Welcome to the World Championship of Managers, a season which will revolve around the men on the touchline like never before.

This, I hope, is the start of something big for the Premier League. The arrival of Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte and the return of Jose Mourinho, to do battle with Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino promises to make this a campaign that is both spectacular and dramatic.

Those six men all want the crown Claudio Ranieri has been proudly wearing since May and the competition to rip it away from Leicester’s grasp will be ferocious, the kind of which we have not seen in England’s top flight. The cast list of those fighting for the title is as good as it gets.

Jose Mourinho will be eyeing silverware in his first season as Manchester United boss

Pep Guardiola joins Manchester City and it will be fascinating to see him at work

Think about it: in the Championship, there are two managers — Rafa Benitez and Roberto Di Matteo — who each boast a Champions League triumph. They are in that division because there are no openings in the Premier League.

Ronald Koeman, over two seasons at Southampton, could argue he performed better than anyone considering the players he sold and there would have been a time when that consistency would automatically have led to a position at a top-four club.

Instead, he ended up at Everton, who finished last season in 11th place. That gives you an idea of the strength now in the dugout.

Really, we can make a comparison to the golden era of heavyweights when Muhammad Ali, Ken Norton, George Foreman and Joe Frazier were to the fore; for all the talent, for all the desire, only one man — as was the case with those boxers — can come out on top next May.

My wish, though, is the competition between these managers propels English teams back to the top of European football and I can see parallels with 2004, when there was a four-way battle for supremacy.

Antonio Conte will bring his famed passion and organisational skills to Chelsea

Slaven Bilic and Arsene Wenger share a moment ahead of the new season

Benitez arrived from Spain having just done the double of UEFA Cup and La Liga with Valencia; Mourinho had just left Porto after making them champions of Europe and the dominant team in Portugal, with a second consecutive title.

Already established here was Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful Premier League manager, while Arsene Wenger was at his peak, with Arsenal having just completed their ‘Invincible’ season. What followed over the next seven years was a spin-off from their rivalries.

From 2005 through to 2012, there was only one year (2010) when the Champions League final was not contested by an English team. Our clubs won the biggest trophy three times and nobody could argue that we did not have the best league and the best teams in Europe. It was a golden period.

People will say you need the best players in the world to dominate Europe but that isn’t the case. Though Paul Pogba’s record-breaking move to Manchester United is a boost for the league, historically the best players go to Real Madrid or Barcelona and that will continue.

Paul Pogba, the world's most expensive player, has added showbiz ahead of the season

United beat Chelsea in Moscow as 2008 saw an all-English Champions League final

But that didn’t matter over those seven years when our teams were in those finals and it shouldn’t matter now. Managers made the difference in that era to stop Barcelona and Madrid carrying all before them; when you look at the quality that will be on show in technical areas up and down the country — and the resources our clubs have — the same can happen again.

It also goes to show just how strong we have become in terms of managers when Mourinho won’t be in the Champions League — the first time that has happened since 2003 — while Klopp and Conte won’t be taking their respective teams into Europe at all.

Mourinho will command a lot of the spotlight and he will want to be in the middle of everything to prove he is the main man. He will feel his fight with Guardiola will now be on a more level playing field after their previous skirmishes in Spain.

When Mourinho was at Real Madrid, it didn’t matter what he did or who he signed as Barcelona were the best team in the world. With huge funds at his disposal and more experience of how the Premier League works, he will back himself to beat Guardiola. This, however, is anything but a straight fight and I am fascinated by how Conte will fare at Chelsea.

In some ways he is like Liverpool manager Klopp, as his demeanour and intensity on the touchline makes him compelling viewing.

Like Conte, Jurgen Klopp is animated on the sidelines, and his results are working

Yet Klopp will face a steely foe across Stanley Park in the shape of Ronald Koeman

During Euro 2016, Italy were shorn of stars but they were very unlucky to go out on penalties and their progress to the quarter-finals was based on how he set up his team and the tactics he employed. Their wins over Belgium and Spain were two of my favourites of the tournament.

Conte looks like a manager players want to work for and it would be dangerous to write Chelsea out of the title race. Yes, they finished 10th last time but they were champions 12 months earlier and all it takes is for three or four big players to recapture their form.

Eden Hazard was the Premier League’s standout player in 2014-15, N’Golo Kante is an excellent buy from Leicester and not being in Europe is a massive advantage to have over their title rivals. Liverpool will also enjoy the ‘luxury’ of free midweeks as they look to get back into the top four.

Everyone wants to be in the Champions League but it has never been harder to gain that golden ticket and I cannot help but wonder if this will be the campaign in which Wenger’s incredible sequence of always qualifying ends.

Mauricio Pochettino has performed wonders at Spurs and will look to improve further

Claudio Ranieri took Leicester to top spot last time out in astonishing fashion

He says finishing in the top four is like a winning a trophy and if Arsenal do finish in one of those places, it really will be like winning silverware. They had a big chance to take the title last year but have still not sorted the problems that saw them left behind by Leicester.

Wenger needed a central defender to replace Per Mertesacker when he was fit, never mind injured for five months! With Arsenal’s squad being another year older and issues to address, they could be vulnerable.

The threat, after all, has never been more widespread but the level of competition should make this a season in which you won’t want to miss a minute.