Stuart Pearce's spell in charge of Manchester City was one which neither party will particularly look back upon with fond memories.
Leading the Blues to 15th and 14th in the Premier League during his two seasons at the club was nothing to write home about. Sadly for Pearce his time is infamously remembered for playing David James up front in May 2005 against Middlesbrough.
That bizarre decision alone would surely have been enough to see modern-day boardrooms rethink their plans to back their manager. But Pearce's bizarre tactics were not what would lead to his ultimate demise. Instead a shocking Carling Cup night in September 2006 vs Chesterfield would be the catalyst for the Nottingham Forest legend's departure.
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Chesterfield had already established themselves as giant killers in the first round of that year's competition defeating Championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties at their home turf of Saltergate. However, City were still expected to dispatch the lowly League One club with ease.
When the team news was announced, there were further grounds for optimism for the Blues. Richard Dunne, Joey Barton, Claudio Reyna and Georgios Samaras all featured from the first whistle while a young starlet going by the name of Micah Richards was 'bursting onto the scene' and starting in Derbyshire.
Unfortunately for the visitors, it became evidently clear that the home side were up for the fight. But, when Samaras gave City the lead just before the interval it appeared that a routine passage into the next round was on the cards.
The half-time lead would end up being a false sense of security though as the Spireites hit back just six minutes after the break. Nicky Weaver in the City goal flapped at a cross allowing Caleb Folan to nod home for the third-tier club.
City were thoroughly rocked and when Derek Niven rifled a right-foot volley home for the hosts to turn the tables, Pearce's men looked like a team well beaten. Chesterfield's victory remains part of their folklore to this day but, for Pearce, the inquest into the defeat began immediately.
"The first one who takes the flak is me," a defeated Pearce said. "When I walk away, I am the one who should take the criticism, not the players.
"They gave me everything on the pitch but as you would expect they are bitterly disappointed. I feel as though we are working hard but we need to work a little bit harder to try and instil some confidence in the side.
"I still have belief in these players. We have good quality players in our dressing room and we have had bids in the summer which prove it.
"But I will not bury my head in the sand, I will come out fighting and I expect the players and coaching staff to do the same." The aftermath to that dreadful loss would linger over Pearce for the remainder of the campaign.
City would return to winning ways against West Ham United that weekend but a 4-0 defeat away at Wigan Athletic the following month squashed all hopes of a renaissance for this team.
Consistency looked to be impossible for the Blues and Pearce did well to survive a spell between January and March where City lost five Premier League fixtures on the spin, four of which were at home. During this rotten period, the former Three Lions captain managed to land himself another job managing England U21s - a sign to suggest even he saw his time coming to an end.
Victories over Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Fulham helped secure the Blues' top-flight status but the meagre ending to the campaign which saw the club lose to Aston Villa, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur led the board to sack their manager.
Pearce would be replaced for a year by Sven Goran Eriksson before in 2008 the Abu Dhabi United Group took over City. Mark Hughes became the club's new manager and the Blues broke the British transfer record for the second time with the purchase of Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5m.
There is no doubting that the Pearce run was memorable but in his two years as first team manager, he had way too many controversial moments. Looking back now, it is hard to fathom City ever falling into that lowly position ever again.
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