The women behind the dugout: Premier League managers’ wives nobody talks about

Every weekend, millions watch these men pace the touchline, bark instructions, and absorb the full weight of public judgment. When a result goes wrong, the headlines follow fast, the tactics were wrong, the signings were poor, the manager should go.

And somewhere in the background, invisible and unsought, the women who share their lives with these Premier League managers sit with it too.

They watch the same game, they come home to the same man, they read the same back pages but they cannot say a word.

Lorena Bernal (Mikel Arteta)

Lorena Bernal was already famous before she met Mikel Arteta. Born in Tucuman, Argentina, raised across San Sebastian and France, she won Miss Spain at 17. Then, she competed in Miss World, and was built a genuine career as an actress and TV host in Spain and the United States.

She even appeared in Chuck and CSI: Miami, all before she met a footballer at a nightclub in 2002 and, crucially, had no idea who he was. Mikel Arteta. She moved to Glasgow for him. Then to Everton. Then to Arsenal. Three sons, Gabriel, Daniel, and Oliver, all born in Mallorca.

All raised through the peculiar rhythm of a player, and then, manager’s schedule, where the weekends belong to other people and nothing at home can be louder than the last result. She has described those hours after a bad defeat honestly: nobody could speak to him.

Cristina Serra (Pep Guardiola)

Cristina Serra met Pep Guardiola in 1994. They were together for two decades before they married in 2014, while he was managing Bayern Munich. That timeline tells you something about the kind of woman she is: patient in a way that has nothing to do with passivity.

She followed him to Munich, and then, as Guardiola committed to Manchester City, she made a different choice. By 2019, she had moved back to Barcelona permanently to run the family’s fashion business and raise their youngest child, Valentina.

For years, the marriage was spread over long distance. It sustained by phone calls and school holidays while her husband remained the most scrutinised men in football. In January 2025, after more than thirty years together, their separation was confirmed, cordially, via Goal.

Mirjam Slot (Arne Slot)

When Arne Slot left Feyenoord for Liverpool in 2024, his wife Mirjam did not go with him. Their children were at critical points in their education. So, the family made a decision that is entirely understandable and almost entirely invisible: she stayed back.

Slot has spoken about it more honestly than most managers would. He said that anyone with a good marriage would want to see their wife and children more. While Mirjam visits for a couple of days every two weeks, the children even less, with their routines.

Meanwhile Slot has gone from the highs of winning the Premier League to the toughest season of his career. And in the background, Mirjam quietly deals with all this by making a preference for privacy that costs something every day.

Vicki Howe (Eddie Howe)

When Eddie Howe was appointed Newcastle United manager in November 2021, he moved north alone. Vicki, his wife, stayed behind with their three young sons while he settled in to what was an enormous, pressure-filled job at a newly taken-over club with Saudi ownership.

Eddie and Vicki met in Bournemouth and that’s where she stayed, initially after he took the Newcastle job. He lived in a hotel overlooking the Tyne for months. The family eventually relocated to the north-east, but those early months were Vicki’s alone to manage.

When Howe was later asked whether he took a proper holiday, he said his wife and kids would demand it, and then paused. “But how present I am on that holiday,” he added, “well, that’s a different question.”

Lisa Roughead (Michael Carrick)

Lisa Roughead met Michael Carrick when they were fifteen years old, growing up in Tyneside. She has known him longer than most of his teammates have known the game. They married in 2007, when he was already deep into his Manchester United career.

Lisa is a Pilates instructor and has been involved in the Michael Carrick Foundation. She does not have public social media. Heck, she does not even give interviews, he simply gets on with it, as she always has. But, even then, she has been involved in controversies.

Roy Keane and Michael Carrick have had a colorful off-the-pitch feud, and for what it’s worth, Lisa has always stepped up to the plate to defend her husband. Now Carrick is interim manager at Manchester United, and Lisa remains steadfastly by her husband’s side.