After retiring as a player, Norwich then invited him to join their
coaching set-up. He worked as
youth team and
reserve team coach and was then promoted to chief coach before being appointed as assistant to
manager Ken Brown. The partnership finished in May 1987, when he accepted an offer to manage
Manchester City. Despite the victory, two months later, on 27 November, Machin was sacked by chairman
Peter Swales as the club was bottom of the division. He became
Barnsley manager on 29 December but resigned on 5 May 1993, as he was disillusioned with the club policy of selling their best players to make ends meet. In 1998, Bournemouth lost to
Grimsby Town in the
Football League Trophy final in their first ever Wembley appearance. In August 2000, he became director of football role and later retired on 29 August 2002, having had his
testimonial match the previous month. It was in his testimonial – a 3–2 victory for Manchester United, that United's
£29.3 million signing
Rio Ferdinand made his debut. In October 2002 he was linked to the vacant management position at
Swindon Town. On 28 January 2003, Machin came out of retirement to assist
Mick Wadsworth at the helm of
Huddersfield Town. At the time, Huddersfield were in dire straits, not only were they propping up Division Two, they were also in atrocious financial trouble which had seen the club attempt to sack Wadsworth only to reinstate him as they couldn't afford to pay him off. Two months later, Wadsworth for sacked for good and Machin was appointed caretaker manager, tasked with trying to keep the club in the division. While he picked up some vital results, including a 4-0 win over Chesterfield, a 1-0 win away at Swindon Town and a vital 0-0 draw with champions-elect Wigan Athletic, the club were relegated following a 5-1 battering away at Port Vale, which confirmed relegation. Only on a weekly contract, and with the club in administration, Machin and Huddersfield parted ways at the end of
the season after he failing to avoid
relegation to the
Third Division. ==Career statistics==