Ten different managers have won the title since he did it with Leeds in 1992 and none of them English, although Howard Wilkinson shows little affection for this particular claim to fame.
'It's never been the English game,' he says, reeling off the names of legendary Scots such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly and Sir Matt Busby. 'It was always the British game, and since it became the Premier League we've recruited players from all over the world and the best foreign coaches.
'What has also changed is the nature of boardrooms. They are no longer full of British people. The game is international.'
Ten different managers have won title since Howard Wilkinson did and none of them English
Wilkinson was never one to let an easy platitude pass unexamined. Not while achieving success with Sheffield Wednesday, Notts County, and Leeds. Nor as the architect of the modern academy system and technical director of the FA, who twice stepped in as England's caretaker manager.
At 75, he is still influencing the modern game via coach education and in his role as chairman of the League Managers' Association... and still doing it on his terms.
'Large parts of the media always thought me prickly,' smiles Wilkinson. 'Gordon Strachan's always telling me my problem was my PR and he's right, as usual.'
On Wilkinson's first day as Sheffield Wednesday boss, a reporter asked if it was true he had been a teacher. 'He knew the answer,' says Wilkinson. 'I was a PE teacher when I was player-manager at Boston. So I said it was true. Then he asked me what I taught. So I said, "children" which I thought would provoke a laugh.'
Next day, Wilkinson picked up his newspaper to read the Owls had 'hired a smart-a**e'.
'Sometimes I did get a bit too bothered about things,' he says. 'At Leeds, we went to West Ham and won and then got slaughtered by the London press and it really annoyed me. We'd outplayed them and we had outfought them and it was reported as if we were guilty of offending the game. But the lads at Leeds got to welcome that. Isn't that the aim, upset the opponent?
I’d stand on an old TV gantry, note anything important, wrap it round a pebble and throw it to Jimmy Sirrel on the touchline
ON NOTTS COUNTY
'Now, if I'm asked my advice by would-be coaches, one of the things I ask them is, "Are you brave enough to be different?" Authenticity, Respect, Trust. It spells ART which is nice but I think they are really key. If you're not brave enough to be yourself, it's not going to work.'
Wilkinson dared to be different. He was clambering through the rafters in a quest for the details long before Marcelo Bielsa arrived at Elland Road and armed his scouting staff with wire-cutters.
'There was an old television gantry at Notts County and I'd climb up an iron ladder outside the stand and then across the top and I'd watch from up there,' says Wilkinson, who would watch his own men from on high with his assistant down below. 'If I saw anything important I'd write it on a scrap of paper, wrap it around a pebble and throw it to Jimmy Sirrel on the touchline.
The whole Leeds squad that won the league title in 1992 under Wilkinson's guidance
'I went to the university and polytechnic in Nottingham to identify students who could analyse our games. With pencil and paper, they marked down entries into the final-third, shots, set-pieces, etc.
'Getting the information is easy. Sifting through what matters isn't. At Wednesday we weighed the players every Monday morning and if they were overweight they got fined. By the time I got to Leeds, we had gone much deeper into things. We carried out urine tests for each player so we could prepare drinks appropriate to their needs. Now they carry computers around, tap in information and by the time they get to training the manager knows what time they went to bed, how long they slept and what they had for breakfast. When was the last time you saw a fat Premier League player? In the 1980s and 90s you saw a few.'
Wilkinson's Notts team was famed for its passing style, orchestrated by Scotland's Don Masson in midfield and with Pedro Richards converted from a right back to a sweeper. 'I learned a lot of it from basketball,' he says.
'Full backs would go wide and push on, centre backs would split, Masson would drop for possession and the goalkeeper had to throw it. We played Bristol City in a friendly and they had a well-known midfielder playing, and we are walking off and he said, "Play like that this season and you'll get relegated".' County finished second and went up, success which prompted England manager Ron Greenwood to make a scouting trip specifically to see Richards.
At Wednesday, Wilkinson's football was direct. 'Jack Charlton had been manager and there were centre backs everywhere,' he says. 'So I went with three at the back. We were one of the first in this country to do it. Good centre halves. Mick Lyons was a titan, talk about leadership.'
As well as successes at Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday, he was also twice England caretaker
Quickly taken free-kicks and throw-ins, and an intense work-rate generated pressure and hustled opponents into mistakes. The Owls went up, stayed up and finished fifth in 1986.
'These were tactical extremes, based on the players we'd got. On both occasions, it took people until Christmas to work out what we were doing. These days they would suss it in two weeks. I was getting people to do what they did best and by doing what they did
