The sentence "he had previously managed" is correct and usable in written English.
You could use it when describing a situation in which a person had experience with a certain responsibility in the past. For example: "He had previously managed a team of 10 engineers, so he was confident in tackling the project."
He had previously managed Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta, Siena and Juventus before taking over the national team in 2014.
He shot himself back into prominence Saturday by scoring twice as many goals in one afternoon as he had previously managed to score all season.
His more avant-garde artistic vision — he had previously managed the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago — did not translate into ticket sales.
The joke was double-edged, recognising both that the England team looked old and short of quality and that Redknapp's preferred solution at all the clubs he had previously managed was to buy his way out of trouble.
It is very likely that absent the global credit crunch, Madoff would have been able to maintain his scam for many years more, since he had previously managed to keep his investors very happy.
Both teams he had previously managed, Sheffield United and Aston Villa, had been relegated to it under his watch.
He has previously managed the reputations of General Pinochet and Asma al-Assad, wife of the Syrian president.
Although he has previously managed mostly teams that were buyers at the trade deadline and not sellers, Collins said it would be naïve of him not to expect some of the air to come rushing out of the clubhouse after a trade.
He has previously managed Tamworth, Kettering, Peterborough, Darlington and Telford.
He could have gone back to Holland, where he has previously managed FC Twente, to earn three times the amount Forest are offering him.
Grayson has won promotion from the third tier with all three clubs he has previously managed - Blackpool in 2007, Leeds in 2010 and Huddersfield in 2012.
