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Brian Horton Born0000-00-00 |
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Bio Written by Monksie
When chairman Peter Swales fired City boss Peter Reid after only four games of the 1993-94 season he instructed his newly-appointed chief executive John Maddock top appoint a quick replacement. Maddock duly installed his long-time friend Brian Horton as Reid’s successor to a general air of disbelief amongst the Blues’ support and the new manager was even referred to in the national press as “Brian Who?” Any long-term City fan could have told them exactly who he was; the Oxford United manager had been captain of the Luton Town side which had relegated City for the first time in twenty years on the last day of the season just a decade before. Horton had a reputation for relegating teams he managed but this turned out to be something of a fallacy; he had been caretaker-manager of Hull City but had been given the job of saving them with too few games to go to save them from the drop, but that was it.
Against the background of a supporter campaign to oust Swales and replace him with former City legend and millionaire Francis Lee, Horton took over a side low on morale and funds for transfers and immediately set about the difficult task of propelling the team up the Premiership. After winning his first two matches in charge however, the Blues’ dismal form continued for much of the first half of the season as only centre-half Alan Kernaghan was recruited from Middlesbrough to bolster their leaky defence. Hope seemed to have arrived as City took a 2-0 half-time lead at home to United in the Manchester Derby, but a poor second-half showing against the runaway leaders saw all three points squandered in a 3-2 defeat. Worse still, a long-term injury to striker Niall Quinn and the loss of form of his partner David White contributed to the Blues’ difficulties and White was eventually transferred to Leeds United in exchange for former Arsenal midfielder David Rocastle at Christmas. The Blues recruited Leeds’ Carl Shutt to partner young striker Mike Sheron but to little effect.
Lee’s takeover was finally completed in February early in the morning of the Blues’ rearranged home fixture against Ipswich Town, which was preceded by a pre-match celebration of the new chairman’s arrival. City fell behind to an early goal but a fine piece of skill from Rocastle in setting up the equaliser spurred them on to win the game 2-1. Relegation hung over the Blues for most of the remainder of the season after they were hammered 4-0 at Coventry City and Horton asked his new chairman for the promised funds to recruit new players. East German ‘B’ international striker Uwe Rösler arrived on loan until the end of the season, as did countryman Steffen Karl in midfield. Rösler was given a home reserve outing in which to prove his fitness and was substituted after just half an hour in which he’d put City 2-0 up, bring saved for a début at Q.P.R. the following Saturday. Paul Walsh flowed shortly after from Portsmouth but the new front pairing hardly got going. It was clear that a reliable supply-line was needed and on transfer deadline day left-winger Peter Beagrie arrived from Everton for Ł1 million. Suddenly the Blues’ season took on a new lease of life as Rösler and Walsh bagged ten goals between them and City at long last started to win games. Memorable wins over League Cup winners Aston Villa, Southampton and Newcastle United secured survival and not even a 2-0 Old Trafford derby defeat could spoil the optimistic finish to the season, capped off by a stirring comeback from two down to grab a point in the last home game against Chelsea, the last match in front of the club’s famous Kippax Street Stand terrace which was to be demolished in the close season. Buoyed by achieving “Mission Improbable” in saving the Blues from the dreaded drop and having a larger transfer fund available due to staying in the Premiership, Horton sought to reinforce his side and signed right-winger Nicky Summerbee (son of former Maine Road legend Mike) from Swindon Town to add balance in a preferred 4-4-2 formation. The bonus was the return of Niall Quinn after a cruciate knee ligament injury the previous November, which gave Horton three strikers to choose from. After a opening day 3-0 hammering at Arsenal during which Rösler was sent off as a second-half substitute, City destroyed West Ham United and Everton 3-0 and 4-0 respectively as the new front pairing picked up from where they’d left off the previous season. However, suddenly both were injured - Walsh in an early-season friendly at Droylsden and Rösler missed an amazing 5-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur at the end of October in which the opposition employed four strikers - as City climbed the table with a entertaining brand of attacking football. Not even a 5-0 mauling in the Old Trafford derby proved much of a setback as City proceeded to win the next four games, three of which were away fixtures.
The Blues had risen to fourth in the table before disaster struck: Beagrie was injured in a 2-1 home loss to Arsenal and the delicate balance of the side was gone. It would be another two months before City would win in the League as a side reaching for the top five would spend the second half of the season fighting relegation. Midfield general Steve McMahon had left to mange Swindon early in the season and a new replacement was sought. German World Cup international Maurizio Gaudino made his debut in an unexpected 2-0 League Cup replay win at Newcastle United in which Rösler and Walsh bagged the goals but City were thumped 4-0 at Crystal Palace and lost young midfield dynamo Steve Lomas in the process. Rösler (4) and Gaudino scored all five in a home F.A. Cup thrashing of Notts County but the League form continued to deteriorate and once more relegation looked a distinct possibility.
After going out of the Cup in a 3-1defeat at Newcastle - a week after a demoralising 3-0 home derby loss to United - City suddenly found a few wins, notably a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday after having fallen two goals down, beating Liverpool 2-1 at home on Good Friday and a memorable win by the same score on Easter Monday evening in the rain at championship contenders Blackburn Rovers after twice having gone behind. For the second season running the Blues had found their form at Easter and secured survival with draws against Newcastle at Home and Aston Villa away. They could even have achieved a mid-table finish by winning the last tow matches at Nottingham Forest and at home to Q.P.R. but lost both and eventually finished fifth bottom. Since the Premier League awarded prize money based on final league placing the club lost a few million pounds in the process. With the new Kippax Street Stand completed and its fitting out still to be paid for, less than two days after the season’s final whistle Horton was dismissed. He had been naďve at times and had never been viewed as a top-flight manager but his plans to succeed based on playing attacking football wherever possible had at least entertained the City supporters after a few years of “route one” tactics. His departure had seemed inevitable from the moment Francis Lee took over since he had never been the chairman’s choice to fill the manager’s seat but his experience at City at least had elevated Horton’s position in the game; no-one would ever refer to him as “Brian Who?” again…
When chairman Peter Swales fired City boss Peter Reid after only four games of the 1993-94 season he instructed his newly-appointed chief executive John Maddock top appoint a quick replacement. Maddock duly installed his long-time friend Brian Horton as Reid’s successor to a general air of disbelief amongst the Blues’ support and the new manager was even referred to in the national press as “Brian Who?” Any long-term City fan could have told them exactly who he was; the Oxford United manager had been captain of the Luton Town side which had relegated City for the first time in twenty years on the last day of the season just a decade before. Horton had a reputation for relegating teams he managed but this turned out to be something of a fallacy; he had been caretaker-manager of Hull City but had been given the job of saving them with too few games to go to save them from the drop, but that was it.
Against the background of a supporter campaign to oust Swales and replace him with former City legend and millionaire Francis Lee, Horton took over a side low on morale and funds for transfers and immediately set about the difficult task of propelling the team up the Premiership. After winning his first two matches in charge however, the Blues’ dismal form continued for much of the first half of the season as only centre-half Alan Kernaghan was recruited from Middlesbrough to bolster their leaky defence. Hope seemed to have arrived as City took a 2-0 half-time lead at home to United in the Manchester Derby, but a poor second-half showing against the runaway leaders saw all three points squandered in a 3-2 defeat. Worse still, a long-term injury to striker Niall Quinn and the loss of form of his partner David White contributed to the Blues’ difficulties and White was eventually transferred to Leeds United in exchange for former Arsenal midfielder David Rocastle at Christmas. The Blues recruited Leeds’ Carl Shutt to partner young striker Mike Sheron but to little effect.
Lee’s takeover was finally completed in February early in the morning of the Blues’ rearranged home fixture against Ipswich Town, which was preceded by a pre-match celebration of the new chairman’s arrival. City fell behind to an early goal but a fine piece of skill from Rocastle in setting up the equaliser spurred them on to win the game 2-1. Relegation hung over the Blues for most of the remainder of the season after they were hammered 4-0 at Coventry City and Horton asked his new chairman for the promised funds to recruit new players. East German ‘B’ international striker Uwe Rösler arrived on loan until the end of the season, as did countryman Steffen Karl in midfield. Rösler was given a home reserve outing in which to prove his fitness and was substituted after just half an hour in which he’d put City 2-0 up, bring saved for a début at Q.P.R. the following Saturday. Paul Walsh flowed shortly after from Portsmouth but the new front pairing hardly got going. It was clear that a reliable supply-line was needed and on transfer deadline day left-winger Peter Beagrie arrived from Everton for Ł1 million. Suddenly the Blues’ season took on a new lease of life as Rösler and Walsh bagged ten goals between them and City at long last started to win games. Memorable wins over League Cup winners Aston Villa, Southampton and Newcastle United secured survival and not even a 2-0 Old Trafford derby defeat could spoil the optimistic finish to the season, capped off by a stirring comeback from two down to grab a point in the last home game against Chelsea, the last match in front of the club’s famous Kippax Street Stand terrace which was to be demolished in the close season. Buoyed by achieving “Mission Improbable” in saving the Blues from the dreaded drop and having a larger transfer fund available due to staying in the Premiership, Horton sought to reinforce his side and signed right-winger Nicky Summerbee (son of former Maine Road legend Mike) from Swindon Town to add balance in a preferred 4-4-2 formation. The bonus was the return of Niall Quinn after a cruciate knee ligament injury the previous November, which gave Horton three strikers to choose from. After a opening day 3-0 hammering at Arsenal during which Rösler was sent off as a second-half substitute, City destroyed West Ham United and Everton 3-0 and 4-0 respectively as the new front pairing picked up from where they’d left off the previous season. However, suddenly both were injured - Walsh in an early-season friendly at Droylsden and Rösler missed an amazing 5-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur at the end of October in which the opposition employed four strikers - as City climbed the table with a entertaining brand of attacking football. Not even a 5-0 mauling in the Old Trafford derby proved much of a setback as City proceeded to win the next four games, three of which were away fixtures.
The Blues had risen to fourth in the table before disaster struck: Beagrie was injured in a 2-1 home loss to Arsenal and the delicate balance of the side was gone. It would be another two months before City would win in the League as a side reaching for the top five would spend the second half of the season fighting relegation. Midfield general Steve McMahon had left to mange Swindon early in the season and a new replacement was sought. German World Cup international Maurizio Gaudino made his debut in an unexpected 2-0 League Cup replay win at Newcastle United in which Rösler and Walsh bagged the goals but City were thumped 4-0 at Crystal Palace and lost young midfield dynamo Steve Lomas in the process. Rösler (4) and Gaudino scored all five in a home F.A. Cup thrashing of Notts County but the League form continued to deteriorate and once more relegation looked a distinct possibility.
After going out of the Cup in a 3-1defeat at Newcastle - a week after a demoralising 3-0 home derby loss to United - City suddenly found a few wins, notably a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday after having fallen two goals down, beating Liverpool 2-1 at home on Good Friday and a memorable win by the same score on Easter Monday evening in the rain at championship contenders Blackburn Rovers after twice having gone behind. For the second season running the Blues had found their form at Easter and secured survival with draws against Newcastle at Home and Aston Villa away. They could even have achieved a mid-table finish by winning the last tow matches at Nottingham Forest and at home to Q.P.R. but lost both and eventually finished fifth bottom. Since the Premier League awarded prize money based on final league placing the club lost a few million pounds in the process. With the new Kippax Street Stand completed and its fitting out still to be paid for, less than two days after the season’s final whistle Horton was dismissed. He had been naďve at times and had never been viewed as a top-flight manager but his plans to succeed based on playing attacking football wherever possible had at least entertained the City supporters after a few years of “route one” tactics. His departure had seemed inevitable from the moment Francis Lee took over since he had never been the chairman’s choice to fill the manager’s seat but his experience at City at least had elevated Horton’s position in the game; no-one would ever refer to him as “Brian Who?” again…