Muhammad Ali and Scarlett Johansson among managers’ ideal dinner dates

Muhammad Ali floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee and is also the perfect dinner companion, according to some of football’s top managers, such as Tottenham’s
Harry Redknapp, Newcastle’s
Alan Pardew and QPR boss
Neil Warnock.

Chosen by a quarter of the 20 managers interviewed, the legendary heavyweight boxer Ali was a clear favourite.

Four diverse figures were tied as the second most popular dinner guest: Nelson Mandela , Barack Obama and Elvis Presley and the managers’ own wives!There were also some unique choices among the managers. 

Roberto Mancini is being forced to fantasize about having dinner with this own chairman Sheikh Mansour, and Arsenal legend Tony Adams was looking for a bite withamateur photographer Scarlett Johansson and Jesus.

Neil Warnock showed his loyalty to the flag by requesting dinner with the Queen, while Sam Allardyce and Steve McLaren pledged a different kind of allegiance by choosing Sir Alex Ferguson as their ideal guest. The full list with a breakdown of manager’s choices are as follows:

Gianfranco Zola– Father, wife, Diego Maradona

Harry Redknapp– Muhammad Ali, Vincent O’Brien, Bobby Moore

Paul Ince– Wife, John F Kennedy, Tiger Woods

Paul Lambert– Elvis Presley, George Bush, George Best

Roberto Di Matteo– Julius Caesar, Claudia Schiffer, Robert De Niro

Sam Allardyce– Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Sir Alex Ferguson

Sven Goran Eriksson– Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul, Barack Obama

Chris Coleman– John F Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix

Tony Adams– Jesus, Sir Alf Ramsey, Scarlett Johansson

Simon Grayson– Geoffrey Boycott, Bono, Don Revie

Roberto Mancini– Paolo Mantovani, The Pope, Sheikh Mansour

Rafa Benitez– Julius Caesar, Al Pacino, Napoleon

David Moyes– Mother, Tommy Burns, Kylie Minogue

Gustavo Poyet– Fernando Morena, Michael Jordan, Wife

Neil Warnock– Queen, Barbara Streisand, Brian Clough

Steve McClaren– Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Sir Alex Ferguson

Alex McLeish–  Robert Di Niro, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali

Alan Pardew– Muhammad Ali, Barrack Obama, Spike Milligan

Peter Reid– Elvis Presley, Jesus Christ, Angelina Jolie

Chris Hughton– Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Bill Shankly

The interviews were carried out by Yahoo! Eurosport to celebrate the renewal for the second year of its ‘Dugout’ partnership with the League Managers Association.