Based on the things that I value, and on more than simply win ratios, here's mine:
Slutsky 2.5 - Never stood a chance but didn't help himself with a series of bizarre team selections and substitutions. If the ranking was based solely on hook-a-duck skills, however, he'd get a 9.5.
Silva 8 - A staggeringly good manager. Turned us around ludicrously quickly in spite of having to sell our leading scorer/assist maker and a central midfielder who was to play for England in a few weeks time. We should have been relegated without trace. That we made a decent fist of avoiding relegation was a hugely impressive feat.
Phelan 3 - Those opening three league games aside, he just looked as Slutsky had. In truth, probably isn't a manager.
Bruce 8.25 - A 10 for his first two seasons, a 5 for the season after that, and a seven for the season after that. We should never have been relegated with that squad, and the meek Euro capitulation was hard to stomach. Finishing fourth with that squad the season after, and having us endure that second leg against Derby, made going up seem a bit of an empty achievement to me. Steve Bruce was wonderful for us, I don't deny that, but he had resources no other manager in our history could have dreamt of. Resources that should have seen us take residence on the lower reaches of the Premier League.
Barmby 6 - Difficult to say really. Had no support from the Allams, but did bring back Brady when nobody wanted him after that stupid sending off against Southampton, which led to us making a mint off him. Also brought in Joshua King when no one else saw anything in him. Look at how he's doing now. The other players he wanted to bring in - Tomlin, Marshall, Hammill - would have been very good at Championship level too. Had we not suffered those injuries to Chester and Hobbs who knows what we might have done that half-season. Seeing us field Sonny Bradley and Liam Cooper together was scary but we had no cover in the squad. He did better than many - Assem Allam included - often admit. But it can't be denied that we upgraded in bringing in Steve Bruce.
Pearson 7.5 - We were a wreck when NP took over. The way he turned the club around in that first six months was an incredible achievement. I think that under most managers we'd have been in a relegation battle. He made some unpopular decisions, and I hated the way that Ash was treated in the end, but ultimately he rebuilt what was a shell of a club and gave us the foundations that Steve Bruce was to build on. He might have been a nob, but a manager isn't judged on his radio interviews.
Dowie 2 - Bab.
Brown 9.5 - Doesn't matter how things ended up under him. He took us from a team heading for relegation to League 1 to a team joint top of the Premier League in the space of less than two years. That's almost Clough-esque. The wheels came off, and the half-time team talk affected things more than I think many realise. But he'd broken so many shackles that had impeded the club for more than a century by that point, that to not hold him up as the greatest manager in our history is almost churlish. I love Phil Brown. And I'm fully aware of his faults. Football just doesn't get better than our 2008, though.
Parkinson 3 - One point each for the signings of Turner, Ricketts and Marney. A good man, a very nice man, who was the wrong man at the wrong time for City.
Taylor 9 - A brilliant manager for us. AP was so close to scaling everything down, but Peter Taylor did what Little and Molby had totally failed to do in resurrecting Hull City as a (sort of) force in English football, which we had only fleetingly been since the early 70s. He delivered days like Yeovil, the Sheffield Wednesday 4-2, the two wins against Tranmere, the 4-0 at Bournemouth. Even in the much-maligned consolidation season back in the Championship there was the likes of the 1-0 win against Leeds. He and Colin Murphy were so important for us, and were nowhere near as negative as some now claim.
Also, briefly from my time supporting the club (working backwards):
Molby 2 - A point each the Elliott and Ashbee signings. An egotistical prick who couldn't man-manage to save his life.
Little 6.5 - That first play-off run with the likes of Big Kev, Rodney Rowe and co was terrific. Couldn't cope with the money though, and assembled a squad totally unsuitable for fourth-tier football. A lovely bloke though.
Joyce 9 - The most important manager in our history.
Hateley 1 - Utterly dreadful. Woeful.
Dolan 3.5 - Whisper it quietly, but Dolan was actually a pretty good manager for the second and third seasons back in the third tier. We were skint but watching City for those two seasons was pretty enjoyable. I don't lay too much blame at his feet for the first relegation either. That said, the relegation and next season in the fourth tier were utterly abysmal.
Ternant 4 - Spent a lot, but when he first took over he was terrific. We were going places we never won - Sunderland, Wolves, etc... - and winning. All went to sh*t, obviously, but showed there was something there. A nob. however.
Appleton 1.5 - An atrocious appointment. An atrocious manager by that point.
Gray 6 - Did pretty well. That period that led to the Liverpool FA Cup game was utterly joyous. Was a bit crazy to sack him to bring Appleton back.
Horton 8 - A great manager for us, and on those resources did well to have us in the top half Division Two for so long. His signings were terrific, and his sacking marked the start of our demise, even if we were in something of a rut. Was great to see him help the club get to the Premier League.
