Not a declaration of the apparent woes of the last few weeks, just a nudge in the way of a great documentary now available to watch on Youtube. A couple of weeks ago we mentioned a smashing collection of City videos available online. The guy responsible for that treasure trove of stuff has been so kind as to upload this again, and it's must-see.Some of you might remember it from its initial airing in 1981, but for those not so lucky it's a fly-on-the-wall film detailing Malcolm Allison's final days as City manager, return with Crystal Palace, and the early days of the reign of John Bond. It's a great program, really provides a terrific insight into the workings of the club behind the scenes, showing a manager on the edge and a club that from top to bottom appears to be a bloody shambles.
An especially sad part sees Malc saying his goodbyes to his players at the training ground and strolling off, shirt unzipped to the stomach, a beaten man. There are also some extraordinary scenes from John Bond's interview for the job. The board give him a grilling whilst Swales slouches in his chair looking half-interested and flicking a packet of matches. His first meeting with the players is also shown; the squad cramming into a what looks like your nan's old backroom, keeping warm infront of an old three-bar fire.
On his return to Maine Road with Crystal Palace just a couple of months after his sacking, Allison, overcoat and all, can't resist sprinting across the pitch to the rapturous applause of the Kippax, before the cheers turn into those of appreciation for the new man at the helm. After the game, Allison stews around the away dressing room looking lost. He'd leave Palace not long after.
Part One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3KVEy1XKoc
Part Two - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XEPJ923AQ
Part Three - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YfQQjptuak
Part Four - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo_fV3h2DDI
Part Five - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAbzMloipcY
Part Six - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLq7MvHUh7g
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I'm sure this was repeated on TV a couple of years ago. Definitely worth watching.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see that again and so good to be reminded of the glorified TV sales person Swales was. Players going out of City, at the time of Mal's return, Barnes, Watson, Owen, Hartford and in McKenzie, Silkman, Robinson, Daley.
ReplyDeleteMind you just as with Paul Walsh, I wish Tommy Hutchinson had joined City a lot earlier in his career.
Thanks for posting these links, I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for posting that - you're right it was a really interesting and revealing documentary. You can't help feeling sorry for Alison who obviously cares about his players and believes in what he is trying to acheive. At the same time you sense that Swales' absolute support for Alison helped to get us to the shambolic position we were in at that time.
ReplyDeleteBond comes across as a practical football man who knows what he's talking about so that we do get some sense of the contrast between Alison the football idealist and Bond the pragmatist.
I'm a bit surprised at how Swales comes across. Swales has been heavily criticised, generally quite correctly, for taking us from a position of strength in the mid-70's to relegation twice in the '80's and for his subsequent failure to hire and support a manager who could deliver success. Books like Niall Quinn's autobiography (one of my favourite sports books) paint a pretty depressing picture of how the club was run during Quinn's time as a player for us.
But at this time, between '79 and '81, i think we can see what Swales was hoping to acheive and i don't think we can accuse him of not supporting his manager. It transpires that Alison wasn't the man for the job and maybe we can criticise Swales for another poor choice but i'm more inclined to believe that the football romantic in Swales reflected the feeling of the fans.
I think you also have to acknowledge that Swales had no choice but to act and that when he sacked Alison he made a pretty good choice at the time, despite what many of us thought, by bringing in Bond.
Tony.