Tag Archives: Malcolm Allison

MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1968-69

The League Matches

As League champions, the Blues were expected to coast through the 1968-9 season, particularly as the Charity Shield match against Cup winners West Bromwich Albion ended in a comfortable 6-1 City victory.  Unfortunately life is rarely that easy and only one of the first nine games ended in victory – a 3-2 win over Wolves.  The Blues simply could not get into the rhythm they had enjoyed the previous season.  One of the reasons for this was that they had embarked on a rather disastrous tour of America during the summer which, amongst other problems resulted in an injury to captain Tony Book  He was kept out of action until January.

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Manchester City’s First European Quarter-final

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, despite major success in England, reaching a European quarter-final was a bit of a rarity. So,I’ve decided to take a look back at Manchester City’s first ever European quarter-final, I’ve written this feature looking at the first time the Blues reached a UEFA organised tournament’s quarter-final. That was in 1969-70.

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IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES – Bobby Kennedy (Interviewed in April 2005)

Defender Bobby Kennedy proved to be a popular player after joining the Blues in 1961.  He went on to make 251 (plus 3 as sub) appearances for City over a seven year period and was a key member of City’s mid sixties side.  In April 2005 Gary James caught up with him at the stadium.

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Kaziu Deyna

Back in 2003 I wrote this profile of former Manchester City player and Polish World Cup star Kazimierz Deyna. Deyna was such an important and unusual signing at the time he joined City in November 1978 that I feel this article is still appropriate and of interest to subscribers to my blog today.

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Malcolm Allison

Manchester City at Sporting tonight… The great coach Malcolm Allison was a major trophy winner at both clubs, so here’s a feature on Allison’s Manchester City career with particular emphasis on his boasts, and City’s first European days for the Blues.

This article is available to subscribers to this site. If you’re not a subscriber, do a few searches on here and see what content is already on my site. This includes audio interviews with John Bond and others, plus the entire contents of two of my books.

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On This Day – The Story And Film of A Maine Road Manchester Derby

On this day (21st January) in 1967 the Blues played the Reds in the first Maine Road derby following City’s promotion in 1966. City had lost the Old Trafford derby 1-0 in September 1966 but had high hopes they could get something out of the return match.

The following article provides the background story to the Maine Road derby, a report, and film of the scenes around Maine Road that day (Mercer, Allison & Busby all appear; plus there’s film of fans outside the ground and then trying to climb into the Main Stand from the area behind the then still open Main Stand/Scoreboard End corner).

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MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1971-72

The Matches

Despite a 1-0 defeat by Leeds in the opening League fixture, 1971-72 was a season of excitement with the Blues managing to mount a serious title challenge.  There were several thrilling victories in the first two months, most notably the 4-0 victories over Crystal Palace and Tottenham in August.  Part of the credit for this went to City’s groundsman Stan Gibson who, under the direction of Malcolm Allison, had widened the pitch by 2 yards.  This made it the largest playing surface in England, and gave City’s team of entertainers plenty of freedom.

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MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1967-68

The Matches

As with the 1936-7 Championship season, the first few weeks gave little indication of what the Blues were ultimately to achieve as only one point – a goalless game with Liverpool – was obtained during the first three matches.  Fortunately, this was followed by a 5 match unbeaten run, lifting City into the top 5. 

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Complaints About MCFC Kits!

If you think that it’s only in recent years that fans have been upset when their club has tinkered with their colours then think again. Back in November 1969, shortly after City had worn red and black stripes for the first time, City and local media outlets were inundated with fans complaining about the new shirts. Here’s just a taste of the complaints. These letters (apologies for the poor scanning on my part) were right to talk of City’s traditional away colours as being maroon of course, but it’s interesting how now, 52 years later, many fans believe red and black stripes are City’s traditional away colours.

For the record City have worn maroon more than any other main colour (other than blue & white of course).

Joe Mercer Book Launch Video 1993

Back in 1993 my biography of Joe Mercer was published for the first time. We staged a book launch in the centre of Manchester attended by various footballers and friends of the Mercers. Myself, Norah Mercer, Malcolm Allison, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee all spoke at the launch which was ably compered by broadcaster James H Reeve. Here’s a trailer the speeches for subscribers to the si

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