gavlin

You can add Max Bird to the injury list as he has been missing from the Derby side !!!

Alan Dick’s book is a very interesting read and the paragraphs on the Keegan transfer. Tony Collins watched Keegan play for Scunthorpe and immediately rings Dicks to say we have got to sign this kid. Travels down over night and meets Dicks in the morning . They contact the Scunthorpe manager and agree terms only for Tony Collins to rain back and say I would like to see him play again. Later the same day Bill Shankly buys him for Liverpool for £25000. Moral of the story trust your instincts!!!

You forgot e) Once the young players play regularly for the first team sell them at big money and when the manager doesn’t like it . Sack him

Robbie Fowler just sack from his club in Saudi Arabia. Ridiculous decision. He wants yes men that’s all .

Gordon Low left in 1968. He was captain of the City side that lost at White Hart Lane in 1967. Gordon Low was a no nonsense defender , rolled up shorts and sleeves . He and Jack Connor were at the heart of City’s defence in the first team I watched . RIP Gordon .

Loved playing youth football. Remember playing against the bottom in the league who had lost all 7 games and had a goal difference of 0 goals scored and 42 against them . second half we were leading 5-0 when the ball was past to me and thinking our goalie hadn’t seen much of the ball decided on a pass back . The ball took an awkward bounce went through his legs and into our net. We won 7-1 but got congratulated by the opposing side at the end as I was now there top goalscorer.

Maybe a job may be available at Torquay Utd !!!!!!

What has happened to Benarous. Thought he was close to returning in November?

Remember going to Elm Park on a night match and sitting with Reading supporters behind the dugout and several benches for the City staff and subs. The teams about to kick off at the start, a young City player sitting on the end of one of benches thinking Joe would sit in the dug out , wrong Joe strides out claps at the City fans at the open end then walks to where the kid was sat and barks, Aye young un move . The poor kid’s reaction was like he saw a ghost!!!

It was Ken Aston who was Head of the World Cup referees in 1966 also 1970 and 1974. He was the guy on the touchline who escorted Rattin off the pitch. Interesting fact about Ken Aston he was the person who came up with the yellow and red cards. Below is how he thought of the idea . On the trip, as he stopped at a traffic light junction at Kensington High Street, Aston realised that a colour-coding scheme based on the same amber/yellow ('stop if safe to do so') - red (Stop) principle as used on traffic lights would traverse language barriers and clarify to players and spectators that they had been cautioned or sent off.[3] Aston later explained that upon arriving at his home, he explained the dilemma to his wife, Hilda. She disappeared into the other room, only to return a few minutes later with two "cards" made of construction paper. She had cut them to fit into his shirt pocket. Thus was devised the system whereby referees show a yellow card for a caution and a red card for an expulsion, which was first used in the 1970 World Cup. These cards have also been adopted – with appropriate differences depending on the rules – in many other sports.

Interesting article in the Green Un from October 1975 City promotion year when City bank overdraft was at £200000 and their bank allowed them to stay at that level instead of selling players to halve the debt because they were near the top of the of the second division. This shows the club were already financially precarious.

Ernie did the same free kick for City at Ashton Gate, remember seeing it and playing in a school match the following week and trying it and our centre forward cleared the bar by miles.

Thanks to Steve Sutor’s facebook old football photos for this image. This article was taken from the Green un in April 1972 . Four years before City gained promotion to the old First Division. You have to give Alan Dicks a lot of credit for the youth set up he initiated in the early 70s . It worked last time , hopefully we are the road to the same happening again

Yes , let’s get back to early 70s and 2 pm weekday kick offs . Remember Millwall home , good crowd attendance and like me the number of kids that bunked off school made it all the better. No 9 bus from Hanham was packed to the rafters , poor conductor didn’t know what had hit him. Think it ended in a 1-1 draw.

I would think if you take the song by The Who "Tommy The Pinball Wizard" Ever since I was a young boy, I watched football , From Sheffield down to Brighton , I watched them all , But I ain't seen nothing like. He 's Tommy Conway and he sure plays a mean football.