A evening with Rodney Marsh

bobbyowenquiff said:
Spot-on. Gordon Banks cost us the league with a miraculous display when we lost at home to Stoke. The other key moment in the run-in was a diabolical referee away at Ipswich where we also lost 2-1. We finished fourth but only one point behind the winners Derby County. I believe we had the best team that year but fell at the final hurdle. Rodney Marsh destroyed United at the swamp during that run-in but no one mentions that.
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Funnily enough was going to mention that yesterday in answer to some of the comments about him…..he’d scored two against West Ham the previous Saturday and then Big Mal dropped him to Substitute for the Derby…..he came on and scored in a great 3.1 victory.

I was there that night with my dad as an 11 year old and the atmosphere was electric and the City fans really did believe we were winning the league.

Marsh did split opinion….I remember my grandad who obviously loved the fast free flowing football of the late sixties team (who were still largely together when Marsh signed) absolutely despised him.

However, I still remember the day he actually signed and reading it in the MEN and being really excited and thinking he was our answer to Best, even though we were the better team at the time…just like now.

He had to go off with cramp on his debut against Chelsea, when he put an extra 15000 fans on the gate …we got 53000 at that game compared to the usual 38000 (or sometimes lower)

I loved watching Marsh and I suppose there are some comparisons with Grealish, including the way he was perceived to slow the tempo down, drawing fouls and not being particularly quick, but extremely skilful and also the way he split opinion with fans, including my grandad, who would never praise him even after an absolute blinder.
His exit from City mirrors Grealish !

We went from Arthur Mann at £65000 being our record buy to Marsh at £200000.

Definitely a part of our history and who for me gave me nearly four years of pleasure and excitement.
 
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gordondaviesmoustache said:
His time at the club slightly predated my support of City so I never saw him live, but not overly impressed with what I’ve seen on camera. Looked cumbersome and slow to me. Great first touch though. And another big City character.

The way he was hounded out of broadcasting, because of one off-the-cuff, ill-judged comment was an absolute fucking disgrace.
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Like me I never saw Marsh play live but got to say I don't find him cumbersome in the footage I've seen GDM. Rather a tall elegant player,speed not being his best asset,but the ball control dribbling from the wing ..and pure entertainment.beating a full back twice.because he could.
Not sure if he unbalanced City when he joined as I was too young to see him play live, but he was definitely one of the most dangerous wingers in England for Qpr who had a fine side back in the 70s
Great player from what I can see.
 
frothy said:
It was a really enjoyable night, really nice bloke with some brilliant memories, also had a table with some City legends, Willie Donachie, Kenny Clements, Paul Lake, David White , had a few so hope I've spelt their names right before the sad grammar police get to work
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Great stuff any good stories frothy?
He was a bit of a lad during his time playing in Florida
 
bluegaz13 said:
I was there that night with my dad as an 11 year old and the atmosphere was electric and the City fans really did believe we were winning the league.
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Funnily enough I was in the standing paddock along the side of the pitch for that one. Not sure why. I think it was the only time I stood there. Great view though of the uncovered scoreboard end (opposite to the Stretford),what seemed like a mass of sky blue going crazy when he scored. As I remember it, he cut from the right to the left, going across the edge of the box, before hitting a screamer.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
Spot-on. Gordon Banks cost us the league with a miraculous display when we lost at home to Stoke. The other key moment in the run-in was a diabolical referee away at Ipswich where we also lost 2-1. We finished fourth but only one point behind the winners Derby County. I believe we had the best team that year but fell at the final hurdle. Rodney Marsh destroyed United at the swamp during that run-in but no one mentions that.
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My first swamp away game, sat on the wooden fence at the front.....thought it'd always be like that.

Had to wait a fucking long time to be getting results there regularly.
 
blue b4 the moon said:
My first swamp away game, sat on the wooden fence at the front.....thought it'd always be like that.

Had to wait a fucking long time to be getting results there regularly.
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My first away match was the 4-1 win at the swamp with a Lee hatrick in 1970. I was in the cantilever stand with a rag pal aged 11 surrounded by United fans. We used his dad’s season tickets. We won a lot at Old Trafford in those days.
 
blue b4 the moon said:
My first swamp away game, sat on the wooden fence at the front.....thought it'd always be like that.

Had to wait a fucking long time to be getting results there regularly.
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That win was City’s fifth in a row in the League at Old Trafford. The next season was a draw followed by the Denis Law backheel goal match to make it six wins in seven seasons.
 
The real reason why City weren't league champions in 71-72 was our appalling record against the two bottom teams, Huddersfield and Forest, plus the hammerings we took at our main three rivals, Derby, Leeds and Liverpool.

There's a bit of an urban myth about Rodney Marsh costing City the league, and yet as somebody alluded earlier, he always seems to play up to it.

Firstly, when he signed for City, we were top of the league with only 9 games remaining.

However Derby had two games in hand, and on the same day as Marsh's debut (1-0 v Chelsea) they beat Leicester 3-0. and then won their first game in hand (Ipswich 1-0) the following midweek.

Leeds had a game in hand, but were playing Spurs in the FA Cup on the same day as Marsh's debut, so this effectively became two games in hand.

Meanwhile, Liverpool also had a game in hand and actually won their next 8 games, so were undeniably the most consistent.

Once we unluckily lost to Stoke, on the same day as Derby beating Leeds (when we needed them to draw) it was already out of our hands, and by the time we won at Old Trafford, we were relying on other results to go in our favour, especially as Derby and Liverpool still had to face each other.

However, we then dropped more points and so by the time Marsh finally weaved his magic to beat Derby at Maine Road, it was too late as both Leeds and Liverpool won on the same day.

The Final table actually looks closer than it was, because Leeds lost to Wolves and handed the title to Derby.
 
JGL07 said:
I don’t know where they got the ‘replaced Wyn Davies’ from. Davies started in the first eight (out of nine) League matches for City after Marsh signed. It was Tony Towers who was initially replaced by Marsh.
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It was and that was Tony Towers best season for us and to drop him at the expense of Marsh was ludicrous on Big Mal.
 
As Franny says on his book, for all the blame people laid on the signing of Marsh, if we would have signed a top keeper (like Banks who had been mentioned more than once and ended up at Stoke), we would have won a lot more.
 
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