Colin Bell RIP - Ian Cheeseman interview with Jon Bell (P142)

stan bowles said:
As I recall England were leading 2-1 when Sir Alf made 2 substitutions (Norman Hunter for Martin Peters and Colin for Booby Charlton). West Germany had just scored with that shot by Beckenbauer that went under Bonetti. Some argue the substitutions signalled that England were happy to try and see out the game and that gave WG the additional momentum. Others that taking off a 32yo Charlton in the blazing heat of Mexico to save him for the semi final and replacing him with the fittest, strongest squad member in Bell was a sensible move. Colin set up a great chance for Hurst that missed by inches and was brought down for a certain penalty by Beckenbauer that wasn't given. Remember that the referee was from Argentina. Four years earlier Ramsey had called the Argentines "animals" in the QF at Wembley - something they had felt insulted by. He also said that Mexico was not a safe country from a food and hygiene standpoint so that had offended the authorities of the host country. Everyone was rooting against England so it's no surprising decisions went against them.

WG - a great team - piled the pressure on and equalized through that freak backward header by Seeler, with Bonetti caught in no mans land as it sailed over him to take the game into extra time. England, under Ramsey, relied heavily on their full backs (Newton and Cooper) to get forward and overlap to support attacks but in the heat and humidity of Mexico were vulnerable defensively and as extra time wore on WG exploited this and substitute winger Grabowski set up the winner by beating Cooper and crossing for the great predator Gerd Mueller to smash in the winner.

Of course the media had to look for someone to blame and sacrificing the legendary Booby Charlton (the darling of '66) was an easy target with which to beat Ramsey with. Charlton had an average World Cup in 1970, he was clearly past his best, but still had value as an emblem of the heartbeat of the '66 team and opponents still respected him.

Even after 1970, when Colin was an automatic choice for England, he still missed a fair few games with injuries but it's true that when fit he was an automatic starter both under Ramsey, Mercer (of course) and Revie . Unfortunately due to Norman Hunter's and Shilton's errors, England drew 1-1 v Poland and missed out on qualification to the 1974 World Cup. Of course, the injury in November 1975 brought his international career to an abrupt end. His tally of caps should have been near double what it was.
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Great post mate, being born in 1972 I obviously don’t remember this World Cup but I have watched footage and read about the game and you have filled in a few gaps in my knowledge. The anti-England angle is interesting seeing as though the war was still in living memory (makes me think there is a link with the Bobby Moore arrest). My understanding is the substitution meant Beckenbauer was free to join the attack although I don’t recall any blame on Colin, much more on Bonetti, if anything from your description it was a good change by Ramsey. Surely having to chase the game would have the German defender pushing up front anyway?
 
Silvercloud said:
Never saw him play but like many other blues my age, he was my Dad's hero. Listened to him & my late Grandad talk about him over many a pint.
Even after the great players we've had over the last 10 years, The King was still head & shoulders above them in my Dad's eyes.
I managed to bag a couple of tickets for The Legends Lounge a few years ago. We knew we'd see a couple of ex players but didn't know who.
We were sat on a table, appreciating the free booze. My dad had his back to the doors & I was facing them.
I saw Bell walk in & asked my Dad what he'd do if he was one of the Legends? He put his pint down & said "Don't!"
He turned around & saw he was 20ft away from the bloke who he had admired from afar for decades. He turned back to me & said, "it's really him".
My Dad had regressed to a 10 year old kid with all the excitement of waking up Christmas Day morning.
He managed to grab a few words with him, had his photo talking to him. The day could have ended there & then for my Dad, he'd met his hero & even managed to shake his hand.
He was in awe, watching him walk around the room, doing the corporate thing to many other other Blues.
The result was unimportant from that point. He didn't care about the match, the free beer (he did take advantage of it though) or the rest of the day. The King had made a 60 year old bloke the happiest man in the earth.
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That's a brilliant post mate.

I was too young to remember him in his prime but what has been confirmed looking at all the moving tributes is not only was he a fantastic footballer but even more importantly a fantastic human being. RIP The King.
 
Rascal said:
I think my answer to you was Colin Bell and 19 others.

Every club has hero's and legend's, Bell was the King of the Kippax, our greatest outfield player.

To put into a little context, at that time our Neighbours had George Best, Bobby Charlton and our Denis Law, but we could hold our heads up high because we had Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Colin the King. They were European Champions and we were English Champions and Manchester was the centre of the football world.

As good as United's triumvarate were (and they were fantastic), i have yet to find a Blue who saw that City side, the team of Mercer and Allison who would have swopped our three greats for Sir Matt's three greats.

The kids would be Bell or Best, Lee or Law, Summerbee or Charlton on the playground and we were equals.

It was heady times for us Blues, we would win at OT for fun, because as any Blue will tell you, our three greats were better than there three greats.

I grew up on tales from my Grandad of seeing King George at Hyde Road, of seeing Frank Swift and Bert Trautmann, of Dave Ewing and Roy Paul and my Grandads favourite Peter Doherty and a lad he adored a winger called Waggy. My Grandad loved football, he thought George Best was a wonderful player even though he hated United with a passion, not the hatred there is now, a friendly more benign hatred.

My Grandad loved Colin the King, his second favourite player, after Peter Doherty, George Best was third.

Colin the King was my hero, he was who I loved most, my grandad would take me as a small boy to watch them train at Cheadle Town FC , our training ground at the time, it ignited my love for City and it remains a love i will have to my dying days.

When my Uncle Vin was in hospital dying of cancer , we took him in City video's of Colin Bell and our greatest team so he could watch and be at peace. City are important to my family, my Grandad made sure of that.

A small part of me has gone with the King's passing, I loved him like no other.
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That is a powerful post mate. Heartfelt and genuine.

I am sad today and yesterday as Colin Bell always reminds me of my beloved Dad. Dad’s gone now but he was of that generation, nicer than mine I have to say, that could support City without viscerally hating United. A gentler and nicer time.

Dad wasn’t a crazy City fan, he could watch United without frothing at the mouth, probably because his Dad was one of those cliches that went to see both. My uncle was a red for instance.

But there were two players Dad would wax lyrical about, to the point of getting misty eyed sometimes. Roy Paul, and Colin Bell. Roy Paul was before my time so of course as I actually got to see Colin play he became my hero as I wanted to be like my Dad. Dad would have been devastated with this news but as it is I’m quite sure he’ll be having a celestial pint last night with his own Dad and toasting the king.

It was what you said about George Best that made me think. Brought back a lot of memories. One of the very few times my Dad ever lost his temper with me as a kid (He was incredibly mild and gentle my Dad, he didn’t do anger really) was when I was watching telly and Best came on (think it was Wogan, can’t remember) and I called him something not very nice. Dad went mental and properly put me in my place. Taught me a lesson about respecting others that did. Sadly I haven’t always kept to it.

My wish, albeit an adventurous one, is that fans are allowed back in time for the CL final and I get to see,hear, and experience 30 or 40k of them singing the Colin Bell song in honour of the great man.

A gentleman, A rare footballer, and by all accounts a humble, decent husband and father.

God rest the King.
 
ahoyhoy said:
I've just checked other club forums & they're all very complimentary about him. There's even a thread on a fishing forum about his passing
He was universally admirred
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Unless you were a big fan of bolshy, show off gobshites mate, there was never anything to dislike about the man, one of those few players where no matter who they played for, they were that good and that humble and decent, you didn't really care, you just enjoyed watching a master craftsman, there's not too many of those about these days.

Keep hearing lots of nice things said about Colin, people seem to be comparing him the KDB a lot, which is fair enough, but I'd go further and add many traits of a prime Fern to that too, would have loved to have seen him in the modern game and what he would have become.
 
I found it impossible to post anything last night because of the emotion, which surprised me to be honest. My age is such that my first games coincided with his ill-fated attempt at recovery from THAT tackle so I never saw him in his prime. Like so many on here, it was all second hand from my Dad and that, I think, is why it's hit me so hard. Dad, whom we lost the best part of a decade ago, had a season ticket all through the 60s and 70s and I was brought up on tales of that team and Colin the King in particular. It obviously worked as, despite living in London for 30 years, me and the 3 kids have had season tickets since the youngest was able to make the trip to the Etihad and back. I still remember our first trip to the shop where, after the usual kerfuffle about replica shirts, names, numbers and the cost of a Premier League arm badge, they absolutely had to buy grandad a present and it absolutely had to be a Colin Bell mug. It's still nestled in mum's cupboard for whenever the hell we can visit her again. I'd give anything to be sitting with dad reminiscing about The King whilst he enjoyed a brew from that mug.

I'm sure there are mixed views on Mark Hodkinson's book the 98/99 season but his chapter on Colin is heartfelt and deeply respectful. After a typically self-effacing interview with the great man, it ends with the simple observation that "nobility will never go out of fashion".

Damn right
 
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