Remembering Colin Bell: ‘Pep would have adored him!’ | OneFootball

It’s always hard - some would say impossible - to compare players across generations.

Men's Team

Remembering Colin Bell on his 80th birthday

But there’s consensus among Colin Bell’s peers that the jewel in the crown of City’s golden era of the late 1960s and early 1970s would have shone just as brightly in the History Making era of the modern day.

Tony Brown, West Bromwich Albion’s leading goalscorer and appearance maker, insists Bell would not only have slotted seamlessly into the 18-trophy epoch under Pep Guardiola but he would have been cherished by the Catalan.

Meanwhile, John Richards, iconic hero of Wolverhampton Wanderers, believes Bell would have been captain throughout this magnificent spell of dominance by the Blues.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Colin would get into the City team of this era,” said Brown.

“And I don’t say that lightly because I have the greatest of respect for what City have done under Pep.

“But that just shows the esteem I hold Colin in.

“And I think Pep would have loved Colin, absolutely adored him for his workrate, his industry but also his undeniable quality.

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“You have to work hard under Pep. I can see that. I get the feeling if you don’t work hard, you don’t play under him.

“He’d have no problem with Colin. He’d be a dream to manage.

“He was absolutely brilliant. He’d be a wow in the modern game. He was box to box, tonnes of energy, running power.

“He was known as Nijinsky. He’d outrun anybody. In the modern game, what they’re asking for with the amount of minutes you play, the amount of games you play, the work you have to do, he’d be a sensation.

“He’d make these surging runs to get on the end of things – and when he did, he invariably scored.

“He had the stamina and the speed. He was the top man at all that but he could also play football, a genuinely wonderful footballer. He was just a top, top player.”

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Richards, known affectionately in the Black Country as ‘King John’, is of the same opinion when it comes to Bell’s ability to flourish in this all-conquering Blues team of the past decade.

“He wouldn’t just have got into Pep’s team – he would have captained it!

“The skill and the talent he had were transferable across eras.

“In my opinion, he was the most naturally gifted attacking midfielder of his generation. He was just pure class.

“He was the standout, no question.

“His skill was so natural that he made things look so, so easy. He did it so comfortably.

“He was such an amazing player – his stamina, his quality, he very rarely made mistakes.

“You just couldn’t give him an inch of space, he was a good passer of the ball, he was a great finisher. You look at the goals he scored – and he was a midfielder! Remarkable.”

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Legend: Colin Bell

Bell formed part of the Holy Trinity with Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee and alongside fellow greats like Neil Young, Joe Corrigan and Tony Book, the Blues swept all before them in a golden era for the Club.

Brown and Richards are big fans of the side that won the League Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup and insist that Bell was the shining light at City.

“When you’re a player, you’d speak to your teammates and discuss opposition players and pick the top men out. Colin Bell was always the subject of discussion,” continued Brown.

“Yes they had wonderful players like Franny Lee, Neil Young, Mike Summerbee, but Colin would always be the centre of conversation in the dressing room.

“It’d be ‘you’ve got to pick him up, you’ve got to stay with him’. It’s good saying it but you’ve also got to do it which wasn’t always as easy.

“It was a nightmare to play against him. He was so full of football quality.

“The City side of the 1960s and 1970s were a wonderful team. I remember them because they beat us in the League Cup final of 1970. We were 1-0 up, too, because Jeff Astle scored early doors past Joe Corrigan to put us ahead.

“Then obviously Mike Doyle scored the equaliser and Glynn Pardoe won it in extra-time.

“They had such great players. They were top, top notch. They had wonderful players moulded into a wonderful side led by captain Tony Book, wow, what a great player he was as well by the way. You knew you were in for a real game against City every time you played them.”

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“You look at the team he was playing in, just look at the front five that played against us at Wolves in the 1974 League Cup final – there was Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Denis Law, Franny Lee and Rodney Marsh,” added Richards.

“I think Colin was the best of the lot.

“If Colin played well and was on form, Manchester City were unbeatable, it’s as simple as that.”

Brown netted 279 goals in 720 appearances between 1963 and 1980 for the Baggies.

His honours include the 1966 League Cup and the FA Cup in 1968, one England cap as well as being a three-time Midlands Footballer of the Year.

Indeed, he finished the 1970/71 season as the Division One top scorer with an astonishing 28 goals from midfield.

His 20-years of service to the Albion were rewarded with the unveiling of a bronze statue at The Hawthorns in 2014.

The man nicknamed ‘Bomber’, 80, is still a regular visitor, working as a co-commentator on BBC Radio West Midlands and is able to walk past his statue, outside the East Stand, on the way to work on matchdays.

Bell, of course, has a statue at the Etihad as well as a stand named after him - and Brown thinks gestures like that show the reverence he’s held in at the Blues.

“That just tells you everything doesn’t it,” he added.“It tells you what a great player he must have been and the esteem in which he was held by staff, fans and players at Manchester City.

“Clubs don’t give those out easily and when you have as many great players as City have had in their history, for Colin to be the only one to have a stand named after him, that’s some accolade.”

Richards, meanwhile, spent 14 years at Wolves, spanning three decades, and scored 194 times in 485 games.

The 75-year-old struck up a formidable partnership with Derek Dougan, which inspired Wolves on a run to the UEFA Cup final in 1972.

Two years later he scored the winning goal in their first League Cup success at Wembley against City and remained in the team for their triumph in the same competition six years later against Nottingham Forest – the two major trophies of his career.

He’s in firm agreement with Brown and thinks Bell’s name will forever be remembered.

“His name is just revered by everybody. That will continue,” he added.

“We still talk about Billy Wright now at Wolves and he played in the 1940s and 1950s.

“Colin’s name will forever be a part of Manchester City and Manchester City’s history.”

Finally, Brown, originally from Wythenshawe and a proud Mancunian, turned down City as a schoolboy to join West Brom.

He’d agreed to sign for the Blues under manager George Poyser before instead penning a deal with the Baggies after being invited down for a trial and tour.

It’s a sliding doors moment and, in another life, he could have been a teammate of Bell’s.

What does he think about that alternate reality?

“You never know in football how things would have turned out,” he added.

“But, yes I could have ended up being a teammate of Colin’s.

“All I can tell you is I would have been privileged to play alongside him.”