Royle at Everton's Bellefield training ground

And it was at Boundary Park that he began to prove his managerial acumen by guiding the club to previously unknown heights.

Oldham were beaten in the 1990 League Cup final at Wembley by Nottingham Forest and, that same season, they reached the last four of the FA Cup before being defeated by Manchester United.

Those disappointments were soon diminished when the Royle guided the Latics to the Division Two championship crown in 1990/1991.

Their rise into the top-flight was complete.

Painful

Royle's minnows then further enhanced their cup pedigree when they almost upset Manchester United as the two sides again clashed in the semi-finals of the FA Cup in 1994.

Agonisingly, a last-minute Mark Hughes winner at Wembley broke Oldham hearts and the club's top-flight adventure also came to an end with relegation that season.

Unsurprisingly, Royle's achievements had been noticed.

He was offered the manager's chair at Manchester City but declined because of the timing.

But the lure of Everton proved too much to resist in November 1994.

He guided the Goodison Park outfit to the final of the 1995 FA Cup where they met Manchester United.

This time though, it was Royle who finished on the winning side with Paul Rideout scoring the winner.

The following season, Everton finished sixth in the Premiership.

But Royle left the Merseysiders on an unhappy note because funds promised in order to sign Tore Andre Flo and Claus Lundekvam were not made available.

In spending almost a year out of the football limelight, Royle helped then England manager Glenn Hoddle before taking over at City in February 1998.

Paul Dickov was the play-off hero

He could not stop the troubled Maine Road outfit being relegated into Division Two for the first time in their history.

But Royle's resurrection of the other half of Manchester saw him achieve promotion via the play-offs in nail-biting style.

City came back from two goal down, including an injury-time Paul Dickov leveller, and beat rivals Gillingham on penalties in 1999.

Promotion, this time by the less tense automatic route, was achieved the following season as Manchester City returned to the top-flight.

Although Royle believed City were good enough to survive in the Premiership at the first time of asking, their relegation fate was sealed against Ipswich in the penultimate game of the season.

The immediate reaction of both Royle and club chairman David Bernstein was that the managerial set-up at the club would not change.

One can only wonder what the 52-year-old said since the game at Portman Road to bring such a turn in his personal fortunes.

Despite questions over Royle's tactical ability at the highest level, most observers believed that few managers could have kept City up this season with their limited resources.

Where he goes now is anyone's guess.