WSL side Manchester City parted ways with manager Gareth Taylor on Monday, just five days before the club faces table-leaders Chelsea in Saturday’s League Cup final — and nine days before they meet Chelsea once again in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
In his nearly five years at the helm, Taylor led Man City to an overall 117-15-29 record, picking up the 2020 FA Cup and 2022 League Cup along the way.
Taylor departs just one year into a three-year contract renewal with the club.
“Manchester City prides itself on competing at the top of the WSL and on its outstanding record of qualifying for European competition,” said Man City managing director Charlotte O’Neill in a club statement. “Unfortunately, results this season have so far not reached this high standard.”
Former City coach Nick Cushing — who led the team from 2013 to 2020 — will take over interim manager duties for the remainder of the season.
Taylor’s dismissal follows a number of big-name WSL coaching changes, with Arsenal’s Jonas Eidevall and Liverpool’s Matt Beard both exiting the league this season.
Eidevall has since taken over as head coach for the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.
Despite rumblings that Taylor could follow suit and fill the vacancy with the Wave’s SoCal…
