Why Was Joe Royle Sacked?
Quick answer? It was Dennis Tueart's doing.
Former City forward Tueart had been given a free role after being appointed a club director in late 1997. Officially described as being ‘responsible for liaison between the Board and the football management team', within a year he had the official—and literal—title of City's Director of Football.
"I will be delving into the club to try to find out the real guts of the place. I want to know the heart and how it ticks, to make suggestions and, if that means rattling a few cages, so be it," he declared after his appointment.
After discovering that manager Frank Clark had put several City players up for sale without his knowledge—something he only found out about during a business conference he’d arranged with Kevin Keegan, a close friend who was then managing Fulham—Tueart earned his unofficial title of "kingmaker".
He sacked Clark in February 1998. On the night of the sacking, Tueart called Royle at the home of Royle's friend Phil Black, founder of sportswear firm Blacks Leisure.
After offering him the City job, Tueart and shareholder John Wardle immediately drove over to Black’s home. But when Royle learned that they hadn’t informed Clark of his dismissal, he suggested they come back to him when it was official.
The two initially worked well together, particularly on the urgent need to cut City's 53-player squad. “There is not a squad of players at this club, there is a network,” Royle remarked shortly after taking charge. Some players, he claimed, he "had forgotten were on the books".
Despite Royle achieving back-to-back promotions, by the 2000-01 season the relationship had become strained. Royle wrote in his autobiography:
'Dennis was in the habit of making frequent trips to the training ground, during which he took the opportunity to air his views on team matters to players and staff.’
But it was the appointment of Columbian fitness coach Juan Carlos Osario that resulted in the breakdown of their relationship. A four man panel headed by Tueart, and including first team physio Rob Harris, had chosen the innovative Osario after an exhaustive interview process.
On the day Osario was appointed, Royle had taken a day off to be with his wife, who was battling cancer. On his return, an unhappy Royle sent him back to the States, telling the board that there were plenty of good fitness coaches in the UK.
At an end of season meeting with Bernstein in a Rusholme curry house, Royle told the chairman that he wanted Tueart to stay away the following season. Four days later Royle was sacked.
It's likely that Tueart had already lined up his replacement, Kevin Keegan. The former England team-mates had become both friends and business associates, with Keegan taking on regular motivational speaking engagements for Tueart’s company, Premier Events, right up until becoming England manager in 1999.
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