Right now, Claudio Ranieri has to be the new prince royal in the much-maligned kingdom of elite coaching. The diminutive Italian has been eulogised, and rightly so, for leading Leicester City to a remarkable Premier League title, an achievement considered so unlikely that it has promptly pushed Ranieri into the pantheon of managers-who-turn-teams-into-champions.

But what constitutes a good coach? In the 1960s and '70s, coaches were often semi-clerical figures stuck in a lonely universe of ideation and obduracy as football teetered on the border of professionalism. They slogged their way through their profession, often as isolated flag-bearers.

Fast forward to the present day. Top managers are at the front and centre of their respective clubs, demigods when successful, and reviled when not. That reverence is a consequence of football’s inclination to be a zero-sum game: results are all that matter. Yet, the vast majority of managerial appointments have little to do with a coach’s experience and qualifications. Clubs often attract a new coach when in a whimsical state of disarray.

Leicester seemed to be doing something similar when they appointed Ranieri at the start of the 2014-15 season. Critics recoiled at the appointment – well-known English manager Harry Redknapp tweeted his surprise, if not astonishment, that Ranieri had been appointed in a coaching role in the English topflight.

From tinkering to idling

After all, under Ranieri’s stewardship, Greece had slumped to a humiliating 0-1 defeat against the Faroe Islands. For much of his career, Ranieri failed to win silverware. In 2004, he reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with Chelsea before committing a suicidal substitution (Mario Melchiot off and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on). The inveterate “Tinkerman's" lapses sprung the trapdoor beneath Chelsea's feet as Monaco ran out unlikely winners.

But this season, Ranieri has transformed himself into a tactical idler. His 4-4-2, a formation presumed outdated and outmoded, was simple and predictable. Ngolo Kanté and Danny Drinkwater ran themselves into the ground in defensive midfield, while Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki powered Leicester’s attacking force. Ranieri’s virtue was to do nothing much at all, to dispense with his longstanding addiction to rotation, and to remain relatively impassive, a remarkable form of adaptability.

Adaptability is indeed a key feature of coaches who tend to succeed in the long run. Pep Guardiola, a disciple of the late Johan Cruyff and inventor of a superior version of the modern game, has demonstrated that requirement, if not always successfully, at Bayern Munich. His triangulated 4-3-3 at FC Barcelona has evolved into tactical flexibility in Bavaria, but both possession and pressure remain the cornerstones of his philosophy.

Three types of coaches

Many club coaches stick to their own world views, but at the elite level, there are two, possibly three, different classes: the philosophers, who carry their dogmas everywhere as if shackled to an ideological straightjacket. Guardiola, former Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa, and current Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger belong to this rarefied circle of zealots, who systematically present the same big idea: attacking football as the only solution to the problems plaguing the footballing universe.

The second class contains the pragmatists, who revile the idea that football could be anything more than results-oriented. Welcome to the world of self-proclaimed antagonists Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone. They advocate that there simply isn’t a higher good in the game than winning. In the past decade, Mourinho was the school’s high priest, but Diego Simeone, who has guided Atletico Madrid to a second Champions League final in three years, has swiftly replaced him with a brand of highly tactical and cautious football, emphasising the righteousness of artful defending, a talent in short supply today.

Then there is a potential neophyte class: the modernists, who support neither theory nor pragmatism. Paris Saint-Germain manager Laurent Blanc and former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti don’t yearn for footballing revolutions with any sort of grand visions. They do not consider victory top of the hierarchy either. Rather, they adapt and tweak when required, often in the service of a larger-than-life bread master.

Performance or scoreline?

A good coach needs to be defined along existential fault-lines: does form prevail over result? Is victory the ultimate yardstick? Is adaptability the biggest asset of a modern-day coach? These are fundamental issues, inviting deeper reflection.

But for what it’s worth and in no particular order, here is a tentative top five of club coaches today: Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Marcelo Bielsa (unemployed), Thomas Tuchel (Borussia Dortmund), Carlo Ancelotti (Bayern Munich next season).