Jobby Crossan pays glowing tribute to former Man City teammate Colin Bell

The celebrated Durham born midfielder, who played alongside Crossan at Maine Road during the late ‘60s, passed away last week after a short illness, aged 74.

Playing on opposite wings as Joe Mercer’s famous team clinched promotion to the First Division during the 1965/66 season, Crossan claims Bell was the complete midfielder and the ‘best player’ during his time at the Manchester club.

Nicknamed ‘Nijinsky’ after the famous Derby champion racehorse for his lung-busting runs and extraordinary stamina, Bell is regarded as one of the finest English midfielders of his generation.

He was signed by City assistant coach Malcolm Allison from Bury for £47,500 midway through the ‘65/66 season, scored on his debut and helped Crossan and his teammates win promotion to the First Division that year.

Bell went on to win the First Division title, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in over 500 appearances as he left an indelible mark on the blue side of Manchester.

His name lives on in the ‘Colin Bell Stand’ named after him at the Etihad Stadium - a fitting tribute according to Crossan who described Bell as a ‘quiet’ and ‘humble’ man.

“Colin came to the club from Bury during my time at Man City,” recalled Crossan who was saddened to learn of his death last week during a phone call with his good friend, Man City legend and ambassador, Mike Summerbee.

“It turned out to be a fantastic move to bring him 20 minutes to Maine Road from Gigg Lane. I played inside left and Colin played inside right. I spoke to Mike Summerbee last night about Colin and he was very emotional.

“Colin was a very quiet man and humble. He was pretty friendly with most people and he took time for people as well, he was that type of being. He enjoyed a bit of craic mind you with an odd prank but he was a genuine being.

He was that mild of a being you could only like him but what a wonderful player.

“He was a fitness fanatic. We called him Nijinsky,” laughs Crossan who netted 16 goals during that promotion winning season of 1966.

“He was always leading and winning. If you were training for an hour or so you would be trying to beat one another but very few beat Colin.”

So where would Jobby rate Bell in terms of Manchester City’s best ever players?

“He has to figure prominently as one of the best ever at the club in my estimation,” claimed the former Sunderland and Standard Liege star.

“The likes of Mike Summerbee did a totally different job than Colin did so it’s difficult to define who was the club’s greatest ever player but he’s right up there, there’s no doubt about that.

“Colin was a great player and easily as good as any other player at Man City. He was the best player during my time, put it like that.”

Summerbee likened Bell to Kevin de Bruyne in terms of a modern day player and Crossan would agree with that assessment.

”Yes, absolutely, that’s the type of player he was. He dominated the whole pitch so I would agree with that. He was blessed with ability.

"He was good at most things on the pitch, he just wasn’t a goalscorer, I think you could have played him in goal, he could’ve played anywhere. He was just a marvellous player!”

Man City players walked out wearing retro number eight jerseys for their Carabao Cup semi-final win over Man United at Old Trafford last week in an emotionally charged tribute to the ‘King of the Kippax.’

And it wasn’t just on the pitch that Bell played a significant role at Man City. He also made a lasting impression in the early careers of young Derry men, Joe Harkin, Brian McGlinchey and Shaun Holmes.

Former Foyle Harps youth, Harkin arrived at Maine Road during the early ‘90s as a talented teenager from Shantallow, then living in Ballymagroarty.

It’s a daunting prospect for any young footballer but Harkin claims Bell, who was a youth team coach at the time, played a key supportive role in helping him adjust to life in Manchester.

The former Derry City midfielder got to know the City legend fairly well as Bell would collect him from his Cheshire digs to take him to youth matches. On those journeys Harkin ‘picked his brains’ and listened to stories about the 1970 FIFA World Cup when he played for England in Mexico.

Bell also played a key role in Harkin’s rehabilitation following a training ground injury which ultimately ended his hopes of making it at the top level of the game, visiting him in a private hospital in Bolton and offering encouragement.

Of course Bell’s own career was cruelly cut short by a knee injury sustained in a 1975 Manchester derby after a tackle by United’s Martin Buchan.

“He was a shy person, a quiet man all around,” said Harkin, who now works at Seagate Technology in Derry, “I had just signed and Colin Bell had just come back into the club the year before as the youth team coach.

"He was introduced to my mother and father when they came over. Everybody knew who Colin Bell was.

“When I first went into digs, the first thing you would learn about was the famous three players, Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. And I soon got up to speed with who they were.

“That first year Colin was more of the under-21 coach. My first coach was Terry Daracott, the ex-Everton player.

"When you were progressing you sometimes got moved up to Colin’s team. You knew you were doing rightly if you were moved up to the ‘A’ team.

"I was put into that a few times during that first year with Colin. Eventually in the second year, I got coached by him full-time and because he lived near me too, on a Saturday he would pick me up in Cheshire for youth team games. He lived a mile or two from me.

“We would always have good conversations. I would’ve done his head in asking about him about playing in the 1970 World Cup, I was obsessed with football,” laughed Harkin.

“I was quiet myself but I would’ve had the courage to ask him questions and try to pick his brains.

“I got a really bad injury in my second year, just before my 18th birthday, a really bad pelvis injury at the training ground.

"I got my studs stuck in the ground and the bone went through my pelvis. Bell and the coaches all visited me in Bolton in a private hospital where I got treated.

"I had heard bits and pieces about his own career being over because of injury when he was at his peak but he still achieved a lot.”

Harkin even had the pleasure of playing against the legendary City midfielder in regular five aside games. The Englishman was approaching 50 years of age at the time but still managed to show his class.

“I always remember training with Colin on a Friday,” recalls Harkin. “His mobility wasn’t there anymore but Friday’s training was always a relaxed session and he would always join in the five asides.

“No matter what, he always nutmegged three or four boys every week. You knew it was coming but just couldn’t defend it.

"His touch was still there and he always put it through someone’s legs and just laughed. All the boys enjoyed that on a Friday.”

Harkin treasures a photograph of Bell, his father Charlie and himself taken in the chief scout’s room at the club when he signed his first forms with City.

He can always claim to have played with the midfield maestro but Harkin says simply having enjoyed his company ‘is good enough for me.’

“Having that contact with him going to youth team games, the memories are still fresh. Even a few of the boys I still keep in touch with from over there, not one would have a bad word to say about him.

“He always told us to go out and play and enjoy your football. Whether you were winning or losing, all that mattered was you enjoyed your football. He was a proper coach and a proper gentleman.”

Shaun Holmes was another top prospect who was quickly snapped up by City after impressing on several trials in 1995/96. While Bell wasn’t involved in a coaching capacity at that time, Holmes recalls he was ‘part of the furniture’.

“I remember he was a coach when I used to come over on trial. When I actually signed I don’t think he was coaching but he was always there. He was always around the training ground, asking how you were, how your digs were and how you were settling in.

“He was like part of the furniture. He was obviously a fantastic footballer but he was so humble. You wouldn’t think he had the career he had.

“He was great with the young lads and especially the likes of myself who were there from overseas. He actually picked up my parents and my godmother when I was turning pro. He brought them to the training ground and made them feel welcome. That’s the kind of thing he did.”

Holmes is currently coaching Derry City’s U19s but he was on the brink of a first team appearance before Kevin Keegan was appointed manager in 2001 which signalled the end of his six year association with the club.

He left for Wrexham where he was guaranteed football and enjoyed a successful spell before returning to Ireland but he has fond memories of his time in Manchester and is forever grateful for Bell’s generosity of spirit.

“He’s an absolute legend at the club. He’s got his own statue outside the ground which I think says it all.”

Left-back, Brian McGlinchey, who spent three years at City, echoed those sentiments. McGlinchey went on to carve out a successful career at Plymouth Argyle and Torquay before injury curtailed his playing days at just 28 years-old.

“Colin Bell was a gentleman and always had time for all the young players at the club. He always gave great advice.

"The best advice he gave me was never to get carried away when things are going well and don’t get down when things are tough,” said the Derry native.