Joe Mercer’s 70’s heroes had a waltz in Vienna when they lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup… Pep Guardiola’s men can draw inspiration from that famous night as Man City aim to conquer Europe once more
- Man City tasted European glory on a famous night in Vienna 53 years ago
- They are now looking to conquer Europe again when they face Inter Milan
- Pep Guardiola’s team can take inspiration from that famous win in 1970
Nathan Ake can hold his own sitting at a piano and has been known to produce the odd performance back at base on European trips with Manchester City.
Ake fancied mastering a new skill during the first lockdown when football stopped and has an impressive ear. What the Dutchman probably doesn’t know is that there is some history of musical showmanship when it comes to City abroad.
The scenes inside a Vienna hotel around this time 53 years ago were not quite so stylish. Francis Lee clambered on top of a piano, played by the head scout Harry Godwin, and sang to a jubilant travelling party wearing just his briefs.
City had lifted the Cup-Winners’ Cup earlier that night, beating Gornik Zabrze of Poland in treacherous conditions — commentator Barry Davies relaying that they were ‘splashing through puddles’ as Praterstadion resembled a bog. ‘Spectators are very wet, there is no cover at all in this stadium,’ Davies said as Gornik struggled to move the ball in search of a late equaliser.
Maybe that is why Lee’s clothes had vanished. Or maybe not. The 2-1 victory, secured by Neil Young and then Lee’s penalty, was supposed to represent the start of the club’s charge on the continent, yet it never materialised. ‘Lee, with a good fast bowler’s run-up… it’s a bit lucky, the power took it through the legs,’ Davies said.
Nathan Ake is known at Man City for having skills off the pitch as well as on it, as he can play the piano to a high standard
Ake’s piano-playing offers a reminder of City’s last triumph in Europe when they won the Cup-Winners Cup under Joe Mercer (pictured) in 1970 in the musical city of Vienna
Francis Lee (right) scored the decisive goal that day from the penalty spot to seal a 2-1 win
The majority of City’s 4,000 travelling supporters — a record for an English club at the time — ended up on the pitch, with their heroes accidentally handed the losers’ medals at first.
The rest of the 1970s saw a gradual decline, with manager Joe Mercer leaving amid a feud with his assistant, the gregarious Malcolm Allison. Allison, a genius coach of his generation lasted just two years as Mercer’s successor. There were fleeting dalliances with winning another league title but a decade later, City started bouncing between the top two divisions.
Any idea of conquering Europe had long gone. Allison had, when lifting the Division One crown in 1968, declared they would ‘destroy’ opponents abroad but that never materialised in a series of mishaps that some would argue have also manifested themselves under Pep Guardiola on occasion.
The Cup-Winners’ Cup was one to savour though. UEFA’s third competition at the time but silverware all the same. Lee, Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee’s legacy at Maine Road, in winning all three domestic trophies as well as their triumph in Europe, is the reason why the trio will have a statue unveiled outside the Etihad Stadium later this year.
This season’s kit, a tribute to Bell after his death in 2021, will have its last run-out in Istanbul on Saturday with the King of the Kippax’s family proudly watching on.
Mike Summerbee (pictured), Lee and Colin Bell are all set to get statues outside the Etihad Stadium later this year
Pep Guardiola’s side could take inspiration from the heroes of the 70’s as they aim to complete a historic Treble on Saturday by winning the Champions League for the first time
Summerbee sadly missed the Vienna final through injury, City giving the winger every opportunity to prove his fitness. George Heslop, a defender, was brought in to do a job on the mercurial Wlodzimierz Lubanski.
Bell had instigated a comeback over Schalke in the semi-final, twice combining with Alan Oakes to set-up Young during a second leg that began with City mischievously cranking up the heating in Schalke’s dressing room, as told by author Simon Curtis in City in Europe.
Having lost 1-0 over in Germany, with a dog invading the pitch, City hammered them 5-1 at a raucous Maine Road. The late Mike Doyle, paternal grandfather of current City midfielder Tommy, scored the opener. Doyle’s maternal grandfather Glyn Pardoe also started.
And then it was one night in Vienna. City went on to become the first English side to win a domestic and European trophy in the same season — lifting the League Cup at Wembley — another pointer to why their version of the Holy Trinity will be immortalised in the coming months. Presumably Lee has clothes on.
