Mick Channon on City spell, Saints return and Guardiola | OneFootball

When examining Mick Channon’s two-year stay at Manchester City from 1977 to 1979, his statistics at face value represent a productive stay at Maine Road.

A tally of 30 goals in 94 appearances and strikes in big games in Europe and in victories over Manchester United and Liverpool is more than a respectable output in a relatively short space of time.

By his own admission, though, Channon believes his spell with the Blues was the hardest period of his distinguished career – with the now 76-year-old laying the blame solely on himself.

The ex-England international signed for the Club having scored 157 goals for Southampton and helping the Saints triumph in the 1976 FA Cup – beating Manchester United 1-0 in the final.

However, the south coast outfit had ultimately missed out on promotion back to the First Division at the end of the following campaign – prompting Channon to move to City in the top-flight as he looked to establish himself among the game’s elite and back into the international reckoning.

What transpired for the former frontman was a tough adaptation to Tony Book’s style of play which hindered his progress in Manchester.

“At the time Southampton were still in the Second Division and to play internationally I had to move on and it was getting difficult [to play for England]. There were a lot of good players coming through,” he explained.

“I went to Manchester City, but unfortunately it was probably the worst spell of my career.

“It was a strange thing, when I went to City – I only got the ball when no one else wanted it. I couldn’t get going. It wasn’t good for me and it wasn’t good for City. It just didn’t work out.

“I had to be the first port of call on the pitch, I was the sort of player that if you gave it to me something might happen, whereas if you gave it to me when no-one else wanted it, I wasn’t very good.

“Don’t get me wrong, I loved Manchester City. The city, football, people, training and everything was brilliant – I just couldn’t get going.

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“There were some good games and I scored a couple of goals against Liverpool and some of the big clubs, but I wasn’t happy in my football.

“That’s no disrespect to anyone else and it was no-one else’s fault apart from Mick Channon’s.”

By the time Channon’s City career was coming to an end, former club Southampton were back in the First Division and looking to build on their 14th -place finish in 1978/79.

With the Saints’ FA Cup-winning manager Lawrie McMenemy still at The Dell’s helm, he brought his former marksman back to the south coast from the Blues where he helped them to an eighth-placed finish in his first term back.

During his second spell he added 28 goals to his overall tally with Channon still Southampton’s leading all-time league goalscorer.

He added: “As the opportunity arose, McMenemy was still there and knew me and I went back and we had a great run because we had some good players.

“We had Keegan and Bally [Alan Ball] and we were a good team. We knocked on the door at the top of the First Division, but we just weren’t good enough [to win it].

“The top and bottom line, as a team for 46 games a year we were probably good for 35 but not the full season.”

“We just weren’t good enough. We had some good players, but we just didn’t have the legs to go a full season.”

This weekend will see two of Channon’s former clubs lock horns as City travel to Southampton on Saturday as our bid for Champions League qualification continues.

Amid ongoing injury issues for the Blues, Pep Guardiola’s side were unable to win a fifth consecutive Premier League title and add a seventh top-flight crown to the Catalan’s 18-trophy cabinet at the Etihad Stadium.

Regardless of the difficulties faced in 2024/25, Channon believes Guardiola is still at the summit of elite managers across the globe.

He concluded: “The man’s a genius. He sees things in players that the rest of the world doesn’t see and they all produce for him.

“I hold my hands up to the man, for me, he sees things we don’t see and that’s why he’s the best manager in the world.”