Second row (l-r); Willie Carr, Ernie Hunt, Ian Gibson, Graham Paddon, Dietmar Bruck, Maurice Setters, Neil Martin, Jeff Blockley, Tony Hateley, George Curtis, Chris Cattlin, Brian Hill, Mick Coop, Dave Clements, Ernie Machin, Ernie Hannigan, Gerry Baker
Third row (l-r); Bert Hince (Trainer), Tom Baird (Medical Officer), Tom Sargeant (Orthopedic Consultant), Micky French (Director), Peter Robins (Director), John Camin (Director), Noel Cantwell (Manager), Derrick Robins (Chairman), Phil Mead (Assistant Chairman), Jim Stevenson (Director), Eddie Plumley (Secretary), Bob Dennison (Chief Scout), Neil Solman (Stadium Manager), Norman Pilgrim (Physiotherapist), Pat Saward (Assistant Manager)
Front row (l-r); Colin Randell, Alan Green, Tommy Howard, Steve Aucott, Johnny Stevenson, Ivan Crossley
By Jim Brown
In the late summer of 1969 it soon became apparent that the seasons of struggle in Division 1 were over – at least for now. For many supporters 8 October 1969 announced the arrival of City as a bone fide member of the top flight. That was the day City took on Brian Clough’s all-conquering Derby County at the Baseball Ground. Undefeated in 25 home games, Derby had conceded only five goals in thirteen games since their promotion from Division Two, but City wrecked that proud sequence, running out 3-1 winners. It was the Sky Blues’ fourth away of the season and the finest away display for years and one which even Clough acknowlÂedged as ‘brilliant’. Two months earlier Derby’s visit to Highfield Road had attracted 41,036, a massive crowd but disappointing for the club who had expected close to 50,000 for Clough’s team’s visit. Four days earlier over 37,000 watched Willie Carr, playing as an emergency striker, score a dramatic hat-trick to bury West Brom and 38,000 were there two weeks later to see Wolves beaten 1-0.
The healthy financial position enabled the board to give the go-ahead for new signings and Cantwell made two very shrewd buys in November 1969. Striker John O’Rourke joined from Ipswich for £80,000 and central defender Roy Barry from Dunfermline for half as much. Barry was one of those players whose historical significance is disproportionate to the number of games he played. Barry made only fourteen appearÂances in 1969-70 yet, as that rarity, a creative central defender, he became the fulcrum of the side and gave supporters the sight of a true great.
His arrival marked the beginning of a prodigious run of eight wins and a draw in ten games, at the end of which City occupied fourth place. Away wins at Palace, Hillsborough and Upton Park established City – briefly – as a member of the First Division elite, but the finest result was a goal-less draw at Goodison Park, where the champions elect, boasting the much-vaunted Ball-Kendall-Harvey midfield, had hitherto proved invincible. The club suffered a dreadful blow in March, when Barry broke his leg in the home game against Sheffield Wednesday, but by that time they had a novel experience on their hands. They entered the final straight needing three points from three away games; this time the target was not survival, but a place in Europe.
Barry’s arrival signalled the end of George Curtis’s wonderful career at the club and in December he left to join Aston Villa for £30,000 after 534 games. Other experienced men from the Hill era were nearing the end at Highfield Road and before the end of the season Brian Hill, Dietmar Bruck and Maurice Setters had moved on too. The new breed was coming through led by Willie Carr and Jeff Blockley and others like Dennis Mortimer and Bobby Parker were given their first team chance before the campaign ended.
It was City’s away form – ten wins on their travels – that was the key factor in the Sky Blues final position of sixth. Wins at Nottingham’s City Ground and Molineux clinched sixth place – a massive achievement in light of the two previous seasons of struggle. The home form frustrated many City fans who didn’t travel – they won only nine and lost six games and the average attendance slipped by around 1,200 despite the massive early season crowds with the final average being 32,043.
In May the club’s place in the European Fairs Cup was confirmed by virtue of their sixth place finish and the club could start planning their European adventure. It had been a long, hard road but after three seasons the Sky Blues had proved that the optimists knew best. Jimmy Hill’s proud vision looked like materialising. Chairman Derrick Robins proÂnounced with justified pride: ‘we can now look forward to a new era’.
