And most importantly, whenever you evaluate a manager, the most important part is not tactical.. not by a huge mile these days. Any manager can get good tacticians in his staff. Football is analyzed and planned to such detail these days, and Italy particularly continues to be obsessed about tactics, that I'm sure there are excellent tactical coaches in the staff of even an Empoli.. as Andreazzoli's football proved last season.
The only thing that really matters for a high level manager these days is man management. And that's not just management of the players, but also the club and the media.
This factor is what convinces me that Gattuso will become an excellent manager over the years. He's very very likeable, by all parties involved - players, media, club. Every few weeks you get a Milan player talking incredibly highly of Gattuso. Sure, some of this might be club-planted PR, but there are private conversations that have been spoken about so many times in the past weeks where Suso, Bonucci, Higuain have all basically said how good Gattuso is in getting the best out of his players. He's brutally honest in press conferences and doesn't mind admitting his faults and how far he has to go to become a great coach. He is pretty much the second coming of Ancelotti in terms of personality, who probably remains the most personable man in Italian football. Ancelotti's tactics have never been particularly innovative, but he knows how to handle calcio.
And Spalletti is almost the opposite. There are always grumbles around Spalletti. The media openly dislikes him thanks to his treatment of them and will not lose any opportunity to turn on him. His squad, I'm sure bluenine would agree, does not have 100% happy guys through and through. And even serious fans, like bluenine just demonstrated, see him as a stop-gap option to keep them in a good spot for a couple of years.
I have no doubts that what makes a great manager at the highest level these days is man management or better put, stakeholder management (stakeholders being players, media, fans and the club). Tactics can only get you so far. De Zerbi, Gasperini, Giampaolo and Andreazzoli have better tactical minds than Allegri, Ancelotti, Spalletti and Gattuso. What's the point? Nothing.