Catch A Falling Star (14 page)

The away leg was finally upon us and we came out to a cauldron of noise. We had quite a few supporters there and they made their presence felt. We saw a few Union Jacks in the corner joined by British Army troops who were serving there at the time.

The Turks were very excitable. They were setting fire to the stands while the game was going on. It was a long, long walk down the tunnel and their supporters were banging the top of the tunnel with hammers. You can imagine the thundering noise that created! For one hundred yards we had to walk with that going on. They were throwing all manner of stuff onto the pitch as well. Nowadays it’s well known what goes on there but back then, as you can imagine, it was a big culture shock. The furthest most of us would usually travel was to
Blackpool
for a night out!

The instructions, as usual, were to keep the crowd quiet for the first ten minutes and not let them get a sniff of goal. Then we scored – Tony Coleman tapped-in from close range and we went in a goal up at half time meaning they now had to score twice. We were so much on top again and everything was under control but we threw it all away in the second half. First there was a mix-up at the back between Ken
Mulhearn
and big George
Heslop
– they got in each other’s way while trying to clear the ball at a corner and it fell to one of their lads for a simple tap-in. All of a sudden it was like the
Alamo
, they were sending high balls into the box all the time and the play became pressed into our last third. It was only a matter of time before the second went in, we were absolutely sick to go out to the Turks.

What it did mean, with our league form also suffering under the weight of expectancy, was that we were soon concentrating on the FA Cup.
Which leads me on to another aspect of City’s form in this golden era.
Why did the Blues struggle in the league after 1968? After all, we did so well in the Cups.

You know, I think Malcolm did us a huge favour in the early days with his bravado because he built up our confidence and helped us hit new heights. He brought the club kicking and screaming out of the shadows but he didn’t know when to stop and I think this tactic of building ourselves up eventually backfired on us.

Every game became like a Cup final for us and we didn’t know what had hit us. People wanted to beat us because we were
Manchester
City
. Malcolm was bragging that we’d terrorise
Europe
, that we’d be the first team to play on Mars! Managers would use those comments on their own players and teams came at us.

If our own expectations were high, those of our fans were even higher! When we lost a game we didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know how to handle
it,
it wasn’t part of the script. As an example we walloped
West Brom
6-1 in the Charity Shield at the start of that season and then we didn’t win any of the next ten games.

So as I say, the FA Cup proved to be our salvation. There’s nothing like a good Cup run but you would never have predicted we’d go all the way when we only scraped past
Luton
Town
1-0 in the third round. Then following a 0-0 draw, we defeated
Newcastle
in the replay 2-0, before hammering Blackburn Rovers 4-1 at
Ewood
Park
. The subsequent quarter-final at home with Tottenham Hotspur was won 1-0 and now only Everton stood between us and the
Twin
Towers
.

I think out of all the games I’ve played in, the semi-final of any Cup competition has got to be the hardest. We played ours at
Villa Park
. It was a really hard fought game at the ground where I had made my debut eight years earlier. The Toffees were a very strong outfit at the time. They boasted many internationals such as West, Harvey,
Kendall
and of course that World Cup Winner himself, Alan Ball. They were strong in all departments and had internationals throughout their side. However we were the team that possessed all the really skilful players. We were the team who were happy to have the ball at our feet.

It was 0-0 at half time and Joe said we just had to get out there and play the same way. We were carrying out those instructions as best as we could but with the crowd looking at their watches, I had one last shot at goal which was tipped away by the Everton ‘keeper, Gordon West. I thought a vital last chance had gone. Somewhat disconsolately I floated over the resulting corner and Doyle flicked it on – in the resulting scramble young Tommy Booth bundled home the winner.

We were so elated we nearly crushed
Boothy
as we all piled on top of him.
City were
back at Wembley after thirteen long years. The final whistle sounded like magic but so did the cheering and the screaming of the City supporters. We had Wembley to look forward to but it must be truly awful to lose a semi-final because if you get to Wembley at least you’ve got the day to enjoy. Who remembers the losing semi-finalists?

I saw players crying leaving that pitch simply because they had lost, it was probably even more painful for them because they’d lost the previous season’s final to
West Brom
. But it shows you what the Cup meant to players back then – it’s hard to imagine a modern day player shedding a tear after an FA Cup defeat. Nevertheless, the
Evertonians
were very gracious in defeat and wished us all the best for the final.

Meanwhile the City fans were ecstatic and we all celebrated with them at the final whistle. It’s easy to milk the adulation when it’s going well, although I think you’ve got to give the supporters something back when it’s not.

At one of the supporters’ clubs meetings, a fan once asked me: “Why do the players never applaud the fans if they lose a game. Why do they troop off down the tunnel without giving the supporters a moment’s regard?”

Players these days honestly don’t seem to think about the supporters. Even before the match we’d wave to the crowd. Modern day players seem to be above all this – they are so highly paid and they get treated so much more differently than in our day, or at least that’s how it seems to me. They seem to think they’re above the simple appreciation of their supporters.

I always appreciated the City crowd. They were always good to me. When they chanted my name they lifted me three feet off the ground. I had a really great relationship with the supporters for about ten years and I like to think I still have with the older fans who remember me.

Next came that dreaded period between the semi and the final when everyone had Wembley in the back of their minds. I remember being very careful when tackling. Everyone was desperate to stay fit because they all wanted to play in the Cup Final.

Now to win the cup you might only have to win seven games and in that respect it’s a hell of a lot easier than winning the league. It’s also easier than playing in
Europe
where you are often travelling into the unknown and you need to learn a different style of football. Having said all that, we were here now and we desperately wanted to win the Cup – back then it meant more than just a trophy, and to me it had always been a lifetime ambition to stroll out at Wembley.