sport news Manchester City look to finally end their wait for Champions League success trends now
Malcolm Allison - the brash Cockney who became a Manchester City icon, masterminding a daring style of play that deserves remembering - would have been 95 on Monday.
Assistant to Joe Mercer, the club’s greatest manager until Pep Guardiola, Allison won a league title, two domestic trophies and the Cup Winners’ Cup with a team including Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Franny Lee before briefly taking over the top job himself. He was ahead of his time in the 1960s, a progressive coach and gregarious character both on the grass and in the nightclubs.
For that reason, Allison would often do media work when Mercer’s No 2 - largely down to him being more quotable. He never messed about and shortly after City won the First Division title in 1968, uttered the words that have unwittingly haunted their relationship with Europe for more than half a century.
Manchester City get their latest Champions League campaign underway against Sevilla
Malcolm Allison, Manchester City assistant manager between 1965 and 1971, backed them to 'terrorise Europe' but the club are still waiting
Inside a stuffy press room at the old Maine Road, Allison bulldozed with bravado. City were embarking on a first ever European Cup campaign the following season and he was a little excited.
‘Gentleman, there is no limit to what this team can achieve,’ he started.
Fair enough, all standard fair so far - but not for long.
‘We will terrorise Europe. City will not play in Europe like some of the sides I have seen play Manchester United. I promise that City will attack these people as they have not been attacked since the days of the old Real Madrid. We will win the European Cup.’
They didn’t. United did though, on one of the most famous nights in their history about a month after the proclamations from across town.
Pep Guardiola is still waiting for Manchester City to secure glory in the Champions League
City were drawn minnows Fenerbahce in the first round of their debut campaign in the months after and - this should come as no surprise given the arrogance permeating English football at the time - didn’t bother watching their Turkish opponents. They drew 0-0 in the home first leg and blew a lead to lose 2-1 in Istanbul, to the backdrop of armed police in an environment alien to those in sky blue.
Fifty-four years later and they are still waiting, the misadventure surrounding City on the continent certainly worthy of a forensic look. Allison’s cocky conference is the first story chronicled in a new
