From Francis, Tueart and Hutchison to Chris Jones, Bodak and Terry Park 81-83

marcus said:
What was the story with Bond jacking ? Was that due to his extra curricular activities up at that hotel in Disley ?
(now a boarding school, pass it all the time)
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There was an incident about some blues spitting at him or at least giving him dogs abuse after we got beat 4-0 at Brighton and he resigned after that. There were also the rumours that he would abandon the paperwork for a bit of "afternoon delight".
"Sky rockets in flight, afternoon delight"
 
Stiff Little Wingers said:
I went to Sunderland in the cup to see a boring 0-0 and to see my erstwhile long distance romance called Michaela. That's where the romance ended as I was sitting next to her in the Sunderland main stand and got gobbed on by a Sunderland fan calling me a fat Manchester shite to which Michaela promptly agreed and she then pissed off.
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I shouldn't laugh, but I will. That was a true laugh out loud moment. :-)

Whilst you were older than me at the start of the 1982-83 season (I was 10),I always seem to remember that the writing was on the wall, but you'll have a better idea of what the mood was in more adult environs.

Whilst we did miss Trevor Francis a lot in the 81-82 season and the loss of Dennis Tueart before Christmas was massive, for he was in the form of his life, I did really think the signs were there throughout the last few months of the season when we went from title challengers to tenth.

In truth, Gow, Hutchison and McDonald were fantastic for one season only. Everybody knew that Gerry Gow was somebody that could only be wheeled out so often by the end of 80-81, Tommy was a year on and much less effective and McDonald was brilliant in his first season and crap in the next two. In reality, the signing of Francis broke us and by the end of that season, the signings of the likes of Ryan and Hareide told us where we were going.

The ill-advised continuation with the Main Stand roof didn't help and we all knew that Francis would have to go. When it did, it broke the back of the fanbase, as our crowds dipped by almost 10,000 overnight and that team that had perhaps flattered in its overachievement in 1981 started to get found out as John Bond lost his initial magic.

The opening three games were ones we would have expected to win (although Watford ultimately surprised everybody by finishing second) and Cross and Baker started well. We weren't great but we should never have been bad enough to go down, and I don't think we would have had John Bond not left on a whim after getting some abuse following the Brighton debacle.

From that point on, we were as bad as any City side I have ever seen in the top flight. The games at Coventry, Southampton and Swansea were shameful surrenders, and when United beat us 2-1 (I think it was only our third home defeat of the season - in March), they were taunting us about going down, yet we were only 15th. They knew the writing was on the wall for us. We were on such a slide that there was no way out. The likes of Peter Bodak, Terry Park and Ivan Golac hanging around said it all, and when even Joe Corrigan went out of the door, it was only going to head one way.

That said, when we won at Brighton, I think most of us thought we'd be ok, but then came that fateful day. Perhaps we should never have lost that too, but when City go close to the trap door on the final day, be it up or down, we always go through it.

The appointment of John Benson clearly was a deal breaker, as he couldn't raise his players, but ultimately they lost all fight too and they had to look at themselves. I think the club had had its heart ripped out and the players, seeing that most would be on their way to balance the books at the end of the season, lost all motivation.
 
DD said:
I shouldn't laugh, but I will. That was a true laugh out loud moment. :-)

Whilst you were older than me at the start of the 1982-83 season (I was 10),I always seem to remember that the writing was on the wall, but you'll have a better idea of what the mood was in more adult environs.

Whilst we did miss Trevor Francis a lot in the 81-82 season and the loss of Dennis Tueart before Christmas was massive, for he was in the form of his life, I did really think the signs were there throughout the last few months of the season when we went from title challengers to tenth.

In truth, Gow, Hutchison and McDonald were fantastic for one season only. Everybody knew that Gerry Gow was somebody that could only be wheeled out so often by the end of 80-81, Tommy was a year on and much less effective and McDonald was brilliant in his first season and crap in the next two. In reality, the signing of Francis broke us and by the end of that season, the signings of the likes of Ryan and Hareide told us where we were going.

The ill-advised continuation with the Main Stand roof didn't help and we all knew that Francis would have to go. When it did, it broke the back of the fanbase, as our crowds dipped by almost 10,000 overnight and that team that had perhaps flattered in its overachievement in 1981 started to get found out as John Bond lost his initial magic.

The opening three games were ones we would have expected to win (although Watford ultimately surprised everybody by finishing second) and Cross and Baker started well. We weren't great but we should never have been bad enough to go down, and I don't think we would have had John Bond not left on a whim after getting some abuse following the Brighton debacle.

From that point on, we were as bad as any City side I have ever seen in the top flight. The games at Coventry, Southampton and Swansea were shameful surrenders, and when United beat us 2-1 (I think it was only our third home defeat of the season - in March), they were taunting us about going down, yet we were only 15th. They knew the writing was on the wall for us. We were on such a slide that there was no way out. The likes of Peter Bodak, Terry Park and Ivan Golac hanging around said it all, and when even Joe Corrigan went out of the door, it was only going to head one way.

That said, when we won at Brighton, I think most of us thought we'd be ok, but then came that fateful day. Perhaps we should never have lost that too, but when City go close to the trap door on the final day, be it up or down, we always go through it.

The appointment of John Benson clearly was a deal breaker, as he couldn't raise his players, but ultimately they lost all fight too and they had to look at themselves. I think the club had had its heart ripped out and the players, seeing that most would be on their way to balance the books at the end of the season, lost all motivation.
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great post mate. I don’t think many of us really expected to lose the Luton game. I remember being stunned at full time, a bit like Porto in the summer.
 
DD said:
I shouldn't laugh, but I will. That was a true laugh out loud moment. :-)

Whilst you were older than me at the start of the 1982-83 season (I was 10),I always seem to remember that the writing was on the wall, but you'll have a better idea of what the mood was in more adult environs.

Whilst we did miss Trevor Francis a lot in the 81-82 season and the loss of Dennis Tueart before Christmas was massive, for he was in the form of his life, I did really think the signs were there throughout the last few months of the season when we went from title challengers to tenth.

In truth, Gow, Hutchison and McDonald were fantastic for one season only. Everybody knew that Gerry Gow was somebody that could only be wheeled out so often by the end of 80-81, Tommy was a year on and much less effective and McDonald was brilliant in his first season and crap in the next two. In reality, the signing of Francis broke us and by the end of that season, the signings of the likes of Ryan and Hareide told us where we were going.

The ill-advised continuation with the Main Stand roof didn't help and we all knew that Francis would have to go. When it did, it broke the back of the fanbase, as our crowds dipped by almost 10,000 overnight and that team that had perhaps flattered in its overachievement in 1981 started to get found out as John Bond lost his initial magic.

The opening three games were ones we would have expected to win (although Watford ultimately surprised everybody by finishing second) and Cross and Baker started well. We weren't great but we should never have been bad enough to go down, and I don't think we would have had John Bond not left on a whim after getting some abuse following the Brighton debacle.

From that point on, we were as bad as any City side I have ever seen in the top flight. The games at Coventry, Southampton and Swansea were shameful surrenders, and when United beat us 2-1 (I think it was only our third home defeat of the season - in March), they were taunting us about going down, yet we were only 15th. They knew the writing was on the wall for us. We were on such a slide that there was no way out. The likes of Peter Bodak, Terry Park and Ivan Golac hanging around said it all, and when even Joe Corrigan went out of the door, it was only going to head one way.

That said, when we won at Brighton, I think most of us thought we'd be ok, but then came that fateful day. Perhaps we should never have lost that too, but when City go close to the trap door on the final day, be it up or down, we always go through it.

The appointment of John Benson clearly was a deal breaker, as he couldn't raise his players, but ultimately they lost all fight too and they had to look at themselves. I think the club had had its heart ripped out and the players, seeing that most would be on their way to balance the books at the end of the season, lost all motivation.
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I agree with your very good post. I think many people were just staggered at the speed of the decline and as others have said, most really didn't think we would go down. After all, we were only 3 sodding minutes away from survival.
I loved football in the 70's, of course I was quite young but it was competitive with a number of good teams including us and I always thought we'd be up there. We should really have won the league twice in 72 and 76-77 which would have brought 2 European cup runs. We were generally great at Maine Rd mid seventies and to go from having Bell. Tueart, Marsh, Hartford, Royle, a young Barnes to just 7/8 years later and relegation and then from the excitement of the cup final to see Ivan Golac unveiled was almost surreal
The crowd dip was alarming at the start of 82-83 but if I remember rightly, crowds everywhere were down as was the country at the height of Thatcherism and the standard of football pretty low overall.
You're right about Benson. Trust us to have a reverse new manager bounce - we got 2 points from his first 9 games!!!!!!
Despite it all, some good moments like Bobby Mac in net for almost the whole game v Watford and not knowing his bearings or the rules and then Tueart getting the winner to put us top after 3 games, a friend and me getting chased by Spurs fans after we beat them 2-1 at White Hart Lane but luckily my mate got hit by a car (albeit slow moving) which helped me out, Tueart's brilliant free kick in front of the North Stand when Asa flicked it up for him.
 
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