By Neil LeighOn 29 April 1970, City won the European Cup Winners Cup by defeating Gornik Zabrze 2–1 thanks to goals by Neil Young and Francis Lee. We are resurfacing a feature we originally published in 2020 as we spoke to Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison's Lions of Vienna.. . .“You’ve proved yourself in England – but if you want to be classed as a top team, you’ve now got to win in Europe.”
That was the audacious gauntlet thrown down to Manchester City by visionary coach Malcolm Allison in the autumn of 1969.
And 50 years ago, today, the players answered Big Mal’s challenge in unforgettable fashion as we lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup with a memorable 2-1 win over Gornik Zabrze in Vienna.
It was to be an eventful journey that took the swashbuckling side assembled by manager Joe Mercer and Allison on a kaleidoscopic journey through many of the heartlands of European football before culminating on a rain-lashed late April night in Austria.
This, through the eyes of the remarkable boys of 1970, is the story of how that wonderful squad assembled by Mercer and Allison lived up to the coach’s quest and went on to conquer Europe.
Of course, by the time we launched our Cup Winners' Cup campaign, the gifted, gilded City side astutely assembled by Mercer and Allison had become a by-word for success.
Back-to-back successes which saw us lift the Division One crown and FA Cup in 1968 and ’69 respectively, had been followed in the spring of 1970 by yet more silverware in the shape of League Cup glory.
It meant all the individual components were firmly in place for a successful assault on the European mainland.
A rock solid back four of skipper Tony Book, centre halves Mike Doyle and Tommy Booth and left-back Glyn Pardoe were now joined by towering teenage goalkeeper Joe Corrigan.
The twin midfield engine room of elegant enforcer Alan Oakes, and the shimmering creative genius of Colin Bell were a force to behold.
Further forward, the potent attacking trident of Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Neil Young blended into an explosive cocktail that bore comparison with any continental strike force.
Further buttressing that formidable array of talent was 17-year-old teenage midfield rookie Tony Towers.
Young in years but unburdened by the pressure of expectation, Towers – later to play for England - was to prove a revelation in our march to European glory with fellow teenager Ian Bowyer and the ever-dependable George Heslop also providing vital contributions along the way.
But for manager Mercer and his flamboyant sidekick Allison in particular, there was still that burning professional and personal desire for the players to translate their domestic prowess onto the European stage.
Starting in the pulsating Basque heartland of Bilbao in northern Spain, and on through the freezing Flemish fields of Lier in Belgium.
That led to a midnight assignment against Academica in central Portugal’s famed seat of learning in Coimbra before a semi-final encounter amidst the forbidding coal fields of Schalke in Germany’s Rhineland.
To a man, City were to pass every test with flying colours.
And that trans-European expedition led to a final showdown with Polish outfit Gornik amidst a torrent of non-stop rain in the Austrian capital which saw Mercer’s men proudly crowned as the new Lions of Vienna.
Yet, ironically, it was a shattering early European Cup exit a year earlier which helped provide the fuel that fired our march to Cup Winners' Cup success.
Back in September 1968, fresh from our league title win the previous May, City launched our maiden European Cup campaign with high hopes that we could go onto emulate Manchester United and lift the famous trophy.