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

[DontLookBackInAnger]

John Bond was the answer to nothing

He was the answer to our only 2 semi-final appearances in 30 years and not being relegated in 1980...

 

[Dirty Harry]

To make him the overlord of the football system with Swales overseeing the finances and negotiating the fees created a perfect storm in terms of shaping the most disastrous possible combination a major club could have ended up with in charge of its business and team affairs, each egging the other onto fresh insanity.

Probably sums it up best mate, I'd add to that that being in the wrong place and the wrong time when the big money was being handed out was pretty much the final nail in the coffin.

Having said that, I will always love Mal, always, If I had to invite 6 people for dinner, Mal would have been in there, not sure how a boy from Dartford became a City supporter, but he got the club, the fans and I think everything he ever did, he did it thinking it was best for the club/fans, would have absolutely loved to have met him as an adult, one of life's great characters, never mind football.

Did he say a 10 year contract?

I thought that, fuckin insane if it were true.

 

[Blue Feather]

The video below features Allison, interviewed at Maine Road by Garth Crooks circa 2000, telling a slightly different story about the Daley deal but similar in essence. The thing was, Daley was a top First Division midfielder of the time but the pressure created by the huge fee simply destroyed him at City. People forget now but actually, at the start he put in some top performances; in that autumn of 1979, we beat Forest (who won the European Cup that season) and United (who finished second in the league that year), with Daley outstanding in both games. But he completely lost confidence in the disastrous losing run that started from Christmas onwards.

We didn't win a game between the weekend before Christmas and the week after Easter all but 4 months later, including some absolute humiliations (the worst of which was at Halifax in the Cup). And you could see the burden on him growing game by game. I don't know if anyone remembers, but we had a rearranged game against Everton at home on a Wednesday night in early April and we were leading 1-0 in the closing stages trying to hang on for a desperately needed win as we slipped ever closer to the relegation zone. Daley tried to waste time by passing back to Corrigan from near the halfway line only to unerringly find an Everton forward, who accepted the gift and equalised with a couple of minutes left. Poor old Steve got terrible abuse from the crowd, and he almost visibly seemed to shrink with every such incident. It was difficult for me not to feel desperately sorry for him.



As for the wider issue of bringing Malcolm back, it was clearly a mistake. In his entire career to that point, Allison had only ever prospered when he had Joe Mercer to rein him in during that first wonderful spell at City. To make him the overlord of the football system with Swales overseeing the finances and negotiating the fees created a perfect storm in terms of shaping the most disastrous possible combination a major club could have ended up with in charge of its business and team affairs, each egging the other onto fresh insanity. I actually have some sympathy with Mal when he says in the above video that the team had got old together and it definitely needed some judicious reshaping. His wholesale revolution went far beyond what was required, though.

The thing is, Tony Book in his autobiography suggests that by the autumn of 1978, his contract was due up at the end of the season and he expected the club to open talks with him about an extension. Instead, he was tipped off that the board was considering replacing him, with Bobby Robson viewed as the preferred candidate. Indeed, Book claimed he held talks with Leeds over their vacancy following Jock Stein's short-lived appointment and would have accepted an offer of the job but he lost out to the former Burnley and Sunderland manager Jimmy Adamson.

Now, had Leeds chosen differently, I'd have thought at the time that we'd acted both harshly and misguidedly in not making sure that Book was happy to stay at Maine Road. Now, though, to a large degree I regard this as a missed opportunity. I'd have been intrigued to see what Bobby Robson might have done at City with the squad that Book would have left him, the funds he could have raised from a couple of big sales and a decent transfer budget (but not one of the stratospheric levels applied to sign Malcolm's targets). Notwithstanding that we'd still have had Swales in charge and that would have boded ill, I actually think that Robson in the hot-seat might have turned out rather well. I certainly think we'd have avoided the serious on-field decline and crippling debt that beset us once Malcolm had left for the second time. Imagine a City that didn't have to limp through the 1980s after being financially crippled at the start of the decade. Even with the dreadful Swales in the chair, it could all have been very different.

I judge Book, on the other hand, more harshly than I did back then. He failed in my view to build on the position we were in after finishing second in 1977. Mick Channon was a quality player, but in a position that didn't need strengthening in our squad. We required a replacement for Colin Bell, which the Southampton forward very definitely wasn't and if you read Dennis Tueart's autobiography, you'll know that the Channon deal in effect also ensured Tueart's departure, arguably weakening us overall. A year later, we spent big on Paul Futcher, who admittedly seems to have been a sought-after player at the time owing to his appearances for the England under-21 side but who proved not to be nearly good enough and who again didn't address our issues in the middle of the park (forcing us to move for the cut-price and also ineffective Colin Viljoen instead).

So with the benefit of hindsight, I reckon that the board's reported plan of replacing Book with Bobby Robson would actually have been a sound idea. I think Book had lost his way and a fresh approach with maybe three key new signings would have invigorated the club without costing the earth. Moreover, though we can never know for sure, I suspect that the board ultimately feared being criticised for what would have been seen as harsh treatment of a great club servant in Tony Book. Yes, in my view, the most likely reason for reappointing Malcolm was that Book would stay if they did so, given that he basically owed Allison his professional career. I wish the directors had had the courage of their convictions.

I always thought that Tueart went of his own accord, pay day from the 'exciting' new game and challenge in the USA and all that. Didn't seem to raise too many eyebrows at the time but I'm sure it would today. The Channon transfer actually made the BBC 9 o' clock news !!!

 

[BillCarlisle]

He was the answer to our only 2 semi-final appearances in 30 years and not being relegated in 1980...

John Bond clearly had his faults but I sometimes feel he gets more bad press than he deserved. He managed to get us out of a terrible situation in the League, had us playing entertaining football and got us to 2 semis + the FAC Final. If we had only a half decent rub of the green we could/would have won 2 cups that season. I met him when he was guest at a Higher Openshaw SC meeting and had a long chat with him. I found him to be very open about tactics & team selection etc and he came across as basically a decent bloke. At the end, of course, it's all down to results but I am sure that City's subsequent demise was much more down to Swales' mismanagement of the club than Bond's management of the team.

 

[BringBackSwales]

He was the answer to our only 2 semi-final appearances in 30 years and not being relegated in 1980...

Milwall reached an F A cup final. I think he had a short term galvanising impact, and his signings of gow hutch McDonald were excellent. Longer term I think his arrogance and tactical naivety were huge issues, and I can never forgive him for fucking Nicky Reid over in favour of his inferior son. I asked him about this when I met him, and his answer was that Kevin was incredibly close to being in the latest England squad. When I asked him where the latest incredibly close to the England squad list was published he refused to talk to me any more. To be fair I was bored by that point too

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

John Bond clearly had his faults but I sometimes feel he gets more bad press than he deserved. He managed to get us out of a terrible situation in the League, had us playing entertaining football and got us to 2 semis + the FAC Final. If we had only a half decent rub of the green we could/would have won 2 cups that season. I met him when he was guest at a Higher Openshaw SC meeting and had a long chat with him. I found him to be very open about tactics & team selection etc and he came across as basically a decent bloke. At the end, of course, it's all down to results but I am sure that City's subsequent demise was much more down to Swales' mismanagement of the club than Bond's management of the team.

You hit the nail on the head for me here, Bond wasn't a great manager, but the fact is we didn't get one of those until the following century!!! and he does kind of get a raw deal in that Benson taking the team down is seen as his legacy, people easily forget that when he left we where 9th and closer to the top of the table than the bottom, Benson only managed 3 wins in 17 games(2 draws), without his departure I don't many would argue we wouldn't have picked up more points, but as you say with Swales guiding the ship it was always a losing battle

 

[Dirty Harry]

Milwall reached an F A cup final. I think he had a short term galvanising impact, and his signings of gow hutch McDonald were excellent. Longer term I think his arrogance and tactical naivety were huge issues, and I can never forgive him for fucking Nicky Reid over in favour of his inferior son. I asked him about this when I met him, and his answer was that Kevin was incredibly close to being in the latest England squad. When I asked him where the latest incredibly close to the England squad list was published he refused to talk to me any more. To be fair I was bored by that point too

Can honestly say, that the one player I was most gutted about leaving was Nicky Reid, so much so I made a packed lunch (prem butties and a drink) and got the bus to Maine road, went into the ground and sat in the directors box (those comfy seats), you could just walk into the ground non match day in those days, lo and behold, Nicky was there training on his own, running round the pitch, I was going to approach him, but as he jogged past, he kind of looked at me, growled a bit, so I thought fuck it and went home.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

Milwall reached an F A cup final. I think he had a short term galvanising impact, and his signings of gow hutch McDonald were excellent. Longer term I think his arrogance and tactical naivety were huge issues, and I can never forgive him for fucking Nicky Reid over in favour of his inferior son. I asked him about this when I met him, and his answer was that Kevin was incredibly close to being in the latest England squad. When I asked him where the latest incredibly close to the England squad list was published he refused to talk to me any more. To be fair I was bored by that point too

To be a good manager I think you need a level of arrogance to do things people don't agree with, if the come off you are Brian Clough at Notts For. if they don't you're Clough at Leeds..... His three early signings were masterstrokes, but as you point out longer term those type of old high risk signings are just that, high risk! As for bringing his son in, there are managers Hughes/Kendell/Ball to name but three that managed at City and wanted their own people in, often that was at the detriment of established stars

 

[BringBackSwales]

To be a good manager I think you need a level of arrogance to do things people don't agree with, if the come off you are Brian Clough at Notts For. if they don't you're Clough at Leeds..... His three early signings were masterstrokes, but as you point out longer term those type of old high risk signings are just that, high risk! As for bringing his son in, there are managers Hughes/Kendell/Ball to name but three that managed at City and wanted their own people in, often that was at the detriment of established stars

But none of those as far as I am aware brought in family members. Nepotism is a dangerous thing, unless of course you live in Burnley or Stoke

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

But none of those as far as I am aware brought in family members. Nepotism is a dangerous thing, unless of course you live in Burnley or Stoke

I'm not saying he was right, it's fucking annoying especially when it doesn't work!