50 years of Joe Royle and City | OneFootball

Joe Royle has a special place in the hearts of City fans and it’s exactly 50 years ago today that he began that magical association with the Club.

As the country got ready for Christmas Day in 1974 by watching the Dick Emery Christmas Show and Songs Of Praise from Hale, ‘Big Joe’ was making the monumental decision of leaving his boyhood club Everton.

He remains a favourite son of the Toffees, returning later in his career as a manager and remains the last man to bring a major trophy back to Goodison Park.

But he also had a remarkable time at City, first as a player and then leading us back to glory as a brilliant coach.

Liverpool-born Royle turned down Manchester United to sign for Everton as a youngster and, after making his debut as a 16-year-old, went on to help them to lift the First Division title.

But after 119 goals in 232 appearances, he was frozen out at the Toffees and Tony Book moved to bring him to Maine Road after he turned down Birmingham City.

It brought him a new lease of life, although initially it was a tough start with just one goal between Boxing Day and the end of the season.

He met his new team-mates on the day of his Boxing Day debut and headed back to Merseyside where we faced champions Liverpool and we found ourselves 4-0 down by half-time.

By his own admission, Royle had lost some of his sharpness and fitness playing in the Central League for Everton's reserves but worked hard to get it back.

Training was far less sophisticated than it is now and involved punishing runs around Wythenshawe Park – made worse for the rest of the squad by the ease with which it was completed by the supreme athlete Colin Bell.

It was a period of transition for the Blues with many of the legendary team of the late 1960s and early 1970s coming towards the end of their careers and Malcolm Allison then Book bringing in new faces.

But the following year, City really began to click and Royle was back to his very best.

In his first full season, Royle scored 19 goals from 51 appearances including a goal in each round on the way to League Cup final.

He found the net in the final at Wembley against Newcastle United too, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Thankfully, Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart’s sublime overhead kick saw us triumph 2-1 and Royle collect a winner’s medal.

“On a selfish note, I had scored in every round and I actually scored in the Final, but it was disallowed for offside – and I had never considered myself quick enough to be found offside!” he joked.

“I was delighted with it but, nevertheless, the right result came through in the end.”

City finished eighth in Division One and it was the beginning of an exciting period with Book assembling an exciting side at Maine Road.

Royle had regained his place back in the England squad and the team was full of internationals with players like Barnes, Tueart, Joe Corrigan, Dave Watson, Willie Donachie and Asa Hartford playing some of the best football of their careers.

“In winning the League Cup, we all thought this was a great start and that we would go on from there,” he said.

“Of the side that played there at Wembley, seven or eight were full internationals.”

Qualifying for Europe, City were handed a tough draw against Italian giants Juventus. Despite Brian Kidd scoring in a 1-0 first leg victory, a 2-0 defeat in Turin saw us knocked out by the eventual winners.

However domestically, we made a strong start and then went on an unbeaten 17-game run after Christmas to put the pressure on leaders Liverpool.

Successive away defeats to Bristol City, United and West Ham dented our title hopes although we went to Anfield in April still challenging.

After Kevin Keegan put the Reds ahead in front of the Kop, Kidd equalised. However, barely 60 seconds later, Steve Heighway put the home side back ahead with 10 minutes remaining to secure a 2-1 win.

A 1-1 draw against Everton in our final game of the season saw Liverpool win the title with City just a point behind.

“We had a strong, close-knit team that came within a whisker of winning the top-flight title in 1977,” Royle said.

“We finished just a point behind Liverpool and they had a fantastic team at the time.

“We had so many great players, many of whom were internationals and I think that was the best side up until the ‘new City’ arrived a few years back.

“I didn’t score many that season, but Brian Kidd and Dennis Tueart did playing off me.”

The arrival of England international Mick Channon in the summer curtailed his time at Maine Road and he was sold to Bristol City before finishing his playing days at Norwich City.

But there was to be a second glorious chapter to his time at City as he returned as manager at one of the most critical times in our history.

It was February 1998, just over 30 years after his final appearance as a player that he answered an SOS call with City plunging through the divisions.

After taking Oldham to unprecedented heights in more than a decade at Boundary Park and success at Everton, he was out of work.

But it was a daunting task when he took over from Frank Clark with City spiralling towards the third tier of football for the first time in our history.

“The whole Club was a disaster,” Royle said.

“There were more than 50 professionals on the books, who time had forgotten and weren’t going to take us anywhere.

“The first board meeting was about getting players out – on frees, on loan.”

Steadying the ship would take time and despite winning the final match of the season, 5-2 at Stoke City, we were relegated.

“When we were relegated, I’d wondered what the Board would do but they seemed quite pleased with what they had seen over the 12 games,” he added. “We’d got it to the last game and we needed one other team to lose but they all won.

“That’s when ‘City-itis’ came into play – just when you think: ‘It can’t get any worse’, it usually did!”

Bouncing back immediately was critical, but it took time with the Blues falling to 12th shortly before the Christmas of 1998 after a 2-1 defeat to York City.

Royle was shrewd in the transfer market, bringing in the no-nonsense leadership of Andy Morrison, the goals of Shaun Goater and the skill of Terry Cooke and knitting together a young side.

A Boxing Day win at Wrexham began a transformation that saw us into the play-offs, a semi-final win over Wigan and a place at Wembley.

The dramatic victory over Gillingham in the 1999 final is one that will never be forgotten and began the resurgence of the Club.

Royle brought back the feelgood factor and we enjoyed back-to-promotions, returning to the top-flight with a 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the season.

Every corner of Ewood Park was filled with City fans but there was a possible new strain of ‘City-itis’ with Blackburn taking the lead and hitting the woodwork four times.

However, there was to be no denying Royle’s Blues with Shaun Goater, a Christian Dailly own goal, Mark Kennedy and Paul Dickov turning the game into a promotion party.

Kennedy celebrated his goal by sprinting down the touchline to embrace a beaming Royle and the boss had to flee down the tunnel at full-time as the supporters tried to follow the winger’s example by celebrating with him after the final whistle.

The players partied in the changing room with Royle and his coaching staff which included Donachie and Hartford from his days at Maine Road as a player, before emerging in the director’s box in front of the thousands on the pitch.

City would be relegated the following season and the manager was sacked but his impact was crucial to the changes that would ultimately see us eventually move to the Etihad.

“I never stopped smiling at the City fans,” Royle said a few years ago. “I still smile now when I’m watching telly or at a game and the crowd goes up, singing: ‘We’re not really here’ which was probably the best chant of all time.

“The gallows humour... I don’t know where it started. Was it York, Port Vale or Wycombe?

“It was certainly in the outposts of football and whenever I see City fans, they tell me they loved that season – that they really enjoyed it.

“I’m not sure they did at York that night!

“From the lower division to Blackburn and promotion and sacked in two seasons! It’s still the only time I’ve been sacked in my career!”

Now 75, Royle can look back proudly on his legacy that will be forever celebrated by City fans as will his humour, warmth and geniality that also marked him out as a special man as well as manager.

It’s 50 years today that he took his first step to becoming a City legend.