There’s a lot to interest and perhaps surprise Manchester City fans here. This is the second part of my interview with John Bond from November 1995. When I interviewed him he was frank in his views and at times outspoken – and I loved every minute of our chat!
In this clip John talks about the controversial 1981 League Cup semi-final with Liverpool; the FA Cup final (first game) against Tottenham; the way City’s directors handled the draw with Spurs (this astounded me at the time of our interview); how certain directors treated him; and how he almost resigned in between the FA Cup final and its replay.
As this was recorded in November 1995 it is important to remember that our comments about the ‘present day’ Manchester City refer to the club as it was at that time. Similarly, when we talk about the takeover we mean the 1993-94 takeover of the club. Listening again to this piece now I’m quite pleased that my own perception was fairly accurate.
There’s also some great comments about Norwich City which will please supporters of that club.
This is about 17 minutes long (the previous piece was a similar length too). So get yourself a brew, relax in your favourite chair and listen along.
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If you would like to listen to the second part of this frank interview and read all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022.
On this day (17 December) in 1932 John Bond was born. Back in November 1995 I interviewed the former Manchester City manager. At the time I was researching my in-depth history of the club called Manchester The Greatest City (later updated as Manchester The City Years).
I met John at his home and spent a good few hours with him chatting about the Blues and his career. I loved doing this interview and was always grateful for the time he gave me. He was quite frank, open and honest – which delighted me because he was a great talker. He was also happy for me to quote everything he said in the interview. I did end up quoting him extensively in the book (and in others I’ve produced) but none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public.
Now, you can hear the opening 17 minutes of the interview (the rest will follow over the next few days). Here he talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed interview for the City documentary in 1980-81); the signing of Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Gerry Gow. As I said earlier, he is quite frank in his comments and that may surprise a few.
This audio recording of the first 17 minutes of the interview is available to subscribers of my blog whether annual or, for the first time, monthly. If you want to hear it then please subscribe below. If subscribers enjoy this piece then please let me know and I’ll post other audio recordings in the future.
Of course as this interview was recorded on my old cassette recorder the quality isn’t the best but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the exclusive nature of this.
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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year; here) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (below). Annual subscribers access everything posted since December 2020.
If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. An annual subscription (£20 per year; above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022.
New Manchester City manager John Bond’s first cup game was the fourth round tie against Second Division promotion hopefuls Notts County at Maine Road, played on this day (29 October) in 1980 The game had the potential to end in defeat, especially as Bond would be unable to play any of his new signings (remember the struggles pre-Bond’s arrival earlier in the month and the impact he and his new arrivals Now, Hutchison and McDonald had?), nor would the expensive Steve Daley be able to play due to injury.
The match actually ended 5-1 to the Blues with Dave Bennett opening the scoring after 16 minutes. Dennis Tueart was in inspiring form that night scoring the other four City goals, but the result was prof that Bond’s whole approach had lifted the Club. Basically, Bond had taken Allison’s team and given them belief and confidence. Some of the younger players, like Bennett and Caton, may have been given their chance under Allison, but it was under Bond that they started to achieve their potential.
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I feel old today as 41 Years ago today (September 5, 1981) I attended my first away game. That day my parents told me we were going to Stoke v Manchester City. The reason why? It was to be the debut of new City striker Trevor Francis. This was perceived as a huge transfer at the time (don’t be fooled into thinking major transfers have only come in recent years!) and part of manager John Bond’s plan to challenge for the League title – and for a while it looked as if they would!
Here for subscribers is a piece on that day and what followed with quotes from interviews I’ve performed with Trevor Francis and Peter Swales who tell the story of that time. There are also contemporary match reports too:
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On this day (25 August) in 1981 Manchester City and Aston Villa were in a bidding war to sign Trevor Francis.
I know in recent years City have been criticised by some in the media for both high spending and for not spending more than they deem a player is worth (what a crazy world it is when a potential purchasing team is criticised for not wanting to spend what a selling club want when there are no other clubs interested in buying that player at that price!) but in 1981 the desire to sign Francis meant they were prepared to spend big if necessary.
A bidding war is always in the best interests of the selling club and occasionally a friendly word with a journalist or another club can create a bidding war even if there really isn’t much interest from a club. Thinking back I can’t remember Villa seriously going after Francis but this Daily Mirror report suggests they were interested.
It wasn’t long of course before City got their man.
Notice the brief mention of Peter Barnes at the bottom of that cutting? If you want to know more then obviously I recommend The Peter Barnes Authorised Biography (use tabs/menu to find out more).
This weekend marks the latest in the series of games between one of the Manchester clubs and a Liverpool team. Today (9 April 2022) relegation worried Everton face United and tomorrow League Champions and leaders City take on second placed Liverpool at the Etihad. Much will be made of the Manchester-Liverpool rivalry and it is true that the two cities have been rivals for over 150 years (it certainly predates the building of the Ship Canal!) BUT the football clubs have not always been rivals. In fact Utd and Liverpool have been close over the decades at times while the on-the-pitch rivalry between City and Liverpool was extremely strong in the late 60s and 70s.
The strength of the two conurbations’ footballing rivalries came during the late 1960s but intensified in the late 70s. Prior to this one-off seasons may have seen grudge matches or significant games between clubs from the cities but nothing more than that. In fact for many, many years Manchester United and Liverpool, for example, were extremely close. They once put forward a suggestion to the Football League that all home teams should wear red and away teams white – the rest of football soon got wise to the plan!
There was also the time when United and Liverpool ‘fixed’ a game of football. It’s a long story (amazingly United’s solicitor was part of the ‘neutral’ investigating committee!) and can be read here:
The rivalry between the footballing clubs developed in the 60s and there were many significant games between all the clubs in the two cities with several prominent matches (there were significant grudge matches between Everton and City for example in the 60s and at one point Liverpool’s Bill Shankly told the media that City were Liverpool’s biggest rival!).
Back in 1995 I interviewed former Manchester City boss John Bond at his home. The interview lasted about two hours and here’s a brief snippet from that interview where Bond talks about beating Liverpool on Boxing Day 1981.
The Blues won 3-1 (Bond, Hartford & Reeves) then two days later (Bond says it’s the next day in this clip but it was 28th December) City defeated Wolves 2-1 at Maine Rd. John discusses a brilliant goal from Trevor Francis. City went top of the League after the Wolves victory.
Stick with the clip because it ends with Bond’s views on how Liverpool used to react to wins and defeats. I’d best not comment – have a listen:
I’ve covered one particularly bitter moment in the City-Liverpool rivalry from the 80s that concerns John Bond here:
I hope this weekend’s games between go well and it’d be great if one of Manchester’s Blues could score four goals as Fred Howard did on his debut against Liverpool – see:
The 1980-81 season was one of City’s most remarkable and culminated in two appearances at Wembley. At the season’s start, however, a trip to Wembley seemed like one of Manager Malcolm Allison’s more imaginative dreams, especially as the Blues succumbed to successive defeats to a Kevin Keegan inspired Southampton (2-0) and newly promoted Sunderland (4-0).
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Sixty years ago today (February 21 1962) John Benson made his Manchester City League debut. He had joined the Blues at the age of 15 in July 1958 and went on to make 52 League and Cup appearances before being transferred to Torquay in 1964. Spells at Bournemouth, Exeter and Norwich followed, before John moved into coaching. In 1980 he returned to Manchester as assistant to manager John Bond.
Sadly, John died on October 30 2010 at the age of 67.
On this day in 1981: The League Cup semi final! The 1981 League Cup semi-final has gone down in history as one of the absolute grudge moments between Manchester’s Blues and Liverpool’s Reds. People often think the two clubs have only been rivals in recent years but throughout the late 60s, 70s and early 80s games between the two clubs were viewed as major events.
This tie in 1981 is one that still angers many associated with Manchester City, including former players and officials. If you would like to read the story of the tie and the reasons why, then please subscribe to this blog.
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It’s the 40th anniversary of the 1981 FA Cup final today (May 9) and ten years ago, as we looked forward to Manchester City appearing in the 2011 FA Cup final, I was asked by the Manchester Evening News to write profiles of the eleven players who started the 1981 final.
For the last few days I have been posting these profiles, one a day, free to read here. These will only be free to view until May 16, so please take time to dig them out and read them while you can. Thanks.
Here’s the last of the eleven (appearing here as it was written in 2011)…
As we look forward to the 2011 FA Cup final, Gary James takes a look at the eleven players who made the starting line-up for City’s last FA Cup final in 1981. Today, goalscorer Tommy Hutchison.
33 year old Scottish international Tommy Hutchison became a cult hero for the Blues. A dedicated, consistent and skilful professional, he was also superbly fit.
Earlier he played for Alloa and Blackpool before signing for Coventry in 1972. It was an inspired purchase by former City boss Joe Mercer, who had been a fan of the player’s for some time, shortly after he had left Maine Road. Hutchison was later voted the greatest Coventry player of all time.
John Bond also recognised the player’s strengths, signing him for City eight years later: “I said I’ll give you £400 a week, which wasn’t the best wage in the world. His attitude was good and he signed without making a demand.”
Hutchison’s arrival helped City enormously. Bond: “There isn’t a City supporter anywhere who says anything but good about Tommy Hutchison. He was absolutely tremendous, and became a real star. He made everything happen. He was a revelation. I know people say this kind of thing a lot but he was a different class. I always enjoyed having him in my side.”
Hutchison of course played his part throughout the Cup campaign. In fact frustration had seen Everton’s Kevin Ratcliffe sent off for head-butting the City man in the 85th minute of the quarter-final. In the subsequent replay Hutchison created two goals within the space of three minutes.
In the 29th minute of the Wembley final, Hutchison dived to head a centre by Ranson. The diving header flew past Aleksic’s left hand from some distance out. It was the 150th goal scored in Wembley F.A. Cup finals.
As the game progressed City looked certain winners, then ten minutes from full-time Spurs had a free-kick. Ardiles tapped the ball to Hoddle, who curled it around City’s defensive wall. Corrigan was certain he had the shot covered but Hutchison, who had dropped back behind the wall for the free kick, somehow got in the way. The ball hit his shoulder and was diverted across goal for the Spurs equaliser.
Goalkeeper Joe Corrigan walked to a disconsolate Hutchison, lifted him up, patted him on the back and tried to encourage him: “My view was that we still had a few minutes left. We’d been on top for most of the game. We could still win. I also knew that what had happened to him could have happened to any one of us. So I just told him to “get up, get on with it. It’s only 1-1 and we are still going to win!” He was devastated to be fair, but we did almost win it in the dying minutes.”
That own goal guaranteed Hutchison a place in Wembley history as the first player to score for both sides in a FA Cup final – it even became a question in the Board game Trivial Pursuit – but it never changed how fans viewed him. He remains one of the Club’s biggest heroes, even though his time at City was ultimately too short. Hutchison was one of the biggest reasons why the Blues had reached Wembley, and the goal was simply an unfortunate incident, albeit a very important one.
A year after Wembley, Hutchison’s role as a stabilising force was over and he was transferred to Bulova (Hong Kong).
At the age of 43 he received a special merit award from the PFA to mark being the oldest player in League football while appearing for Swansea.
In 2011, Hutchison heads up Bristol City’s Football In The Community Scheme. It’s a role he has enjoyed for over a decade: “The great thing is seeing some young kids, who I first met 8 years ago when they were trouble waiting to happen, change. One even pulled a knife on me once. It’s great to see that our work has really made a difference.”
My biography of Peter Barnes is now available to subscribe to. Order by May 15 and you will receive a copy signed by me & Peter, the book posted to your home address before it appears in any shop AND your name printed in the book. Order (and more details) here:
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