This is Leicestershire --Today, in our quest for the greatest ever Leicester City side, we have to choose a manager. After this week's shortlist of goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers, we have managed to get the choice down to six.
Again, the manager's performance at City is paramount and not what he did before or after.
For that reason, the likes of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had a successful career across Europe, but fared less well at City, did not qualify.
This increasingly difficult and controversial search now has its last shortlist.
Micky Adams From: April 2002-October 2004 Verdict:@ A manager's job is never easy, and Adams had the added complication of a club that was in financial freefall as it headed towards administration after the disastrous era of Peter Taylor. Adams took control when relegation from the Premier League was inevitable, and then set about getting the club straight back up from the Championship. City's style of play was not pretty and relied on a pressing game and set-pieces, but it worked. However, then came the La Manga scandal and a Premier League campaign blighted by conceding late goals, and Adams left the club in late 2004. Jimmy Bloomfield From: July 1971-May 1977 Verdict: Has there ever been a better and more entertaining football side than the one under Bloomfield's reign? It was an exciting and proud time for City fans as the Londoner brought in a series of players from the capital, and the team plied their trade in the top half of the top flight. Many of the players who played in that team are still revered today – Frank Worthington, Steve Whitworth, Graham Cross, Alan Birchenall, Jon Sammels, the list goes on. However, despite great expectations, there was no silverware – and FA Cup semi-final was the best that Bloomfield achieved during his six years at Filbert Street. Matt Gillies From: November 1958-November 1968 Verdict: Ten years in the top job shows just how good a job the Scotsman did. A former City player, Gillies took over in the late 1950s and transformed the club's fortunes. There were two FA Cup finals, in 1961 and 1963, and two League Cup finals, including the first piece of silverware. A shrewd operator in the transfer market, Gillies was responsible for bringing in the likes of Gordon Banks and Davie Gibson. A loyal man, who credited his coach, Bert Johnson, with much of City's success, Gillies resigned after his trusted friend's sacking. Brian Little From: May 1991-November 1994 Verdict: Much of Little's era is tainted by the fury of City fans at his defection to Aston Villa early in the 1994-95 season, where he made his name as a player. However, let us not forget that this is the manager that instilled some pride and excitement at Filbert Street, with three Wembley play-off finals after some lean and tedious years. Some of the football may not have been pretty, and some of the signings dubious, but the plan worked. Of course, Little was also the man behind the masterstroke to suddenly convert centre-back Steve Walsh to centre-forward. Frank O'Farrell From: December 1968-June 1971 Verdict: The Irishman took over after the long reign of Matt Gillies, when City were destined for relegation from the old First Division. However, after a great cup run, O'Farrell took City to their last FA Cup final, the 1969 defeat to Manchester City at Wembley. He led City to the Second Division title two years later, but his talents had been noticed elsewhere. The City boss was appointed to be the new manager of Manchester United, in the summer of 1971, to replace the legendary Matt Busby. Sadly for O'Farrell, and for his trusted assistant Malcolm Musgrove, the move to Old Trafford never worked out for them. Martin O'Neill From: December 1995-June 2000 Verdict: Let us just look at the record of another Irishman – promotion, four top-10 finishes in the Premier League and silverware, with two League Cup triumphs in three finals. Those victories, of course, also brought European football to Leicester for the first time in many years. Although O'Neill had a now well-documented difficult start to his City career, it was then almost entirely heady days for the Blue Army. His elevation to legendary status was helped by turning down the overtures of both Everton and Leeds before he eventually succumbed to the charms of Celtic in 2001. *Also considered, but failed to make the shortlist:* Norman Bullock@ (December 1949-February 1955) was a post-war manager with a five-year plan to take City to the very highest-level, and the club's board were impressed. The man who brought the legendary Arthur Rowley to City, Bullock took them to the Second Division championship in 1954. However, life in the top flight did not go according to plan for Bullock, and problems with his players at a Whitley Bay hotel led to his sacking. It was a problem that a manager nearly 50 years later would come to sympathise with. Peter Hodge@ (September 1919-May 1926) was the secretary/manager, and it was always a joint role until the Second World War. Hodge guided Leicester Fosse to First Division respectability and was well-respected in the game. A shrewd operator in the transfer market, he signed goal-scoring machine Arthur Chandler for virtually nothing. Hodge won the Second Division title in 1925, but was then tempted away from the club by Manchester City, where he signed one Matt Busby. Mark McGhee@ (December 1994-December 1995) is a much derided figure for the way he left Filbert Street for Wolves, and for some of his arrogant pronouncements. However, he tried to get City playing a fluent passing game before Barcelona even thought about it. When it worked, City were brilliant, but when it didn't... If McGhee had stayed at Leicester, something really good might, just might, have happened. Gordon Milne@ (August 1982-May 1987) was a quiet man and not the charismatic figure of many City bosses. Cash was tight at City during his reign and he worked on a minimal budget but, for three years, he kept City in the top flight against all the odds. Respected for his work, but not overly popular with the fans, he moved to become general manager before it all went wrong for City under new Bryan Hamilton. Milne managed successfully for many years in Turkey, where he became the longest-serving ever foreign coach. Jock Wallace@ (June 1978-July 1982) is unlucky not to make the shortlist. The appointment of the Glasgow Rangers manager as City boss was a true British soccer sensation at the time. The charismatic, tough, ex-Royal Marine had notorious training session and was a great motivator. He stopped City from sliding into the third tier of English football after the nightmare regime of Frank McLintock. Wallace took City to the Second Division championship, but City soon slid back down as the purse strings at Filbert Street were tightened. Reported by This is 11 hours ago.