Tracky or suit: How should a Premier League manager tog out?

We don’t know what any of them are really like and in many ways, all of them are playing roles when they’re in front of the camera. But the crucial thing is we think we know them and we think we know what they’re like

Whether it’s Pep Guardiola in those casual trousers, Ralph Hasenhüttl in a suit and white runners, or ‘man’s man’ Sean Dyche (below) in overcoat, psychologists say we judge a person within a few seconds, so how they dress must influence that. Main picture: Laurence Griffiths/Getty

Ah, the New Year, that annoying time when we have to put up with people telling us how going vegan has changed their life and why don’t we try it too? Thankfully football is there, as ever, to distract us from real life and managers are all part of the soap opera, playing the roles of boss, teacher, daddy, brother or lover. Well, OK, maybe not lover.

The fans’ relationship to managers is a very specific, unique one that is different to how we regard players. We can tell a lot about each other by which managers we like and which we can’t stand. It’s a shortcut to understanding people. For every fan who admires Pep Guardiola as a genius, there’s another who thinks he’s massively overrated and just buys success. Jurgen Klopp is open-hearted and funny to many, to others he’s a rather narky sore loser.