THE king is dead, long live the king is an ermine-tinged maxim often applied to a new managerial appointment at a football club.

Yet it cannot be used to describe yet another head-turning event at York City as they undergo another switch in management - the fourth change in Bootham Crescent bosses in the last five years.

The sacking of Chris Brass, however, is not your average departure and perhaps it mirrors the slightly askew world in which the Minstermen have operated since they were rescued from oblivion by their own faithful less than two years ago.

The sacked Brass is to remain at the club, but now solely as a player after he lost the second half of the player-manager's role which was gambled on so vigorously by fans in thrall to the undiluted commitment and intensity of the Easington-born player.

It's a bizarre situation for both player and Viv Busby, who has succeeded Brass as the man to select the Minstermen team even if the club's board insist his spell at the helm is, for now, in a 'caretaker' capacity. This could be the longest caretaker-ship in City's history.

But back to Brass. Returning to the dressing-room as player rather than gaffer is going to be mighty strange for former boss Brass. If anyone is mature and man enough to cope with such a sudden descent in status it will be Brass, whose passion for his association at the Crescent can never be questioned.

However, all his famed resolve and resilience will be tested to the utmost degree as he is billeted with players over whom just last weekend ago he had control, command and charge. As he was when he first arrived at Bootham Crescent as then manager Terry Dolan's on-the-park lieutenant in March of 2001, Brass will again be one of the lads.

And somehow he will have to reconcile the galling fact that a large proportion of those self-same lads badly let him down during his roller-coaster managerial journey. True, his own form out in the middle dipped way below the high standards he set himself, but players he stoically defended and placed his trust in as the gaffer were even more culpable in City's demise. Remember, they have not got the extenuating circumstances of having to deal with the myriad of issues that beset the modern-day manager.

Now Brass' successor, Busby, faces the challenge of being ushered into the premier position after initially arriving as an experienced back-up to Brass.

City may have only gone from B to B. Busby has the ultimate say in team affairs and will need to be on the money over the next fortnight when, because of City's earliest-ever FA Cup exit, the club has no senior outing. The man, whose initial impact at the Crescent was as an assistant to then manager Denis Smith during the early to mid-1980s, will need that time to hone the Minstermen into shape for the clash against Woking.

And therein lies the crux of just how City can transform a wretched start to the season to something hinting at better fortunes to come.

Hampered by a lack of ready cash - the club's budget is rigorously controlled - it is unlikely that Busby will be able to bring in any new blood without off-loading any.

But save for goalkeeper David Stockdale there can be few candidates in Minstermen colours able to generate any short-term profit, so Busby will have to rely on a squad that got Brass the sack in the first place.

A change is as good as a rest they also say and the club's rulers had to act, but I suspect the fabled wisdom of King Solomon would be pressed to drag City out of their present slump.

Updated: 10:44 Tuesday, November 09, 2004