Blue Streak said:
So this season just gone was perhaps the first time we have been in direct competition with the Scousers for the title since 1977 and this time we did it. I know from stuff I've read on here previously that people think had Colin Bell not been injured we might have won the title back then? I'm interested to know from Blues that recall that season (as I was only two) do we feel a ghost has been rested?
My first game at Maine Road was during the 1975/6 season, so the 1976/7 season is the first full one I remember. Yes, I did feel that in beating Liverpool to the title we'd redressed the balance a little. That said, I took the view that it would have been disappointing to have missed out to them last season because I regarded us as being a clearly better team, whereas in 1977 Liverpool did have a really outstanding side and they won the European Cup that year as well. The fact that we came within a point of them in the end was testament to how well we did. (To be fair, we have to remember that Liverpool had one game left, which they went on to lose, after we'd completed all our fixtures. Given that they had an FA Cup final and a European Cup final to fit in and with the title already in the bag, they played a second-string side at Bristol City. If they'd had to win that game, you suspect they probably would have done).
As people have said, the point Liverpool earned through Dave Watson's late own goal to give them an undeserved 1-1 draw over Christmas at our place proved vital in the final analysis. However, there was plenty of time for us to put that right subsequently. As someone mentioned, arguably even more vital was when we went to Anfield over Easter, conceded first and were taking a bit of a pasting, indebted to Corrigan for some great saves to keep us in the game. But then we clawed our way back, equalised with around 15 minutes left and looked set for a point taht would have been a great result in the scheme of things. Then we conceded within about 30 seconds of the kick off, which was a real blow.
One thing Tony Book mentions in his autobiography, which I'd long forgotten until I read it, is the effect on Brian Kidd of criticism from Jimmy Hill on MotD. We beat Arsenal at MR in the February, which I think was our 17th straight league game unbeaten, and Kidd was in great scoring form in his first season with the club. The cameras were present and, that night, Hill lambasted the striker for being a dirty player, highlighting various incidents from the game. It was terribly unfair: Kidd was hardly an angel, but First Division football back then was a physical game and there were many worse offenders.
According to Book, Kidd was badly affected and went into his shell on the pitch, feeling unable to play his natural game under the increased scrutiny of referees. And the team's top scorer thus cowed, results suffered. The next seven league games brought only two wins and we also exited the FA Cup at Leeds. It's no accident that, if you look at the goals from this period on the excellent mcfcvideos youtube channel, you'll often hear 'Jimmy Hillis a wanker, is a wanker!' resounding loud and clear from the Kippax.
As for whether Bell would have made the difference - it's certainly a tempting hypothesis for any Blue who knows what a great player he was. Apart from a weakness at right-back (Kenny Clements, with all due respect, wasn't quite of the level of most of his team mates), we had an excellent first eleven, but the balance possibly wasn't quite right in midfield. In the first half of the season, we tended to play a three in there selected from Hartford, Jimmy Conway, Owen and Power, but the latter two were in their first full season. We were solid at the back, with Doyle and Watson an imperious partnership in front of Corrigan, but we could be a bit toothless despite having a fine front three of Royle, Kidd and Tueart; we had five goalless draws before Christmas. In the New Year, Peter Barnes, another kid, usually started in place of Power. Playing an out-and-out winger made us more of a threat in tight games, and we only had one more scoreless draw all season, but we conceded more too.
Bell was a complete midfielder: excellent in the defenseive aspects of the role, but also with the capacity to hit double figures in terms of goals. I suppose you could say that you can never be sure whether it would have been better with him in the side, because it may have affected the way we set up and other players may have been less effective, meaning that the team as a whole wouldn't have improved. However, having watched that team and knowing where I feel the weakness was, I'd be reasonably confident that a fit Colin Bell would have made the difference between first and second place.
Another point to note from Book's autobiography is that he wanted to buy Alan Ball, who was leaving Arsenal, to replace Bell. However, Peter Swales wouldn't meet the asking price for a player who was past 30 and Ball went off to Southampton. We bought Irish international Conway instead, who I think was a similar age but much cheaper. He arrived from Fulham, having worked there with Book's new coach Bill Taylor, who recommended him. Unfortunately it wasn't a successful move, with Conway failing to hold down a regular place and leaving at the end of the season. Ball was still a high class player at the time and could really have added something to the team in my view, so it was a pity we didn't sign him.
Anyway, if we focus on the team we had rather than the one we could have had, maybe we were just a little bit short of what it would have taken to overcome a great side like Liverpool - and make no mistake about it, they were. We gave it a fantastic shot and I think we'd have pulled it off with Colin available, but there you go. It may have taken 37 years, but we got our own back in the end!
