Man City were playing in European competition 20 years ago, and Steve Parish remembers the days well
Fenerbahce? Who? There I was, just started working for British Rail in 1968, cheap Continental travel in prospect and Man City in the European Cup (“we’ll frighten Europe”© Malcolm Allison) and who do we play? Some Turkish team no-one’s heard of. Blow that, I thought. I’ll wait for the next round and go to Munich, or Madrid or Lisbon. A year later…
Playing in Europe is financially beneficial, but Mike Ticher remembers when money wasn't the driving force
Chelsea are in Europe. Ho hum. Once I would have camped out overnight to see them play Slovan Bratislava, or even IB Vestmannaeyja. Maybe it will all seem different when it starts, but somehow the prospect of those Thursday night specials now fills me with little more than a nagging feeling that I’ve got better things to spend £21 on. European club competitions in their heyday were pure theatre. But one by one, for good reasons and bad, all the elements that made them so special have been leached away.
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MANAGER – 20th century
Typical day: 7.00am Gets to ground at first light. Goes to shops for light bulbs, post it notes, and pine fresh toilet duck. 9.00 – On the phone to business manager of a leading Spanish club negotiating £23 million transfer deal. 9.15 Talking multi million pound contract with player’s agents. 9.30 Cleans toilets, replaces lightbulbs, dusts trophy cabinet. 10.30 Secures deal on transfer. 11.00 Denies transfer rumours to local and national press. 11.15. Visits estate agent to buy luxury suburban castle near golf course for new player. 13.00 Announces signing of new player. 13.10 Has clear the air meeting with first team players unhappy about new player’s massive wages. 14.00 Services lawnmower and mends goal nets. 5.30 Shows kids’ birthday party group round stadium. Presents birthday boy with cake. Changes into Freddie the Footie Clown suit and performs slapstick routine. 17.30 Picks team for tonight’s game
If he could sign one player it would be: David Batty
Motto: The chairman makes work for idle hands.
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Distinguishing Features: A typical small town businessman, he introduced a trendy new look at a recent friendly with his trousers tucked into the back of his shoes.
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The ‘summer tour’ is normally associated with a gentle amble through the locals’ defence in a country otherwise too hot to play football. West Bromwich Albion once made it to China, only for Bryan Robson to muse that he’d rather they’d gone somewhere warmer. More recently Manchester United visited post-apartheid South Africa, where Ryan Giggs identified the clement weather as the highlight rather than the fact that he was met (and recognized) by Nelson Mandela.