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This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Manchester City

Premier       Pl   W  D  L  For-Ag  Pts
Home           5   4  1  0   7 - 2  13
Away           4   2  1  1   6 - 6   7
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Total (Prem)   9   6  2  1  13 - 8  20
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)  46  21 13 12  84 -59  58
Away (Div 1)  46   7 11 28  39 -90  24
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Total (Div 1) 92  28 24 40 123 -149 82
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)   2   0  1  1   2 - 3   1
Away (Div 2)   2   0  0  2   0 - 3   0
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Total (Div 2)  4   0  1  3   2 - 6   1
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Total (Prem)   9   6  2  1  13 - 8  20
Total (Div 1) 92  28 24 40 123 -149 82
Total (Div 2)  4   0  1  3   2 - 6   1
======================================
Grand Total  105  34 27 44 138 -163 103
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Whenever I think of Maine Road, I have a mental picture of that glorious day in May 1983 when David Pleat, then manager of Luton Town, scampered around on the pitch and embraced Raddy Antic, the scorer of the vital second half goal that saved Luton and condemned Manchester City to the Second Division. Luton had not won anywhere for weeks and HAD to win to preserve their status.

The tragedy for Manchester City was that WW2 destroyed their hopes of being Manchester's premier club. Prior to WW2, Manchester United were the poorer of the two Manchester sides and had spent a lot of time in the Second Division, avoiding relegation to Division 3 (North) by a single point at the end of season 1933-34. The advent of Matt Busby, a former Manchester City player, as Manchester United's manager in the spring of 1945 signalled the end of those hopes. Since then, Manchester City have had only cameo appearances on the stage of football success.

No one of my age (56) will ever forget the 1956 FA Cup Final when Manchester City, playing Don Revie as a withdrawn centre-forward, won the FA Cup Final against Birmingham City. Bert Trautmann, the former German PoW, broke his neck as he dived at the feet of Birmingham's Peter Murphy, who had once played for Spurs in Arthur Rowe's side. How Trautmann survived the final fourteen minutes is still a mystery as he was obviously in great pain. Today, of course, he would have been substituted but in those days there were none.

Another memory of Manchester City is the goal that Denis Law scored but refused to celebrate. That was the goal that condemned Manchester United to relegation at the end of season 1973-74.

Happier memories for Tottenham fans are those of our Cup Final victory over them in May 1981. The blood still surges at the sight of the majestic Ricky Villa taking a pass from Galvin, slipping past Reid, then Ranson, past Caton, taking the ball right up to Joe Corrigan, ignoring the screams of Steve Archibald to pass, and calmly slotting the ball under Corrigan before falling over Corrigan, then picking himself up and running to the touchline, pursued by his team mates. There's still only one better goal than that to savour and no one will mind my recalling Gazza's St Hotspur goal over the unmentionable side from that unmentionable district just down the other end of the Seven Sister's Road.

But the memories of March 1993 when Nayim scored a hat-trick and Sedgley rounded off a 4-2 win at Maine Road are still fresh in the memory. We played brilliantly that day and had sewn the game up long before the Sky Blue fans tried to get the game abandoned. It was probably Nayim's best game for Tottenham.

But such highlights are few and far between. There was, for instance, a very black day in May 1977 when Manchester City crushed us 5-0 to ensure that we would be one of the three clubs to be relegated. We had been poor all season. Much poorer than we have been this season in my opinion. We were hopeless.

Maine Road is not one of our lucky grounds. We have only won nine League matches there which should be reflected in the odds on offer from the bookmakers. They are not fools. I doubt very much whether we will win up there. If we do, I shall expect reports of pink pigs, wearing white shirts, flying in a 4-5-1 formation, to appear on Match of The Day. My view is that we will be extremely lucky to return with a point. We will be even luckier if we do not have any additional injuries. The Sky Blues do not take prisoners from what I have seen of their tackling when I have seen them on TV. They are not a skilled side and their best player, Mark Kennedy, is currently injured. But they are a deadly side in dead ball situations and we must keep a wary eye on Goater, who has a habit of scoring vital goals when completely unmarked : Chris Perry - please note!

I have only been to Maine Road once. It was for our 6th Round FA Cup tie in 1970. It was a typical Mancunian day, overcast with rain. Lee scored the only goal of the game. The truth is that Lee didn't even kick the ball properly. Had he done so, Pat Jennings would have saved his shot as he had read his intentions but because he mis-kicked the ball, it bobbled and bounced into the other side of the goal. It was a very long drive back to London that day ........

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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