FENERBAHCE 2 CITY 1
European Cup 1st Round 2nd Leg
2nd October 1968
attendance 45,000
scorers
City Coleman(12)
Fenerbahce Abdullah(46), Ogun(78)
City Mulhearn, Connor, Pardoe, Doyle, Heslop, Oakes, Lee, Bell, Summerbee, Young, Coleman – sub Dowd(unused)
Fenerbahce Yavuz, Sukru, Ercan, Nunweiller, Levent, Yilhaz, Ogun, Ziya, Nedim, Fvat, Can – sub Abdullah(45)
When the game started, the noise produced by the partisan crowd was deafening. Even so, the Blues took the lead. Tony Coleman latched on to a cross from Francis Lee, controlled the ball, went round Fenerbahce’s Yavuzand stropked the ball home. In the second half, however, the Blues needed to defend for all they were worth.
Less than a minute after half-time, the Turks equalised. Ogun crossed for second half substitute Abdullah to score with his first kick. The Blues were still technically in the lead, the away goal would count double in the event of a draw, but Fenerbahce now had the initiative. Twelve minutes from time Ogun scored the winner.FROM FOOTBALL WITH A SMILE: AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY OF JOE MERCER OBE By Gary James and Julian Baskcomb
…With the stadium crammed to over-flowing, there was an attendance of 55,000, which was 10,000 over the official limit, City were given a typical Continental welcome with whistles and exploding rockets.
The formalities completed, it was Fenerbahce who quickly settled. Little Ogun, a terrier-like striker they had specially imported from Washington Whips, the North American club he had been on loan to, shot just over. Then he had a goal disallowed for offside.
When City probed, the normally reliable, Ercan, had a touch of the jitters allowing a Lee cross to drop over his `head. ln nipped Coleman, quickly controlling the ball. At first he appeared to lose his poise, but recovered in time to dribble round Yavuz and score. City could not have made a better start, taking the lead with just 12 minutes gone.
The rest of the first half was an anti-climax for Turkish fans. They too, like their heroes in the middle, were licked. The second half seemed a formality with City poised for victory.
But within 60 seconds the whole match changed dramatically. And it was the lethal Ogun who did the damage, laying on a cross for Abdullah, a second half substitute, to score the vital equaliser with his first kick of the game. What an entry!
lt left the stage set for a gigantic battle. City still held the whip hand for their away goal counted double in the event of a tie over two legs. But wave after wave of thundering attacks came surging forward and City were visibly shaken.
With just 12 minutes left came disaster for the Blues. Once more Ogun. did the damage to complete his home coming by shooting his side into the next round.
Fires burned on the terraces and baton-swinging riot police had to clear a way through to the dressing room for players of both sides, so excitable were the Turkish fans. ‘lt was the most important moment in Turkish football. For Manchester City it was one of the worst.
FROM AN ARTICLE BY PETER GARDNER, PUBLISHED IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 15TH SEPTEMBER 1976
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 ther 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 100 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 had to score twice. We were so much more on top again and everything was under control but we threw it all away in the second half. First there was a mx up at the back betwean Ken Mulhearn and big George Heslop, they got in each others 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.
