Before the Billions: Manchester City And The 67/68 Title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiYQUXe0VLk A citys football heart is pounding! Its the final day of the season and Manchester City and Manchester United are level on points as each go into their final game of the season. As the final whistle blows its the blue side of Manchester thats celebrating a euphoric victory; their first in decades. United, however are left ruing their 1-2 defeat at home to Sunderland as City win the league by 2 points after a pulsating 4-3 victory over Newcastle United. If the events strike you as similar yet misleading, it may be because you are thinking of Citys 11/12 campaign victory, but this one was many years before even Sergio Aguero was born and well before the billions arrived! It was the time when Manchester City were crowned champions over their local rivals on the final day of the 67/68 Football League First Division season. Ask the vast majority of City fans and they will speak of the late 60s and early 70s, beginning of course with their 67/68 title victory, as if it was an epic written by Homer. It was an age of titans and heroes, where Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Big Mal Allison led the Argonauts, such as Neil Young, Francis Lee and, captain of the ship, Tony Book in taking the fight to teams at home and abroad. Citys 67/68 season, like the more recent 11/12 campaign, began with a club record transfer, although the similarities end there. In contrast to the £38 million fee paid for the sublime Sergio Aguero, the transfer for forward Francis Lee was a more respectable £64,000. And while Aguero, an Argentine who nurtured his talent in Spain, would walk into a squad filled with players as exotic as himself and from all corners of the globe Francis Lee, a product of Englands North West who applied his trade playing for Bolton, would join a team made up of British players mainly from England, the only cross border import being the Scot, Bobby Kennedy. Despite adding a great new forward into the mix, the 67/68 City took some time finding their feet, drawing their opening game against Liverpool and losing their next two matches, both away, at Southampton and Stoke City respectively. After this blip however, City soon began to string the wins together, mainly at their home ground at the time, Maine Road. But this home form came to a sickening end in front of over 62,000 fans, who watched City lose 2-1 to bitter rivals United. Thankfully for those disappointed home fans, their pound of flesh was extracted from the enemy on the return fixture at Old Trafford, where Mercer & Co ran out 3-1 winners. Undeniably, victory over their neighbours was the sweetest moment in Citys league winning season, but the home game against Tottenham Hotspur on 9th December 1967 would go down as one of the most fantastic displays of football by the side; so much so that Match of the Day dubbed it the game of the season. The game, which later became known as the Ballet on Ice was unsurprisingly played in less than favourable conditions. Not that it seemed to bother the home side much as they delivered an early Christmas present to their freezing supporters who huddled together in their coats like penguins as they cheered City on to an important 4-1 win after an impressive display. City would face Spurs again in the penultimate game of the season. Before the match Mercer described the task of beating Tottenham and Newcastle to secure the title as being Like climbing Everest and Mont Blanc in a week. But climb Everest, in the form of Tottenham they did, winning 3-1 at White Hart Lane. This victory set up a heart pounding final match day for both sides of Manchester. Both teams were level on 56 points each, although City had the advantage thanks to a better goal average. As the final whistle blew at St. James Park City were crowned champions with 58 points, two more than United who had lost their final game against Sunderland. It was a Champions victory, unlike that of the City of today whose success last season had a little to do with Sheikh Mansours billions. But that league championship was secured before the billions and when The Guardians Eric Todd asked Big Mal what was the secret of Citys success, the response was simply Hard work.