In a five year period during the 1990s nine different managers sat in Maine Road’s home dug-out largely looking perplexed and exasperated at their Manchester City side going nowhere fast. For accuracy, it should be stated that three of these men – club legends Tony Book and Asa Hartford along with Phil Neal – were only temporary custodians, their caretaker roles enabling one failed saviour to replace another. So short was Steve Coppell’s tenure in 1996 we can probably make that four.
Coppell arrived right in the middle of a tumultuous stretch that saw the chairmanship of the club change hands three times while on the pitch City contested in three different leagues. He left right in the middle of it too, departing in shock resignation just 33 days later.
On his appointment in early October City languished near the foot of Division One with a bloated squad in desperate need of recovery from Alan Ball’s disastrous year-long reign. In a campaign that was supposed to herald a promotion challenge, or at the very least see City occupy the play-off spots, they had won on only four occasions, a meagre return for a team featuring Uwe Rosler and the magical Georgi Kinkladze. Confidence was at an all-time low while the club’s reputation for chaos resulted in 35 names being linked with the vacancy but no initial takers.
That is not to suggest that the 41-year-old was the 36th choice, far from it. Indeed eventually tempting the former Crystal Palace boss to the blue half of Manchester was quite a coup for new chairman Francis Lee. In his long stint in south London Coppell had guided the Eagles to promotion and later to a cup final and all on a limited budget while only two years earlier he was rumoured to be one of the frontrunners for the England job. Furthermore, in Coppell this proud club mired in prolonged crisis had secured not only an excellent coach but a man whose pragmatism and calm decency could inspire some much needed stability. As he himself said on his unveiling: “I was at United and Palace for nine years apiece, and I hope that City is a long-term rather than a short-term move”. It is safe to say that recent history was against him on that one.
It was reported at the time that Lee had suggested to Coppell that he spend his first six games assessing the squad before approaching the board with any transfer wish-list he may have but while not disputing the veracity of this story the cold reality was that Manchester City were broke. Yo-yoing through the divisions and wantonly changing managers (who each demanded expensive overhauls of personnel) had left the club £26m in the red and running at a £2m a year loss. Worse yet during those six games Coppell found an unbalanced bunch with many disillusioned enough to be eying the exit door.
This almost certainly played a part in the respected coach’s decision 21 years ago this week to quit virtually on the spot. One minute he was City’s manager undertaking the laborious process of steadying a sinking ship, the next he was turning to his assistant Phil Neal and instructing him to take training that morning. “You take the first team. I’m going”. It really was that instant. It really was that unexpected.
Though in hindsight perhaps it shouldn’t have been. For the latter two weeks of his month-long stay the strain was already beginning to show on Coppell’s face that became gaunt and colourless. He rapidly lost so much weight that the local newspaper scandalously phoned around hospitals hoping to uncover an AIDS-related exclusive. The stress, Coppelll revealed on his departure, was of such magnitude that he couldn’t ‘function in the job’. It was ‘completely overwhelming’ he admitted in the press conference hastily organised to explain his leaving as Coppell quietly read from a sheaf of paper, refusing to make eye contact amidst the flurry of flashbulbs. “He looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders,” his captain Kit Symons said later.
And he was. Inspired by the familial environment at Palace Coppell struggled greatly with the toxic, demanding circus that was Manchester City in the 1990s. To make matters infinitely worse he was also going through a divorce and desperately missing his son.
“I am extremely embarrassed by the situation and would like to apologise first and foremost to Francis Lee and his board,” Coppell said, eyes down and voice cracking as he read from his statement. He had nothing to be embarrassed about and nothing to apologise for.
