Reply With QuoteRemember him well.
A sky blue gone to the blue sky.
RIP
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Age 74 .
Was a classy player.
RIP
Remember him well.
A sky blue gone to the blue sky.
RIP
What a Rolls Royce of a player, a product of Bury. A truly top player from a time when lower division clubs were respected for rearing outstanding talent. RIP, the King of the Kippax.
I went to the Man City v Man U derby about 20 years ago with a mate who was down here at Uni and a big Man City fan.
The Man City fans still sang Colin Bell songs.
Cant remember ever seeing him play. But
they loved him up there. We had a mini bus to the game and I doubt any of them would have seen Bell play but still sang Colin Bell songs on the way to the ground.
RIP.
Top class player,so young RIPOriginally Posted by life on mars
Also nicknamed Nijinsky for his gracefulness.
There’s a youtube video of Man City fans underneath the stand at our ground belting out a Colin Bell song.
A very gifted player. There weren't many like him back in those days. Now Man City has team full of them.
Cheers just had a look. They definitely wouldnt have seen him play
What a great player this man was.
On those awful mud heaps he used to glide across the pitch.
RIP
Very sad to hear of his passing.
At a time when all my mates were either Liverpool or Man Utd fans, Man City was my 'other' team, which was not a fashionable choice.
Even now I can name most of the team but it was always Bell, Summerbee and Lee at the top of the list.
RIP Colin
Very sad news, Colin Bell was a marvellous player. Man City manager, the excellent Joe Mercer, a master of understatement, used to say “Colin Bell - he can play a bit” He certainly could play.
Thanks for the memories Colin
RIP
As a kid, I asked Joe Mercer for his autograph when he was at Ninian Park and acting as England's caretaker manager. He promptly told me to 'Piss off'.
Bill Boston, the motorcyclist, went one better and told me to 'F*** off'.
On a more positive note, Colin Bell was a joy to watch.
When I was a kid, my opinion of players always matched that of my father and, by and large, I don't think that has done me any harm when it came to judging footballers through my life, but Colin Bell was the player who taught me my Dad wasn't infallible.
My Dad didn't rate him at all, choosing to call him by the derogatory name of "Ding Dong". My father was in his element when Bell came on for Bobby Charlton in the World Cup Quarter Final between England and West Germany when the Cup holders threw away a 2-0 lead and lost - for him it was all down to Bell, despite the fact that he wasn't on the pitch when the Germans scored their first goal.
Watching Bell in the years either side of that game in 1970, I used to think to myself "this bloke isn't bad at all" whenever I watched him play, but I would dismiss such thoughts because my Dad couldn't be wrong could he. However, by the mid seventies, i was convinced he was when it came to Bell at least - given my lack of knowledge when it comes to ballet, "Nijinsky" is always a horse rather than a dancer to me and so I'd become convinced that Bell deserved his nickname because he was a footballing thoroughbred.
Perhaps tellingly, my old man grew less and less critical of Colin Bell as the years went by - although I was in my twenties by then, I was still of the mentality that I shouldn't argue with my father when it comes to football and football players because he knew better than me, but maybe he had realised that this was a case where he had got it wrong?
Colin Bell, could keep running all day, but he wasn't just an athlete, he could play, he managed close to a record of a goal every three matches throughout his career and played at the back occasionally as his career was coming to an end - I honestly couldn't detect a weakness in his game.
RIP
I’m a bit saddened by your story but should not be surprised. I really liked Joe Mercer, he was interviewed frequently on TV as he had been a distinguished player and a very successful manager with Man C. He always came over very well. He played with many of the greats of that era including “Dixie” Deans (who he called Bill) and had loads of interesting stories. I felt sorry for him when he was ousted from the managers job at Maine Road in favour of Malcolm Allison. Allison was everything that Mercer was not; brash, arrogant, a showman and a triumph of dubious style over substance. He had been a successful coach but his managerial career, other than in Portugal, was largely undistinguished. Although he will always be remembered for paying the vast sum of £1.4m in 1979 for Steve Daley who became known as the biggest waste of money in football history. Mercer also did a good job as temporary England manager but was discarded in favour of Don Revie and that succession didn’t turn out well either.
I remember seeing Steve Daley play against us just before he went and wondered what the fuss was all about.It came hard on the heals of the Francis 1m move but still think the price tag didn't do the lad any good pressure wise.
A bit off topic but it i still an autograph story
I remember reading an article some years ago by some chap who had loved Dad's Army when he was a kidand also collected autographs
He saw Arnold Ridley who played kindly, inoffensive Private Godfrey sitting in a cafe.
The chap went up to him and said "Excuse me Mr Ridley could I have your autograph please
He said the usual reaction was " of course son" or "sorry son not now"
Arnold Ridley said the same as Joe Mercer!
How illusions are shattered!!
That City team with Bell, Lee and Summerbee was special.
But it was ruined when Malcolm Allison tried to fit in the last piece to take them up a final notch and signed Rodney Marsh. Their title aspirations were blown - it was a lesson of what not to do when riding high.
City players took it out on opposing teams which left a nasty taste in the mouth. For many years I thought of them as a team who were downright unpleasant if things didn't go their way.
But Bell was outstanding. He only played 48 games for England because there were some world-class inside forwards around at the time.
Colin Bell, a true legend in every sense of the word. Box to box, shoot with both feet and would be priceless by today’s standards. Saw him play twice, once at Maine Road, once at Ninian Park for England. Should have had more than his 40 odd caps. Quite rightly revered by all those connected to Manchester City.He will be missed.
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