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Colin Bell, Heart, Brain and Lungs of Manchester City
Photo:
via www.imago-images.de / imago images / PA Images
English football is hit hard these weeks and months.
Jack Charlton is dead, Nobby Stiles is dead, Ray Clemence is dead, three days ago Gerry Marsden died, who gave Liverpool FC fans their most famous song.
Colin Bell continues this unfortunate series, the King of the Kippax died on Tuesday at the age of 74.
Kippax - that was the name of the old grandstand in the former Manchester City stadium on Main Road, the royal seat of Colin Bell.
It was a time when Manchester City's success was not bought above all.
When Bell moved to Manchester in 1966, he came to a club that had only just worked its way up from the second division, a newcomer, almost pityingly ridiculed by big city rivals United.
Two years later, no one smiled at her anymore.
Manchester City sensationally celebrated the English championship, and the experts raved about the team of coach John Mercer.
They raved about the strikers Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee, but it was clear to everyone: Without Colin Bell, his accuracy of pass, his forward thrust, his running strength, his strategic thinking, City would never have made it up there.
Not an inch that he hadn't plowed
The fans sang, "Number one is Colin Bell, number two is Colin Bell, number three is Colin Bell, and number four is Bell as well." Bell was the brain of this team, he was his heart, and he was the lungs at the same time the Team.
There wasn't an inch on Main Road that Bell hadn't plowed.
He had always exemplified that football is a running game, one of his nicknames was »Nijinski«, he got it from the famous racehorse of the time that led jockey Lester Piggot from one success to the next.
Bell also collected successes, the championship with City was followed by the FA Cup in the following year, in 1970 City won the League Cup and, to top it off, the European Cup Winners' Cup in the final against the Polish club Gornik Zabrze.
It remains the club's only European Cup success to this day.
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Colin Bell in his city jersey
Photo: PA Photos / imago images / PA Images
And Bell was the focus of all triumphs, nominally he was a midfielder, wore the number eight on his light blue City jersey through the stadiums, but at the same time he hit as he wanted, like a center forward: at the end of his career in Manchester it was 117 League goals.
And there would have been a lot more if the Scottish bootleg Martin Buchan hadn't broken his knee in the derby against United in 1975.
Perhaps it was the revenge that Bell had scored all three goals to 3-0 against United in 1972, perhaps it was also the frustration that this Colin Bell was too elegant, too light-footed, too fast for the defenders.
All of this discharged into the tackle.
The city fans never forgave Buchan for the action, Bell himself spoke of an "unfortunate action".
Two years injury hiatus
Bell could not play football for two years after that, on Boxing Day 1977 he returned to the field as a substitute against Newcastle United.
It is said that never again has the crowd on Main Road caused such a storm of jubilation than when the king returned to the field.
But the injury had left its mark, Bell couldn't find his old class again, he played for the Citizens for two years and then ended his career with the San Jose Earthquakes in the USA.
After he stopped, City sank back into dreariness for years.
It took 44 years for the club to regain a league title. In 2012, it was in a completely different time, when investors were in the Premier League. Main Road was long gone, demolished in 2004. In the new stadium temple in the east Bell remained omnipresent in the city, the west stand bears his name and the fans voted for it with an overwhelming majority.
The fans are standing at the Colin Bell stand and have watched his successors Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.
When city fans look for comparisons with Bell from today, these two player names tend to come up.
Bell combined the best of both.
He was really big at City, but never quite achieved that status in the national team.
Between all the icons, between Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Bobby Charlton, he found it difficult to find his place, despite at least 48 internationals.
His name is less associated with the great victories of the Three Lions, but with two major defeats: the 2: 3 in the World Cup quarter-finals in Mexico against Germany, in which he came on for Bobby Charlton, and the 1: 3 at Wembley for two years later in the EM quarter-finals, again against Helmut Schön's team.
In the end, the heroes of these games were Uwe Seeler and Gerd Müller in Mexico, Günter Netzer in Wembley, not Colin Bell.
It's just a coincidence, but the day after his death, Manchester United and Manchester City will meet again in the League Cup on Wednesday night.
The city players all want to wear the light blue jersey with the number eight.
In honor of Colin Bell.
There is one more song that fans sang about Bell.
It goes like this: “We'll drink a drink a drink, To Colin the king, The king the king the king.” The Guardian writes today: “If ever there was a time to drink to the king, then it is now. ”Cheers, Colin Bell.
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