Brian Kidd

Personalia: Born: 29/5 1949 Birthplace: Manchester Nationality: England (2/1) Height: 6`0" (183cm) Weight: 12st. 12lb (81kg) Position: Striker Playing Record:     League FAC LC Season: Club: App Gls App Gls App Gls 1967-1974 Manchester United 203 52   7   6 1974-1976 Arsenal 77 30 - - - - 1976-1977 Manchester City 39 21 4 1 0 0 1977-1978 Manchester City 39 16 2 1 7 3 1978-1979 Manchester City 20 7 3 2 4 0 1979-1980 Everton 40 12 - - - - 1980-1982 Bolton Wanderers 43 14 - - - - 1981 Atlanta Chiefs (US) 27 22 - - - - 1982-1983 Fort Lauderdale (US) 44 33 - - - - 1984 Minnesota Strikers (US) 13 8 - - - - Total: 545 215 9 11 11 9

Collyhurst-born Brian Kidd was the epitome of a local boy made good. He was a former Manchester Schoolboy who signed for Manchester United as an apprentice in 1964. By the time of the 1967 Charity Shield clash with Tottenham, Kidd had not only progressed to the ranks of a professional but was also taking his first steps on a senior career at Old Trafford that would see him score 70 times in nearly 260 appearances. Perhaps his most famous goal for United came in the 1968 European Cup Final triumph over Benfica at Wembley.

He was transferred to Arsenal In August 1974 for £110,000 where he played for two seasons that produced another 34 goals. Kidd was a good friend of City-stopper Mike Doyle, and was tempted back to Manchester by his close friend. As history will have it Doyle called up Kidd in July 1976 asking him how things went in London, "I'm okay", Kidd replied. "How's your wife", Doyle continued. "She's back in Manchester. I've got a bed, a television and a cooker and that's it". The next day Kidd met Doyle and City Manager Tony Book at Grand Hotel in Manchester and Kidd signed for City shortly after, costing the Blues £100,000.

This was to prove to be the most prolific goalscoring time of his professional career. After making his debut in the opening game of that season, Kidd missed just three of the 42 League games, finding the back of the net 21 times. This total included four against Leicester and doubles against Leeds (twice) and Birmingham. He was a key part of Tony Book's powerful forward line of the mid to late 70s and along with Dennis Tueart, Peter Barnes and Joe Royle, helped the Blues to come within a single point of Champions Liverpool at the end of his first season.

In 1977/78 he played a total of 50 games for the Blues, his goalscoring return of 20 once again making him the club's top scorer. For the second successive year he finished five goals clear of second-placed Dennis Tueart. With a 3-1 win at Maine Road and a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, Kidd scored three times that term against his former employers. He scored in each of the first three games of the following season as the Blues looked to improve on their fourth place spot of the year before. By the time March 1979 came around, Kidd was still leading the attack with style and power and had scored 14 times including five in a UEFA Cup run that saw the Blues finally go out to Borussia Monchengladbach in the Fourth Round.

However it was now the time of Malcolm Allison's infamous clear-out and along with many other senior professionals, Kidd found himself surplus to requirements. On the 29th March - after 59 goals in 129+1 appearances for City - he was transferred to Everton for a fee of £150,000. After Everton he joined Bolton as well as spending time in the US with NASL sides Atlanta Chiefs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Minnesota Strikers. In his first season Kidd was top scorer for Atlanta with 22 goals in 29 games, and came in 3rd place in the overall record for leading goalscorers. Atlanta folded after the season, and Kidd went back to Bolton, but returned to play for Fort Lauderdale where he was the team's top-scorer for two seasons. In 1984 he was joined at Ft. Lauderdale by another former City-player; Asa Hartford. On interesting thing with his US-career is that over there they also count assists into the official statistics. Kiddo was a lethal finisher but seldom scored high on the assist rankings, which is rather typical for a natural born finisher.

When his playing days were finally over, he became manager at Barrow in 1984 before joining Alex Ferguson back at Old Trafford to embark on the most successful period of success in Manchester United's history. In December 1998 he began an eleven-month reign as manager at Blackburn which proved an unsuccessful move and he returned to a coaching role with Leeds United and the England national side.