Random City Players

[nmc]

My namesake. the only thing i remember is that he’s pull his socks up every chance he couldView attachment 63695

Thought he was good. Lee should have tried to sign him full time. Remember seeing his debut away at Newcastle.

 

[Gingers Dad]

I remember Keegan signing Vuoso , bit did he ever actually kick a ball for us ?

I wonder if Keegan ever saw him play?

 

[Big Swifty]

Terry Park and Alioune Toure. Both made two appearances for us off the bench.

 

[Gingers Dad]

Mark Brennan, a poor man's David Silva.

Decent enough though

Never thought I'd see those two names in the same sentence

 

[Gingers Dad]

Seems most people are posting names of players they wish they could forget ever playing for City. So I'll have my turn - Damarcus Beasley.

 

[Craig]

Thought he was good. Lee should have tried to sign him full time. Remember seeing his debut away at Newcastle.

He was quality. Was really unfit when he got here but as the season went on he was getting better and better. Think we’d have signed him if he didn’t have his court case looming. Plus we also had Kinkladze lined up. Was a proper showman, his warm up consisted of standing near the crowd and ball juggling.

 

[Zapcity]

Scored on his debut at Coventry, a long-range effort IIRC. It was all downhill after that.

Sammy bloody Mcillroy (normally I check the spelling of players don't even want to check if I spelt this one right though!)
As you say, great goal at Coventry, terrible 'player' after that. Remember that goal, really hot day stood in the away end after loads of beer, but what I most remember was the conversation 2 lads had after he scored.
When he had scored one of them said to his mate 'brilliant goal, who scored that?' when he told him he replied something like this 'shit, you're joking, if I knew it was that twat I wouldn't have bloody celebrated'.
Nothing like putting old prejudices aside! but I guess he also must have known what was to come!!
Maybe that lad was also at Stoke when he scored against us in a bit of a relegation scrap in 1983. Scored the only goal, really 'milked it 'in front of the away end, making an already toxic atmosphere worse in the ground and outside afterwards. Just a little provocative considering his previous connections!
As that lad said 'Twat'.

 

[petrusha]

Geoff Lomax, Nigel Johnson, Ian Thompstone (who probably has the best 'minutes per goal' record in our whole history), Ray Kelly, Chris Greenacre, Mikkel Bischoff, Ousmane Dabo, David Pizarro

Spoke to his son once, cant remember where or when. But he told mcillroy hated city and literally did not want to be here.

****

He was past it as a top-level player when he signed for us, having just been the midfield mainstay of a Stoke side relegated with a then-record low points tally for a top-flight club. Unfortunately, he was available on a free and we were completely skint at the time. Thanks, Peter Swales, you utter ****.

McIlroy was fairly quickly dropped in the autumn of 1985, but spent over a year in our reserves, with a loan spell in Sweden over the summer. Weirdly, he then made a first-team comeback at Coventry just before Christmas 1986 (a 2-2 draw, with Steve Redmond playing in midfield and scoring both our goals).

I was terrified it would herald a run in the side for McIlroy, but thankfully it was a one-off and Bury picked him up almost immediately. Maybe Jimmy Frizzell selected him at Highfield Road to remind the football world he was still alive.

I was told by a director that, when we went up in 1985, Billy McNeill wanted a centre-half, a midfielder and a striker. He asked for Russell Osman of Ipswich, Danny Wilson of Brighton (who later played for Luton and Sheffield Wednesday) and Alan Smith of Leicester, all of whom were known to be available at the right price.

We signed Nigel Johnson, Sammy McIlroy and Mark Lillis, though the latter at least was a genuinely avid Blue who gave absolutely everything for the cause. Still an underwhelming trio, though, compared with what we might have had if we hadn't been in Swales-induced penury.

 

[Maly]

Robert Hopkins & Tony Grealish

If memory serves, both signed on the same day or week & both fucking terrible

 

[lancs blue]

I was told by a director that, when we went up in 1985, Billy McNeill wanted a centre-half, a midfielder and a striker. He asked for Russell Osman of Ipswich, Danny Wilson of Brighton (who later played for Luton and Sheffield Wednesday) and Alan Smith of Leicester, all of whom were known to be available at the right price.

I heard a similar tale from a friend of Ian Niven, no names of the players were mentioned but seeing the names you've listed it says a lot for McNeill that he didn't walk out at that point and did well to actually keep us up that season. Swales really did make us suffer so much I often wonder if the Edwards family weren't paying him on the side!