MANCHESTER CITY -MOMENTS TO REMEMBER-

TITLE           Manchester City -Moments to Remember-
AUTHOR          John Creighton
PUBLISHER       Sigma Leisure,
                1, South Oak Lane,
                Wilmslow,
                Cheshire SK9 6AR
                England
                (UK)-625-531035
ISBN No         1 85058 260 2
PRICE           £8.95 (1992)

A card-backed book containing 158 pages including 48 black & white photos and numerous league & cup-run tables. The contents are as follows with page numbers in brackets: 1, The Beginning (1-7); 2, The Early 1900s (9-33); 3, The 1930s and 1940s (35-48); 4, The 1950s (51-64); 5, The 1960s (67-77); 6, The 1970s (79-94); 7, 1980-1990 (95-116); 8, The Early Nineties (117-155) and finally Honours Gained (158). As can be seen from the above list, the book is very heavily weighted towards recent years, the two seasons from 90-92 getting almost a quarter of the book. This means that the bulk is definitely aimed at a period people can remember as indeed the title says!

We start with the origin of the club in 1880, then called St Marks, West Gorton, initiated by a vicar's daughter as a working mens' club and destined to lose their first fixture to Macclesfield Baptist Church (where are you now Macclesfield!?). I presume the lads didn't drown their sorrows with beer after this defeat! A description is given of how the club merged, undergoing several name changes before finally, in 1894, settling on Manchester City. The text is complemented by partial league tables as well as some original posters of the period. We get to hear about the legendary Billy Meredith and the illegal payments scandal (very topical!) surrounding him and the club in 1905 which led to 17 City players being banned for a season and consequently put up for sale! The move from the Hyde Road ground (1920) to Maine Rd cost £100,000 which must have been a phenomenal amount of money in those days and which was designed to hold 90,000. I wonder how this expenditure compares to that for the new Kippax.

We get glimpses of the old inter-war heroes, Johnson, Tilson, Busby (that Busby for those who don't know), and Frank Swift (the first of City's great goalkeepers, destined to die as a journalist in the Munich air disaster). Postwar takes us through the signing of Swift's successor, the brilliant Bert Trautman, ex German paratrooper & POW. There's also the 1955 Cup final which City lost largely due to the talented Jimmy Meadows having to leave the field with a career-ending injury in the days before substitutes! City of course lost but were back in 1956, a memorable final in which the valiant Trautman played the last 15 mins (unknowingly) with a broken neck, becoming the first German to win an FA Cup medal.

We pass through the 60s taking a look at Mercer/Allison, Young, Bell, Lee, Summerbee and the most successful period in the Blues' history. City, although largely an unsuccessful team in terms of trophies during the 70s were still hugely entertaining to watch but the period ends with the disgraceful clearout which still rankles (me anyway!). The trials and tribulations of the 80s are described in detail and finish with an almost blow by blow look at the early nineties (90-92).

This is a reasonable book; quite a bit of research has gone into it and the facts are complemented by well-chosen and well-reproduced photos. Furthermore, it's an easy read, each chapter being broken up into sections of paragraph size detailing the highlights of that particular period. On the down side, I'm sure many people will be very disappointed that the book is so heavily weighted to the 90's when one could have, at the very least expected an extensive chapter on the late 60's (doesn't materialise). I was left feeling that my appetite had merely been whetted; just what did that vicar's daughter look like? As far as I know there are no authoritative histories of City (a glaring omission in my opinion) and this book can only be seen as a stop gap, a readable but of necessity all too brief look into Manchester City Football Club. When do we get a 300-400 page high quality, hardback blockbuster? Any offers?

All the above are my own personal opinions