Milne turned to management and coaching with
Wigan Athletic as
player-manager in January 1970. He managed Wigan from 1970 to 1972, making 73
Northern Premier League appearances for the club, and guided them to a league title and an
FA Cup run, which ended with a narrow defeat to
Manchester City at
Maine Road. Milne also became the part-time manager of the England Youth team in 1972, helping them to win the European Youth Championship that year. Milne joined
Joe Mercer at
Coventry City as team manager in June 1972, taking full control in 1974, upon Mercer's elevation to the Board. He was shortlisted for the England management role following the departure of
Sir Alf Ramsey, but was overlooked in favour of
Don Revie. He continued at Coventry until 1981, producing several exciting teams and securing the club's First Division status. The 1977–78 season saw Coventry's most exciting top-flight team. Gordon Milne settled on an attacking 4–2–4 formation. A side containing
Tommy Hutchison,
Mick Ferguson,
Ian Wallace,
Terry Yorath,
Graham Oakey,
Bobby MacDonald and
Jim Blyth played attacking football that swept many teams aside, often by large margins of victory. Milne became boss at
Leicester City in August 1982, winning promotion in 1982–83 and staying until 1986. He managed
Beşiktaş in Turkey for seven years, from 1987 to 1993 (where he won three successive league championship titles during the early 1990s, including an undefeated run in the
1991–92 season). He succeeded in creating one of the most successful periods in the history of
Beşiktaş and is still a legend for the Beşiktaş fans. He also managed
Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan, before returning to Turkey to take charge of
Bursaspor (1996–1997), where he managed the club to its highest ever finish in the Turkish league, and then
Trabzonspor (1998–1999). Milne then accepted the role of Director of Football at
Newcastle United, and worked alongside manager
Bobby Robson between 1999 and 2004. After a spell as chief executive of the League Managers Association, Milne was employed as Director of Football at
Beşiktaş in 2006. ==Managerial statistics==