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Gary Megson

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Gary Megson
Personal information
Full name Gary John Megson
Position(s) Midfielder (retired)
Team information
Current team Bolton Wanderers (manager)

Gary John Megson (born 2 May, 1959 in Manchester) is a former English footballer and manager. As a player, he is arguably best remembered from his days at Sheffield Wednesday, where his father Don Megson also played in the 1960s. As manager he enjoyed his most successful spell at West Bromwich Albion, whom he twice got promoted to the Premier League, and is currently manager of current Premier League side Bolton Wanderers.

Playing career

As a player, Megson was a tough-tackling defensive midfielder, and something of a journeyman, playing for nine different clubs.

He began his career at Plymouth Argyle, where he quickly made his name and impressed enough for Everton to sign him for a £250,000 transfer fee. Megson struggled to establish himself in the Everton lineup, and after two unremarkable years at Goodison, he moved to his father's old stomping grounds, Sheffield Wednesday, for a fee of £130,000.

Megson immediately gained a place in Wednesday's starting lineup, and was a key member of the team that gained promotion to the top flight in 1983–84. In his three years at Hillsborough, he missed only three league games. In the summer of 1984, he was signed by Nottingham Forest, only for Brian Clough to decide he didn't need him. Megson spent five frustrating months at the City Ground, without making a single first-team appearance before being sold to Newcastle United.

Megson played regularly for the Magpies for the remainder of the 1984–85 season, but lost his place in the lineup the following season, and moved back to Sheffield Wednesday. In his second spell with the Owls, Megson again established himself as an important member of the squad, and was rarely out of the starting eleven. In January 1989, he moved to Manchester City, where he spent three and a half seasons. He then moved to Norwich City in the summer of 1992, and spent three seasons at Carrow Road. In his final season at Norwich, he was also assistant manager to John Deehan.

When Deehan resigned in the Spring of 1995, Megson briefly took charge as caretaker manager, but failed to save City from the drop, losing four and drawing one of his five games in charge. In the Summer, he also left Norwich and finished his playing career with short spells at lower division sides Lincoln City and Shrewsbury Town. Later the same year, he got a surprise return to Norwich when he was re-appointed manager following Martin O'Neill's sudden departure.


Managerial career

While still playing at Norwich City, Megson became assistant to manager John Deehan. He briefly left the club following Deehan's sacking in 1995, but returned to Carrow Road later the same year when new manager Martin O'Neill left to take charge at Leicester City. Megson managed the Canaries for the remainder of the 1995–96 season, but was let go at the end of the season.

In 1996, Megson became manager at Blackpool where he recorded only 21 wins in 52 matches. At Bloomfield Road, he was assisted by the former Manchester United midfielder Mike Phelan, but the partnership failed to bring a Division Two playoff place to the Seasiders, and Megson left at the end of the season.

Megson moved to Stockport County in 1997 and they came just two places short of the Division One playoffs in his first season as manager. After two reasonable seasons with Stockport, he was dismissed after the board alleged that he had applied for a manager's post elsewhere without their permission. However, he wasn't unemployed for long, taking the manager's job at Stoke City. His tenure at the Britannia Stadium was brought to an end when the club was sold to an Icelandic consortium which appointed its own man, former Iceland national-team coach Gudjon Thordarsson, to the manager's position.

West Bromwich Albion

Megson took over as manager of struggling First Division West Bromwich Albion towards the very end of the 1999–2000 season with barely time for him to organise a few key player transfers before the deadline. Albion narrowly evaded relegation by winning their final game of the season and Megson was immediately hailed as a hero.

The following season, he took the club into the playoffs. In the 2001–02 season the club won promotion to the FA Premier League, overcoming the eleven-point lead of bitter local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the closing weeks of the campaign. This achievement earned Megson the Nationwide Division One Manager of the Year award. However, the club was barely prepared for the financial challenges of life in the top flight and a bitter quarrel soon developed between Megson and the club's chairman Paul Thompson over the latter's perceived interference in footballing matters. An undignified public showdown resulted in Thompson resigning from the board in order to forestall Megson's departure. Jeremy Peace took the opportunity to establish himself as Thompson's successor. In July 2002 Megson signed a new three-year contract with Albion. However in 2002–03 the club were relegated after just a single season in the Premier League.

Peace's financial prudence enabled Megson to mount a successful promotion campaign, and return to the Premier League the following season – but by the summer of 2004, the relationship between the two men had become strained. With a poor start to the season, by September, Megson's job was under threat. The following month Megson, whose contract was due to end in June 2005, announced that he would not sign a new deal at the club if offered one. On 26 October, Megson was dismissed by West Brom. A settlement for the remainder of his contract was reached in November 2004.

Nottingham Forest

Within a week of being sacked at West Bromwich Albion, Gary Megson was linked with vacant manager's job at Wolverhampton Wanderers after Dave Jones was sacked – but that job went to Glenn Hoddle instead. Megson was then appointed manager of struggling Nottingham Forest on 10 January 2005, succeeding Joe Kinnear, but was unable to save them from slipping into the third tier of English football for the first time. Promotion back to the Championship was to be his priority for 2005-06, but Forest struggled, especially away from home, for most of the season. In terms of points they were nearer to the relegation zone than the playoff zone when he resigned in February 2006 after being put under a lot of pressure by the Forest fans. He claimed that his resignation had cost him £500,000.

Megson moved back into the game as a coach at Stoke City. He was handed the role in June 2007 by manager Tony Pulis, Megson retained the role until his appointment at Leicester.

Leicester City

On 13 September 2007, a press conference was called by Leicester City chairman Milan Mandarić where he announced Gary Megson as the new manager of the club, citing Megson's "wealth of experience" as a deciding factor in the appointment. He accomplished his first league win on 6 October, 2007 with a 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough with goals from Gareth McAuley and an own goal by Akpo Sodje

A month into Megson's reign as Leicester manager, the club received an approach from Bolton Wanderers for his services, but this was turned down by Mandarić. On October 23, Bolton announced that Megson is the front-runner to become their new manager, and made a second approach for him. The club said they are also willing to compensate Leicester City should Megson leave the club. This second approach has been rejected by Milan Mandarić. He was eventually given permission to speak to Bolton and left Leicester on 24 October, 2007.

Bolton Wanderers

He took over as manager of Bolton Wanderers on 25 October, 2007.

Managerial stats

As of 25 October, 2007.
Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Norwich City England December 21 1995 July 31 1996 27 5 13 9 18.51
Blackpool England July 5 1996 July 1 1997 52 21 16 15 40.38
Stockport County England July 1 1997 June 25 1999 102 35 40 27 34.31
Stoke City England July 14 1999 November 15 1999 22 9 6 7 40.90
West Bromwich Albion England March 9 2000 October 26 2004 221 94 77 50 42.53
Nottingham Forest England January 10 2005 February 16 2006 59 17 24 18 28.81
Leicester City England September 13 2007 October 24 2007 9 3 2 4 33.33
Bolton Wanderers England October 25 2007 Present 0 0 0 0 00.00

References

  1. "Megson scoops award". BBC Sport. 2002-05-14. Retrieved 2007-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. "Megson signs West Brom deal". BBC Sport. 2002-07-25. Retrieved 2007-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. "Megson sacked by West Brom". BBC Sport. 2004-10-26. Retrieved 2007-04-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. "West Brom agree Megson settlement". BBC Sport. 2004-11-12. Retrieved 2007-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. "Forest appoint Megson as manager". BBC Sport. 2005-01-10. Retrieved 2007-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "Megson departs as Forest manager". BBC Sport. 2006-02-16. Retrieved 2007-04-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. "Forest exit costs Megson £500,000". BBC Sport. 2006-03-03. Retrieved 2007-05-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. "Megson excited by Leicester job". BBC Sport. 2007-09-13. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. "Foxes reject Bolton's Megson move". BBC Sport. 2007-10-19. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. Bolton want Megson as new manager, BBC Sport 2007-10-23. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  11. Foxes reject second approach, Sky Sports 2007-10-23. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
  12. "Bolton target Megson leaves Foxes". BBC Sport. 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-10-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "Megson Takes Control At The Reebok". Bolton Wanderers FC. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-10-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded byMartin O'Neill Norwich City F.C. Manager
1995-1996 		Succeeded byMike Walker
Preceded bySam Allardyce Blackpool F.C. Manager
1996-1997 		Succeeded byNigel Worthington
Preceded byDave Jones Stockport County F.C. Manager
1997-1999 		Succeeded byAndy Kilner
Preceded byBrian Little Stoke City F.C. Manager
1999 		Succeeded byGudjon Thordarson
West Bromwich Albion F.C. – managers
(c) = caretaker manager
Nottingham Forest F.C. – managers
(c) = caretaker manager
Leicester City F.C. – managers
Bolton Wanderers F.C. – managers
= secretary; = caretaker
Bolton Wanderers F.C. – current squad

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