Gary Megson

Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager.

He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday.

Megson immediately gained a place in Wednesday's starting lineup, and was a member of the team that gained promotion to the top flight in 1983–84, ending a 14-year exile from the elite.

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 couldn't trap a bag of cement".

Megson spent five 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 line-up 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, and helped City finish fifth in his final two seasons there, having helped them win promotion in his first season.

He then moved to Norwich City on a free transfer in the summer of 1992, and spent three seasons at Carrow Road.

He was an important member of the Norwich side that finished third in the inaugural season of the Premier League and played in the UEFA Cup for the first time as a result.

When manager Mike Walker moved to Everton in January 1994, he was also assistant to the new Norwich manager John Deehan.

When Deehan resigned in April 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.

In December 1995, he returned to Norwich when he was re-appointed manager following Martin O'Neill's sudden departure to Leicester City.

He remained as manager at Carrow Road until the end of the season, when Mike Walker was appointed for the second time.

While still playing at Norwich City, Megson became assistant to manager John Deehan.

When Deehan resigned as manager of Norwich on 9 April 1995, with Norwich heading for relegation after a terrible loss of form since Christmas, Megson stepped up to the manager's seat for the remainder of the season, and had five games remaining to secure survival.

However, Norwich collected just one point from their remaining games and were relegated.

Martin O'Neill was appointed manager that summer, with Megson leaving the club to play for Lincoln City and then Shrewsbury, before joining Bradford City late in 1995 as assistant manager to Chris Kamara.

However, by Christmas that year, he was back at Norwich as manager following the departure of Martin O'Neill to Leicester City.

In 1996, Megson became manager at Blackpool, where he recorded 21 wins in 52 matches – enough to stay clear of relegation to Division Three, but not quite enough for a playoff place and the chance of promotion to the Division One.

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 July 1997, shortly after Dave Jones' departure for Premier League Southampton.

County had been runners-up in Division Two the season before, therefore started the new season in Division One.

In Megson's first season they performed admirably and they came just two places short of the Division One playoffs, with some excellent performances, including a 3–1 home win versus Manchester City.

Megson was not unemployed for long, taking the manager's job at Stoke City in the summer of 1999 after the club missed out on Tony Pulis who instead joined Bristol City.

Megson arrived at the club at a time when there was a great deal of pressure on the current board to sell the club to new owners.

After a slow start to the 1999–2000 season results gradually improved and the team went on a ten match unbeaten run to haul them into the play-offs.

However unfortunately for Megson by November the long-awaited takeover bid was accepted in the form of a group of Icelandic businessmen headed by Gunnar Gíslason.

They appointed their own man, former Iceland national team manager Gudjon Thordarson.

Megson took over as manager of First Division West Bromwich Albion in March 2000, just days before the transfer deadline at the end of the 1999–2000 season.

He guided West Brom to promotion in 2001–02 and 2003–04, both times from the First Division to the Premier League.

He is the son of Don Megson and the brother of Neil Megson, both former players.

As a player, Megson was a tough-tackling defensive midfielder who played for nine different clubs.

He began his career at Plymouth Argyle, where he impressed enough for Everton to sign him for a £250,000 transfer fee.

Megson struggled to establish himself in the Everton line-up, and after two years at Goodison, he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, where his father had once played, for a fee of £130,000.

Norwich finished 15th in Division One that season and Megson then left the club as Mike Walker returned as manager.

The following season was more disappointing and County finished in 16th place.

Soon after he left Stockport by mutual consent.