Manchester City v Liverpool 1977 and last season?

[Blue Streak]

Some cracking answers and memories posted in this thread. I've seen Alan Balls named mentioned before. Now obviously I know he was a great player although by this time possibly past his best? could/would he have made a difference?

 

[I Live In A Blue House]

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?

I was 10 and had only been going for 3 years, I remember a vague disappointment but that's about it, some of the old fuckers will have a better insight, I'd name names but a long ban would ensue

One of the "Old Fuckers" here:)

I was 12 back in 77, kin L I remember we were Runners up in the League but that's about it memory wise, Jesus @ time I struggle to remember the events of YESTERDAY let alone bloody 37 YEARS ago!!!!!!!!!! I do know however I support Manchester City s/card holder for nearly 40 Years and we are The Current CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND:) Luvin It

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Thought we had a fantastic team in 77..better than the 68 side. I only missed six games all season home and away. It was definitely the Dave Watson goal that cost us and we all knew it at the time. The pitch was shocking and it would never have been played nowadays. It was a brilliant Liverpool team..in fact one of the best in the world at the time. Coming second was no disgrace. We should have won it in 72 as well. It's great that the glory days are now back for us.

 

[Harvster]

Dippers scored a very a fortunate last-minute equaliser at the Platt Lane end on a freezing late December evening. it was a Dave Watson header back to Joe, who had come out. (So similar to the Joe Hart/ Nastacic goal at Chelsea). The pitch was so frozen I seem to remember Gary Owen and several other players wearing Adidas Samba instead of studs.

Towards the end of the season the Dippers were getting every ounce of luck and every refereeing decision (as the season just gone). Again like this season City equalised at the Kop end at Klanfield only for them to score another very lucky goal from a ball rebounding off the crossbar.

So many similarities to this season and so glad justice was done this time, despite the media and referees doing everything in their powers again to hand the title to Liverpool.

When Joe was interviewed after the Liverpool home game he was asked "are you still friends with Dave?"

Joe's answer - "Dave who?"

 

[celf]

my dad was a good standard referee and he got us tickets in the north stand that night match there was over 52,000 there,he said from the kick off the game should have been called off,frozen pitch……if i remember as i was only 10 joe royle scored for city and put us 1 up…..david fairclough came on as sub in the latter stages and pushed dave watson in his back and he headed over joe corrigan for a OG in the last min….city had dominated for long spells in that game …..it was the the 1st time id ever cried after game i was devoed….ive only cried at football twice btw.

 

[BlueMo']

The start of my real love affair with City. I was allowed to go on my own aged 12/ 13 that season.
Night match v L'pool prob the match of my life. Dave Watsons header v Ipswich when all my mates had fucked off.
That year is the reason i love City like i do.

 

[Bill]

Some cracking answers and memories posted in this thread. I've seen Alan Balls named mentioned before. Now obviously I know he was a great player although by this time possibly past his best? could/would he have made a difference?

He was past his best but a wily old fucker. Would have been a good addition. A bit like Gerry gow in 81.cracking player.

 

[Vienna_70]

I was at Coventry... some nugget had decided to tell everybody that Liverpool had lost 2-0... we all thought we'd won the league until we got outside. Are you sureLiverpool had another game to play after West Ham? I don't remember it like that.

Liverpool won the league by 1 point... and it was the Watson OG that made the difference.

Liverpool's fixtures are here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?team_id=1563&comp_id=1&teamTabs=results" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd ... bs=results</a>

They drew 1-1 at QPR on 7 May, when we beat Spurs 5-0. They drew 0-0 at Cov on 10 May, the Tuesday night, when we drew with Everton. They drew 0-0 with West Ham on 14 May while we were beating Cov and lost 1-2 at Bristol City on 16 May, the Monday night. Then they had the FA Cup final on Saturday 21 May, which we'll gloss over, and the European Cup final on Wednesday 25 May, where they beat Moenchengladbach.

Bristol City then drew 2-2 at Coventry on the Thursday night (19 May), which kept both of those clubs up at the expense of Sunderland, who lost 2-0 at Everton on the same night. That was the game where Jimmy Hill, chairman of Cov at the time IIRC, had the kick off delayed so that his team would know what they needed to do as the game came towards the end. When both teams knew they'd stay up with a draw, they played out the last ten minutes or so with neither side making any effort to score. The Mackems are sore about that to this day.

I suppose it wouldn't have been a given that Liverpool would have won at Bristol City on the Monday had they needed the points. After all, Bristol City needed to win to have a chance of staying up, so it was quite a tough game.

That was the game where Jimmy Hill, chairman of Cov at the time IIRC, had the kick off delayed so that his team would know what they needed to do as the game came towards the end. When both teams knew they'd stay up with a draw, they played out the last ten minutes or so with neither side making any effort to score. The Mackems are sore about that to this day.
===============
I'd forgotten that shameful episode... On a par with West Germany v East Germany in world cup

I think you mean West Germany-Austria.

On the only occasion that the two Germanys played each other, East Germany won 1-0 in the 1974 World Cup. There was no love lost between them.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Some of you old fuckers have got good memories on here. Can't compete. By the 1977-78 season I was already living and working in London. Used to get up early on Saturdays to train up from Euston, then catch the bus out from Aytoun Street to Maine Rd, but obviously didn't get to that many home matches. It was actually easier to get to away matches, and that was in the beautiful days when you could just roll up and pay on the turnstile, without worrying about it. I don't remember ever buying a ticket in advance for anything, and that includes derbies.
I do seem to remember this from that season. Was there not a documentary of some sort on ITV (maybe Granada) right at the beginning of the season, about us? Everybody was saying we were going to win it. We had a bloody good team. I still consider that Dave Watson is, with Vinny, the best centre back we've ever had. We also had good youngsters like Owen and Barnes coming through, and Corrigan in goal, who was a rock. I agree, that team should definitely have done more during the seventies. But the real tragedy was the dilapidation of resources through the eighties. A few years ago I supervised a dissertation on City's history by a lad who went and interviewed people like Gary James. He interviewed Silvain Distin, and told me that Distin looked musingly round the stadium, and said to him "You know, this is , in the natural order of things, a huge club. It's got everything. There's no way that we should be in the position that we're in".
But that Liverpool team at the end of the seventies was just horrificly hard to beat. I remember an Arsenal mate of mine saying glumly (after a 0-0 draw at Highbury), "First, you've got to beat Tommy Smith. Then, if you've done that, you've got Emlyn Hughes to deal with. If by some miracle you've got past them, you've then got to beat Ray Clemence!" Nightmare. They were well worth their European dominance, and I always used to think when we went to Anfield that the only way to beat them was to score in injury time, because if you scored any earlier at their place they'd just come back at you at a thousand miles an hour, and equalize in the next five minutes.
Sorry, just realized. I'm talking about the season that Forest won it. You're all talking about the previous season. Must be getting Alzheimer's or something. Well, most of what I say holds good, even for the 76-77 season.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Some cracking answers and memories posted in this thread. I've seen Alan Balls named mentioned before. Now obviously I know he was a great player although by this time possibly past his best? could/would he have made a difference?

He was past his best but a wily old fucker. Would have been a good addition. A bit like Gerry gow in 81.cracking player.

Ball was the quintessential perpetual motion, one touch player. He'd never take two touches if he could do what he needed to do in one. So that gave every midfield he played in tremendous momentum. Including, of course, that one in 66…