Revie was sold to First Division side Manchester City for £25,000 (including a part-exchange for Ernie Phillips, valued at £12,000) in October 1951. The Citizens struggled in the 1951–52 season, and then went on to finish just one place above the relegation zone in the 1952–53 campaign. Revie was often isolated from the rest of the team due to his lack of pace. The sale of Ivor Broadis then allowed Revie to drop deeper down the field, and allowed manager Les McDowall to put Revie in what eventually proved to be a pivotal role, introducing to English football the position of deep-lying centre forward. This evolved into the so-called "Revie Plan", with Revie as the central figure. His role derived from the more traditional inside right position, and was based on the style of the successful Hungarian national team, and in particular Nándor Hidegkuti, who invented the role. Revie devoted 20 pages to analysing and explaining the plan in his autobiography "Soccer's Happy Wanderer" written in 1955.