In four years working with Flowers, Pearce feels the former Blackburn man has established himself as the best goalkeeping coach in the country.

And, though he tried to talk Flowers out of dropping into the Coca-Cola Championship, the City chief admitted the challenge on offer at the Ricoh Stadium was probably too good to resist.

“I am desperately sad to lose him and we are very, very disappointed because, as far as I am concerned, in the past and now, Tim Flowers is the best goalkeeping coach in the country,” Pearce said on the club’s official website, www.mcfc.co.uk.

“We tried our best to keep him with us but it is the club he supported as a kid, it is nearer his home, and he just felt it was an opportunity he could not turn down.”