One of my regular ways of catching up from afar is to listen, on Wednesday or Thursday, to the BBC podcast of the Radio Manchester evening show Blue Tuesday. This week, the station's City magazine programme featured former City star Rodney Marsh, who has a new book out. I thought I'd focus on one of the original seventies mavericks, a flamboyant and controversial figure whose talents lit up Maine Road between March 1972 and October 1975.
Marsh joined City in March 1972 for £200,000. This was just shy of the transfer record, and the former QPR player was immediately under scrutiny as a result. He made his debut against Chelsea in front of a crowd of 53,000 at Maine Road, slotting into a team that looked likely to claim the league title that season. He was ultimately blamed by many for the team's near miss, as the Blues finshed fourth in the table, a mear point behind Brian Clough's Derby and trailing Leeds and Liverpool only on goal difference in a photo finish to the title race.
Over the best part of four years, Marsh played in City sides which, gradually rebuilding after the Mercer and Allison era, failed to replicate the successes enjoyed by the team that was being replaced. The closest he came to adding to the one League Cup medal he won at QPR - his only major tropy in his senior career in English football - was the 2-1 defeat in the final of the same competition against Wolves in 1974. City, boasting a forward line of Marsh and Denis Law in addition to the famous triumvirate of Bell, Lee and Summerbee, underperformed on the day, but still dminated the game. Previously unheralded reserve goalkeeper Gary Pierce had the game of his life to keep out the Blues' stars, and the Midlanders' winner came near the end after a cross deflected off Marsh's heel into the path of goalscorer John Richards. Marsh reacted to the disappointment by refusing to claim his winner's medal.
By the time City did win the same compeition two years later, Marsh was gone from the club, ingloriously sacked when, as captain, he rowed with Tony Book's assistant Ian Macfarlane. The lack of trophies during his spell at Maine Road arguably point to his acquisition as a player being a mistake. After all, the club was top of the league when he arrived, failed to win the title and only competed seriously for it again in the season after Marsh had left, winning nothing else in the interim either. There are those, his successor as skipper Mike doyle among them, who would vocally endorse the view.
But I think that generally football fans know much more than they're often given credit for, and I think the way supporters view players is often very revealing. The truth is that Marsh was an absolute idol at Maine Road, loudly hailed by the Kippax as a favourite even when things didn't go well on the pitch. Peter Swales, who in two decades as chairman presided over plenty of controversial incidents, remained adamant about one thing until he died: the decision to show Marsh the door provoked by far the biggest postbag from fans howling in protest of everything to happen during those twenty years.
In the 35 years since he last played for City, Marsh has continued to be a controversial figure. As a pundit with a notably outspoken style, he was a popular figure on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday programme, but his style wasn't to the liking of everyone. And he ended up being sacked by the broadcaster, too, for a rather tasteless, but basically harmless, joke.
On a personal level, I always liked him as a pundit, and thought that it came across when he used to cover City for Soccer Saturday that he was always chuffed when we did well. He just didn't do the whole one-eyed, laughably biased Phil Thompson bit: if Rod thought we were crap - and let's face it, we often were - he'd say so. He's always professed to having a lot of affection for the club as a whole, enjoys seeing us do well and couldn't say enough good thigs about the warmth of people up north generally and the City fans in particular. I have no doubt he's genuine in those sentiments.
And he left the Maine Road fans with some wonderful memories of his skills, some of which can be found on youtube thanks to the wonderful mcfcvideos channel. The opener against Derby in April 1972 was a classic goal. There were also two beauties the following campaign: the first of these two against Spurs, and the second of this pair against Southampton are great strikes as well.
So that's Rodney. Frustrating and irritating to some, but a flamboyant entertainer who left fans who saw him with delightful memories of his exhilarating skill. Maybe with that talent, he could have achieved more in the game, but people enjoyed watching him play - which maybe is more important.
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