RIP Malcolm Allison

[Filo]

Another great character from the game now departed
Malcolm Allison Dies

[Bentley Bullet]

The Man city side of the late sixties achieved great success due to their superior fitness levels over their rivals.
Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison introduced players with more athletic qualities than their predecessors with Colin Bell being a prime example.
Since then the game has become much faster and the emphasis on footballers is now athleticism first and foremost before football skill.

RIP

[GM-MarkB]

They just don't make football managers like that anymore.

RIP

[BigH]

Big Mal was truly ahead of his time and quite perceptive about how football would change.

About 25 years ago he was asked what the game would be like in the future. He pointed to the example of Gridiron and said that the biggest change would be that the players would be physically bigger and more athletic. By and large he was right. It's easy to see now but in the mid-80s most players just didn't think that way.

A shame but a bit of a sad end for a football legend.

[BillyStubbsTears]

A proper larger than life character.

Once saw him on the train from Sheffield to Donny. He'd been for an interview for the manager's job at one of South Yorkshire's perennial underachievers. Felt fedora. Beige camel coat. Exuded presence.

As the immortal Paul Calf once said, \"Style, is like a big, sky blue 1.6 Cortina. You've either got it or you haven't.\" And Big Mal had it.


I bet he were a reight bell-end mind.

[BillyStubbsTears]

BigH wrote:

Big Mal was truly ahead of his time and quite perceptive about how football would change.

About 25 years ago he was asked what the game would be like in the future. He pointed to the example of Gridiron and said that the biggest change would be that the players would be physically bigger and more athletic. By and large he was right. It's easy to see now but in the mid-80s most players just didn't think that way.

A shame but a bit of a sad end for a football legend.

I'll give him the athletic bit, but I've still never seen a Rovers midfielder with more physical presence than Joe Laidlaw. Especially after he came back from holiday in Turkey a stone over his already considerable fighting weight.

[Savvy]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

BigH wrote:

Big Mal was truly ahead of his time and quite perceptive about how football would change.

About 25 years ago he was asked what the game would be like in the future. He pointed to the example of Gridiron and said that the biggest change would be that the players would be physically bigger and more athletic. By and large he was right. It's easy to see now but in the mid-80s most players just didn't think that way.

A shame but a bit of a sad end for a football legend.

I'll give him the athletic bit, but I've still never seen a Rovers midfielder with more physical presence than Joe Laidlaw. Especially after he came back from holiday in Turkey a stone over his already considerable fighting weight.

Now there's a proper legend! When he took a penalty, he took a penalty, and the goalkeeper was best advised to get out of the way of the fecker or he'd have ended up signalling the planes in from Doncaster Airport!!!!

Big Mal was also a true legend, enigmatic a character as he was, he got Man City ticking, the last one to do so before the money took over!

R.I.P!

[Wellington Vaults]

Less of the eulogising, Big Mal wouldn't like that.

When asked would Peter Swailes be missed, Allison reportedly said \"He was a f**kin horrible man, and I'm glad he's dead\".

[BobG]

Hand sup all those who enjoying stuffing it up Big Mal that night we tonked Palace at BV in the League Cup? Good game that was.

BobG

[RoversDave]

A few enjoyed it too much, they smashed a load of windows on the way back into town.