Former Town academy midfielder and coach Liam Manning has been named the new head coach of League One MK Dons.
Manning, 35, rejoined the Blues as a coach, working with the U13s up to the U18s, after a spell playing in non-league and in Iceland, his time as young player at Town having ended in 2005.
In 2015 he left Playford Road to join West Ham initially coaching their U15s to U18s. While with the Hammers he progressed to becoming head of coaching and then in charge of their U23s.
From the East Londoners, he joined MLS side New York City, part of the City Football Group [CFG] of clubs, as their academy director, then in August 2020 was named head coach of Belgian second tier club Lommel, another CFG side.
Last season, he led his side to third in the table before resigning in August to look for a job in England.
Speaking to iFollow MK Dons, Norwich-born Manning said: "Firstly, it’s a privilege to be named head coach of MK Dons. I am thankful to the chairman [Pete Winkelman] and [sporting director] Liam Sweeting for providing me with this exciting opportunity.
"CFG were terrific for me and provided me a chance to go to New York and then to become head coach at Lommel. Ultimately though, this was too good of an opportunity for me.
"This is an ambitious football club that believes in playing a certain way - a way that the fans are used to and demand and one that I believe in too. We also have a squad full of quality and exciting players, who I can’t wait to get to work with.
"Me and my family are going to move here to live within half an hour of the area so that we can integrate ourselves into the community. That is important to me because, as we learnt last season, football is for the fans.”
Winkelman added: "We are really excited to welcome Liam Manning to the football club. It has been a hectic couple of weeks but we are delighted to now be in a position to introduce him as our new head coach and be able to look forward to what the future can bring.""
"We will give Liam and his coaching team all the support they need as they navigate their way through the frantic nature of EFL football and I am sure our supporters will do just the same, starting Saturday.”
Manning takes the job vacated by Russell Martin, who joined Swansea as their new boss last week.