In 1981, Manchester City, a club in Salford whose big spending hadn’t brought results, allowed in the television cameras. Not entirely by coincidence, he chose the same period to sack championship-winning City coach Malcolm Allison in favour of John Bond, who’d take them to the FA Cup Final. Twenty years earlier, Bond had been a disciple of Allison’s, part of a group including Bobby Moore and Noel Cantwell who grew up in Big Mal’s exuberant shadow at West Ham.
It’s all here. Compelling, saddening, and embarrassing all at once:
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Part Four:
Part Five:
Part Six:
I don’t think Manchester City was in Salford in 1981, they’d been at Maine Road since 1923 which was definitely Manchester (Moss Side, to be precise). Old Trafford, on the other hand, is arguably in Salford.
Allison, could have been England’s manager
John Bond’s analysis of Big Mal towards the end is spot on.
I can highly recommend David Tossell’s biography from last year:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Mal-Malcolm-Allison-Football/dp/184596330X