Gordon the ‘gaffer’ in City’s infamous brown strip
On this day (27th November) in 1976 the Sky Blues, under Gordon Milne, were doing OK in their Division One campaign so far having their colours lowered only four times in their first fourteen league outings. Today’s game at Highfield Road in front of 18,313 fans, was against the Gunners of Arsenal. In the end the visitors took both points beating the homesters by the odd goal in three but, arguably, the better side lost! City were having to cope without usual centre-half Larry Lloyd who had just been signed by Nottingham Forest.
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The Gunners’ Jimmy Rimmer saves
Arsenal were able to win due to two Sky Blue moments of defensive madness in the first half. In fact, all the scoring was over in the first eighteen minutes! The Sky Blues got off to the worst possible start less than a minute in when ‘Super Mac’, the Gunners bustling No.9 Malcolm Macdonald netted after just forty seconds without any City player bar ‘keeper (now CCFPA member) Jim Blyth touching the ball! Things got worse after sixteen minutes when Frank Stapleton was allowed to double the Gunners score with what proved to be the winner.
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Jim Holmes congratulates Bobby Mac on his goal
The Sky Blues piled on the pressure in response and made and wasted several good chances and Arsenal‘s goalie Jimmy Rimmer was forced into several fine saves, one especially memorable one from (now CCFPA member) Ian Wallace.
City’s defender (and CCFPA member now) Bobby McDonald did pull one back in the eighteenth minute but try as they might the Sky Blues could not add to their tally and save at least a point as the Gunners held out.
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That’s a foul ref!
Bobby in the Sky Blue
Milne’s Men that November day lined up:-
Jim Blyth, Mick Coop, Bobby McDonald, Terry Yorath (c), Alan Dugdale, Jim Holmes, John Beck, Donal Murphy (sub. Tommy Hutchison), Mick Ferguson, Barry Powell and Ian Wallace.
We are delighted to report that the Sky Blues ‘gaffer’ and all this team (bar John) later joined CCFPA!
The Gunners team was:-
Jimmy Rimmer, Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson, Trevor Ross, David O’Leary, Peter Simpson, Alan Ball, Liam Brady, Malcolm Macdonald, Frank Stapleton and George Armstrong Referee:- B.Newsome
The Sky Blues came to dread meeting the Gunners this season! At the end of January they knocked us out of the Fourth Round of the F.A.Cup beating us 3-1 at Highbury (Tommy Hutchison got our only goal). Then, in April, towards the end of the season, they also handed out a 2-0 reverse to us in the Division One return on the same ground.The London club finished in a comfortable eighth spot in the league at the culmination of the season. In contrast the Sky Blues joined with fellow strugglers Bristol City in sharing a slightly delayed 2-2 draw at Highfield Road on the last day of the season which controversially saved both clubs and condemned Sunderland to the drop a point behind the eighteenth placed Robins and Milne’s men in nineteenth spot. Stoke and Tottenham Hotspur also went down with the Rokerites.
Liverpool pipped Manchester City for the title by a single point.
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images.
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