Bell came back and played four games at the end of the 1975/6 season, scoring with a spectacular long-range shot in a 2-1 defeat at Leeds. He injured the knee again in what I've read was an apparently innocuous challenge by Arsenal's Trevor Ross, but obviously he hadn't recovered properly when he came back.
There's an interview out there somewhere in which Colin speaks about his treatment after the injury. He said that he was told that he had two options and one involved surgery, which would have kept him out for the rest of the 1975/6 season but was the safer choice. The club persuaded him not to have surgery, as they wanted him back for what they hoped at the time would be a decisive run-in.
As it turned out, we were never in with a serious chance of winning the title that year and had won the League Cup so had already made sure of our UEFA Cup spot. It wasn't remotely crucial to get him back after all, and he broke down again, with it taking almost 18 months before he even played in the reserves, What a tragedy.
Yes, two games that show Dennis at his best. I remember the 4-3 more clearly than I recall most of the early games I saw because it was such an exciting game (I was six years old at the time). Interesting that when Tueart breaks away alone from his own half to go round the 'keeper and score what turned out to be the winner, the Derby player running back desperately trying to clear off the line is none other than Franny Lee, more or less the last person you'd expect. (So I did see Franny play at Maine Road after all, just not for City!)
The 3-2 win in December 1976 was also a great game. Until I saw those brief highlights years later on YouTube, I'd always thought we came back from two down. In fact, after going behind, we levelled and then Derby went ahead again, so we actually turned it round from 2-1 down. Love the way Gerald Sinstadt just shouts out, "Beauty!" when Dennis fires home the later winner.
