During the first lockdown, when football was suspended, Ake was interested in learning a new skill. He also has an excellent ear. The Dutchman is presumably unaware of the fact that City has a history of musical showmanship overseas.
53 years ago, the scenes inside a Vienna hotel were not quite as fashionable. Francis Lee sung to a happy traveling group while perched atop a piano being played by the head scout Harry Godwin and only wearing his underwear.
That evening, City won the Cup-Winners' Cup after defeating Polish team Gornik Zabrze in perilous conditions. Commentator Barry Davies described the game as "splashing through puddles" since Praterstadion resembled a marsh. "Staff members are drenched and there is no shelter at all,"
Perhaps it explains why Lee's garments disappeared. Or perhaps not. The club's push across the continent was meant to begin with the 2-1 triumph, which was clinched by Neil Young and subsequently Lee's penalty, but it never happened. Lee had a strong fast bowler's run-up, so Davies commented, "It's a bit lucky, the power took it through the legs."
Most of City's 4,000 traveling fans—a record for an English team at the time—arrived on the field, where their heroes were initially mistakenly awarded the losers' medals.
As the decade continued to deteriorate, manager Joe Mercer left in a conflict with his outgoing assistant Malcolm Allison. As Mercer's replacement, Allison—a brilliant coach in his generation—lasted just two years. There were brief flirtations with capturing a second league championship, but a decade later City began bouncing back and forth between the top two divisions.
The notion of capturing Europe was long abandoned. Allison had promised to "destroy" opponents abroad when they won the Division One championship in 1968, but due to a string of accidents, that promise was never fulfilled.
Summerbee regrettably missed the Vienna championship due to an injury, but City gave the winger every chance to demonstrate his fitness. A defender named George Heslop was hired to handle the erratic Wlodzimierz Lubanski.
According to author Simon Curtis' account in City in Europe, Bell led a comeback against Schalke in the semifinal, combining twice with Alan Oakes to set up Young during a second leg that started with City cunningly turning up the heat in Schalke's locker room.
After losing 1-0 in Germany due to a dog running onto the field, City destroyed them 5-1 at a boisterous Maine Road. The first goal was scored by the late Mike Doyle, the grandfather of current City midfielder Tommy. Glyn Pardoe, Doyle's maternal grandfather, also began
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