The late 1980's and early 1990's for City fans was a time of mixed emotions. Relegation in 1987 meant we had two seasons of Division 2 football before coming back to the top Division. Then two seasons in we finished 5th and above Utd, and who can forget the Maine Road massacre of that first season back when a new Man Utd Manager by the name of Alex Ferguson was struggling.
Recently I got in contact with one of the fans favorites from that era, David White, and put some questions to him about his time at City, his transfer away and England.
PA: Your first start for the City first team came in a defeat to Leicester. Despite the score line how good was it to get your start at Maine Rd in front of your fans?
DW: It was obviously the fulfilment of a lifetime’s ambition to play for the first team at City and at Maine Road. Despite the defeat I got a great reception from the fans and enjoyed the day.
PA: You had to wait for your first goal until the game at home to West Ham in December. Was it a relief to get off the mark and for it to help towards a win in a season where the wins were hard to come by?
DW: I remember the goal pretty vividly. I have a picture of it but do not have any video unfortunately. I am still surprised it took me so long to get off the mark but there we go. Again ticking off of a dream.
PA: Relegation is never a good feeling but after the end of the 1986/87 season you had gone from lifting the FA Youth Cup in the previous May to relegation a year later. Do you remember your thoughts looking back on that 12 months?
DW: We were pretty doomed to failure that year. Whilst all the young players deserved their chance it was just too many too soon and the nucleus of the rest of the squad was just not good enough to support the young players coming through. Looking back, given the circumstances, I think we all felt that a couple of years in 2nd Division was the only way the club was going to progress. It was still massively disappointing to get relegated at West Ham having had nothing but success for the three previous seasons. We very rarely even drew a game in the youth team, A team and reserves.
PA: Your first hat trick came the following season against Huddersfield. The 10-1 win is certainly one of the most memorable results in that era. You got a match ball, champagne and the performance of the week trophy and you had just turned 20. Looking back what are your thoughts of the day?
DW: My memories of the day are that they started the better team and we did not settle down until Neil McNab’s first goal. Whilst we were good, Huddersfield were awful and so disorganised. Malcolm McDonald was the Manager but each individual defender seemed to be playing the offside trap on their own. It was too easy and we had players who could score goals. Tony Adcock was a proven goalscorer, Paul Stewart was far too good for the level we were at. During my early time at City a lot of goals were created down my side of the pitch but on this day Andy Hinchcliffe and Paul Simpson had a field day. In fact Simmo won the sponsor’s man of the match award and therefore the match ball! The club were not too happy as they had to give four match balls away that day.
PA: The next season City were promoted and after that the first Manchester derby game. What a game that was and still talked about two decades on. You didn’t get on the score sheet but you were instrumental in the goals. It was certainly good to watch as a City fan, but how was it for you guys on the pitch?
DW: To be honest I don’t like discussing this game too much as it was the only time I played in a winning team against United for City. Whilst it was a great day and everything turned to gold for us I think it would have been a very different story had Bryan Robson been on the pitch. It was just one of those days. Fortunately in recent years there have been more of them against United
PA: Interestingly the 5-1 Maine Road Massacre came in Ferguson’s second full season at Utd. The 6-1 came in his second to last season as United manager. How do you think the City team on that day in ’89 would do against the ones in 2011?
DW: I have to be honest and say that we would be well beaten. However you would have said that back in September 1989 ! The game has come on a lot and the squad City have built up is amazing and full of superstars.
PA: You played under a few managers in your time at City before leaving in ‘93. Who would you say was the best to work under?
DW: Howard Kendal was the best manager for me although Reidy must take a lot of credit for what he achieved at City and even more so at Sunderland. Howard’s man management was first class and he kept everything very simple. Training was superb and you were treated like and expected to behave like an adult. I am sure we would have gone on to great long term success had he stayed although we did finish 5th two years running in any event with Reidy
PA: April 1991 you scored 4 goals in the League game against Villa. The first City player to do that in over fourteen years, since Kidd scored four against Leicester. That year we also finished above United for the first time in the same period. Do you get as much joy watching us beat them now as you did when you were playing?
DW: Villa game was superb and my only regret was that having watched 99% of every game i had played at every level my dad was not there to see it. I enjoy watching football now but will not try to claim I am still in love with the club as i was when i was a kid. I think that goes when you leave and move on to other clubs sometimes. I still love the game and obviously want City to be successful. What is happening at the club is incredibly exciting.
PA: You left in exchange for Rocastle in ‘93, who left the end of the following season. I know my Dad and I, like many others are still annoyed by that. You had scored our first Premiership goal, you had scored over fifteen goals in the League each season for the previous three full seasons with us. Was the move Horton’s, Swale’s or your decision?
DW: To be honest I think it was a joint decision between myself and Brian. I was very disillusioned with the club at the time with the whole ‘Swales out’ campaign and felt that it was overshadowing everything we were doing on the pitch. The chairman took a back seat and brought in a guy called John Maddocks to run the club and he got involved with all sorts of stuff he shouldn’t have done including team affairs and totally undermined Reidy and subsequently sacked him. When the new manager came in claiming he needed a few years to sort the club out I thought it was ridiculous as we had finished 5th, 5th, 9th (missing out on 6th only after a stupid defeat to Everton on the last day of the season having been dragged over to Japan to play two games towards the end of the season) the previous three years and had a nucleus of very good players. I expressed my thoughts to Brian and told him I was not happy and then was injured for a long period . The next thing I knew a deal had been done with Leeds. In hindsight my ankle injury was already beyond repair and for sure Brian never saw the best of David White so maybe did the right thing. Overall my summary of this period was that it was tragic we lost Howard Kendall, should never have sacked Reidy and then the next few years saw progressively worse managers until Joe Royle came and the damage was already well and truly done. I think the treatment of Peter Swales was terrible and counter productive,, massively affected the players and results and directly led to the demise of the club. With all due respect to Brian Horton, Alan Ball, Frank Clarke etc they should never have been anywhere near the job. Whilst all this was going on Reidy took one of City’s best players, built a team around him and took Sunderland from bottom of the second tier to the top echelons of the premiership over just a few years.
PA: Finally, you did get a call up for England and you had a chance early on. If I remember rightly you were vilified in the press for missing a chance early on. However it was Des Walkers sloppy ball across the backline which led to the goal that lost the game for England. What are your thoughts now on the press reaction to that game? Do you think it affected your form afterwards?
DW: It was just a great experience and again a fulfilment of a dream. I will never forget the moment the whistle blew to start the game and I knew the cap could never be taken from me. Whilst I missed a couple of chances, my thoughts were always that I may not be able to step up to that level and get myself in goal scoring positions. I never doubted my ability to finish but on the night I hit the target twice and both were saved, I was never one for reading papers so was certainly not affected by negative press. For the next game, a qualifier, I was only named as a stand by player. I don’t believe my form was affected. As I said, my injury was taking hold even then.
Thank you David for giving this interview.
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