If we hadnt got Big Mal in the 2nd time...

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I will give Big Mal something of a pass with Daley as City weren't the only club interested in him, most people thought he would be a star, I recall maybe a year before Jimmy Hill had picked his 1982 England team(so this was maybe 78ish)City ended up signing or having at the club nearly half it off the top of my head it included Williams/Futcher/Reeves/Daley/Barnes/Owen, it just goes to show you how wrong you can be!!!

Nobody ever gets those World Cup Squad in four years time lists right!

 

[aguerooooo]

One of the biggest mistakes after Daley was the purchase of Trevor Francis i was thrilled, but a, we couldnt afford him and b he was injury prone .Never forget his first game away at Stoke he scored twice and many thought we would go on to win the league

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

One of the biggest mistakes after Daley was the purchase of Trevor Francis i was thrilled, but a, we couldnt afford him and b he was injury prone .Never forget his first game away at Stoke he scored twice and many thought we would go on to win the league

I recall the sale of Francis, up until that time I thought we were a really big club, but as soon as he moved on and wasn't replace I knew we were fucked....I guess that's the loss of innocence!!!

 

[Blue Feather]

Steve Daley was apparently VERY good at Wolves and if we'd have got him for the original fee touted (500K?) and in the right environment things might have been different. Wrong place, wrong time and wrong fee !!!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Steve Daley was apparently VERY good at Wolves and if we'd have got him for the original fee touted (500K?) and in the right environment things might have been different. Wrong place, wrong time and wrong fee !!!

Just found this on YouTube.

 

[krswanny]

Malcolm did want Daley but Swales was responsible for the inflated price Mal bought Reeves he was at the club when Bondy arrived

Malcolm was the guest speaker at a sportsman's dinner years later and he told the tale of how he had agreed a fee of 350k for Daley with the then Wolves manager but as he was about to tell Peter Swales about the agreed deal Swales said I've just bought you Steve Daley for a million pounds

Malcolm was probably joking but you never know when Swales was involved. :)

 

[mscenterh750]

We possibly wouldn't have lost at Halifax!

And beaten York away.

 

[Stevieatlasblue]

My manager would have been Brian Clough and 2nd Bobby Robson.not a chance with Swales. He was poison

 

[WestGorton]

There's a David Frost-Brian Clough interview on You Tube where Clough admits that he would never have taken the Brighton job if the had known that the Man City job would suddenly have become available (I'm assuming this was the Johnny Hart resignation)

However, I've just finished I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES, and Forest also enjoyed some extraordinary good fortune to get promoted in the first place (not least an abandoned game which they were losing against Southampton.

Irunically, it also describes how quickly Clough realised that signing Asa Hartford was a mistake.

As for Big Mal, I think people forget that we were driving towards mediocrity before he returned.
Of course there were lots of mistakes, but John Bond selling Palmer Bennett, and Mackenzie were equally poor decisions, plus the way he treated Clive Wilson.

Cloughie coveted the City job. I remember we got 40k against Forest in 79 with a bus strike on when most of us used the bus. He eulogized about it.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Big Mal sold players like Hartford, Barnes, Owen (Barnes and Hartford being established internationals and Owen held the record for under 21 caps into the 90s)and while Palmer, Bennett and Mackenzie were good players I'm struggling to see equally poor...

The thing I took from the Granada documentary in regards Big Mal is that Corrigan was the next to be through the door, he wasn't a fan.

As for Clough, great manager but does anyone really believe that under Swales it would have been anything other than a circus

My point about Clough was merely to emphasise the fickle hand of fate., especially as Bowyer and Barrett were both City "rejects"

However, when Billy McNeill took over, City had a far worse team than the one Bond inherited from Allison.
That was because Bond had bought short -term and neglected players like Bennett amd Palmerr, both of.whom were superior to Parlane and Tplmie in the mid 80s.
Not disputing that Allison was a shipwreck, but Hartford and Barnes were both going backwards in 78-79, and neither regained their 75-77 form and flair.