Gary Megson, 2007
His predecessor, Martin Allen, had been in post for 96 days. Megson’s tenure was even shorter, lasting for only 42 days. This is the shortest-ever term served by a Leicester City manager.
As a player, Megson was a defensive midfielder who played for nine clubs. Spells at Plymouth Argyle and Everton were followed by two periods at Sheffield Wednesday (for which club his father, Don, had played in the 1966 FA Cup Final) and a brief spell with Nottingham Forest (although Brian Clough never played him in the first team). He also played for Newcastle United, Manchester City and Norwich City.
At Carrow Road, he was in the Canaries team which finished third in the Premier League and played in the UEFA Cup, now known as the UEFA Europa League.
At Norwich, Megson later became assistant to manager John Deehan. This was followed by brief stint as caretaker manager, when he was unable to save the team from being relegated from the Premier League in 1995. Seven months later, after brief periods as a player at Lincoln City and Shrewsbury Town, he returned to Carrow Road for the remainder of the season as manager to replace Martin O’Neill when he headed to Filbert Street in December 1995.
He spent the next season as Blackpool’s manager. This was followed by two years in charge at Stockport County and four months at the helm of Stoke City, before he was replaced by the club’s new Icelandic owners.
Megson’s next managerial post was a four-and-a-half year spell at West Bromwich Albion. He led them to two promotions to, and a relegation from, the Premier League. Boardroom tensions led to him leaving The Hawthorns in October 2004.
He became manager at Nottingham Forest shortly afterwards but he was unable to prevent his new club slipping down to League 1. His failure to mount a promotion challenge the following season led to his departure just over a year after his appointment.
Megson was then out of the game for 16 months until he became part of Tony Pulis' coaching staff at Stoke City in June 2007.
Three months later, Mandarić appointed him as Leicester City’s new manager. His coaches were Frank Burrows and the popular ex-Leicester defender Gerry Taggart.
Mandarić cited Megson’s ‘wealth of experience’ as the main reason for the appointment. At the same time, Megson stated: "I can guarantee that Leicester City will get all my attention, drive and desire to succeed."
Six weeks later, he walked out on the Club to go to Premier League side Bolton Wanderers.
Megson was in charge at Leicester for seven league games, winning one and drawing four. When he left, City were in 19th place in the Championship.
In his second game as manager, a League Cup tie, Megson arranged for home side Nottingham Forest to score unimpeded in the first seconds of the game so that the game could start with the Foxes 1-0 down as they had been when the original game had been abandoned due to the near-fatal heart attack suffered by Leicester City’s full back Clive Clarke.
Leicester then went on to win the match 3-2, before also going on to beat O’Neill’s Aston Villa, a Premier League side at the time, in the next round.
In his fourth league game in charge, Megson gave Academy graduate Andy King his debut in a 0-0 home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers. King went on to win the League 1, Championship and Premier League titles with Leicester City.
Megson had been at Leicester for only a month when manager-less Premier League club Bolton Wanderers made an approach to Mandarić for Megson’s services.
This was rejected, but on 23 October, 2007, Bolton announced that Megson was their first choice and made a second approach. A day later he left Leicester City and signed a two-and-a-half year deal at Reebok Stadium
Megson spent just over two years as manager at Bolton Wanderers, followed by a year’s ‘garden leave’.
This was followed by a year back at Hillsborough, until he was dismissed in February 2012. Five-and-a-half years later he returned to West Bromwich Albion as Pulis’ assistant coach and a two-match spell as caretaker manager following the Welshman's departure.
When Alan Pardew was appointed manager of the club in November 2017, Megson departed West Brom.