1971 to 1972 SEASON

The takeover rumblings from the previous season would not go away and a board room shake up did occur in which Joe Smith now had a certain control. It seemed that Joe Mercer's days as manager could be numbered

Prior to the start of the season , City Director, J J H Humphreys, wrote in a Programme article "Soccer is now big business, the operating costs of a First Division club like Manchester City amount to something in the region of £8,000 a week and to cover this size of expenditure the club rely almost entirely upon gate receipts". Oh how have times changed!

All City's English pre-season friendlies were away wins at Chester (4-0), Port Vale (1-0) and Doncaster (2-0),

 The Blues also had a short tour of West Germany where they lost both games 1-0 against Hertha and Arm Bielefield

With the new North Stand nearing completion Director Eric Alexander outlined his further plans for the Kippax "If we could rebuild part of the stand, incorporating a second tier containing about 8,000 seats, and build into the back of the stand a multi-storey car park spectators could then drive their cars straight into the car park and reach their seats without ever going outside. And private boxes would be incorporated in the back of the stand" Something for the future then.

When the season kicked off on 14th August City met their match as Leeds dealt them a 1-0 defeat at Maine Road.  Four days later City were back on track treating the Kippax faithful to an emphatic 4-0 win over Crystal Palace , a score they would equal when they beat visitors Tottenham on 28th August but not before a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge and a 2-1 defeat by Wolves at Molyneaux.

City stood in 14th place when Liverpool were the vistors to Maine Road on 1st September when a solitary goal from Ian Mellor gave the blues 2 more points and they gained a further point with a goalless draw against Leicester at Filbert Street boosting them up to 6th place, 5 points behind surprising leaders, newly promoted, Sheffield United.

A welcome break from the league saw City beat Wolves 4-3 in a League Cup 2nd Round thriller at Maine Road setting up a 3rd round trip to Bolton in October.

Back to the Nitty Gritty of the League saw City go a further 5 games unbeaten with home wins against Newcastle (2-1), Southampton (3-0) and Everton (1-0) whilst on their travels they drew 2-2 against Notts Forest and then beat 'The Albion 2-0 at the Hawthorns. And so in a week when Mike Yarwood was packing them in to his show at the City Social Club, City were making an impression of their own by climbing to 4th position in the league just 3 points off the summit.

City then played a friendly at Maine Road as they drew 1-1 with Hertha  

Things weren't so rosy in the Cups, In the much maligned Texaco Cup City drew their home leg 2-2 against Airdrie and then lost 2-0 at Airdrie to go out in the 1st Round. In the League Cup City crashed out of the competition with a 3-0 defeat at Burnden Park against Bolton  

Back in the league Leeds completed the double over the Blues with a 3-0 win at Elland Road. City then met Sheffield United who had just been ousted from the top of the league by the team from Stretford and City saw off the Yorkshire side with a 2-1 win.

With over a quarter of the season  gone there had been a major change in the Mercer Allison partnership. Malcolm had become team manager after becoming slightly disillusioned at being in the shadow of Joe and Joe had taken a somewhat back seat as general manager, as Malcolm described it "It means  that I have the last word, as Joe puts it. I shall probably become more ruthless, the job will drive me on to drive the players on and of course I shall have a bigger influence over their future".

Malcolm's drive pushed City to a further 5 games unbeaten, A 1-1 draw at Huddersfield, a thrilling 3-3 Maine Road derby , two away wins in London, Arsenal (2-1) and West Ham (2-0) followed by a 4-0 thrashing of Coventry in Manchester. 

Then despite a 3-1 defeat at the Baseball ground City were now genuine title contenders on equal points with second place Derby and just 3 points off the team from Old Trafford who led the table. And it was congratulations to malcolm in his first month in charge as he was awarded The Bell's Whiskey Manager of the Month Award for November.

City were now to go on a title chasing 9 match unbeaten run which starts with a 4-0 win against visitors Ipswich , Malcolm took the players away to warmer climbs as City drew 0-0 in a friendly against Maltese giants Floriana , they then returned to England and gained a 1-1 draw against Leicester in the last home game of 1971.

The only game over the Christmas period saw Stoke beaten 3-1 at the Victoria Ground the day after Boxing Day. and as we said goodbye to 1971 City were now just second in the league behind United. And after a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at Maine Road and a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane the gap at the top was reduced to just 1 point.

City's  dallying with the FA was short and sweet as they were beaten 1-0 in a replay at Middlesbrough after a 1-1 draw in the first game.

Back to the league and a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace pushed City to equal points with new leaders Leeds United. Prior to the next home game their were emotional exits for both Neil Young and Dave Connor as they both left (or pushed) for Preston. Tony Book commented that ".......they are good professionals you know they will be alright. All the same the lads here wish them well"

It didn't appear to affect the Blues as they put five goals past Wolves at Maine Road and then three more at Bramall Lane albeit in a 3-3 draw against Sheffield United . And at last they sat at the top of the table two points ahead of Leeds. A further1-0 win at home to Huddersfield cemented them there and even a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield couldn't knock them from their perch, although Leeds were just 2 points behind with a game in hand. 

With 12 matches left It was in City's own hands now they just needed to keep on winning which they did winning their next 4 games beating West Brom (2-1), Arsenal (2-0) and Chelsea (1-0) all at home added to a 2-1 win against Everton at Goodison Park. 

It was during this period that Malcolm signed, what he thought would be, the player who could seal the championship for City, the mercurial Rodney Marsh, who arrived from QPR for £200,000. Another moment in history was to be the recording of 'Boys in Blue' the team song written by ex 10cc members, Graham Goulden, Kevin Godley and Lol Cream at The Strawberry Studios in Stockport.

After a goalless draw against Newcastle City were 3 points clear at the top, with Derby and Leeds hot on their heels City had played 35 games, Derby 34 and Leeds 33. City then hit the destruction button losing 2-1 at home to Stoke where Lee scored City's only goal and equaled Derek Kevan's club record of 30 league goals in a season  and then a 2-0 defeat at Southampton.

City dropped to 3rd on the same points as Liverpool and a point behind leaders Derby, each team having just 5 games to play. 

City got back on track with two 3-1 wins at home to West Ham and in the Old Trafford derby against United, but could only draw 1-1 at Highfield Road against Coventry . So with just 2 games to go City, Derby, Liverpool and Leeds were all in with a chance of winning the league, however a 2-1 defeat at Portman Road against Ipswich in City's penultimate game meant that even a last day 2-0 win against Derby at Maine Road wasn't enough to give City the title as a fixture pile up gave their three rivals games in hand and the title was settled 12 days later when Derby were declared Champions by a point from Leeds and Liverpool with City finishing 4th on 57 points guaranteeing European football for next season. 

The £200,000 signing of Marsh in March, with City 4 points clear at the top of the table, has been blamed for affecting the rhythm of the side.  Joe Corrigan writes in his biography "We would have won the league, but for one decision, the signing of Rodney Marsh.
...The line-up had hardly changed  since October so to bring in a new player for the last lap was utter madness, especially such a maverick talent as Rodney... It wasn't his fault, the decision to bring him in was down to Malcolm, who'd convinced Joe that he was the man to ensure we won the league.
...The plain truth was that the team didn't need Rodney Marsh at that time... there was also a discernable effect on morale: some players suspected he was being paid more than anyone else, and this when allied to doubts about his work rate was undoubtably a problem for some players."
Mike Doyle had similar views, he wrote in his biography "Frankly I think there was a large measure of divided opinion about signing Rodney from QPR... but Malcolm was adamant that he was just the player City needed, I came to the conclusion that Joe (Mercer) was against bringing Rodney to Maine Road. We were playing Chelsea and that was the game in which Rodney made his debut. Tony Towers lost his place that day... we achieved victory by the skin of our teeth... Marsh was a stone overweight and I told Malcolm exactly what I thought about his decisionto leave Tony Towers out... In Franny Lee, Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell we had three of the best attackers in the business, but suddenly they were getting into positions - and the ball never arrived." Of the remaining 9 games City lost 3 and drew 2, although Marsh did contribute 4 goals in 8 games.

Francis Lee set a record during the season when he scored 13 penalties, a record which stands to this day 

Alan Oakes enjoyed a testimonial in May against long time rivals Manchester United

City also played an end of season friendly drawing 0-0 away at Olympiakos 

As the season finished it was clear Joe's position had become untenable, he had come out in the press critcising Malcolm for throwing away the Championship by buying Rodney Marsh, and inevitably he left the club in June 1972 to take a position as manager of Coventry City to leave Malcolm in sole charge at Maine Road for the 1972/73 season.
Joe saw Malcolm's 'promotion' as inevitable, his concerns were with City not Malcolm, he told the press "I always wanted him to have the job, but at the same time I wanted to retain some control, although that can only be done on a mutual understanding. I did not want to be shorn of all authority, but unfortunately it was not to be. I am the sort of person who has got to be involved in the footballing side of football, helping to create and build teams, making and taking decisions and formulating policy".