Tag Archives: Malcolm Allison

60 Years Ago: Malcolm Allison Ban For Criticising Referees

This week in 1966 Manchester City assistant manager Malcolm Allison was in trouble for criticising refereeing decisions on the radio. He was irate at inconsistencies seen and suggested that referees were ‘homers’ (giving decisions to home teams rather than being fair to both sides). Inevitably, his comments brought censure from the FA but he did receive a lot of support from fans. Here’s a selection of the newspaper coverage as it appears in the 1965-66 scrapbook I have:

You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Manchester City 2 Grimsby 0 FAC Tie

Today (12 February) in 1966 a goal from Mike Summerbee and an own goal brought City a 2-0 FA Cup win over Grimsby Town. The victory brought great praise City’s way. Were you at Maine Road that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments. Here for subscribers are match reports from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Bristol City 1 Manchester City 1

Today (5 February) in 1966 a goal from Neil Young brought City a 1-1 draw at promotion chasing Bristol City. League leaders Manchester City saw this as a point gained rather than one dropped and the wider media coverage talked positively of Manchester’s side. Were you at Bristol that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments.

Here for subscribers are match reports from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Manchester City 3 Middlesbrough 1

Today (29 January) in 1966 goals from Mike Summerbee (2) and Neil Young brought City a 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough and left City top of Division Two. It was a convincing win (Malcolm Allison boasted how City could have scored 6) but fans actually felt dissatisfied at the end as the Blues had eased off. Here’s the League table from after that game:

Here for subscribers are match reports from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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The Allison Curse and City’s Nightmare at Halifax

Malcolm Allison’s multi-million pound Manchester City side were humbled 1-0 at Fourth Division Halifax Town in the FAC on this day (5 January) in 1980 but there’s so much more to it than that. At Christmas 1979 big spending City were 12th in the League and Malcolm Allison was in charge of the most expensive British team ever assembled up to that point.12th was disappointing of course but it wasn’t the end of the world. In those days a decent run in the League could easily lift a team (similar to the 2025-26 season in terms of the number of clubs capable of winning the League at Christmas). Sadly, City collapsed in the weeks that followed.  

A 1-1 draw at Stoke on Boxing Day was disappointing, but it wasn’t the end of the world.  Then a 4-1 defeat at First Division newcomers Brighton knocked confidence at an important time.  The next game was the third round F.A. Cup clash against Fourth Division Halifax Town at the Shay.

In his programme notes for the match Halifax Manager George Kirby predicted a shock:  “In today’s F.A. Cup 3rd round the only certainty is that there are going to be some surprises, especially with the wintry conditions underfoot.  I like to think that we are among one of the possible giant killers.  This is because we are playing against one of the certain to be ‘top teams’ of the 80s.  A 4th Div side at home to a 1st Div outfit with such stars as Joe Corrigan, Steve Daley, and Mike Robinson is a possible shock result.  It only needs an off day by a key player and Halifax are in the hunt.”

Kirby was determined to defeat football’s biggest spenders and even brought in an hypnotist, Romark (who had previously ‘cursed’ Allison while the City boss had been manager of Crystal Palace – a really interesting story which will be covered in my biography of Peter Barnes to be published in 2021), to get his players in the right frame of mind.  The game itself was played in horrendous conditions, with multi-million pound City struggling to achieve anything.  In the 75th minute it was all over as the ex-Birmingham City player Paul Hendrie converted a cross from former City schoolboy Andy Stafford to give Halifax a 1-0 victory.  It was the biggest result in Halifax history, and the most embarrassing City defeat of the Allison period.  Even today the name of Halifax and the sight of the Shay brings back nightmares for a large number of Blues.

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From My Collection: The 1967-68 Champions

Here’s an odd item from my collection. It’s a compliment slip by a Star Press (the ‘champion printers’) which lists the players in Manchester City’s 1967-68 title winning team. There are a couple of spelling mistakes. See if you can spot them. One side of the compliments slip shows the League Champions and the other side looks like this:

I’m not certain if there was a close connection between Manchester City and Star Press at this time.

You can find out more about the 1967-68 season by reading the following subscriber article. If you’d like to read this 7,600 word article (yes, 7,600 words on one season!), plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other seasonal features it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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The First Time: Manchester City V Real Madrid

Almost 46 years since their first ever meeting Manchester City and Real Madrid meet tomorrow (10 December 2025) in the Champions League. I doubt anyone in the media covering the game will mention the first meeting but if there is anyone interested it took place on 19 December in 1979. Back in 1979 the game was considered a prestigious friendly, or at least that’s what it was supposed to be, but it turned out to be a controversial game with implications for the Blues for some time. Here for subscribers is an 1800 word article with images of that game and the controversy surrounding it.

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Malcolm Allison Autographed Copy of The Pride of Manchester

As part of my tidy-up of my collection I have a copy of The Pride of Manchester signed by Malcolm Allison available if anyone wants to buy it. I’m open to offers and will accept the best offer received by Sunday 30 November. The book was published in 1991 and originally retailed at £21.95. It was, at the time, the full history of the men’s Manchester Derby.

The dedication by Big Mal is ‘To Gary’, so if you’ve got a Gary in your family maybe it would be worth buying it for them. I’ll also be happy to write a personal dedication for the buyer.

Malcolm signed this copy when I interviewed him at his home in Yarm about Joe Mercer in 1992-93. The dustjacket is damaged a little with wear and tear at top and bottom. The book is over 30 years old so inevitably will show some wear and tear, but is in a good condition overall.

Minimum offer is £26 to cover UK postage and book original value.

To make your offer email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com with your bid (including UK postage; I won’t be blue to post this outside the UK unfortunately). I’ll review all offers on 30 November and will let everybody know as soon as I can after that.

The 1960s: Watch This Penalty from Plymouth v Manchester City!

On this day (21 November) in 1964 Manchester City travelled away to Plymouth Argyle. The Blues lost 3-2 but you really need to take a look at this penalty captured on film that day. Malcolm Allison (seen here at my Joe Mercer book launch in 1993) was the Plymouth manager back then, so I guess he had a hand in the plan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2iuw4NBYCI

You can read more on Malcolm Allison (and listen to an interview I did with him), Plymouth and on Manchester City in the 1960s across this website. Why not sta, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1964-65 season. This was a remarkable season when a City director held meetings, hoping to merge City and United! Plus much more. If you’d like to read this 2350 word article, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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Invacars at Maine Road

Here’s some film from a Manchester City-Derby County game at Maine Road on this day (14 November) in 1970. The film has a few things to look out for including a Colin Bell goal and scenes of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison, but you can also see the Invacars that used to be used by disabled people and they were allowed to park pitchside. You can see them a couple of times in this footage (look out after about 19 seconds at the top of the image) positioned in front of the Kippax/Platt Lane Corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFQWc_pumhQ

The game ended 1-1 in front of 31,817 at Maine Road. Subscribers can read about this season for Manchester City below. This is a 5,200 word article on the entire 1970-71 season. Enjoy!

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