THE NUMBERS GAME | Part 2

 

City fans on the Holte End, Villa Park, during extra time of the
1981 FA Cup semi final against Ipswich Town

In Part 1, written back in 2011, as City closed in on their first trophy success (the FA Cup against Stoke) since the League Cup final of 1976, we looked at the 70s and early 80s, bearing witness to the increasingly large attendances at City towards the end of the decade and a distinct fall-off at the beginning of the 80s, as hooliganism, Thatcherism and social decline took a grip on the people and the people's game. What was obvious throughout this period of decay, however, was that City's support - as has been historically the case since the year dot - held up remarkably while those around us dropped away alarmingly, at the same time putting flight to the modern-day myths that the club's following is flaky and never existed in large numbers before the current Time of Plenty. 

Four Into Three Don't Go

City, relegated in 1983 with the 4th highest average home attendance, found themselves struggling in a second tier occupied by fellow crowd-pullers Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea and a revitalised Sheffield Wednesday, under the rallying leadership of Jack Charlton. Ultimately coming 4th in 1983-84 was no great surprise, given the severe lack of funds. City supporters' loyalty was also no great surprise, although some of the numerical high points were eye-openers (nearly 42,000 against both Newcastle and Wednesday, mid-30,000 gates v Leeds and Oldham, huge away followings to places like Huddersfield, Barnsley and Notts County). Despite the grim times (try explaining that to Manchester United fans), the fans were sticking with City in significant numbers.

As the 80s progressed towards the end-of-decade nightmare scenarios of Hillsborough, Luton, Bradford and Heysel, the scene at most football grounds was a broadly similar one: decrepit, crumbling and dangerous, inhospitable, inadequate and antiquated, populated by violent, disinterested police and anarchic hooligan crews, some now sufficiently organised to be handing out visiting cards and pre-arranging scraps well away from the grounds. Following your side away from home required staying power and nerves of steel.

With two separate two-season hiatuses in the second tier, City could be said to be losing ground at a critical moment. The advent of the Premier League was still a few years off (1992) but the rumblings of the then "Big 5" (Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Everton) were loud and clear. That these teams were also more often than not the best supported, cemented their positions of influence. Led by greedily ambitious boards, they were pushing for the type of money-making reorganistion that we now see in full vicious swing. This was the first attempt at a land grab.

UP AND DOWN AND UP AND DOWN

City, rubbing shoulders with Carlisle and Grimsby, Cambridge and Shrewsbury, in the backwaters of Division Two, could only sit and watch as the heavyweights forged on without them. Despite the numbers following the Blues, mid-20,000 gates against the likes of Grimsby and Barnsley were not matching what could be achieved in the higher division.

The fans though were still turning up despite everything in large and boisterous numbers. 47,000 had watched the emotional return to the top division against Charlton in 1985. While the second promotion of the decade, in 1989, brought in a more modest 33,000 for the deciding home match with Bournemouth (which City messed up after being three goals clear). This was merely a mirror of where attendances in general were going.

Let us first of all return to where Part 1 finished, with City registering the 4th best average attendance in the country, despite being in the "wrong" division. Season 85-86 saw the Blues back in the top flight and they immediately posted 4th best ratings again, ahead of the previous year's promoted sides Chelsea, Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday.:

 

While City slotted straight into 4th place, the two sides that came up ahead of Billy McNeill's side, Oxford and Birmingham City, filled the bottom two places in the average attendance chart for the new season (see above). Across the board, crowds were down, hit savagely by a triple whammy of recession, violence and lack of security. To be a football supporter at this juncture was to risk being labelled a thug, abnormal or a social misfit. There is no understating the situation, although it will be difficult to imagine for those who have only lived in the corporate dining, Can I Have Your Shirt era of the Premier League. 

Interesting to note here that City's average beat those traditional London giants Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham, the top four being made up of the Manchester and Merseyside clubs, with Everton enjoying a resurgence that would see them crowned champions twice in the middle of the decade. City's season high of  48,773 came - predictably enough - in the Manchester derby and was beaten only by United and Everton's best of the season. 

Double European champions Forest posted a 16,000 average for the season, just 5 years after their incredible continental feats. Villa too, likewise European champions even more recently in 1981, saw crowds fall even lower, to a paltry 15,237. 

The banter-filled away ends at the Etihad in the modern era are a feature these days, but, for those that witnessed the half-empty grounds and the minimal away followings, today's jibes about loyalty among City fans and size of support can stick in the throat, especially when it is coming from supporters of teams who, during this period, were to a large extent abandoned by their own fans. Those London clubs now pulling in 60,000 crowds every other week on the back of the Premier League's massive popularity and the fact that it is now a tourist must to take in a game, were not crowing so loud in 1986, where Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea regularly clocked sub-20,000 gates at home.

Everton's impending success did not necessarily help them either, as we can see from the graphic below, registering a 17,000 gate just before their historic FA Cup Final v Watford in 1984. The same afternoon, Arsenal were busy taking part in a game watched by 11,164 at St Andrews. 

In the 2nd tier, shorn of four of its crowd pullers, the situation was even grimmer. Sunderland were the best supported on 16,000 averages and future Premier League regulars Crystal Palace were pulling in an average of 6,787. Leeds, top dogs in the 70s, and happy to call themselves elite performers, were struggling by on 13,000 gates. Everywhere you looked the drop-off was drastic. City's 85-86 average of 24,000 was thus quite a feat  

City's second promotion of the decade, in 1989, brought boosted crowd figures again. 40,000 had watched the top of the table clash with Chelsea on a grim, wet day and City had duly crawled in in 2nd place to clinch their place in the top flight just in time for the Gazza Bounce that would come with the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy. City's highs this season were the January 2nd 33,000 gate v Leeds and the promotion six-pointer with Crystal Palace that also pulled in 33,456 for a crucial 1-1 draw. Half a million people had filed through the rotting turnstiles at Maine Road that season. Despite Chelsea running away with the title, it was City's fans who topped the attendance charts for 88-89 with a season average of 23,179 as opposed to champions Chelsea's underwhelming 15,940. 

AWAY DAYS 

Chelsea's travelling support - like City's - could not be faulted, however. They had brought 8,377 to Maine Road for a raucous, rain-swept top of the table clash, while the next best supported in Manchester were Leeds (4,755), Stoke (4,750), Sunderland (3,329) and Palace (2,842). Modern day Premier League Brighton brought a travelling army of 289 to Maine Road that season, according to the club's official figures, printed in the programme for the end of season game with Bournemouth. To put things into perspective, City had taken 12,000 travelling fans to the fixture at Stoke, 10,000-plus to Blackburn and even more to Meadow Lane and were regularly followed by 5/6,000 in smaller grounds. Despite having a sizeable hooligan element to this huge away following, the fact that so many were travelling in good spirit (see Daily Star's report on the inflatables craze) meant a start had been made in combatting the unruly element in football crowds. That it had neither come from the police nor Thatcher's government was hardly surprising.

Before the fiesta of football in Italy, the 89-90 season saw Liverpool home once again, this time ahead of Aston Villa. The latter's crowd fixtures are interesting. Running just behind the leaders, Villa posted a crowd of 21,000 for the late-season visit of Millwall with the title still very much up for grabs. This was the last season before football felt the bump of popular regrowth. Liverpool's attendances - as the pre-eminent force in the country - showed a surprising lack of buoyancy. For a period where the club finished, respectively, 2nd, champions, 2nd, champions and 2nd again (hardly a bad run) the following seasonal averages were posted for Anfield:

In London too, the boom was yet to arrive, with Tottenham v Chelsea attracting little over 16,000 paying customers. Chelsea could only muster 15,000 themselves for the London derby with Charlton Athletic. It is clear that a certain amount of rewriting of this period leading up to Italia '90 has been carried out, in order to paint a picture of loyal hordes following the traditional giants. This was absolutely not the case, with Liverpool's European Cup quarter final with CSKA Sofia attracting 27,388 and a semi final with Dinamo Bucharest only 26,000. Even in Europe, the top dogs were returning embarrassing numbers during their all-conquering 80s spree.

City posted averages around the 28,000-mark for this last season of the decade, making them - immediately after promotion from the second division - the country's fourth-best supported club, ahead of outgoing champions Everton (26,281), Gascoigne-and-Lineker-boosted Tottenham (26,831), Chelsea (21,531) and title-challenging Aston Villa (25,544). The 19% increase in gates this represented was the only increase of this size posted amongst the top seven that season. The 43,246 that witnessed the derby mauling of United in September represented City's biggest home gate of the season, down from previous highs owing to growing capacity restrictions in the wake of the multiple disasters that had befallen the game.

 

The World Cup in Italy in the summer of 1990 had a galvanising effect on the football industry in England. Paul Gascoigne would become the modern game's first generational pop star, crowds were about to surge and football would start a long journey of rehabilitation in the eyes of the authorities. Within two years the Premier League and Champions League would be inaugurated. Crowds were beginning to climb on the back of this new-found popularity. 

Leaving the terrible tragedies of Heysel and Hillsborough behind, along with rioting by Millwall fans at Kenilworth Road and the fire at a dilapidated Valley Parade was essential, but not without first learning lessons and improving facilities. A government clampdown meant standing on terraces, a staple for so many of us, and a sure-fire way of cramming in large excited crowds, was a football habit on borrowed time. Soon the Taylor Report would have us all seated in grounds that were taking new shape under the developers. The football, febrile and close to the edge, that we had experienced in the 70s and 80s was about to be replaced by a family-friendly version bathed in the sunshine of the new Sky TV deal and shiny new replica kits. Crowds would surge, but capacities would be reduced, as we will see in Part 3.

10,000 City fans cheered the side to victory at Ewood Park in Division Two 1984-85.

  

     

MIRROR IMAGE | BLONDIE CLIPPING IN FOR 2-0 AT FOREST

Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City  |  Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City

Sunday 28th April 2024  |  Saturday 27th February 1993

✅ 👱 BLONDIE NICKS THE SECOND | Floppy blond-haired lad clips in late second goal to secure vital win at the City Ground? Yes, it has happened before. 87th minute of the league game in 1992-93, City winning 1-0 thanks to David White's goal. Gary Flitcroft, blond hair bobbing in the breeze steps in to beat goalkeeper Mark Crossley to the ball and clip the clinching goal into the Forest net. Fast forward to 2024, the blond hair belongs to Erling Haaland, whose close range finish after 71 minutes clinches City's vital 2-0 win. 

✅ 💣 POSSIBLY EXPLOSIVE CONSEQUENCES | The defeat meant Forest were staring at the bottom of the table. By May they would be relegated. In 2024, they end the season with a potentially winner takes all game with Burnley, relegation the fate for the loser.

✅ 🔥 OH NO, NOT SPURS! |  The 1992-93 game set City up for a vital game with Tottenham, in the FA Cup 6th round, with the promise of a first FA Cup semi-final since 1981. What transpired was chaotic in the extreme... In 2024 Spurs also await City, with the points essential in the fight to haul in Arsenal before the games run out. 

✅ 🥩⛨ MEAT SHIELD AND MEAT SHIELD SENIOR BY THE TRENT | Erling Haaland scores on the ground where, a year after the Flitcroft Game, his father Alf Inge would play for Forest, before moving on to play for Leeds and City.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

ON THE WINGS OF DESIRE

City's total domination of English football continues.

Those that decried the self-styled one-sided end of football, this morning whoop a three-horse title race, alive and kicking with possibilities and interest as we stagger into the final furlong.

The Manchester City juggernaut ruining football evidently has a slow puncture. There are other clubs in the Premier League after all. Join the queue of Artetulated trucks, City.

Perhaps becoming immortal wasn't all that it was fluffed up to be. City, down from the skies, want to feel what it's like to be fallible, sense the closeness of danger, breathe the fear. In Wim Wenders' seminal film The Wings of Desire, the theme of the epic of peace is developed. The shedding of immortality allows angels to feel the everyday stuff we feel: fear, longing, loneliness, self-doubt. In exploring limits, we find out about ourselves.   

Seen through the prism of another white hot skirmish with history, self-doubt and hoodoo at Anfield, a point for City was not at all bad, despite the lesson in current limits it may have given us. How it came about provided us with different angles. Deservedly ahead at half time after managing to control Liverpool's occasional forays, it became clear after the break, that either side could win it once Nathan Ake's impoverished back pass and Ederson's jerky reaction to the imminent danger had brought Liverpool level. 

City were at turns lucky to stay level and unlucky not to snatch a late winner, finding both bar and post in the way of Foden's involuntary attempt and Doku's precise left footer.

City have seldom hit the heights this season, at times cruising, at others obviously saving energy, but the rocket-shaped annihilations have been conspicuous by their absence and the big game trampling of rivals has not occurred. With Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland having been absent and now obviously still finding their rhythm, the side has not always performed to the best of is abilities. Yesterday, with Rodri being hurried out of his stride, it took the introduction of the willing Mateo Kovacic to stem the tide and start City rolling towards the Kop. Doku too gave Liverpool's right flank something to think about late on.

While De Bruyne's passing range has temporarily deserted him and Haaland's instinctive finishing has lost its instinct, others are stepping in. Foden, although chased out of his rhythm yesterday, has been magnificent for most of the season. Walker has chased up and down with a fervour only someone trying to forget about things could manage. 

With Klopp's announcement of a summer departure has come a renewed wave of effort from his players, intent on marking the end of his Anfield reign with something special. Against this kind of onslaught, City held firm, if at times with a lack of control that has become customary in many games this season. That City's levels of excellence are down on last season is hardly a surprise. How do you follow winning the Treble? How does one better being World Club Champions? The quality remains, the shapes and passing lines are still in tact, but there is at times a slight loss of intensity, of hunger and that is only to be expected.

Arsenal have that hunger. Only being on the outside looking in can foster the kind of frenzy you feel watching games at the Emirates this season. Sometimes it feels counterproductive, as if they might overexcite themselves into a jelly-like state, as happened last season. Liverpool have been given hunger by the whiff of End of Empire. 

Against those two fundamentals, City must carry the fight to the end of the season. It is perhaps an even greater test than last season when all was unfolding before them. Now they must find the fight and the focus to merely hold on to what they already have.     

"Imagine how angels would look at us..."

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY: MAN UTD 1979

📸  Season 1978-79

📆  Saturday 10th February 1979

🏟  Maine Road

United winger Steve Coppell beats Paul Power to the ball to loft a daring right foot lob over Joe Corrigan at Maine Road on February 10th 1979. On a treacherous pitch, United had the better of the exchanges, winning 3-0 thanks to two goals from Coppell and one from Andy Ritchie. 

On this occasion, nothing went right for the Blues, in the middle of a Malcolm Allison-inspired slump towards the lower reaches of the First Division. Ironically, the only thing that did function properly on this afternoon was the notoriously fickle North Stand scoreboard, which was still proclaiming -clearly and accurately for once- the time of the previous United goal when this shot was taken of coppell making it 2-0.

In the defeated City side on this occasion were Brian Kidd, ex-United, and Peter Barnes, future United player in 1985, while United's Sammy McIlroy would turn out briefly and unsuccessfully for City in 1986.  

Coppell would later manage disastrously at City for less time than it took to replace the scoreboard.