Focus On : Soccer Legends Lee, Bell, Sommerbee

  Employed nowadays on the club's commercial side, Mike Summerbee is still a familiar and much-loved Maine Road face. He first arrived in the summer of 1965, the second signing by Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. A crowd-pleas ing and direct player, at home on the wing or at centre forward, Summerbee played his early football with Swindon Town. His debut for City came at the start of the 1965-66 season, a season in which he didn't miss a single game and City were Division 2 Champions. An influential part of City's triumphs during his time there, his biggest disappointment was missing the 1970 European Cup Winners' Cup final with a leg injury.  one-time part owner of a Manchester boutique with George Best, Summerbee has developed a successful shirt business alongside his work with City. His father George, and his son Nick, have also played league football, thereby guaranteeing the name Summerbee remains in the record books. A regular after dinner speaker and someone who always has time for the fans, Mike Summerbee will be forever associated with City as a member of the great trio alongside Francis Lee and Colin Bell.

Christened 'Nijinsky' by assistant manager Malcolm Allison after the legendary racehorse, Colin Bell was the most complete footballer ever to appear in a City shirt. He had tremendous pace and stamina: there was hardly a (law in any aspect of his game. Bell had been attracting the attention ot many of the top clubs while playing for Bury in 1964. Despite Allison's now famous 'can't head it. can't pass it, he's hopeless' comments designed to dissuade any other interested parties, Bell signed for City in March 1966. He was the key member of the all-conquering City sides of the late 1960s and early 1970s as well as appearing in the Mexico World Cup of 1970. He is also the most capped City player of all time. It was a tragedy when, at the age of 29, he injured a knee in a collision with Manchester United'i Martin Buchan during a League Cup-tie at Maine Road. Despite all his efforts he was never the same player again and he retired from playing in August 1979. After a spell working with the Maine Road youngsters, Colin Bell left the club for a while before returning in the late 1990s in an ambassadorial role.

Francis Lee will be remembered much more for his achievements on the field for Manchester City than for those off. He became Chairman of the club in 1994, following a huge wave of fans' support that finally ousted Peter Swales. In March 1998, when he left Maine Road, he had taken in five managers and two caretakers, as well as two relegations, leaving City to play in what was really Division 3 for the very first time. If he was unsuccessful as a chairman, then the opposite is certainly true as a player. He joined City in October 1967 for a then club record fee of £60,000; Joe Mercer decribing him as "the final piece of the puzzle". This he was as six months later City won the Division 1 title. Over the next few years Lee was one of the stars of a team guaranteed at least one piece of silverware every season. He left for Derby in 1974. Francis Lee was one of the most popular players ever at Maine Road. The Mercer/Allison glory years were the most successful in the history of the club and Lee played a huge part in them. Fans should remember that as well as the fact that Lee too was enormously disappointed by the events of those four years as chairman.

 Written and narrated 

by Tony Gubbi
Vhs Rip, 80mnts

Man.Cit.Somm.Lee.Bell.Thewildbunch22.Part1.mkv
590.2 Mo
https://uptobox.com/eq0m5hk8xm55
Man.Cit.Somm.Lee.Bell.Thewildbunch22.Part2.mkv
193.0 Mo
https://uptobox.com/3i5sttjsop6b

 

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