The departed Stuart Pearce is the latest in a lengthy list of coaches who have tried and failed to re-establish City as genuine contenders. Here, MEN Sport assesses those who came before him.
Jimmy Frizzell - 1986/87
The Scotsman had enjoyed a distinguished playing career with Oldham and joined City as assistant manager to Billy McNeil.
After McNeil moved on, Frizzell was handed the top job but was sacked after only seven months when he took the troubled side into Division Two.
Mel Machin - 1987/89
After consolidating the club's position in the second tier, Machin hauled them back into the top flight where they recorded a memorable 5-1 win over United on their return.
But the league campaign was faltering and he was relieved of his duties by ruthless chairman Peter Swales.
Howard Kendall - 1989/90
Kendall arrived at Maine Road after a highly successful spell with Everton, followed by a stint in Spain with Athletic Bilbao.
However, he lasted just a year before returning to Goodison Park.
Peter Reid - 1990/93
Mentored by Kendall, Reid made the transition from on-field leader to player-manager with ease.
His first season ended in a highly-respectable fifth-placed finish but after one more fifth he was shown the door after slipping to ninth.
Brian Horton - 1993/95
An admired lower league manager, Horton was a surprise appointment to succeed Reid. But with limited resources, Horton's tenure saw City gradually become minor players in the Premiership.
Alan Ball - 1995/96
His decorated playing career was celebrated at length after his recent death, but he was at the helm when City were bundled into the second tier and he resigned three games into the next season.
Steve Coppell - 1996
A former United player, Coppell did little to ingratiate the City faithful when he resigned after a month.
Frank Clark - 1996/98
Clark's 15-month stay seemed gargantuan after the occupants but the job was becoming an increasingly poisoned chalice when he left with the club on the cusp of relegation to the third tier.
Joe Royle - 1998/01
Royle initially had a positive impact on the team and although he was the man in charge when City sunk to their lowest ever ebb, Royle stayed on to see them back to successive promotions - and a return to Premiership football but they were relegated again before Royle was shown the door.
Kevin Keegan - 2001/05
A high-profile incumbent, . Keegan was backed heavily in the transfer market in a period decorated by promotion, an ultimately failed UEFA Cup campaign and some big-name signings.
What are your memories of these bosses? Have your say.
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loved horton..reid was ok,royle did a job,the year we cam up with keegan from div one was the most enjoyable football i had seen,hundred goals....awesome.
9 managers in 20 years. There's been a few clubs with worse records than that. See how many managers Leeds, sheff wed to name just a couple of clubs have had. This time round we must get it right. Someone like Coleman, Souness, Jewell, and we are right back to square one again. Get someone like Van Gaal, Koeman, Ranieri, then who knows what's in store for us. Maybe, exciting times are just around the corner.
Our list of past managers very much reflects our buying of players excepting Horton over the last few years. All well past the best.No real love of the club. All on the gravy train to a nice fat pension. Some scouse accents in there!!!! ala messers fowler and mcpointalot. Time to do exactly what Utd did when they appointed Ferguson. Look for a manager who has achieved great success in another league be it the Dutch league or the French league or any other european major league. Appoint someone who has actually won something be it Houllier or Koman or Van Gaal. Class managers instead of some nomark English manager that would probably be snapped up by England at the slightest crumb of success. This is a major opportunity for us now and the next manager with the backing of the billioinaire thai shinawatra could bring success at last.Pearce was always only treading water anyway. His biggest personal failure was not his transfer gambles instead he should have spoken up at the end of the first season when his star was shining bright and said " I want more money or I am off". As a player he was ruthless as a leader of men he was a patsy!!! Appoint a top european manager who has some success.As Malcolm Allison once said "show us your medals". Roll on the takeover and 50m on players and a top top top european manager and watch season ticket sales go through the roof!!!!! Come on City.
What's this got to do with Fergersern MUEN?
Van Gaal for City!
Would have thought BH deserved more than two lines. What about "Well liked by fans, always tried to play attacking football". Walsh, Rosler, Beagrie etc, football a pleasure to watch and all on a shoestring.
Spot on Frank Clarkes Guitar Maestro - but just two points. FIRST - whoever is appointed needs real time to get things right behind the scenes and then on the pitch. The latter is totally dependent on the former and you cannot do one without the other. What Ferguson was given at MU was time - 4 seasons before he won anything at all. But he did in that time sort the club out and build the strong foundations upon which the club prospers now. We must not be too embittered by the Trafford FC set-up to learn from them. SECOND - you cannot build a successful club with one-off cash injections. It needs a sustained investment season after season to build the depth and quality upon which to thrive. Initially it will be one or two quality players around which others are enthused to perform. That creates a level of success that attracts more quality players and therefore more success and therefore more quality players etc etc etc. But let's not get carried away - at first success will be measured by a reasonable cup run and solidity in top 10. After that perhaps a cup semi or final and the top 6. Only then - 3 seasons or more in - can we really expect to win anything and to sustain consistent challenges for honours. We can only achieve this if Frank Sinatra really means to take us over and if he really means to provide the long-term finance to make us successful. Let us hope that in a couple of years we will all be singing Witchcraft or Fly Me To The Moon to celebrate our successes and not Something Stupid or The End Is Near.
Can't understand what the link with Taggart is? have i missed something?
dpk, I think the point the MEN report was making was that City change their manager every two or three years. United could have done the same when their fans, and indeed the paper, turned on Ferguson after he began to struggle.
When you look at it, we have some very dodgy managers havent we??
Quite liked Keegan, Reid and Horton myself but i will take anyone next except Sven. Please god not Sven.
The club has had a lot more stability in the last ten years compared with the 80's and the 90's. Three managerial appointments in nine years isn't that bad for a club who have had no real success. (in fact make that no success at all)
Royle got sacked after taking us back into the Nationwide, Keegan was completely beaten and ready for retirement by the end of his tenure and Pearce had lost everyone by mid season this year. To be kind to him he kept us up, but it was the most painful season of football I can remember.
Hopefully the new manager will stay for 10 years.. if he does it will mean he will have done a good job, something which you can't really sa for many, if any of the managers on that list.
at last some sane comments.
especially recognising what has happened with Utd. i have been city for over 50 years. i remember the golden age of Mercer when football was a joy to watch. foundations are important. we need to give the new man time, as well as funds. we have an excellent academy and we are seeing the results of that. we need to continue to be secure at the back - we still need a left back who will play football and not be like Ball, Thatcher and Jordan. we need at least one creative midfielder, even if he is 30 years old. the opportunity is here to clear out some dead wood. patience is the greatest virtue of City supporters! but the biggest lesson to learn for you younger chaps, is that we watched with glee in the late 80s when utd wee in a mess and Fergies ws under the cosh!! give the new man time and support
Why is this anything to do with Ferguson? Anyway it's factually incorrect. Didn't Paisley win 3 European Cups in 7 years and Clough 2 in 2? So therefore they are more successful.
No Horton deserve anymore than two lines, are you forgetting the sales of David White, Mike Sheron ... cup humilations at Barnet, Crystal Palace, Cardiff, and 5-0 at the swamp and never giving the scum a game!!
Despite being lauded by many fans my memory of Howard Kendall is that he dumped good young players who were crowd favourites (Bishop, Redmond) and replaced them with old Everton has beens like Alan Harper and "inchy" Heath. And he also messed up David White's career by taking him off the wing and playing him up front. I loved watching David White stride down the wing but Kendall wrecked his career and swanned off to Everton. (as you can see Kendall is not very popular in our house !)
All the managers you have had it makes me laugh and yet so happy,oh and on the fergie matter he has won more silverware than any other manager than any other manager in the english game so wipe your tears away now mr s.pearce has gone,hell be back to huant you .
Champions red army.
PMSL AT CITEH.
ITS GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY.
The club were in real turmoil during Horton's reign. He did OK under very tough circumstances.
How amny managers thats a laugh.
Pmsl
United haven't sacked Ferguson because they are afraid to. Who on earth at Old Trafford would have the guts to tell him that he was on his way? The reality is that Ferguson, as the manager of the self proclaimed biggest club on the planet, has a poor record where it counts. 1 European Champions final in 14 successive attempts - if you said to fans of Juventus, the Milan Clubs or Real Madrid that their next manager would have that record they would laugh you out of the room.
The main reason why City have had so many managers since Joe Mercer is that they often got the appointment wrong in the first place and when they did get it right (McNeill, Kendall) they couldn't hold on to them. We need to get the right manager (and I agree with those who suggest someone with a proven European pedigree) with a 5 year financial plan to back them. As fans we need to support the new manager and his team and not get despondent if there are some sticky patches along the way.
This could be the kost interesting and successful period in over 30 years. Then again, we might blow it. As a fan who can just about remember West Ham beating City 5-1 at a mud sodden Maine Road with Joe Corrigan conceding 1 goal with his back turned to the play, I am ready for either eventuality
HOW MANY MANAGERS ????? ENOUGH SAID !!!!!!AND NOW YOU WANT A CROOK TO OWN THE CLUB.
DOWN DOWN YOU BRING ME DOWN ETC
THANK GOD UTD GOT GLAZIERS!!!!!!!!!!
SURELY THE POLL ....WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO MANAGE CITY,TOP OF THE LIST WOULD BE
SIR ALEX FERGUSON ??? WOULDNT IT
I liked Horton and Keegan(I made a joke about getting Horton back on another page) both seemed to bring excitement back to city and the horton Beagrie-Lomas-Flitcroft-Summerbee-Walsh-Quinn-Rosler line up was one of my favourite 21years as a City fan(im 22)Although the defence was miserable. Keegan just bought crap like macca!!Pearce has the guts to be an assistant like joe Jordan at pompy. when was being a city fan ever easy....
ronaldo; You keep saving up your money for them Glazer guy's !!.
the only reason rags are on our site is because they are getting twiiched that we could star winning silver ware
What a bag of No Hopers!