# Manchester City Women sack head coach Gareth Taylor as Cushing returns

* City are fourth in WSL but in Champions League last eight
* Former manager Nick Cushing named interim manager

Manchester City Women have sacked their head coach, Gareth Taylor, just five days before the club’s appearance in the League Cup final. Nick Cushing, whom Taylor succeeded in 2020, will return as interim manager for the remainder of the season.

The news comes with City fourth in the Women’s Super League, 12 points behind the leaders Chelsea, and was announced 24 hours after they booked an FA Cup semi-final place by beating Aston Villa on Sunday.

## Latest News

* Manchester City prides itself on competing at the top of the WSL and on its outstanding record of qualifying for European competition. Unfortunately, results this season have so far not reached this high standard, and we believe that a change of management will breathe fresh life into our bid to ensure qualification for the 2025-26 Uefa Women’s Champions League. We would like to place on record our thanks to Gareth for all of his efforts during his many years at City. Our FA Cup and League Cup triumphs will remain special moments in the history of this football club. We wish him all the best for the future.

City next face four consecutive games against Chelsea: first in the League Cup final on Saturday before two Champions League quarter-final legs either side of a WSL meeting.

The Manchester City players were informed on Monday of Taylor’s departure and, according to sources, there was a surprised reaction.

The 52-year-old former Wales, Burnley and Nottingham Forest forward, who also played for Manchester City as well as a host of other clubs, including Sheffield United, Wrexham and Bristol Rovers, had signed a new three-year contract in March 2024.

That deal until 2027 was signed when Nils Nielsen was the club’s women’s director of football and Taylor was understood to have the Dane’s full support, but Nielsen left in the summer of 2024 and is now the head coach of the Japan national team. Speaking to the Guardian in November, Nielsen recalled that he had been convinced the right decision was to renew Taylor’s contract: “Finding somebody that knows the City way of playing as well as him would be almost impossible.”

## Latest News

* 

## Additional Information

* Manchester City Women
* Women's Super League
* Women's football
* Football
* Sport
* Moving the Goalposts (newsletter signup)
* Article
* News
* Tom Garry
* The Guardian
* Sport
* News & features
* UK Sport

## Related Links

* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 

## Comments

 or  to join the discussion

## Most Viewed

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 

## Privacy Notice

Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google  and  apply.

## Explore More on These Topics

* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
* 
```