FOREVER BOYS
The days and citizens of heroes
James Lawton
Bloomsbury
322 pages; Rs 499
For starters, James Lawton's Forever Boys: The days of citizens and heroes emphatically dispels one of those amplified modern-day footballing myths: That Manchester City do not have a history. By history, of course, the cynics have so long alluded to City's lack of a glorious past, or purple patches with mystical wins - badges of honour that Manchester United and Liverpool, and even Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest unabashedly flaunt.
Refreshingly, and contrary to what the red half of Manchester has made us believe all these years, Mr Lawton masterly unearths Manchester City's most spectacular years. For some part of the 1960s - much before the Sheikhs of West Asia pumped in the petro pounds and an ambition-laden metamorphosis took place - City roamed about the northwest parts of England as one of the region's most successful teams.
Under Joe Mercer and his assistant, the wildly idiosyncratic Malcolm Allison, City won seven trophies during the 1960s and the early 1970s, including the 1969 FA Cup and the League Cup the following year. For those who grew up watching the Citizens during that period, Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell - perhaps the club's greatest-ever player - were the bearers of light and the re-creators of long-dormant hope. Mercer's management and Allison's tactical acuity brought with them a rousing optimism that clubs like City, in those days, were hopelessly unfamiliar with. The results far exceeded their modest expectations.
To just say that Mr Lawton, former chief sports writer at the Daily Express and The Independent, has worked hard on this riveting look back at time would be a mild injustice. Here, he has gone the extra mile: Brilliantly interviewing all the surviving central characters of a series of epochal triumphs that have steadily faded into time. From the vantage point of the press box and the team dressing room, Mr Lawton, a lifelong Manchester City fan, takes the reader beyond the football and into the hearts of City's golden generation, whose closeness, both on and off the pitch, remained one of its admirable hallmarks.
Throughout the book, Allison is a central figure. The book starts off with Mr Lawton attending his funeral, and concludes with a meeting between the author and Lynn Salton, Allison's last partner. Ms Salton poignantly talks about Allison's magniloquent achievements, and the abyss that followed several years later - a disturbing free fall marked by alcoholism.
There is a reason Allison features so deeply in Forever Boys. He was different: The unmistakable flamboyance, the kooky touchline antics with cigar in hand, and the Cuban fedora instantly made him a cult figure at Maine Road. Mr Lawton's description of Allison, in fact, reminds you of a young Javier Clemente, the belligerent, chain-smoking former Athletic Bilbao boss, who would often psych out other teams with a different set of tactics for every game. Just ask the former Barcelona manager Cesar Luis Menotti.
Perhaps one of the more not so "gratifying" parts of the book is the ugly spat between Allison and Mercer. Somewhere in the middle of 1970, Allison was offered a job by Juventus, which he turned down sensing that Mercer would step aside and let him take over at City. Mercer declined, and the pair's relationship rapidly disintegrated. Mr Lawton recounts this acerbic relationship in vivid detail, lauding their achievements but also intrepidly touching upon the apparent antipathy between the two.
Allison, however, was eventually appointed City manager in 1972, but was forced to resign only a year later after he had somehow fatally managed to turn the fans against him. He would come back once again in 1979.
Where Mr Lawton succeeds with Forever Boys is in its moving prose. He writes with compassion and a light touch, often pushing the reader into inescapable, emotional corners. His conversations with Bell and Summerbee are a delightful mix of piquancy and whimsicalness.
Bell, in fact, is one of the most adorable characters in the book. He candidly talks about his lifelong diffidence and reluctance in appearing before journalists and on TV shows. Parallels with Paul Scholes here are obvious, but the former United midfield maverick is more than happy to appear on TV post-retirement, often chastising his own former team.
One minor criticism of the book is its overly ornate prose. Mr Lawton writes with impeccable flair but the finesse spills over every once in a while. Moreover, the book reserves an uncomfortably generous space for City's decline post the Mercer-Allison years. What ensues is a protracted sob story that could have so easily been compressed.
The flaws, though, take little away from a warm, affectionate account of a club's history that had been so distant and unknowable till now. In the new world of football, it is difficult to think that Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Vincent Kompany will grow old so comfortably in each other's company, just like Bell, Summerbee and Lee. As Mr Lawton sums up so aptly, "This is indeed a phenomenon that could only have been born and nourished in another age." What an age it was.