Today (22 January) in 1977 the title race hotted up a little as Manchester City defeated Leicester 5-0 with goals from Mike Doyle and Brian Kidd (4). This was a great day to be a Blue and I know I was in the Platt Lane Stand behind the goal (right of camera). It’s great to see City fans in that stand celebrating again and it takes me right back to the excitement felt in my childhood. Back then we hoped City would win the title and they did come close (missing it by a point). You can watch the goals from the game here (listen for Barry Davies’ comment about foreigners watching the 3rd best team!):
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Today (21 January) in 1978 Manchester City defeated Norwich 3-1 with goals from Brian Kidd (2) and Gary Owen. These highlights of the match are well worth watching to get a feel for how exciting this team truly was:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
The 1978-79 season had promised so much with City progressing to the UEFA Cup quarter final before Christmas. However, before that game could be played a series of worrying results and agitation from director Ian Niven caused City to bring back former assistant manager Malcolm Allison in January 1979. Big Mal, as he liked to be termed by this time, was expected to give a bit of a boost but it didn’t quite work out like that.
A league game with Leeds ended 1-1 then a FA Cup tie with Rotherham saw a shock goalless draw at Maine Road. The Blues received significant criticism and two days later the media waited for a shock FA Cup giant killing at Rotherham. It didn’t happen as City won the match 4-2 with Brian Kidd netting twice and goals from Gary Owen and Peter Barnes. It wasn’t a straightforward win though, as this report shows. The game was played on this day (17 January) in 1979.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Here’s an interesting film of Colin Bell in action for Manchester City against West Ham on this day (14 January) in 1978. The commentary is from a much later feature but it’s worth hearing and watching this clip to get an appreciation of how we all felt about Colin at this time. We desperately wanted him to be in another trophy winning side and to be the player he’d been only a few years earlier before that horrific injury.
The game was a 3-2 City victory with goals from Peter Barnes, Brian Kidd and Tommy Booth.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
On this day (11 January) in 1977 Manchester City defeated West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in a FA Cup 3rd round replay. The original game had ended 1-1 with Kidd scoring for City at Maine Road. The goalscorer in the replay was Joe Royle. It’s well worth reading this report which highlights there was a bit of a conflict in the game too! Enjoy!
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
On 18 October 1978 in the UEFA Cup 2nd round first leg Manchester City defeated Standard Liege 4-0. Three of those goals (one a penalty) came in the last 5 minutes, demonstrating that no one should ever leave early (unless there are significant reasons of course). No game is over until the final whistle and this game against Liege is one that should always be remembered. The reason I say this… My dad made us leave early as it was a school night (I’d celebrated my 10th birthday a week or so earlier). We left when it was 1-0 with about 6 minutes to go.
I remember us walking down the Platt Lane tunnel and getting to the exit gates and hearing the roar – an obvious goal! Then as we walked down the pink passage behind the Platt Lane there was another roar. A third roar was heard a little later and then a fourth just as we neared our car and that was that! We only knew the actual score when we got home because, back then, there was no radio in dad’s car. Throughout that journey back to Hyde me, my brother and my dad tried to guess what the final score would be. We knew we’d heard four roars and assumed we’d missed four goals but the first roar would’ve been for the penalty award and the second for the penalty itself.
Missing three goals at the age of ten is not great. Hmm!
Anyway, for those, like me, who missed it here are the match facts and a video of those goals:
Attendance: 27,487
City Goalscorers: Hartford, Kidd 2 (1 pen), Palmer
Asa Hartford scored in the 13th minute but, despite several attempts that was all that separated the clubs up to the 85th minute. A frantic late rally by the Blues saw three goals in four minutes to create a decisive and emphatic victory. All those who had left the stadium early (to get to their cars and buses) realised that no game is over until the final whistle.
The transformation was heralded as a high point in the career of Peter Barnes. Barnes demonstrated his skills superbly as he made Liege suffer with attack after attack. Peter Gardner: “Twisting, turning, tormenting and teasing the harassed Belgians, Barnes paved the way for that final three-goal fling with Kidd grabbing tow and Palmer the last. It was Barnes at his brilliant best although Hartford and Watson were also heroes on a night when City proved that patience always pays.”
My biography of Peter Barnes talks about this game of course and you can buy copies here:
Here’s a report and film of Manchester City beating Juventus in their first competitive meeting on this day (15 September) in 1976. That day Brian Kidd scored the only goal (a header) and you can see that goal here:
The match report expresses the disappointment City felt at only taking a 1-0 lead to Italy for the 2nd leg.
Here’s a photo from the game. Notice anything odd? Follow the link after the photo for the story.
It’s day 24 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. With many Manchester City fans currently in Istanbul getting ready for tonight’s final I thought I’d post another Maine Road image with a European theme. Today’s feature is on this image of City facing Juventus in 1976.
That night Brian Kidd scored the only goal in City’s 1-0 UEFA Cup victory, played on 15 September. But, look at the photo closely and you’ll see there are two balls! Why? Well, often in the days of black and white press photos newspapers wouldn’t quite get the shot they wanted. They’d sometime tippex on, or even cut and stick a ball on an action photo to create either a more dramatic image, or simply to ensure they could fit the image on the space available.
Modern technology has made it easier to ‘move’ the ball to a more convenient place, but it has also allowed photos to be taken quickly and in bursts. Also, once colour photography was used in national newspapers any cutting and pasting or tippexing seemed too obvious. Although this added ball definitely looks fake so I’m not certain any reader would have been fooled.
I’ve seen plenty of images like this over the years and I find them both fascinating and frustrating. I’d like the true image to be shown, but I also am intrigued as to how they felt they made the image better. For those wondering the City player is Dennis Tueart and the stand in the background is the Main Stand.
For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help. The roof shown is to the left of number 1 below – you can see the bit where it drops down to the next level. The tunnel is the one on the far left of the Main Stand below where the roof line changes. City were attacking the Platt Lane (stand is numbered 4 & 5) in the image.
Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
City were still in with a shout of the title after three successive victories against Middlesbrough (1-0), West Bromwich Albion (2-0), and Birmingham (2-1) when they went to the Baseball ground to face Derby County on this day (30 April) in 1977. The game was televised and it included one of those moments that made commentator John Motson quite giddy.
The pitch was quite muddy and when Derby got a penalty City ‘keeper Joe Corrigan challenged where the penalty spot was believed to be and insisted on it being properly measured. At one point he counted out the steps, much to the delight of the crowd.
Unfortunately, this had been a bad tempered game against a team struggling. It ended in 4-0 City defeat at Derby and it was a huge set back, especially as Derby scored all four in the last 25 minutes. In addition Brian Kidd was sent off.
The Blues remained second however, two points behind reigning champions Liverpool, one point above Ipswich, and Tony Book remained determined. The truth was, however, that with four games to go, time was running out. As with European competition at this time, Liverpool were used to surviving the League marathon, City were not and the Blues missed the title by a point. It would’ve been different had this game gone City’s way.
Follow this link to watch the highlights on youtube:
Today (7 March) in 1979 Manchester City faced top German side Borussia Mönchengladbach in the first leg of the UEFA Cup quarter-final at Maine Road.
There was a 39,005 crowd present and the City team was: Corrigan; Donachie, Power, Reid, Watson, Booth, Channon, Viljoen, Kidd, Hartford & Barnes.
Believe it or not (this may surprise a modern audience but leading clubs often did what I’m about to say) Liverpool, in particular Bob Paisley, had spent considerable time helping the Blues prepare for this match by providing vital information on the West German side.
Liverpool had faced Mönchengladbach on five occasions, the most famous was the 1977 European Cup final and the most recent being in the 1978 European Cup semi-final. Paisley told City that the game would be tough, and outlined the players to watch. He also suggested that Dave Watson and Tommy Booth might be the key men in City’s side as the Germans seemed to lack ability to attack the ball in the air.
While City had Liverpool doing all they could to help there was someone who was becoming a bit of a thorn in the side of Malcolm Allison. That was hypnotist Romark. Romark had previously ‘cursed’ Allison while the City man had been manager of Crystal Palace (a really interesting story which I covered in my biography of Peter Barnes, published in 2021).
The hypnotist had offered to help Allison but Big Mal was having none of it. The following year Romark helped Halifax Town defeat City in the FA Cup! If only Allison had not angered the hypnotist all those years ago. Maybe life would’ve been so different for City!
The first leg saw Malcolm Allison, who had returned to the Blues in January as the self-styled ‘coaching overlord’, perform one of his many shock moves when Nicky Reid was thrust in to the spotlight at the age of 18 for his debut. Allison selected him to mark Allan Simonsen. It was an amazing selection at the time, but Reid did enough to justify Allison’s bold move.
Nicky Reid
Mike Channon, who was rumoured to be unhappy at the Club, managed to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the highly disciplined Mönchengladbach kept the pressure on and managed to snatch an equaliser and the often vital away goal.
The second leg of the tie took place 13 days later, on 20 March 1979 watched by around 30,000. The City team was: Corrigan; Donachie, Power, Viljoen, Watson, Booth, Channon, Reid (Deyna), Henry, Hartford & Barnes
Nicky Reid retained his place for the second leg (but still didn’t make his League debut until eleven days later when he scored against Ipswich). He was clearly a talented player but his arrival in the heat of European competition without even making an appearance in the League did raise many questions about the way Malcolm Allison was influencing things. Reid went on to captain the Blues to the FA Youth Cup final the following May, and was voted City’s young player of the year.
Malcolm Allison made yet another surprise selection as Tony Henry – another reserve who up to that point had only featured in two League game (once being substituted by Kenny Clements, once coming on for Asa Hartford) – was included while experienced European campaigners Deyna, Bell, and Kidd were left on the bench with Paul Futcher.
It was not a good night at all for City and having so much experience on the bench seemed baffling to fans, the media and also most of the players. City were very much the underdogs throughout and were losing 3-0 when, late on, Reid was substituted by Deyna. The experienced Pole provided City’s only goal of the match, but it was too late and City were out of Europe.
Kenny Clements explained to me when I interviewed him years later: “I broke my leg a few weeks after Milan so that made life a bit difficult for me, but the big problem was the return of Malcolm Allison. I know he was a great coach first time at City, but second time he really did ruin everything. All the older players told me it’d be great having him back, and then when he was back they all admitted they were wrong. I think he’d become too hung up on new ideas that he forgot about the basics. I remember he used to give us homework. He’d tell us to go home and write “I must win” or “I will win” a thousand times, then the next day he’d ask us if we’d done it.
“I always used to say ‘yeah’, but some of the younger, more impressionable lads would produce their lists and some would even write out twice as many lines! He insisted we drank coffee before a game to keep us alert, and brought in lots of motivational people. It didn’t motivate me I’m afraid!
“By the time of the next UEFA match (Mönchengladbach) I was fit but didn’t start, and then for the second leg both Brian Kidd and I had to sit it out while Nicky Reid made his debut marking one of the greatest players of all time. When we were two goals down Kiddo threw his shirt at Allison in anger.”
For many connected with City Mönchengladbach became the game that would be quoted when they discussed how things had changed following Allison’s return. Tony Book had developed a good team with a nice blend of young up-and-coming talent, like Peter Barnes (who was still only 21 but an exciting England winger), with the older experienced internationals like Dave Watson, Brian Kidd, Asa Hartford. Book’s team had been runners up to Liverpool in 1977 and had impressed with many great individual victories since then, especially that Milan victory of course, but the return of Malcolm Allison changed the dynamics at the club.
Ah well! Without that I guess City wouldn’t have what they have today, but for those of us who lived through the 70s to the present, it was the return of Allison that started the process of transforming City from regular challenging giant into a club that had lost its way. The 1978-79 Mönchengladbach games are a reminder of what we were, what we lost, but also of what we have now. Let’s ensure we enjoy the present because, as Allison once said to me: “Celebrate every success as if it’s your first, because it could be your last!”
When City walked out to face Mönchengladbach in the quarter final none of us, especially Allison, expected it would be our last European tie for 25 years! To read about the significance and facts of City’s European heritage (there are a few points that may surprise fans of certain other clubs) then take a look at another post:
Gary James' Football Archive 