RIP Franz Beckenbauer
One of the best players I ever saw - and for many of my young generation the realisation that, for all your glamorous strikers and god-like creative midfielders, all the great teams were founded on a reliable, intimidating rock at the heart of their defence. He was a good manager too...
Much has been made in the media (at least here in Aus) about his friendship with the recently deceased Bobby Charlton, but Beckenbauer was also a good mate of Francis Lee. Towards the end of Brian Horton's final season it was clear to everyone that Lee, the new Chairman, was going to bring in his own man. Sitting on top of a bus outside Maine Road (we'd just beaten Liverpool) I listened to a large group of Blues sitting at the back, enthusiastically discussing Franz Beckenbauer's imminent arrive at City - based on no other evidence than his friendship with Lee!
We got Alan Ball...
We'd definitely have been better off with Beckenbauer. But I think our decline was fairly inevitable at the time. There's been a lot of great footballers go lately.
RIP
Great player back in the day