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GARY MEGSON
Born: 02 May 1959
Came from: Apprentice Went to: Everton
First game: 29 October 1977 Last game: 27 October 1979
Appearances: 95 (95/0) Goals: 10
Born in Manchester, Megson went on to enjoy an accomplished career as both a player and manager. Football ran in the family, with both his father, Don, and brother, Neil, also playing and managing professionally.
He joined Argyle as a 16-year-old apprentice in August 1975 before signing professional forms in May 1977. He made his Football League debut under Mike Kelly in October 1977, aged 18, in a 3-1 home victory over Portsmouth and quickly established himself as a combative yet accomplished midfielder. During two-and-a-half seasons at Home Park he played under four managers - Kelly, Lennie Lawrence in a caretaker capacity, Malcolm Allison during his second spell, and finally Bobby Moncur. Unfazed by the managerial upheaval, he made an impressive 95 appearances and scored 10 goals as his reputation continued to grow.
His form earned him a move to Everton for a then club-record fee of £250,000. However, he found regular first-team opportunities difficult to come by at Goodison Park, making 25 appearances and scoring three goals before moving to Sheffield Wednesday after two years for a fee of £130,000. Returning to the club where his father had once played, he flourished, making 148 appearances and scoring 20 goals across three successful seasons.
After rejecting a new contract, he was sold to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, where his career took an unexpected turn. Clough famously remarked that "he couldn't trap a bag of cement" and, after just five months at the City Ground without making a first-team appearance, he was sold to Newcastle United.
On Tyneside he made 28 appearances and scored twice over two seasons before returning to Sheffield Wednesday for a second spell of stability. He added a further 137 appearances and 13 goals across four more seasons at Hillsborough.
In January 1989, he joined Manchester City, where he spent three-and-a-half seasons, helping the club win promotion to the top flight during his first campaign before consecutive fifth-place finishes. He made 97 appearances and scored twice for City before moving to Norwich City on a free transfer in the summer of 1992.
During three seasons at Carrow Road he made 50 appearances and scored once, helping Norwich finish third in the inaugural Premier League season and qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time. When manager Mike Walker departed for Everton in January 1994, Megson became assistant to John Deehan. Following Deehan's resignation in April 1995, he took temporary charge for the final five matches but was unable to prevent relegation, recording one draw and four defeats.
Leaving Norwich that summer, he finished his playing career with Lincoln City, where he made four appearances, before a final spell with Shrewsbury Town, adding two more Football League games, representing both clubs in the 1995-96 season.
Megson's managerial career then flourished as he went on to manage nine Football League clubs, several of whom he had previously represented as a player.
He first took charge of Norwich City in 1995-96 before managing Blackpool (1996-97), Stockport County (1997-99), Stoke City (1999), West Bromwich Albion (2000-04), Nottingham Forest (2005-06), Leicester City (2007), Bolton Wanderers (2007-09), Sheffield Wednesday (2011-12) and, after several years away from management, returned briefly as caretaker-manager of West Bromwich Albion in 2017.
His most successful managerial spell came at West Brom, where he twice guided the club to promotion from the First Division as runners-up, in 2001-02 and again in 2003-04. He also managed Bolton in the UEFA Cup (now known at the Europa League).
Although keen to remain in management following his two-game caretaker spell back at The Hawthorns, opportunities proved difficult to come by. Having not worked in football since 2017, he has remained living in Sheffield and, in a rare interview in 2020, said he no longer applied for managerial jobs and was content enjoying a quieter life with his family.
Across his playing career, he made 586 Football League appearances and scored 51 goals, before managing more than 650 senior matches.
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APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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