Former Blues midfielder and academy coach Liam Manning has been appointed the new head coach of Championship Bristol City, leaving Oxford United.
Manning has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Ashton Gate, succeeding Nigel Pearson, who was sacked last week.
The 38-year-old is joined at Bristol City by his assistant, Chris Hogg, who was a defender with Town, but like Manning without making a first-team appearance, and also manager of the U21s.
"Liam is a great fit for the club and the style of play we want,” Robins chairman Jon Lansdown told his club’s website.
"He has a very detailed approach to coaching, improving players and getting the best out of them as his record at MK Dons and Oxford United shows, while he has valuable experience within the [Manchester] City Group and in Belgium [with Lommel].
"As soon as we made the change Liam was our first choice and we are grateful to Oxford United for the extremely professional way they have approached the departure of someone who was doing a fantastic job for them.
"We are excited about the arrival of Liam and Chris and fulfilling the ambition we all have for the club with this talented and committed group of players.”
Manning added: "This is a terrific opportunity and one that I’m really looking forward to. If you look at the vision of the club and where they want to get to and how they want to get there I think there is really good fit and alignment with my journey and where I want to get to.
"We are custodians and you have to respect and understand the past and the culture of the area that you’ve moved to and leave the club in a better state.
"We’ll be doing our utmost in terms of the day to day in putting really strong processes in place, getting emotionally invested in what we do and having that passion, that drive, that hunger to improve everything.”
Regarding the squad he is inheriting, he said: "You want players that you can coach and are mouldable and on an upward trajectory in their career. I think that brings certain behaviours in terms of drive, intensity and ambition which align with how we want to work.”
Oxford are disappointed that Manning and Hogg are departing having seen them to second place in League One this season after taking charge in March, having recruited left-back Greg Leigh and loan winger Kyle Edwards from Town in the summer.
"We reluctantly gave Bristol City permission to speak with Liam after he indicated he wanted to discuss their vacant managerial position with them,” chairman Grant Ferguson told his club’s official website.
"The club did everything it could to keep him here, but we move on and the project continues. Our focus now is to quickly appoint Liam's successor and support Craig [Short] as interim head coach.”
Tim Williams, Oxford’s CEO, added: "I am hugely disappointed to be losing Liam and Chris at this stage of the season, particularly given the support they had been given.
"However, we have already begun the process of securing the best possible candidate to replace Liam. This is a fantastic club with great training facilities and an exciting future – I have no doubt we will have huge interest in the role.”