Middle row (l-r);
Front row (l-r);
By Jim Brown
1979-80 was a season of experiment and laying of foundations for the future, but supporters found themselves disappointed by the inconsistency of the side, and by the end of the season disenchanted with everything. After five years of prudent forays into the transfer market, which unearthed cut-price gems like Wallace, Yorath, McDonald, the club now decided to brandish the chequebook. Gary Collier was no more than an averÂage centre-half with Bristol City but in June 1979 he became the first out-of-contract player to negotiate his own transfer when walking out to join Coventry. The fee of £325,000 was determined by a tribunal and, coupled with Everton’s England Under-21 defender David Jones signing for £250,000, City announced their arrival in the big spending league.
Both players showed up well in a pre-season Skol Trophy that saw City triumphant in a four-team tournament staged in Scotland. With Ian Wallace injured, youngsters Tom English and Mark Hateley earned an early opportunity to stake places in side, English doing enough to make his full debut on the opening day at promoted Stoke.
That match proved disastrous. City’s defence – including new men Collier and Jones – looked all at sea and shipped three goals within the first 55 minutes. Collier and Gooding were publicly blamed and were dropped forthwith.
Milne’s plans lay in tatters and it was clear to everyone that the season ahead would be long and arduous. The few bright spots in a depressing string of away results included a League Cup win at Ipswich and City’s first win at the Dell for over forty years. MerciÂfully, the vultures were kept at bay by virtue of City’s form at Highfield Road, and with Wallace returning in September the clouds began to lift. His return coincided with a comprehensive win over Bolton. It was the first time that he and Ferguson had played together since February. But a week later Ferguson was crocked again and sideÂlined for another six weeks.
In November City surrenÂdered their undefeated home record to Stoke. Coventry looked a shambles, but were not helped by individual errors by Jones which precipitated the end of his City career. Suddenly, everything about the club was put under the microscope – tactics, transfers, ambition (or lack of it).
But football is as fickle as everything else in life. Within a week, with Ferguson back from injury, the team embarked on a four-game unbeaten run with ten goals scored, eight of them by the bearded striker. The Wallace-Ferguson partnership was re-established and 3-0 wins over Leeds and Wolves were followed by a 0-0 at high-flying Crystal Palace. A week later came Ferguson’s crowning glory, a four-goal bonanza to demolish Bobby Robson’s Ipswich, who had themselves tried to pick him up for a bargain fee just a week earlier. Ferguson was now a wanted man and he came close to making a £900,000 move to Forest, with Martin O’Neill coming in part-exchange.
The New Year brought an FA Cup win at Oldham, which promised a seemingly easy Fourth Round tie at Third Division Blackburn. Expectations were further raised with a stunning 1-0 victory over the league leaders, Liverpool, in which sevÂeral of City’s kids came of age in front of the Match of the Day cameras. Perhaps the win went to their heads. A week later, at an icy Ewood Park, before a large and vociferous City following, the team bowed out of the FA Cup, miserably losing 0-1. Several of the youngsters froze in their minds as well as their boots. Wallace’s wretched luck in front of goal continued and before many weeks had passed he was dropped and had slapped in a transfer request.
Milne went shopping abroad, paying FC Cologne £250,000 for 29-year-old Belgian winger Roger Van Gool. But Milne had to balance the books, and arranged a deal by which Ferguson would go to Villa Park for £750,000. The signing fell through when the Villa board blocked the move. Nor did Van Gool’s early games for the club suggest to the fans that here was a player of genuine international class.
Garry Thompson returned from his year out with a broken leg and made an immediate impact with two goals in a win over Southampton. But that was the only win in the seven games Wallace missed through being dropped. Following a disgraceful home defeat by Wolves, an under-pressure Milne was forced to recall the Scotsman for the trip to Middlesbrough. Wallace responded by scoring both goals in a 2-1 win. His overall performance, however, did little to convince supporters that his heart was really with the club, and that unless he buttoned down the sooner he was gone the better.
At the season’s end Chairman Phil Mead retired and Jimmy Hill, by now a major shareholder, took over. Almost Hill’s first act was to sanction the sale of Wallace to Nottingham Forest for a huge £1,250,000. Hill’s explanation to the largely resigned City fans was that ‘Ian Wallace doesn’t own the word ambition, we are ambitious too’. The fee obtained went some way to financing the impressive ‘Sky Blue Connexion’ at the club’s Ryton training ground. It also meant that in five years City had sold nearly £4 million worth of players while spending only half that sum on new ones.
