Search: 'Mike Doyle'

The days of 
Citizens & heroes
by James Lawton
Wisden, £18.99
Reviewed by Ian Farrell
From WSC 346 December 2015

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Manchester City’s dynamic, highly successful but long-underappreciated side of the late 1960s has finally started to become a familiar literary subject over the last decade. The title- and multi-cup-winning team’s brilliance, camaraderie and innovation have been comprehensively dissected in several fan-written books, autobiographies by Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Mike Doyle, individual biographies of genial boss Joe Mercer and charismatic coach Malcolm Allison, and even a novelisation of the managerial relationship.

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(and other football stories)
by Mark Hodkinson
Pomona, £7.99
Reviewed by Tom Davies
From WSC 286 December 2010

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Rochdale have long been a totem of English football's fourth tier, a traditional by-word for lower-division failure alongside "the likes of" Hartlepool, Crewe, Torquay or Macclesfield. All of those have nonetheless enjoyed a promotion or two in the past four decades. Rochdale hadn't, until last season when they finally ended a 36-year spell in the basement. Mark Hodkinson had been there for all of them.

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Wednesday 1 “You cannot coach a player to score from five yards,” says Arsène as Arsenal squander a sackload of chances in a 0‑0 draw with CSKA Moscow. Man Utd lose to a late Marcus Allback goal in Copenhagen. Celtic crash 3‑0 at Benfica. Former Portsmouth owner Milan Mandaric makes a bid for Leicester City. 

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Six points separated the top five come the end of the season as the blue side of Manchester rejoiced.  Ed Upright reports

The long-term significance
This was the peak of the post-1966 boom – overall attendances were up by well over a million and 15 top division-clubs saw increases. Manchester United and Coventry set all‑time average records, as did Liverpool, who none the less trailed United and Everton in the attendance standings.

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Two decades after another publishing tycoon tried to sell the club, John Madejski's Reading have finally made the top flight, to the delight of Roger Titford and the surprise of the bookmakers

We have been sitting on an ever-plumper cushion since December – of five points, 15 points, 25 points – at the top of the Championship, warmed by unprecedentedly kind words from the rest of football and marinating in our own smugness. Not only has our title-winning season been perfect, it has also been quite unexpected – a 25-1 shot at the bookies.

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