Blue Moon Rising isn’t the only City documentary

While the trailers of City’s latest documentary, Blue Moon Rising are doing the rounds, it’s worth remembering that City have previous when it comes to this kind of thing.

Back in 1981 it wasn’t our media partners Endemol doing the filming, but Granada TV with a behind the scenes look at a season in the life of a football club. The result was a classic that looks even better with age.

Then as now, the season began with high hopes as Malcolm Allison was in the Mark Hughes position of having been allowed to bring in his own players at considerable expense. Once again expectations weren’t matched and we witness the introduction of a new manager.

It signalled the end for Allison, the man whose coaching and charisma had contributed so much to our golden era. The sacking of Hughes was controversial, but doesn’t match the sadness in seeing Allison cast out by the club where he made his name. It’s summed up later as he runs to the centre-circle to take the acclaim of the crowd on his return as Palace manager. To win against Swales would mean everything. Palace lose.

And so to a new manager, and a classic scene where John Bond is interviewed for the job. Bond sits at one end of a long table being grilled by an ineffective board. Meanwhile at the other end, there’s a brilliant shot of a bored Peter Swales flicking a book of matches on the edge of the table. He’d already made his decision.

For those of us who remember the era, this is a teriffic document on the way football used to be. It’s fantastic to find it on YouTube, and for those who are interested, Bond’s interview is in part four.

No doubt Endemol will provide us with a polished product in Blue Moon Rising, but somehow it’s hard to imagine they’ll have the grit of “City!”.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6