Sunday, December 13, 2015

Minute by Minute Notts County v City 1984-5

To celebrate a new book published this week by Howard Hockin and myself, here is an extract from one of the games that did not make the cut for our final choice of ten. 

The book, "And He's The Left-Back, Remember" is a minute-by-minute guide to ten incredible City matches stretching from 1981 to the present day. Build-up, context and minute details are all included as the reader is transported on a roller coaster ride not dissimilar to the actual action when it happened. 

You can order your own copy here 

Before the modern day onslaught of the internet, mobile phones, live streams and global connectivity, there was just football and newspapers and Gerald Sinstadt’s curiously immobile moustache. In this book, the authors revisit some of Manchester City’s most memorable matches and, layer by dramatic layer, give old classics the minute-by-minute treatment, allowing the reader to share the nerve-tingling build up of tension that those who were there on the day felt themselves. This beautifully written and exhaustively researched book follows the dramatic developments in ten all-time classic Manchester City matches - and not necessarily ones that ended well for the Blues. They are dealt with in And He’s The Left Back Remember in intimate detail and in chronological order, giving the following chapters: 1980-81 Tottenham 3 City 2 - FA Cup Final replay 1982-83 City 0 Luton Town 1 – Division One 1987-88 City 10 Huddersfield Town 1 – Division Two 1988-89 City 5 Manchester United 1 – Division One 1995-96 City 2 Liverpool 2 – Premier League 1998-99 City 2 Gillingham 2 – Division Two Play-Off Final 2003-04 Tottenham 3 City 4 – FA Cup 4th round replay 2010-11 Manchester United 1 City 6 – Premier League 2010-11 City 1 Manchester United 0 – FA Cup semi final 2011-12 City 3 Queens Park Rangers 2 - Premier League The full range of human emotions, covered in ten enthralling contests that sum up the spirit and core of Manchester City Football Club.

Monday 6th May 1985
Division Two. Notts County v Manchester City 

1330 WHAT A SCORCHER It’s a sweltering hot, scorcher of a day here down by the banks of the Trent and City fans have been pouring into the town from about ten o’clock this morning. There is noise, lots of it, and there are sky blue favours everywhere. Every pub, every tavern, every off-licence has been commandeered and is the venue for impromptu partying and huge amounts of raucous singing, almost all of it in good humour, it must be added. All hostelries are prop full of expectant Manchester City fans, hollering more loudly with every metre taken towards Meadow Lane and with every swiftly downed orange juice, for today is the day that they expect Billy McNeill to lead their City team back to the glory and the glamour of the First Division.

They will have to go some, however, as the promotion jitters have really been kicking in during the last few weeks and injuries are also beginning to mount up for the Maine Road side. Here is City’s recent form in full gory detail:

          Oxford (a)       0-3
Cardiff (h)      2-2
Barnsley (a)   0-0
Leeds (h)        1-2
Grimsby (a)    1-4
Sheff U (h)      2-0
Pompey (a)     2-1
Oldham (h)      0-0

In effect then, they come into this game in frighteningly dubious form, having been thrashed at Grimsby, lost at home to Leeds and – in their most recent outing – been held at home by a physical Oldham side in a game that bordered on anarchy (referee Peter Willis, a policeman to boot, ended up being hit by a meat and potato pie at half time as he walked from the pitch and, having allowed some vicious Oldham tackling to go unpunished, he sent off Andy May for protesting at the heavy-handed (and footed) treatment dished out by Gary Hoolickin of the visitors).

City, then, approach this one in quite an agitated state, with various tired players leaking confidence as they go along and a massive and slightly impatient support also beginning to feel the shivers of trepidation as that last promotion spot behind Oxford and Birmingham shimmers in and out of proper focus for them.

It has been a difficult season for all at Maine Road and they are, of course, absolutely desperate to rejoin the big boys at the second time of asking, having missed out so disappointingly to Newcastle, Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday last season.

Here’s how the table looks at start of play today:

1. Oxford United                   pld 40             Pts 80
2. Birmingham City              pld 40             Pts 78
3. Manchester City               pld 40             Pts 71
4. Portsmouth                         pld 40             Pts 68
5. Blackburn                           pld 40              Pts 67
6. Leeds United                      pld 40              Pts 66
7. Brighton                              pld 40              Pts 66

With Leeds, Brighton, Portsmouth and Blackburn all still capable of passing City for that third promotion place and City displaying the nerves of a high diver who has just spotted the tide receding to show uncovered rocks far below, you can bet there will be more twists and turns to the promotion story before it ends next weekend.

13:40 FIXTURE ROUND-UP Just to remind you of the critical fixtures this weekend and who plays who on the last day of the season, they are as follows:

TODAY:          Sheffield Utd v Blackburn
                        Leeds v Shrewsbury
                        Portsmouth v Carlisle

LAST DAY:     Birmingham v Leeds
                        Blackburn v Wolves
                        Huddersfield v Portsmouth
                        Brighton v Sheffield United
                        City v Charlton Athletic

Depending on what happens today, some of those last day games may become absolutely critical.

13:41 It has just been pointed out that, but for City’s dreadfully stuttering form over the last two months, none of the nail-biting the fans are presently going through would have been necessary. As recently as March 2nd, City were leading the table, after that memorable win at Ewood Park, when Steve Kinsey shot them to the top of the pile. Things have gone quickly and severely pear-shaped since then in true sky blue fashion with Billy McNeill’s boys getting a bad case of the jitters in the run-in.

13:45 AND COUNTY? It’s not all about City you see. In case nobody has noticed, extra spice is added to today’s Meadow Lane fixture by the fact that County themselves are absolutely desperate for the points as they currently sit in a relegation place at the foot of the table, four points ahead of Wolves at the bottom, but one behind Cardiff in 20th and two behind Middlesbrough in the first safe place, 19th. You can be sure, therefore, that wee Jimmy Sirrell, the tough as granite Scotsman in charge of the Meadow Lane men, will have his side fighting for every inch of turf out there this afternoon.

County come into this game in slightly improved form. A win at Huddersfield and a draw at champions Oxford have shown that they are nobody’s mugs and they come into this game in good spirits and with few injury worries. Strikers Rachid Harkouk, Justin Fashanu and Alan Young, all of whom have seen service in the higher echelons of English football with QPR, Norwich and Leicester respectively, are available to play if needed.



13:50 TEAM NEWS IS IN: Team news is just reaching us and it’s a mixed bag for City. Jamie Hoyland, the youngster pole axed by Gary Hoolickin at the weekend, in the incident that led to Andy May’s red card and referee Willis’s early dinner offering, is out. McNeill’s already injury-ravaged side is thus deprived of yet another player. Hoyland’s replacement this afternoon will be another youngster, Geoff Lomax. We’ll have to wait and see if this triggers a reshuffle in the City ranks, as Lomax usually plays at full back.

Meanwhile for County, ex-QPR man Harkouk is fit to start, as are ex-Forest and Norwich ace Fashanu and long time club servant Pedro Richards. Alan Young also starts in an attack-minded side. It looks very much as if County are going to give it a go this afternoon. Perhaps the most poignant detail of all, though, stands at the back for County this afternoon in the imposing shape of Dave Watson, who played 146 times for City and has now returned to the club where it all started for him in 1966. What an afternoon in prospect for him. 

NOTTS COUNTY line up like this:

1. Mick Leonard
2. Pedro Richards
3. Keith Downing
4. Dean Yates
5. Dave Watson
6. Steve Sims
7. Mark Goodwin
8. Justin Fashanu
9. Alan Young
10. David Hunt
11. Rachid Harkouk

Sub: Ian McParland

And MANCHESTER CITY like this:

1. Alex Williams
2. Kenny Clements
3. Geoff Lomax
4. Nicky Reid
5. Mick McCarthy
6. David Phillips
7. Paul Simpson
8. Andy May
9. Paul Power
10. Neil McNab
11. Steve Kinsey

Referee today is Mr I. Borrett of Norfolk. I hope he’s brought his asbestos underpants, because he is going to need them.

14:00 AN HOUR TO GO It is still a full hour to kick off but the place is already throbbing. Not Meadow Lane exactly, where tea urns are being prepared and the press men are eating their sandwiches with consummate calm, but looking around outside, Iremonger Road is bulging with City supporters in a varied array of conditions. All optimistic, all loud and all getting a little bit boisterous. Side roads and bushes being used as temporary toilets, police attempting to make their presence felt, but it is clear already that a heady combination of the warm bank holiday weather and the famed promotion fever has persuaded many more fans to travel down from Manchester than was anticipated. Notts officials had mentioned an expected 5 –to – 6,000 travelling away support and have made the entire Kop end available to City today as a result of police recommendations. The terracing at that end of the ground holds approximately 8,000 fans, so County should be ok with that calculation, but it is already abundantly clear to anyone walking between the central bus and railway stations and the ground here that the entire length of London Road is completely awash with City fans.

14:05 Passers-by at the Trent Navigation Inn reporting frenzied singing and chanting in front of a flag bedecked pub. Children with their faces painted sky blue, old men in flat caps and many many hundreds of boisterous adults shouting “We’ll be up by five o’clock”. Two teenagers on the roof of the pub were busy arranging a giant MCFC Union Jack and attaching it to the chimney pot, whilst downstairs youths were escorting two cigarette machines complete with electrical cords and plugs gingerly through the front doors of the public house. It would seem the City fans are settling in well and making themselves at home.

It’s still a good walk from there, so they’d better get a move on if they want to see the start of the match. Absolute biblical flood of humanity coming down towards the bridge across the River Trent and not one of them is walking in a straight line. The view from the Main Stand affords us a glimpse of Forest’s City ground and an array of cranes and warehouse roofs, all looking splendid in the early afternoon sunshine.

14:15 DELAYED KICK OFF AT MEADOW LANE? Some rumours circulating that the game will not kick off on time at 3pm, as the crush to get in is increasing now. maybe as much as a couple of thousand City fans have already taken up their places on the shallow terracing on the open end to our left and there appears to be a surge into the terracing and small reserved seated area in the County Road side of the ground that may or may not have been allocated to the visitors too and that is also filling up very swiftly. The County Road gable, that famous pointed white roof with the Notts County Football Club Founded 1862 legend, stands proudly above a seated area, that to be frank, looks a little like a chicken coop. Great atmosphere and much singing can be heard from the streets outside as the bulk of the arriving away fans are yet to enter the stadium.

14:30 City players out on the pitch warming up a little tentatively as they see the numbers entering at the far end. The Kop is now full to bursting behind the goal, with some spaces at each end by the corner flags still free, but the flow of fans coming in at the top of the terrace does not appear to be abating and we will have way more than the 8- to 9,000 crowd that home officials were predicting. It looks very much like there might be that number from Manchester alone, already in the ground and, judging by the noise outside, there are more to come! Let’s hope this slightly dilapidated old ground holds up to the test today. It has been barely touched since the war and, with the exception of the far end where a sports complex and new changing room complex rears up right behind the goal (a bit like at Hull and Bolton but without even a few steps of terracing), Meadow Lane looks and feels like a football ground from another age. If you look carefully at the roof of the Main Stand, where we are, towards the Kop End terracing, I’m told you can make out bomb damage from the Second World War!

14:31 CLEMENTS SHOCK The Main Stand roof is not the only thing in the wars. Kenny Clements, sporting a great shock of permed hair, appears to be holding the back of his leg. He is being joined by physio Roy Bailey and they seem to be deep in conversation down on the edge of the pitch. Clements it was who scored the vital second goal in a wobbly but deeply decisive home win over Sheffield United two weeks ago, a win that stopped the rot somewhat, as City’s promotion jitters began to chime rather loudly. It looks a bit iffy at the moment as to whether the big stopper will be able to start or not.

14:45 HOUSE FULL HOUSE FULL Meadow Lane has a capacity somewhere around 19,000, we think, after the afore-mentioned renovations to the Meadow Lane (gymnasium) End were carried out and we are getting close to the point where the gates will be closed. The ground is rammed on three sides now. Only the opposite goal, with its strange brown wall complex, has a spattering of ball boys and fans standing in front near the touchline on the four lines of terracing that County introduced there last season. The Kop End has been full for twenty minutes already, absolutely heaving, a noisy swaying mass of sky blue scarves and favours. There are lots and lots of City fans in both the other stands, in both designated and non-designated areas. The County Stand has plenty of terracing and that small area of seats, where both sets of fans appear to be mingling freely. Controlled chaos would be the phrase that comes to mind at the moment.

14:55 HERE COME THE TEAMS The teams are out, including Kenny Clements for City, looking no worse for wear. Referee Borrett is calling the two captains, Richards and Power to the centre circle. Meadow lane looks splendid, absolutely full, the Kop End a sea of clapping hands as Alex Williams takes up position in front of the City fans. There must be 12- to 13,000 of them in here now, over double the expected number!

What an atmosphere as the ref tosses the coin. It looks like City are starting with Simpson wide on the left, Lomax at left back, which releases Power to midfield, alongside Phillips, May and Neil McNab. County start three up front.  

15:00 KICK OFF We’re off with County playing towards the packed Kop and City heading downhill towards the gymnasium. There’s a gusty wind and bright sunshine for defenders and goalkeepers to deal with and the ball is immediately in the air with Alex Williams, wearing a cap, searching desperately for its flight. A little ripple of noise from the home fans is swallowed by the shuddering roar from the mass ranks of City fans. This is quite a spectacle to see, I can tell you.

Kinsey and Simpson chase down a loose ball
05:00 Nervous start with the ball pinging around like it has a bomb inside. Nobody wanting to put their foot on it and calm things down. Frenzied atmosphere is lending itself to the uncontrolled movements of the players down on the pitch.

10:00 Scrappy start to the game continues. Nobody taking control and nobody wanting to hold on to possession. The ball, being fired about on the wind, is the proverbial hot potato this afternoon. Notts are more than holding their own, it must be said. Jimmy Sirrell has really instilled some belief since coming back to relieve Richie Barker of his duties.

20:00 First real chance for the home side, as a slip by young Lomax lets Richards in and his pass to Young finds the striker on the back foot. He still manages to get to it before Clements and fires narrowly wide of Alex Williams’ near post. County beginning to turn the screw and the noisy City faithful bellowing for their side to wake up. Sterling stuff.

25:00 GOAL! NOTTS COUNTY! County 1 City 0 What a turn-up at Meadow Lane. And it has been coming. Ex-Forest man Fashanu has the ball in the net. He stuck out a long leg in a goalmouth scramble and managed somehow to divert the ball past May and Williams on the line. Pandemonium here as the relegation fighters lead the promotion chasers. Pockets of County fans celebrating tentatively among the Manchester hordes.

29:00 Cautious City break but they will have to do better than that. David Phillips dispossessed on the edge of the box with Simpson screaming to be released down the left flank. Power was also available outside him.  

32:00 GOAL! NOTTS COUNTY AGAIN! County 2 City 0. Wow, this is incredible. County
Harkouk with number two
go two up and City are all over the place. Rachid Harkouk stretching those long legs of his, put through by
 
McParland and managing to keep a step ahead of Geoff Lomax before snapping his shot low into the net. Great finish. Unbelievable scenes here. County fans really beginning to believe this could be their day, whilst the Kop has fallen a little quiet for a moment or two.

34:00 City attempt to hit back straight away, McNab feeding Power, who gets in a bumbly sort of cross to nobody in particular. Andy May is close to connecting but the ball is worked away for a throw in to City. County looking very sprightly now.

39:00 GOAL! NOTTS COUNTY! County THREE City 0. I cannot believe my eyes. I cannot believe I am watching this. Notts County, so abject for so much of the season, are tearing Manchester City to shreds in what must be the most jaw dropping first half display seen from a Notts team since Moses parted the waters; 3 goals in 13 minutes has whipped Notts fans into ecstasy, absolutely incredible. This time it’s Alan Young who scores, after hesitant defending by Mick McCarthy. The burly defender has time to clear it up the field, but dallies and Young nips in to score. Absolutely amazing scenes here.

41:00 Anger erupts I was talking of amazing scenes and there appears to be a bit of a disturbance now behind the goal being defended by City. The City fans have had a close up view of the carnage in their own area and don’t appear to have taken too kindly to it. Lots of arm waving and a few objects flying in the air. I will keep you posted as the game carries on in a slightly surreal atmosphere.

HALF TIME: NOTTS COUNTY 3 MANCHESTER CITY 0

45:00 Half time analysis Well, we have reached half time here, but with growing unrest behind the City goal, in the Main Stand and also across in the County Road Stand, where there has been something of a stampede.

The 13,000 or so City fans here today are very unhappy indeed with what they have seen from their team so far. There are pockets of disruption all around the ground and, as the players went off, it started in earnest. We now have fifteen minutes of half time to let everything cool off again. Let’s see.

As far as the game is concerned, City have been utterly taken by surprise by County’s willingness to take risks and go for it. City may well have been expecting a cagey tight affair to start with and have got the opposite, with County rampaging forward with three upfront. This unsettled them early on and they have just never recovered their composure. Now they must try to find something, but with a riot going on outside, I would think that City dressing room will be quite a tricky place to concentrate at the moment.

There is no way the second half will start on time here at Meadow Lane. The stampede in the County Road Stand led to a lot of home fans making for the other end of the stadium, where of course there is little or no accommodation behind that far goal, so we have people milling on the pitch and just along the touchline to avoid being near the trouble. Worst than that, at the away end a large part of the fencing at the front of the Kop has come down, or should I say has been brought down by eager hands and there is now a pretty large invasion of the pitch going on from that end too.

1610 We are already ten minutes late for the start of the 2nd half and I can count one, two, three.... six police horses now on the pitch, trying to round up invaders and either cart them off or herd them back onto the terraces. Fans scattered everywhere at the moment. 

We are also receiving news that the City dressing room was invaded during Billy McNeill’s half time team talk by irate City supporters with an opinion to express on City’s dreadful first half collapse. Everything happening here today evidently and a lot of it can be put down to police and County officials massively underestimating how many would travel from Manchester.

1618 Most of the supporters are back on the terraces, but we are not ready to restart. A malevolent, powder keg atmosphere persists and a group of City fans have just been escorted out of the players tunnel, where it looks like they were indeed attempting to give Billy McNeill’s half time team talk for him. McNeill meanwhile is ambling towards the disheveled Kop End with his counterpart Jimmy Sirrell. Two tough old Scots but I bet they’re squeaking a bit now. Sirrell appears to have a megaphone in his hand. Is he going to open a dialogue with that huge bank of braying City fans?

1620 That’s exactly what he is doing! In his broad Scots accent, he has just told them that the match will not be abandoned. Billy McNeill has also spoken, but his words were drowned out by the noise, some clapping, many booing and the rest chanting and singing. There are still plenty of people on the pitch and still a lot of movement in the crowd. Police statement is that the match will not restart until they are happy that they have the place under control but that it will go ahead. Billy McNeill is now taking up the loudspeaker. Let’s hear what he says:

“If the match has to be abandoned, the 3-0 scoreline will stand. I beg you to support the team properly.”

Second half about to commence. That seems to have done the trick. We are slightly late due to the disruption here, but the players are out and the second half is going to restart any second now. A total of 30 minutes delay during half time.

2 comments:

  1. Good year for Manchester City FC and good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was there too and stood with the Notts County fans. We arrived just before kick off and in those pay on the door days, Jeff and I made our way to the nearest stand. Only when we were inside did we realise we were the only Blues. I had to feign pleasure as each County goal went in. At half time, one young lad next to me, turned to his dad and said, "3-0!" He couldn't believe it, mind you, neither could I. In the second half, I had to look annoyed at the first and worried when the second goal went in, so all those acting lessons at school came in useful. Paul Power sent a header just over the bar, which would have completed a great fight back.

    ReplyDelete

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