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2 Posted 05/01/2021 at 19:40:04
3 Posted 05/01/2021 at 21:21:03
4 Posted 05/01/2021 at 21:24:23
5 Posted 05/01/2021 at 21:32:19
I loved Colin Bell as well, he reminds me of the present Man City player De Bruyne, a non-stop runner and worker with loads of class, invaluable to City, both of them.
6 Posted 05/01/2021 at 21:40:28
7 Posted 05/01/2021 at 22:03:39
8 Posted 05/01/2021 at 22:09:13
Either that or I'm ignorant. Either way, God bless to a much-respected part of the beautiful game
9 Posted 05/01/2021 at 23:06:25
I think it is special that an Everton site should have this on. Well done Michael and Lyndon.
10 Posted 05/01/2021 at 23:14:10
Someone once said of Martin Peters, he was 10 years ahead of his time. You could have said the same for Colin Bell, they both played with their brain as well as their feet. Players that will always live in the memory of fans, neutral fans as well as the supporters of the clubs they played for.
11 Posted 05/01/2021 at 23:30:55
Alan Hudson
Tony Currie
Charlie Cook
Charlie George
Peter Marinello
Peter Barnes
George Armstrong
Frank Worthington
Rodney Marsh
Stan Bowles
Trevor Brooking
Dudley Tyler
Peter Taylor
Never worked up a sweat between them but made me happy some Sunday afternoons on the Big Match.
12 Posted 05/01/2021 at 23:42:45
13 Posted 06/01/2021 at 07:05:28
14 Posted 06/01/2021 at 08:55:32
At 74, these days, he wasn't old. Sad. RIP.
15 Posted 06/01/2021 at 09:09:02
George Armstrong, Arsenal winger, might surprise some fans but he was absolutely adored by Arsenal fans, came from the North-East and was part of the Arsenal double-winning team, played well over 500 games for the Gunners.
I've got to confess I can't recall Dudley Tyler, Andy, put me out of my ignorance so I can picture him!!
16 Posted 06/01/2021 at 09:16:08
Here in Belfast we got our ITV football from London Weekend so I saw a lot of the London players.
17 Posted 06/01/2021 at 09:31:28
I hear the sound of distant bums
And do they smell
like Colin Bell, and Francis Lee and Summerby
And Tony Book and the rest are fuck
An innocent song from that time.
Colin Bell was a supreme athlete and a wonderful player. His cousin Elaine lived next door but one to us. She had an Iguana... a rare sight on the Wirral in the '60s. Very pretty too... (Elaine).
18 Posted 06/01/2021 at 09:43:46
He escaped the offside trap (what passed for one in those days) and had a one on one with Gordon West and scored. Really annoyed me (of course) and I think it put city up 3-1. I think we lost 3-2 on the night.
19 Posted 06/01/2021 at 09:52:30
"And do they smell, like fucking hell".
I'd forgotten that one.
As a uni student living away in Longsight (Richmond Grove) at the time, Maine Road was a regular stomping ground for me in the late '60s. That was a fine Man City team and Bell's talent just made you drool. My lad was born in Ancoats Salvation Army Hospital and (so?) became a City fan, though we'd long moved away from there. He was "re-educated" some time after.
Great memories of that side, and Bell, and "that" flower lady.
20 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:02:53
One of the best players of his generation without doubt. Thinking back I feel so lucky to have seen so many great players at that time in what was a golden era for football.
21 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:09:14
I just came across this from the Manchester Evening News, 2013:
"TRIBUTES have poured in following the death of Manchester City super fan Helen "the bell" Turner. Helen, 85, was a regular at Maine Road for more than 30 years, ringing her bell and cheering on the Blues through good and bad times.
A flower-seller, with a stall outside Manchester Royal Infirmary, Helen was a keen charity fund-raiser..."
An institution around Maine Road, to rival our own Toffee Lady.
22 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:19:53
I know many City fans who were old enough to see Colin play still rate him amongst the best players ever to pull on a Man City shirt, and I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment.
23 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:32:48
Sorry I couldn't recall him, so I looked him up. He played for Hereford when they were a non-league team and he played in that very famous cup tie when they knocked Newcastle out of the FA Cup. The highlights of that game are played nearly every year when the big surprises of FA Cup games are recalled, so you picked a winner, Andy.
24 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:33:04
I remember going to a 3- 3 Derby game against Man Utd... some of the players on display that day.
I liked going to Man City... if you had the brass neck, you could go into the junior half-price gate even sporting beards and long hair. Halcyon days indeed...
25 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:37:59
Yes, my wife got in half-price that way without any makeover!
[BRZ]
26 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:57:00
27 Posted 06/01/2021 at 10:57:44
Years ahead of himself playing-wise.
28 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:02:28
29 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:09:00
30 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:11:13
31 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:11:17
Maine Road was such a hotch-potch of a ground... ugly as sin to be frank but a real ground, right in the heart of Moss Side.
I remember Man City looking certainties for the league in 1972, great side, then Allison signed Rodney Marsh and it all went mammaries-up.
32 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:19:33
33 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:20:38
Here's a clip of that game you mention. The very first time I attended a game was at Maine Road to watch Leeds win 1-0. All I saw were glimpses of the game between people's arms and legs from the Kippax, the only memory I have of the day is seeing Billy Bremner's red hair.
Maine Road was a proper traditional stadium, but as I got older and visited regularly following Everton, I realised what a scary place it could be - Colin Bell was a very fine footballer in a very good Manchester City team.
34 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:32:01
My favourite Man City player, Young was on the bench. Would have loved him this end of the East Lancashire Road.
One question though: What happened to the last 50 years? 🤔
36 Posted 06/01/2021 at 11:56:40
Neil Young, a lovely player, shortly to record After The Goldrush!
I liked him too, in both his careers.
37 Posted 06/01/2021 at 13:55:26
38 Posted 06/01/2021 at 14:38:21
I don't think he ever got an England call up, from memory, when there was a wealth of talented inside forwards. That was truly a Golden Generation, not like the underachieving dilettantes, writing their catchpenny memoirs strutting round for England in the recent past.
God knows Joey Barton is a bit of a problem in many ways, but he called it right then. "I played in the Euros, we lost, I played crap, here's my book."
I also like After the Goldrush and Harvest!
[BRZ]
39 Posted 06/01/2021 at 14:50:28
Colin Bell would have slotted into the modern game, no bother. As many have already said, very similar to De Bruyne.
41 Posted 06/01/2021 at 15:03:43
We had fast flowing football with sometimes only 2 passes to get from one end of the pitch to the other, ( as opposed to 2 million now). Tackling, where what would now be classed as attempted murder, was accepted and the victim would get up and dish it out in return. No falling over if someone breathed on you. Pitches didn't look like billiard tables. No VAR, but hours of subject matter to discuss over your pint of Double Diamond in the pub after the game. Every team had a character and players lived in the same type of houses as us mere mortals!!
When they decided to use major surgery on football and introduced the Premier league in 1992, they forgot to transplant it's heart.
42 Posted 06/01/2021 at 15:07:37
43 Posted 06/01/2021 at 15:25:43
44 Posted 06/01/2021 at 15:35:38
Im reading hes just sold off 50% of all his song book to Hipgnosis(?). Probably for a sum in 9 figures, following on From His Bobness doing the same for a fair old wedge.
I can see how a pair of leg cymbals can diminish the cool of a harp playing muso.
Do yourself a nasty if not vigilant. Think Don Partridge !
45 Posted 06/01/2021 at 16:16:06
46 Posted 06/01/2021 at 17:38:05
Brian #30 You named namesake Martin Murray, a fabulous skilful player. I saw him play league of Ireland, he was way above that level, the reason he never made it at Everton, too homesick.
47 Posted 06/01/2021 at 18:02:47
Road many times, Bobby Collins debut.
We played City in a league cup tie, a night game about 1968.
Everton had a scratch team out, but a ginger haired lad
named Billy Brindle.(what happened to him)
(RIP COLIN BELL)
48 Posted 06/01/2021 at 18:25:42
When I was a kid growing up in Crosby, we had an auntie Ginny Colman who was not really our auntie it was the days when all the old dears sat out in the street at night to talk and what have you.
Anyway Auntie Gin's lad was Tony Colman who played for Man City and one night I remember in particular he turned up to see his mam with Colin Bell with him and they both ended up playing football in the street with us kids.
Great days and both nice fellas. Where have all the good guys gone? Stay safe, everyone. RIP, Colin.
49 Posted 06/01/2021 at 19:02:29
Don (48)I worked with a good lad in Manweb Marsh Lane Bootle, he used to knock around with Tony Colman, told me a few good tales about him, a bit of a character, I never met him but remember when City played in a cup final at Wembley he, and a couple more City players had a bit of gentle banter with Princess Anne, or Princess Margaret before the game, she took it well, I think!!
50 Posted 06/01/2021 at 19:56:11
I know it's a cliché but people were different back then. Footballers, by-and-large were normal blokes. It might be wistful thinking but everything was better back then, or so it seemed.
51 Posted 06/01/2021 at 19:58:15
I take, perhaps unreasonably, great pleasure in seeing Irish lads do well at our club. Martin really was a contender. If you know, Christy, I'd like to know how things turned out for him.
52 Posted 06/01/2021 at 19:59:57
The Everton and Man City teams of the late '60s were both sublime and an era when footballers didn't drive a Lamborghini.
53 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:05:24
54 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:10:42
55 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:11:43
57 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:34:35
Although Tony Book was a non-league player he was well known to Malcolm Allison the Man City assistant manager to Joe Mercer and it was Malcolm who instigated the signing of Tony Book, a very good right-back, who made a brilliant block on the line from Alan Ball in the 1969 semi-final v Man City at Villa Park not long before City scored the winner in the last minute from a corner.
58 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:39:03
59 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:39:20
Unfortunately "Jobby" Crossan was in a car crash which, although not serious, effectively brought his footballing career to an end.
He eventually ended up running a sports shop in his home town and has only recently retired from that but is, as far as I know, still alive and kicking. Must be in his early eighties now.
60 Posted 06/01/2021 at 20:49:05
, By the way, do any of you Irish lads remember or know about an Irish player with Dundalk, Jim Hasty, the one-armed centre-forward?
I remember reading about him, seems he was a very popular man as well as a player, drew the crowds in all over the place because of his unusual handicap and also because of his goalscoring ability.
61 Posted 06/01/2021 at 21:17:21
I knew that Johnny Crossan played on the continent and travelled home to play for Ireland. On looking it up he played for Sparta Rotterdam and Sporting Liege.
62 Posted 07/01/2021 at 01:30:48
63 Posted 07/01/2021 at 07:39:36
Don #48, wasn't Tony Colman brought up in Jubilee Road, which runs alongside Marine's ground?
Alan, Chris, I'm also a great fan of Neil Young, I've seen him several times, most recently in Lucca, Italy, but also at the Empire in the early '70s when he was supported by a little known band called The Eagles. If you cast your eye towards the Marine managerial chair on Sunday, you'll see him there, he really is multi-talented.
Dave #49, what a player Billy Brindle looked for the youth team. Could have been a contender. Thanks for re-opening the wound of that 1969 FA Cup semi-final, in the long list of Everton disappointments over the years that match is right up there.
64 Posted 07/01/2021 at 08:45:32
The romance of the FA Cup!
Just a shame that the loyal fans cant be there.
Anyone know how much Marine will get for this game?
65 Posted 07/01/2021 at 09:14:53
66 Posted 07/01/2021 at 10:32:22
I live between Bangor & Caernarfon and until Bangor split into 2 clubs a few seasons ago I used to watch them pretty regularly. One of their best players and my favourite was a centre half by the name of Anthony Miley and I am presuming it is the same player.
Are you able to confirm this and tell me how he has been performing for Marine?
67 Posted 07/01/2021 at 11:39:17
68 Posted 07/01/2021 at 13:29:31
For me he is one of the outstanding performers in the team, strong in the air, likes a tackle, reads the game well, has a strong centre-back partnership with David Raven, and has popped up with several important goals.
69 Posted 07/01/2021 at 13:35:20
They were looking for a £20k-£25k match sponsor fee, which fell through when fans were barred, but Jamie Carragher's charitable foundation stepped in. There is also about £25k prize money, but this will increase considerably when they reach the 4th Round!
70 Posted 07/01/2021 at 14:40:36
But I seem to think we had another dynamic red-haired player at the time. Decent player..what was his name now... 🤔🤔🤔?
71 Posted 07/01/2021 at 14:59:08
Yes that those three games against City in "66. We won at Wolverhampton"s ground Moliyneux, It was a night game, Johnny Crossan was havlng some good touches, think he hit our crossbar.
I"m OK Dave Have a happy new year. CYB.
72 Posted 07/01/2021 at 15:33:30
73 Posted 07/01/2021 at 15:57:20
All 3 have suffered from Dementia, Hughie having been diagnosed some 12 months ago, aged 77. There is an article in today's Daily Mail about the brothers.
Hughie played in the '60s and '70s for several English lower-league teams including Chester. Before I started work in 1967, as I couldn't afford to go to watch The Blues, I used to watch Chester regularly.
Hughie has a claim to fame in that, as part of Chester's 5-man forward line (2-3-5 formation in them days), each of the 5 forwards scored over 20 goals in the 1964-65 season which is some feat and as far as I am aware the only time it has happened. Chester scored 141 goals that season.
There is also a link to Everton in this in that Chester's centre forward at the time was a Gary Talbot, who later on was Everton's official match day photographer.
74 Posted 07/01/2021 at 16:13:41
75 Posted 07/01/2021 at 16:44:40
Your reference to Billy Brindle took me back to a schoolboy match at Anfield. I had heard glowing reports of a kid named Alan Whittle and was eager to see him in action.
The match was Liverpool Boys vs Leicester Boys, and the two stand-out players were Billy Brindle and the Leicester keeper. I believe that the keeper was none other than Peter Shilton.
I'll tell you how I came to that conclusion: I have checked the birth dates of each and they are as follows: Peter Shilton – 18 September 1949; Billy Brindle 29 January 1950; Alan Whittle 10 March 1950. Brindle and Shilton, if that's who it was, were absolutely brilliant.
76 Posted 07/01/2021 at 17:11:45
Thanks mate. That will be a nice boost for the club.
77 Posted 07/01/2021 at 17:42:50
78 Posted 07/01/2021 at 18:15:39
I remember Gordon West thumping him on it, when he was doing his ‘accidentally hitting centre forwards who tried to stop him throwing the ball out' act. Lucky he didn't cut himself on that proboscis!
Did it once too often and got sent off against Newcastle, who scored the winner from the resultant penalty in injury time.
He then proceeded to give poor Sandy Brown a dog's abuse for failing to save it, in the dressing room
And people think Pickford's flaky!
79 Posted 07/01/2021 at 19:03:00
80 Posted 07/01/2021 at 20:10:36
81 Posted 07/01/2021 at 21:48:26
But still an Everton great.
82 Posted 07/01/2021 at 22:01:59
Actually seeing Football League players was like Fantasy Island. I remember watching Liverpool and Plymouth at Windsor Park in the space of a few days. Me and my mates were totally gobsmacked that these guys had sun tans. It was beyond our comprehension.
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1 Posted 05/01/2021 at 19:35:59