Kaziu Deyna Tribute

[Man_City_Loyal]

and a movie star :-)

 

[petrusha]

Never knew Gerry Francis had failed a med for us!! Remember the Sunday papers sayin we were in for him but it just seemed to be made up bollocks as I never saw any other mention of it. Same with Trevor brooking. I was mega excited about us signing either of them two, they’d have been great for us. Buy I remember Deyna well. As u say past his best but still a high quality player. Think he scored the winner against European champs Forest.

There was definitely a photo of Gerry Francis holding up a City scarf at Maine Road with Tony Book alongside him. Think it appeared in the Evening News and it was shown on Granada Reports that night. Pity it didn't come off.

Brooking would have been a great signing but I don't think we got as close to him as we did with Francis. Several teams wanted to buy him, but he was happy to spend three years in the old Division Two with West Ham because Ron Greenwood continued to pick him for England after they were relegated.

As for Deyna, he did score the winner against Forest in the autumn of 1979. For a few short weeks after that game, it looked as though Mal might have the basis of a decent team despite having sold a load of internationals (admittedly some were growing old, though that doesn't explain ditching Barnes and Owen). Deyna's form was key to that relative purple patch.

He clearly had brilliant skills even if past his peak but sometimes he was just too good for his team-mates. I remember the Stoke manager Alan Durban, a title-winner at Derby under Clough, saying that the problem for City was that Deyna was tuned to Radio Four and the rest of the team to Radio Luxemburg.

My old man used to make basically the same point. He compared Deyna to Denis Law in Law's first spell at City. According to my Dad, many brilliant passes from Law went to waste because the other players couldn't read his play. He and Durban were both right that there was a similar situation with Deyna.

 

[StockportJB76]

I remember watching Deyna back in the day. He was my favourite player at the time and my Dad used to think he was quality also. When he moved to a forward he was much more effective, even though at 31 he had little pace. He always had time on the ball and technically far superior to the other players. Played with a quiet confidence, almost arrogance, that he knew he was better than his teammates and opponents.

Two things I remember were that he almost passed the ball into the net, never rushing and no wild shots. Think Pep has encouraged Phil to do similar in certain situations and Phil mentioned in an interview.. Deyna also used to shoot for goal when City had wide freekicks in crossing positions. He would attempt to catch the keeper off guard and came really close to scoring on a number of occasions. In the end, we knew he was going to try for goal when in these situations.

It was a very short spell at City and only a brief period where he showed his talent, but he was a joy to watch. A bit like Kinkladze but very different player, he lit up those grey day's at Maine Road.

 

[madeye123]

I went to the stadium named after him in his home town Starogard Gdanski. Honestly one of the worst football experiences of my life. Weird bunch of people.

 

[hilts]

Loved him. One of my first City heroes. Was at the game v Forest in 79 I think, when he scored the only goal. My dad used to rave about him.

If that was October time i think that was the first game I ever went to

 

[petrusha]

If that was October time i think that was the first game I ever went to

Yes, the Forest game was on Saturday, 13 October 1979 and was the second successive home game in which Deyna scored the only goal. We also beat Middlesbrough 1-0 at Maine Road the previous Wednesday evening (10 October) with Deyna also being the match-winner then. Four days before the Boro game, we'd managed a creditable goalless draw at Arsenal, so that week made it start to look as if Mal might have been onto something with all his mad changes. Another false dawn.

Anyone remember Deyna's debut at home to Ipswich on 25 November 1978, when we lost 2-1 against a good side? Notable for a couple of things. First, it was a Saturday 3 pm KO after our Wednesday might UEFA Cup tie away to Milan had been postponed owing to fog, being played on the Thursday afternoon instead. Not surprising we lost 48 hours later in the light of that. And second, it was the game where Kenny Clements broke his leg. I seem to remember it was in front of the Main Stand, where I was sitting with my uncle (my old man miust have been working). You could hear the crack all round the ground, anyway, so everyone knew immediately what had happened.

Deyna, as I recall, seemed a bit bewildered by it all. It was a big crowd and he got a huge cheer when he first touched the ball. He was in space so took a bit of time to assess where he should pass it, before sending it straight to an opponent who didn't have a City player within ten yards of him. Kind of summed up the Pole's afternoon.

 

[allyboy]

Great player.

 

[Platt Lane 59]

I went to the stadium named after him in his home town Starogard Gdanski. Honestly one of the worst football experiences of my life. Weird bunch of people.

Had a different football experience in Lodz, in Poland.
Went to a great small football-themed bar in a tin shed, owned by a former Widzew Lodz player.
Mentioned Deyna to the owner, who had played against him. Said he was a class above any other opponent.
But, as Deyna played for Legia Warsaw, the big rivals of Lodz, he had a grudging respect.
The bar did have a "locals only" feel to it, but 6 pints of strong Polish beer later, they seemed friendly enough...