That's 13 trophies in 12 years - now former Portsmouth assistant manager has left Premier League giants

Now the man hailed by Blues FA Cup winner Niko Kranjcar as one of the greatest coaches he played under has departed the Premier League champions.

Brian Kidd has left his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant following a remarkable silverware haul at Manchester City

Now aged 72, the man who assisted Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Guardiola has decided to step down, but not retire.

Pompey fans may remember Kidd from his seven months at Fratton Park during their Premier League days.

Following Paul Hart’s appointment as caretaker boss in the aftermath of Tony Adams’ dismissal in February 2009, he moved to recruit Kidd.

At the time having been out of the game for a year, Kidd became Hart’s assistant, making a massive impact on the Blues.

He is often credited as the driving force behind keeping Pompey in the Premier League in the 2009-10 campaign, with the team struggling at the time.

Kidd’s partnership with Hart ensured the Blues stayed up with a game to spare, eventually finishing 14th to earn the caretaker boss the role on a permanent basis.

However, he decided to leave on the eve of the following campaign – in August 2009 – in favour of working closer to his Manchester home.

The following month, he was named as Manchester City’s technical development manager – a club he remained with until this week.

In an interview for 2020 book Played Up Pompey Three, Niko Kranjcar said: ‘Brian Kidd possessed great experience from his time at Manchester United and was a great human being, probably one of my favourite coaches during my career.

‘He enjoyed every minute of being on the training pitch with us, he was the first in each day to set things up and had time for us all.’

The Pompey players’ respect for Kidd during his time at Fratton Park was echoed by team-mate Richard Hughes.

‘The best thing he (Hart) did was to recruit Brian Kidd as first-team coach, who was excellent,’ he told Played Up Pompey Three.

‘Kidd was a very good coach who brought everyone together, a bubbly and sprightly character who wanted to train and do well, everything was very positive.

‘We lost that huge component in the summer of 2009 when he left to join Manchester City. Kidd’s departure was huge and Hart didn’t last much longer, sacked in November 2009 following a terrible start.

‘Hart wasn’t the same man without Kidd. I attribute his effectiveness at the back end of the previous season to possessing good players and a good coach in Brian.’

Having departed Fratton Park to look after Manchester City’s youth side, Kidd found himself involved with the first-team months later.

Following Mark Hughes’ dismissal and the appointment of Mancini in December 2009, the former England man stepped up to become assistant.

He would go on to be part of a first-team which would collect 13 trophies, most recently claiming the Premier League and Carabao Cup last season.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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