Other meanings of Manchester City F.C.
Football management
The List of Manchester City F.C. managers records the men who have led the English football club’s first team, including permanent appointments and notable caretakers. The sequence runs from Ernest Mangnall, appointed in 1903, to Pep Guardiola, who became manager in 2016. Its most consequential eras include Wilf Wild’s interwar side, Joe Mercer’s trophy-winning team of the late 1960s, and the modern period under Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Guardiola.1
The managerial chronology begins with Ernest Mangnall, whose appointment in 1903 coincided with Manchester City’s emergence as a major club. Mangnall guided City to the 1904 FA Cup, the club’s first significant national trophy, before leaving for Manchester United in 1908.1 The early list also includes players who moved into management and short-lived wartime or caretaker arrangements, reflecting the less formal structure of football clubs in the period.
Wilf Wild was the defining pre-war manager. In charge from 1932 until 1946, he oversaw the 1934 FA Cup victory and City’s first English league championship in 1936–37. His tenure was interrupted by the Second World War, when competitive football was suspended, so the calendar span is longer than the number of normal playing seasons.1
The postwar managers carried City through contrasting cycles of rebuilding, promotion and decline. Les McDowall served from 1950 to 1963 and won the 1956 FA Cup, while George Poyser preceded the appointment that produced the club’s most successful pre-modern team.1
Joe Mercer became manager in 1965, working closely with coach Malcolm Allison. Their team won the 1967–68 league championship, the 1969 FA Cup and the 1970 League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.2 Mercer’s departure in 1971 began a succession of appointments that included Allison, Johnny Hart and Tony Book. Book, a former captain, later managed City to the 1976 League Cup, one of the club’s notable trophies between the Mercer and Premier League eras.
Manchester City’s managerial turnover increased during the 1980s and 1990s, when John Bond, Billy McNeill, Howard Kendall, Peter Reid, Brian Horton and Alan Ball were among those appointed. The period included relegation from the top flight and a rapid return, illustrating why the list contains both long-serving managers and brief caretaker spells.1
Kevin Keegan’s tenure, beginning in 2001, brought promotion to the Premier League and a move to the City of Manchester Stadium. Stuart Pearce, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Mark Hughes followed before Roberto Mancini took charge in 2009. Mancini won the 2011 FA Cup and the 2011–12 Premier League title, while Manuel Pellegrini succeeded him and won the 2014 league championship and League Cup.
The list is not simply a ranking of trophy winners: it also records changing job titles, caretaker appointments and periods in which coaching responsibilities were divided. Malcolm Allison’s influence during the Mercer years, for example, was substantial even though Mercer remained the officially recognised manager for much of their partnership. Dates can consequently differ between club histories when an interim appointment lasted only a few matches.1
Pep Guardiola’s appointment in 2016 established the longest sustained modern era of success. His teams won multiple Premier League titles, the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League and the 2022–23 continental treble, making his tenure the most decorated in the club’s history. The broader sequence also shows how City’s identity shifted from a regional English club to a regular contender in UEFA competitions, a change documented in the club’s official history and European records.2
Managerial dates may vary slightly among sources because caretaker spells, wartime football and shared coaching responsibilities are classified differently. The list concerns first-team managers of the men’s football club, not academy, women’s-team or reserve-team managers.
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