the sheer amount of effort he got out of his energetic Burnley players, but ultimately the campaign resulted in a return to the Championship for Sean Dyche.

Burnley were probably the only club who finished in the bottom half of the table who didn't see any speculation over their manager's future over the campaign. For that alone, it is hoped that Dyche is allowed to reinvest the money that Burnley earned from their Premier League season as they bid for an immediate return.

Everyone's favourite managerial punching bag of choice right now, Brendan Rodgers has been left to pick over the wreckage of a Liverpool season which saw them score 49 fewer goals than in 2013/14 as a second-place finish turned into sixth.

The decline isn't all the Northern Irishman's fault, but such underperformance—as well as semi-final defeats in the FA and League Cups and an awful UEFA Champions League campaign—has got plenty calling for change.

As the highest-profile member of the club left following the departure of Steven Gerrard, Rodgers might find that he's the target as the axe falls.

Completing a disappointing season on Merseyside are Everton and Roberto Martinez, who faced genuine relegation concerns for a portion of the campaign before finally finding their feet and their quality to end 2014/15 in 11th.

Of course, that is nowhere near good enough for a team who would have started the season with hopes of at least challenging for the top four.

But with the rigours of Europa League football—the cause of this season's slump according to many—removed for next season, they'll have an immediate chance to put things right under an undoubtedly talented boss.

It's difficult to know what constitutes a good season for a Tottenham manager, given that their lines between success and failure are so obviously defined.

No other club seems to consistently miss out on a top-four place which they believe they are capable of reaching quite like Spurs, who nevertheless produced some good football in their first campaign under Argentinean boss Mauricio Pochettino.

They look well-placed to deliver the same again next time around.

Spurs fans will have seen it all before, though, and if they struggle at the beginning of 2015/16, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Daniel Levy's trigger finger start to get itchy.

From champions to second-best. The comparisons between this season's shortcomings and the previous season's result were very apparent at Manchester City, who ended the campaign eight points behind league title-winners Chelsea.

That has seen manager Manuel Pellegrini's future openly questioned, but when they were on their game, City produced probably the best football to watch in the division this season.

The Chilean probably deserves another chance to try to recapture that trophy. The club certainly need a rebuilding job and to bring through some younger players, but for now they should trust him to provide that.

He was only there for nine matches at the end of the campaign, but judged solely on his ability to keep Sunderland in the Premier League, Dick Advocaat certainly delivered.

A famous derby win over Newcastle, a 2-0 success at Everton and a draw at Arsenal—all results achieved whilst keeping clean sheets—helped secure Sunderland's safety and established Advocaat's reputation as perhaps the club's ultimate firefighter.

His tears on the touchline at Arsenal once safety had been secured said an awful lot, and Mackems fans now want to see him rewarded with a new contract.

Told to get Manchester United back in the top four of the Premier League, Louis van Gaal has delivered on that promise in his first season at Old Trafford—even if that might have something to do with the deficiencies of his rivals rather than his own side's qualities.

Indeed, this was something of a strange season for United.

They seemed to click into gear in mid-March and produced huge and impressive wins over Liverpool and Manchester City, which pretty much secured their top-four place.

What happens next will depend on just what the United hierarchy expect of this team in the coming season, as there have to be doubts over whether or not Van Gaal's current crop can mount a serious title challenge.

Same old, same old for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, who never really looked like finishing out of the Champions League places but never looked like winning the league title either. 

It is a strange stasis and must be akin to living in a luxurious mansion full of boring decor.

Powered by Alexis Sanchez, the Gunners were brilliant at times this season and strung together the longest winning run of any team in the Premier League with eight victories. However, Wenger will forever remain in the middle of lists like these so long as he keeps doing what he always does.

Maybe next year things will be different, but they probably won't be.

When Tony Pulis was inserted at West Brom on New Year's Day there was an almost-universal belief that the Baggies were immediately securing their Premier League safety, and so it proved.

The Welshman simply knows how to solidify a team and get the best out of his players, but that made it no less impressive when he executed a plan which included a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford and a 3-0 success over a Chelsea side which had admittedly already won the the league title.

West Brom ended up 13th in the league table, and it would be a surprise to see them in relegation trouble next season.

Ridiculed for his somewhat eccentric approach and huge belief in his own ability, you can't argue with the results that Tim Sherwood has achieved since being installed at Aston Villa—and if you did want to argue, he'd probably argue with you.

The former Spurs coach has an FA Cup Final to prepare for this weekend and heads into it having secured Premier League safety for a Villa side who, as mentioned earlier, scored just 12 goals in 25 matches under previous boss Paul Lambert.

Sherwood brought in a confidence and belief which had been lacking in Villa before, and he'll fancy his chances of upsetting the odds and Wembley, too. According to Odds Shark, Villa have 9-2 odds to win.

Seemingly on the brink of losing his job earlier in the season, and then almost certainly about to be relegated as Leicester spent 140 days at the bottom of the Premier League, Nigel Pearson has emerged from the campaign in 14th place in the table and having established himself as much more than just a grumpy manager.

Those 140 days are the most ever from a Premier League team who didn't go on to be relegated, and although Pearson's brash demeanour might not win him many friends, it certainly rubbed off on his players, who registered a remarkable seven wins from their last nine games of the season to stay up.

Survival was his target at the beginning of the season and he spectacularly achieved it, meaning that all the plaudits currently coming his way are deserved ones.

Stoke's spectacular 6-1 hammering of Liverpool was perhaps an unfitting way to end a season in which their general impressiveness has gone somewhat under the radar.

But in guiding them to a ninth-place finish with a record points total, manager Mark Hughes has rediscovered some of the qualities which made him such an impressive manager in his early days at Blackburn.

Stints at Manchester City, Fulham and QPR had seem him lose some of that edge, but in adding to the Tony Pulis-installed competitiveness and gradually building upon it to form an impressive team, Hughes has done a very good job at the Britannia Stadium—one which could get even better with good summer recruitment.

The mirror images of Newcastle and Crystal Palace's seasons both with and without Alan Pardew were quite remarkable, with the Magpies at one stage going on a run of six wins in eight matches as they found themselves in mid-table in the first half of the season before Pardew jumped ship and left for a quieter life at Crystal Palace.

They were in the relegation zone when he arrived, but they were to end the season in 10th place thanks to 10 wins from their last 18 matches under their former player. He seems to feed off the adulation of the Selhurst Park crowd following his unpopularity on Tyneside.

Tipped by many to be one of the bosses who'd struggle this season, the 36-year-old Garry Monk continues to be a manager who is learning on the job to a remarkable degree.

League doubles over Manchester United and Arsenal were amongst the highlights of a season in which Swansea earned their record Premier League points total on the way to finishing eighth, just outside the European places.

If Monk is given money to replace the departed Wilfried Bony in the summer, then there is no reason why the Swans can't improve upon that in 2015/16.

The mass exodus of players at Southampton last summer kept plenty of Photoshoppers busy as they had fun at the south coast club's expense, but in both recruitment and the style of football he got his new team to play, Saints boss Ronald Koeman had a superb first season in the Premier League.

The Dutchman's side finished seventh but spent a lot more time chasing the sides above them than being worried by the ones below.

With keeping hold of their players hopefully set to prove a much easier task this summer, thoughts will turn to just what they'll be capable of in a 2015/16 season which might still include European football.

Of course, he's got the most money and the best players at his disposal, but 2014/15 saw Jose Mourinho return to the Premier League pedestal as the master of all that he surveys.

The Portuguese picked up his third English league title with a Chelsea side who looked a cut above the division from the start of the campaign, and he eventually stormed to victory by eight points over nearest challengers Manchester City.

The League Cup was also captured to make this a doubly successful season, and you get the feeling that he'll be desperate to win the Champions League above all else in 2015/16.