MAINE ROAD TO GLORY

TITLE           Maine Road to glory. 1887-2000 the story so far
PUBLISHER       Pearson Television International Ltd. (2000)
                www.pearsontv.com
Producer:       Carl Morris.
Editor:         Don Jones.
Running time:   114 minutes approx.
Price:          £14,99

I received the tape from RDA Communications, which is handling the promotion work on "The Maine Road to Glory", a video they claim to be the definitive and official Manchester City video. It was a slim package and the video has a sky-blue clear non-historic cover with the eagle-crest spread all over the front. On the back you see several pictures including one of Bert Trautmann holding his neck after the 1956 final and Paul Dickov celebrating the famous Wembley-resurrection in May 1999. The tape is a collection of classic footy coverage and interviews with former City players like Roy Clarke, Roy Little, Joe Corrigan, Mick Summerbee, Dennis Tueart, Paul Power, David White and Paul Lake. Managers like Malcom Allison, Tony Book, John Bond, Brian Horton and Joe Royle. And fans like Gary James (author of the Joe Mercer Biography), Frank Monkhouse, Frank Smeeton, Noel Gallagher (member of the pop-band Oasis) and Jimmy Wagg. Also David Bernstein, the present Chairman, gets his chance to cast the light on the fight-back from 2nd Division misery to the Premiership limelight.

This video is claimed to be the definitive and official history of Manchester City. So how exactly do you fit 114 years of football history into 114 minutes of video-tape? The short and perhaps only true answer is "you don't". This video is a compilation of incidents that has been important in shaping of the club we all love and know as Manchester City F.C.

It starts with West Gorton St. Marks and Ardwick FC, but after a short interlude with Billy Meredith, Frank Swift, Don Revie and Bert Trautman and the Cup-campaigns of 1904, 33, 34 and 55, 56 and the League Championship in 1937, we were soon settled for the Mercer/Allison partnership and the team of 1968. By now we were only 30 minutes into the tape and 80 years were gone in a wind. During this time a few bizarre City records were reviled. Did you for instance know that City in 1927 became the club that scored more goals (89) than any other relegated club in history? In 1938 they also managed to become the only club ever to be relegated with a positive goal difference (80-77). City had won the Championship in 1936-37 and the following year became the only reigning champions ever to be relegated. This and more bizarre City-records of the past you can read about on the typical city page on our web-site.

Mick Summerbee reflected on the Mercer/Allison partnership and his introduction to City when they won the Division 2 Championship quite easy. A couple of years later it was the big league that mattered, and City had to fight for it in their last game of the season, depending on United to not win at home against Sunderland. Of course we all know what happened at St. James park when City became Champions in 1968.

It still amazes me how well the team of 68-71 played. The team was more or less complete with Colin Bell providing the motor, Lee, Summerbee and Young being the goal-scorers and Book, Pardoe and Oakes the defensive line. My own memory is still in black and white but I firmly believe that the balance in that team has not been seen in another City team ever since. Sadly this was not duly covered in this tape, but you got the general feeling, partly because the influence of Colin Bell was well documented.

You could have expected a bit more controversial coverage of some of the interesting periods of the City history. There were interviews with Allison, Book, Bond and Horton, all of them involved in much disputed and controversial happenings at the club. None of this was even touched in this film. Still Bond gives his view of the Centenary FA-Cup final (1981) against Spurs which was interesting enough.

The last decade and more precisely the take-over by Francis Lee is not covered at all which is a shame. We were fast-forwarding towards the years with Joe Royle, and even Peter Swales was left out of the picture. Finally the days with Dickov is again in the limelight. You can't help to think that when the Manchester City Complete record book is written in 2087, Paul Dickovs name will be in the hall of fame alongside Billy Meredith, Fred Tilson, Dennis Tueart and Joe Royle. His goals against Gillingham and Blackburn makes sure he deserves it to!

All in all it was a nice compilation of historic events. It's not a reference for in-depth studies of one particular part of the City history, but you get the general impression, and the idea of where to search for more information. The most positive thing about the movie must be the interviews with previous players. My biggest disappointment was perhaps the lack of controversy in the coverage. But hey what do you expect from an "official story"?