Bert Trautmann

[FantasyIreland]

I have a photo i was lucky enough to have taken with him prior to 96:20.

One of my very favourites,obviously.

 

[i kne albert davy]

Was you on one of my coaches.

We're you the lad who ran them from Benidorm to the game from the bar a bit away from the beach, if so yep and thanks it was brilliant was hoping we'd have got Villarreal in semi to repeat the trip.

 

[JGL07]

Remember my dad going on about frank Swift and Bert Trautmann,always mentioned City always had a great knack of having good keepers and with these 2 being right up there as the best in their era,

My father reckoned that Bert was so good as a goalkeeper because he got plenty of practise!

 

[Cotontoquinn]

Any idea why Bert's not in a goalkeeper's jersey?

Bizarre - this is a real mystery to solve…..Any Bluemooners at this game?

 

[petrusha]

Remember my dad going on about frank Swift and Bert Trautmann,always mentioned City always had a great knack of having good keepers and with these 2 being right up there as the best in their era.

My father reckoned that Bert was so good as a goalkeeper because he got plenty of practise!

Swift and Trautmann were both widely acknowledged by football experts and other fans around at the relevant times to be comfortably the best 'keeper in the English league for the large bulk of their careers. That means City had the country's top goalkeeper from basically the mid-thirties until the early sixties, when Bert's form dropped off a little bit as he neared forty and Gordon Banks emerged as England's first choice.

My favourite quote about Bert was mentioned in a piece about City's eccentricities by the former Guardian football correspondent Paul Fitzpatrick back in the seventies or eighties. Referring to City's record-breaking 1957/8 campaign, he noted we'd been the only side ever in the English professional game to score and concede 100 league goals in the same season. He went on to note that we'd have probably conceded 300 had we not had Trautmann in goal!

 

[mac]

We're you the lad who ran them from Benidorm to the game from the bar a bit away from the beach, if so yep and thanks it was brilliant was hoping we'd have got Villarreal in semi to repeat the trip.

From Rachel's it was. Glad you liked it. I got some serious threats from Bars for doing that. Lol

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I think that's right. It's a fascinating story in itself, even if he hadn't been a very successful footballer. It's not often that you get a sportsman (or an artist; still less a politician) who builds bridges across communities. Apparently even the Jewish community in Manchester accepted him.

Not wild about statues of living players, at all, or even stands being named. But I really think if any other stand at the Etihad were to be named, it should definitely be the Trautmann stand. Probably opposite the Bell stand would be best.

I said the same about a decade back and said “we should do it before he dies”, but it didn’t happen.

 

[Legal Alien]

Remember my dad going on about frank Swift and Bert Trautmann,always mentioned City always had a great knack of having good keepers and with these 2 being right up there as the best in their era,also talked about Bert not playing for Germany as he settled in England and not returning home,an absolute travesty,my dad saw both play at Maine road as he went to the games while he was in the merchant Navy and were based around Manchester or just outside apparently,although not totally clued up on this ..oh my dad always had a soft spot for City even though his team was Chelsea..opps sorry for derailing the thread slightly ..

When i was a kid, i could always get my Grandad and Dad going about who was better Frank Swift (Grandad's favourite) or Bert Trautmann (Dad's favourite). It was funny to see them get worked up and passionate about them, but i also realised how lucky they were to have seen us play with two of the greatest ever goalkeepers.

They would always end by saying that i was unlucky because we'd never see keeper's like them again and so far they have been right!

 

[BillCarlisle]

Bizarre - this is a real mystery to solve…..Any Bluemooners at this game?

It's possible that he wore the City shirt under his goalie's jersey, having taken off the latter just before the photo was taken. On the other hand if could have been a deliberate show of friendship with Bert, Law & Charlton all in the Sky Blue. Perhaps Gary James may be able to shed some light on it ?

 

[i kne albert davy]

From Rachel's it was. Glad you liked it. I got some serious threats from Bars for doing that. Lol

Liked it was an under statement we're back in March for son in law to be's stag do, i'll get you a drink of appreciation if you're around :-)