Five EFL Managers To Watch In 2025/26

With the new 2025/26 season on the horizon, EFL expert Gab Sutton highlights five new managers across the three divisions who are set to make waves in the campaign ahead.

1. Sergej Jakirović (Hull City)

Hull City looks one of the Championship’s more challenging gigs this summer, so Sergej Jakirović’s adaptability could be his biggest asset.

The Bosnian has managed clubs like Maribor and Dinamo, who are expected to dominate in Slovenia and Croatia respectively, and he’s been successful with that, but he’s also delivered results with Turkish strugglers Kayserispor in his last job, hauling them to midtable.

In fact, Anadolu Yıldızı shipped five goals in their last game before Jakirović, then conceded just 18 in 17 for the rest of the campaign.

And, it’s that organisational nous that will be crucial on Humberside, where the Tigers have a somewhat messy squad assembled for numerous different strategies.

At this stage of the rebuild, it’s difficult for a new manager to be too niche with in-possession ideas, so homing in on some strong out-of-possession principles would be a great start.

The only question mark is around expectations. Owner Acun Ilıcalı sacked Liam Rosenior after he finished 7th, which suggests the bar for job security was Play-Offs.

A reasonable owner would lower that bar in light of recent challenges, then again if Ilıcalı was always reasonable, Jakirović wouldn’t be here in the first place… 

2. Will Still (Southampton)

Will Still’s unique coaching journey has earned him national attention; far more of it, at least, than the average Ligue 1 manager.

So, the fascination for 2025-26 is that we get to see, at close hand, how much of Still’s burgeoning reputation is down to his objective coaching ability, and how much of it is simply a unique story that grabbed people’s attention.

Reality may lie somewhere in between.

Still’s 17-game unbeaten start at Reims, a new Ligue 1 record, was part of what caught the public eye, especially with a less fancied side, although his season at RC Lens was a fair stint without being outstanding, with Les Sang et Or finishing 8th.

Still has earned credit, though, for good people skills, a positive relationship with the media whilst still being humble, authentic and matter-of-fact, and a positive, aggressive, front-foot style of play that encourages passing forward with intent.

Meanwhile, his in-game adaptability should help Southampton change games that aren’t going their way, something they struggled with last season: they accrued a solitary point from losing positions.

3. Brian Barry-Murphy (Cardiff City)

Brian Barry-Murphy did excellent work at Rochdale in difficult circumstances.

The Irishman kept the Dale up in 2018-19, showing pragmatism in a tight spot to oversee four 1-0 wins in their last seven games, after club legend Keith Hill had been sacked with the team in the drop zone.

The following season, he evolved the style and the team managed a respectable 18th-place finish in League One on a bottom end budget, whilst several talented young players continued to develop.

In the COVID season, the squad had been gutted due to financial limitations and major off-field issues, including a dodgy Managing Director in David Bottomley who released an entire successful youth team and sold shares to a corrupt consortium, Morton House.

Despite that, Rochdale were relegated under Barry-Murphy, yes, but only on the final day, having scored more goals than promoted Blackpool, with a significantly limited squad – and their subsequent problems in League Two would underline the scale of the issues he’d been working with.

In the meantime, BBM has been extremely successful in the PL2 with Man City EDS, developing some of the hottest prospects in world football.

So, he’s joined Cardiff for a long-term project around nurturing high-potential young players, and fostering a smooth style.

It’s not something we’ve seen from the Bluebirds historically, so this could either be too much of a sea-change that the fanbase won’t accept, or the start of their transition from a chaotically run club to one that’s modern and forward-thinking.

4. Lee Grant (Huddersfield)

In comparison with BBM, Lee Grant has perhaps a more modest coaching CV, having officially retired from playing as recently as 2022.

On the other hand, what he has in his favour is a recent history of being extremely successful as part of coaching staff in the senior game, having been first-team coach at Ipswich under Kieran McKenna, during their meteoric rise.

Surprisingly, perhaps, for a former goalkeeper, the 42-year-old was attacking coach at Portman Road, which at least suggests he was entrusted with some of the more complex and detailed facets of coaching, albeit alongside a fantastic manager.

And, given the fluidity of some of the passages of play the Tractor Boys put together across those two seasons, whilst retaining a structure that made them well-placed to handle defensive transitions, there can be justifiable excitement about this appointment at Huddersfield.

Whereas predecessor Michael Duff had a summer in which there were lots of players under contract, and it was difficult to offload the ones they needed to after relegation, Grant has come in at arguably a better time.

So, with a good core of players in place and some positive recruitment, Town hope they’ve found a coup, although it’s not an appointment without risk.

5. Dean Brennan (Barnet)

After leading Barnet to the National League title last season, with 102 points no less, Dean Brennan makes his EFL bow.

The Irishman has transformed the culture at the North London club with his passionate, open-book and democratic leadership style, even re-enthusing an owner in Tony Kleanthous who had previously chequed-in but checked out.

Brennan’s recruitment has been outstanding, spotting players like defender Danny Collinge and midfielder Mark Shelton who had been misfits elsewhere that slotted into the system and culture at The Hive.

The Bees play a high-energy 3-4-2-1 system, but with wing-backs so high up the pitch in-possession it’s more like a 3-2-4-1, penning the opposition in with wide centre halves stepping up into natural full-back positions to sustain pressure.

Some will question how Brennan’s cavalier approach will play out a level up, against experienced managers of higher calibre – but it’ll be fun to watch, either way.