For a generation of football followers 2020 brought a dispiriting, seemingly continuous list of great former players who passed away. Unhappily the in memoriam roll call for the new year began within days of January dawning, last night bringing the sad news that illustrious ex-Manchester City and England maestro Colin Bell had died at the age of 74.
Bell, a sublime, accomplished midfield talent, was at the heart of an excellent Maine Road team who under the guidance of manager Joe Mercer and coach Malcolm Allison built on a mid-60s promotion to Division One to be crowned league champions two years later – Colin Bell a prominent figure as they won four major trophies in quick time.
Blessed with superb balance, sharp brain and well-honed goal-scoring instincts, his boundless energy led to Allison dubbing Bell ‘Nijinsky‘ after the preeminent thoroughbred racehorse of the day – his levels of stamina and skill all the more extraordinary when judged against the ‘heavy going’ pitches football was played on even at the top level.
Born in the County Durham village of Hesleden on 26 February 1946, at the age of sixteen Bell signed professional forms with third division Bury, making 82 appearances in three seasons before being signed by Manchester City (on Allison’s insistence) in the spring of 1966.
Moving up a rung on the football ladder, Bell helped City win Division Two a few months later and thus gain promotion, going on to score fourteen goals as 1966-67 saw the side being moulded by Mercer and Allison finished fifteenth on their return to the top flight.
Bell repeated his 14 fourteen goal haul the following season, but with his all-round game now a revelation City made enormous forward strides. In December 1967 a 4-1 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur on a snowbound Maine Road surface showed they were genuine title contenders – and on a day when the grainy black and white footage depicts the crowd as figures from a Lowry painting, the interplay between Bell and fellow City forwards Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee, Neil Young and Tony Coleman is truly illuminating.
Holding their nerve as the 1967-68 Championship race came to a nail-biting conclusion, City eventually prevailed with a 4-3 final day victory at Newcastle – a series of outstanding displays from Bell earning the first of 48 international caps when selected to face Sweden a few weeks later.
Part of the England squad that finished third in the 1968 European Championships, back on the domestic front Bell scored another fourteen times in 1968-69 as City struggled in defending the league title, their best displays saved for the FA Cup – that duly headed to Maine Road after a goal from Young was enough to beat Leicester City in the 1969 final.
With his form displaying remarkable consistency, Bell travelled with England on their 1969 summer tour of South America. He scored early in the fixture against Brazil and although the home side rallied to eventually win 2-1, for his excellent display in this match and subsequent game against Uruguay, Bell was singled out for notable praise by the English press.
Bell hit another double figure tally (11) as 1969-70 saw City finish eleventh, but their cup exploits secured the League and European Cup Winners Cup, his own standing making selection for the 1970 England World Cup squad a certainty.
In Mexico Bell appeared as a second half substitute in the 1-0 defeat against Brazil, but played from the start in the final group game as England advanced to the last eight by virtue of a 1-0 victory over Czechoslovakia.
At the quarter-final stage, in a repeat of the 1966 World Cup Final, England faced West Germany, Bell coming off the bench to replace Bobby Charlton just after the holders had seen their lead reduced to 2-1. While the change made tactical sense in the stifling heat of Leon, the switch, along with that of Norman Hunter for Martin Peters, backfired as West Germany fought back to win 3-2 in extra-time, ending the reign of England as World Champions.
While manager Sir Alf Ramsey was subsequently castigated for the substitutions he chose to make, Bell actually played creditably well after coming on, defeat in a match England dominated for an hour was largely down to an erratic display from goalkeeper Peter Bonetti – called into the team after first choice Gordon Banks had been taken ill on the morning of the match.
After Bell scored 13 times in a comparatively low-key 1970-71, the following season saw City (now with Allison in sole charge) back among the first division front-runners – but after leading the table for much of the season saw their challenge fall short by just two points.
If anything the 1973-74 campaign brought Bell even more disappointment; part of the team in October 1973 when England were held to a 1-1 draw by Poland, who qualified instead for the 1974 World Cup, he was back at Wembley in March 1974 with Manchester City for the League Cup Final. Despite being on target in scoring a second half equaliser, Bell finished on the losing side as Wolves scored late to win 2-1.
Maintaining a high standard of performance for both club and country, Bell (named in the PFA Team of the Year in 1974-75) had captained England for the match against Northern Ireland in 1972, but arguably his finest moments on the international stage came in a February 1975 friendly against World Champions West Germany.
The midfield trio of Bell, skipper Alan Ball and Alan Hudson, completely outplayed their German counterparts, Bell scoring the first goal in a commendable 2-0 triumph.
Sadly it was to prove a false dawn rather than new beginning for the national team, whose bid to qualify for the 1976 European Championships went array in the autumn of 1975, when only one point was taken from away fixtures against Czechoslovakia and Portugal. When a 1-1 draw in Lisbon all but ended chances of qualification, Bell was out of the picture having suffered a serious knee injury the week before in a fourth round, League Cup Manchester-derby at Maine Road.
Sustaining the injury at the age of 29, Bell was sidelined for thirteen months and although he made 26 intermittent appearances spread between two seasons, he left Manchester City in the summer of 1979 having played over 400 first team matches. In 1980 Bell briefly joined NASL outfit San Jose Earthquakes alongside former Manchester United rival George Best, but retired altogether after a handful of games.
Later on Bell would return to Manchester City as a youth team coach, later becoming a club ambassador. Awarded an MBE in 2004, when City moved to the Etihad Stadium the year before, the West Stand was named in his honour, fitting recognition for a player routinely described as their ‘greatest ever player.’
His record of 152 goals stands him fourth in the list of all-time Manchester City scorers (behind Sergio Aguero, Eric Brook and Tommy Johnson), but with a footballer of such esteem the true essence is found as much in the substance as the statistics.
Describing Colin Bell to a younger element of football watchers is no easy task as like, say Alan Ball or Martin Peters, there is no obvious latter-day equivalent.
Perhaps English football is no longer geared to produce such multi-dimensional footballers, those whose mix of awareness and ability produced an unerring level of excellence – in which case we were truly blessed to witness their like.
Sir Tom Finney, a case in point when it came to mixing class and craft, once spoke for himself – and now with hindsight for many – when he remarked:
‘Colin Bell was a good as anything I’ve ever seen.’
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available as an Amazon Kindle book.
