Favourite, Non-City, players of all time?

[raglanblue]

aa few good wingers not mentioned-jimmy johnston laurie cunningham dave thomas eddie gray kevin keegan

 

[bennyboy]

aa few good wingers not mentioned-jimmy johnston laurie cunningham dave thomas eddie gray kevin keegan

I would add John Robertson of Forest and Charlie Cooke to that list.
Robertson.Seemingly a 40 a day man,liked a pint or three and the worst trainer ever but he could go bye a man and cross a ball.See how he made the goal in the first and scored in the second of Forests European Cup wins.
Cooke was just brilliant on his day.So was that Sexton side though.Osgood,Hudson,Bonetti,Houseman,Hutchison and a wee bit of Chopper Harris for good measure.Try and watch the cup final replay v Leeds if you get a chance.You will see the dirtiest final ever.
Jimmy Johnstone was superb as well.67 European Cup final amazing performance,Leeds semi final at Hampden took Terry Cooper to the cleaners.
Eddie Gray on his day was brilliant as well although career was ruined by injury.
Dave Thomas was great for QPR.Did QPR not sign Stan Bowles from City.If so whats the story behind it,Bowles seemed an ideal player for City.

Add in Steve Highway as well.Another brilliant winger.

 

[Dyed Petya]

Did QPR not sign Stan Bowles from City.If so whats the story behind it,Bowles seemed an ideal player for City.

Bowles was released by City for disciplinary reasons after being at the club as an apprentice, though he did play in our first team by the time we let him go. Betting was his big vice, which he's still well known for. He went to Bury, was picked up by Carlisle (in the old Second Division at the time) and starred there, which attracted the attention of QPR. Ironically, he went there to replace Rodney Marsh when Marsh was signed by City.

Marsh played his last City game the month before I attended my first so I never saw him play. however, I do remember Stan Bowles at QPR when I was a kid, and I used to see him even then and regret that we hadn't kept hold of him.

Below is an extract from an interview Bowles gave to Inside Poker magazine which explains what happened at City (full text, focusing mainly on his time at QPR, here: http://www.insidepokermag.co.uk/football/features/1032/the_players.html).

Bowles placed his first bet when he was just 15 and already had an appetite for punting before catching his first break in football. ‘I was working in a raincoat factory in Manchester. The bloke I worked for gave me a tip one day and it won. About £40 came in, which, without sounding like an old bugger, was a lot of money in those days. I thought, “Fucking hell, this is the game to be in.” Boy, did I get it wrong. Now I can’t walk past a betting shop without going in. You get immune to losing, and money becomes valueless.

‘I’ve never tried to stop the gambling. It’s part of me and has been pretty much all of my adult life. When I was an apprentice at City, I was earning £7 a week, but I’d run the bets across town for a Manchester gang, from pub to pub when it was illegal to do that. I was earning more doing that than I was from football. That’s how I got myself into trouble at City – because I wasn’t turning up for training.’

With his days in Manchester numbered, the release forms were soon to arrive. Short spells at Bury and Carlisle followed, before London and QPR came calling in 1972. The glory years were about to begin. Bowles spent nearly eight seasons with Rangers, and was an integral part of Dave Sexton’s side that finished second in the First Division in 1976, losing the championship to Liverpool on the final day of the season.