Question for the old uns that remember the last good times..

[Bluesince1979]

Ok bare with me on this. I was born in '74. First game in '79 but only really remember actually going from about '81. So, I was only 2 when we won the league cup and not even born during the Mercer/Allison golden era. We were then relegated in '83 which I remember quite vividly but to me we'd always been shite so relegation wasn't really a shock.

So, my question is...

How much of a shock was it going from being a top team in the late 60's early 70's, quite a decent team in the mid to late 70's to relegated early 80's? All this within a space of ten years. Ten years sounds a lot but as we all know as we get older, it's fuck all really.
So did you see it coming when Swales took over? Or maybe when Malcolm returned and dismantled a good young team?

 

[salford blue 62]

i know malcolm ripped the heart out of a very decent side,but that was the golden period of me finding beer and women,i seemed to be permantley pissed
and partying/shagging,also loved the "nobodys" he bought ie mackenzie,stepanovic,robinson,silkman ( know,blame the beer!)use to go away a lot more than i do now,even though we seemed to get beat every week they WERE happy days!

 

[cibaman]

There was a much greater chance of teams moving up and down the leagues then. Promoted teams often became title contenders very quickly eg City, Leeds, Derby, Forest. But that also meant that teams could easily be displaced. Northampton went from Div 4 to Div 1 to Div 4 in successive seasons in the 60's, imagine being one of their fans.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Ok bare with me on this. I was born in '74. First game in '79 but only really remember actually going from about '81. So, I was only 2 when we won the league cup and not even born during the Mercer/Allison golden era. We were then relegated in '83 which I remember quite vividly but to me we'd always been shite so relegation wasn't really a shock.

So, my question is...

How much of a shock was it going from being a top team in the late 60's early 70's, quite a decent team in the mid to late 70's to relegated early 80's? All this within a space of ten years. Ten years sounds a lot but as we all know as we get older, it's fuck all really.
So did you see it coming when Swales took over? Or maybe when Malcolm returned and dismantled a good young team?

Wasn't a shock. Second time round for me. Saw it all before in the early sixties!

 

[jimharri]

i know malcolm ripped the heart out of a very decent side,but that was the golden period of me finding beer and women,i seemed to be permantley pissed
and partying/shagging,also loved the "nobodys" he bought ie mackenzie,stepanovic,robinson,silkman ( know,blame the beer!)use to go away a lot more than i do now,even though we seemed to get beat every week they WERE happy days!

Mal was a legend for what he achieved with Joe back in the late sixties. It has to be said though, that he (aided and abetted by Swales' blind backing of his transfer policy at the time) damn near killed the club. We had a fantastic side that came within a point of winning the league in '76/'77, and he more or less ripped that side apart in one fell swoop and brought in a load of kids along with some stupefying buys. Bloody near bankrupted us. In my mind, we've only really recovered since HRH came in. That period from say 1978 through to the kerb crawler dancing across Maine Road was a horrific time (briefly interrupted by John Bond's first 7 or 8 (?) months as manager, culminating in the cup final). The following summer we bought Trevor Francis and it looked like we were going to push on, but we faded away towards the end of that season ('81/'82). And by that time we were so skint that , legend has it, we had to sell TF to Sampdoria so we could afford to pay for that horrific new roof on the main stand. Fast forward one year and Raddy Antic has plunged a dagger through our hearts and that set the pattern for the next 15 grim years. Up and down like a whore's drawers. Not a sniff of silverware anywhere. I know it's hard for our younger BM'ers to grasp how bad things were back before they were born, but trust me; it was!

 

[mrt4919]

i know malcolm ripped the heart out of a very decent side,but that was the golden period of me finding beer and women,i seemed to be permantley pissed
and partying/shagging,also loved the "nobodys" he bought ie mackenzie,stepanovic,robinson,silkman ( know,blame the beer!)use to go away a lot more than i do now,even though we seemed to get beat every week they WERE happy days!

Mal was a legend for what he achieved with Joe back in the late sixties. It has to be said though, that he (aided and abetted by Swales' blind backing of his transfer policy at the time) damn near killed the club. We had a fantastic side that came within a point of winning the league in '76/'77, and he more or less ripped that side apart in one fell swoop and brought in a load of kids along with some stupefying buys. Bloody near bankrupted us. In my mind, we've only really recovered since HRH came in. That period from say 1978 through to the kerb crawler dancing across Maine Road was a horrific time (briefly interrupted by John Bond's first 7 or 8 (?) months as manager, culminating in the cup final). The following summer we bought Trevor Francis and it looked like we were going to push on, but we faded away towards the end of that season ('81/'82). And by that time we were so skint that , legend has it, we had to sell TF to Sampdoria so we could afford to pay for that horrific new roof on the main stand. Fast forward one year and Raddy Antic has plunged a dagger through our hearts and that set the pattern for the next 15 grim years. Up and down like a whore's drawers. Not a sniff of silverware anywhere. I know it's hard for our younger BM'ers to grasp how bad things were back before they were born, but trust me; it was!

You are right but I was thinking earlier today back to 66 when I first started watching and the years through especially the period from 82 onward maybe to the Gillingham Play Off. We were wretched, what could go wrong did to the club....But
I would not swop that period for any thing. We had a hell of a good time following the club through thin and thinner. We hung on,Kept the faith, travelled in our thousends and always believed we would come good.Ours was a pure love of the football club, no body could ever hurl "Glory Hunter" at us.
A cult football club with a fan base to match.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok bare with me on this. I was born in '74. First game in '79 but only really remember actually going from about '81. So, I was only 2 when we won the league cup and not even born during the Mercer/Allison golden era. We were then relegated in '83 which I remember quite vividly but to me we'd always been shite so relegation wasn't really a shock.

So, my question is...

How much of a shock was it going from being a top team in the late 60's early 70's, quite a decent team in the mid to late 70's to relegated early 80's? All this within a space of ten years. Ten years sounds a lot but as we all know as we get older, it's fuck all really.
So did you see it coming when Swales took over? Or maybe when Malcolm returned and dismantled a good young team?

City began losing their way after they blew the title in the early 70's , just after Rodney Marsh signed ....... after that they gradually became a team of 'homers' for a few seasons , winning many games at Maine Road , but only winning occasionally on their travels.

So it wasn't really that much of a shock .... once the likes of Lee had departed , and Bell had suffered his injury , we were always on a slippery slope as regards the league ....... sure the likes of Channon , Royle and Kidd scored goals , but they were never really enough to take the club where it wanted to go , we just weren't consistent enough ..... and the league cup win of 1976 was more a welcome blip , than something that became the 'norm'.

In fact you got the feeling that City , as a club , were content to stagnate for a great number of the following years , and some people , including one or two players , were quick to accuse the club of lacking ambition.

I think Peter Swales did as well as he could during his time at City , money was tight and he had to try to balance the books here , it was never a steady ship at the best of times ....... but the club were going nowhere , and fans clamoured for Francis Lee to step in .... sure he had a bit of wealth , but it wasn't really enough to take the club forward.

 

[Gultgult]

Was pure hell from about 78 till the Present owners rescued us was lucky enough 2 remember the trophies from 68 onwards never thought I would see us win anything again fingers crossed more to come

 

[Bill]

Ok bare with me on this. I was born in '74. First game in '79 but only really remember actually going from about '81. So, I was only 2 when we won the league cup and not even born during the Mercer/Allison golden era. We were then relegated in '83 which I remember quite vividly but to me we'd always been shite so relegation wasn't really a shock.

So, my question is...

How much of a shock was it going from being a top team in the late 60's early 70's, quite a decent team in the mid to late 70's to relegated early 80's? All this within a space of ten years. Ten years sounds a lot but as we all know as we get older, it's fuck all really.
So did you see it coming when Swales took over? Or maybe when Malcolm returned and dismantled a good young team?

it was down to one event. the sacking of joe mercer.

 

[blueyorkie]

The day Joe Mercer was pushed out a little bit of City died, it was never quite the same afterwards. We had a good side through the mid to late 70's but I always felt we were not improving. Going down to Luton on the last day was horrific, we were only in the bottom 3 for 4 minutes of the season, unfortunately the last 4 minutes. It s taken 30 years to recover.