Gary Megson
Playing career
Megson was born in Manchester and established himself as a tough-tackling midfielder, playing for:- Plymouth Argyle F.C, (1977-1979);
- Everton F.C;
- Sheffield Wednesday F.C;
- Nottingham Forest F.C;
- Newcastle United F.C, (??-1984);
- Sheffield Wednesday F.C., (1984-1989);
- Manchester City F.C, (1989-1992);
- Norwich City F.C, (1992-??).
Managerial career
While still playing at Norwich, Megson became assistant to manager John Deehan, taking the caretaker manager's role on Deehan's departure in 1995. Megson could do little to halt the club's continuing decline and he returned to playing for Shrewsbury Town F.C and Lincoln City F.C before a further short spell in charge at Norwich.In 1996, Megson became manager at Blackpool F.C where he recorded only 21 wins in 52 matches before moving to Stockport County F.C. Achieving no great success at Stockport, he was dismissed after the board alleged that he had applied for a manager's post elsewhere without their permision. He took up the manager's job at Stoke City F.C but left after only a few months following a dispute with the club's new owners.
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 astonished and delighted the fans by taking the club into the playoffs. To cap that, in the 2001/02 season the club won promotion to the FA Premier League, overtaking the ten point lead of bitter local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C in the closing weeks of the campaign. 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. Such public disorganisation took its toll and the club were relegated after a single woeful season in the Premier League.
Peace's financial prudence enabled Megson to mount a successful promotion campaign back to the Premier League in the following season, but by summer 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.
Within a week of being sacked at West Bromwich Albion, Gary Megson was linked with vacant manager's job at Wolverhampton Wanderers after David Jones was sacked. But the job went to Glenn Hoddle instead. Megson was appointed manager of Nottingham Forest on 10th January 2005, succeeding Joe Kinnear.
