Born in Burley, Hampshire on 20th October 1957, Kevin Reeves was a
forward who played for
Manchester City between 1980 and 1983. He was
signed by Malcolm Allison in March 1980
for £1 million from Norwich
City, having started his career with Bournemouth, and was known
as a
player with an eye for goal and exceptional close control. Having won
his first England cap
in a 2-0 win over Bulgaria the previous November
whilst at Norwich, he made his City bow against
Arsenal on March 15th,
conceding a penalty in a 3-0 defeat as the Blues struggled to avoid
relegation.
His first goal for the club came a month later in a 2-1 win
at Wolves on April 12th, ending a
seventeen game run without a victory,
and two wins out of the next three games saw City climb
to safety,
Reeves getting the second goal of his nine league appearances in a 2-1
win over
Ipswich Town on the last day of a dreadful season.
The
1980/81 campaign started disastrously, with City bottom of the table and
winless after the first
dozen games, and Allison and general manager
Tony Book were replaced in October by John Bond,
Kevin's manager at both
his previous clubs. The change was dramatic with the team suffering
only
three more league defeats until February, Reeves contributing seven
goals including three in
consecutive wins in November against
Southampton (3-0), Coventry (3-0) and Crystal Palace (3-2).
Progress
in the cups was no less spectacular. In the League Cup an impressive
run was only halted
at the semi-final stage by a 2-1 aggregate defeat at
the hands of Liverpool. In the first leg at Maine Road
Reeves thought
he had scored a perfectly good goal, but it was disallowed by referee
Alf Grey, and his
celebration as he ran half the length of the pitch has
since entered City folklore. Meanwhile in the
FA Cup ex-boss Allison's
team Crystal Palace were beaten 4-0 in the third round, Reeves getting a
brace
including his first ever FA Cup goal, and in the next round
Bond's former club Norwich were hammered 6-0
with Kevin once again on
the scoresheet. After disposing of Peterborough United and first
division clubs
Everton and Ipswich the club went on to reach the
Centenary FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur in May.
The game ended
in a 1-1 stalemate, Hutchison scoring for the Blues, to set up a
first-ever Wembley
cup final replay. Although Reeves scored City's
second goal from the penalty spot in the replay,
a magnificent game
ended with a 3-2 defeat in a match made famous by Ricky Villa's terrific
individual goal.
Even so, a respectable 12th place finish in the league
meant the season had been a resounding success,
Reeves making 54 league
and cup appearances and scoring 17 goals.
The 1981/82 season saw
City unbeaten in the first four games, and despite a poor run of form
in October
they had recovered sufficiently by late December to be
sitting on top of the table. Reeves had managed to score
eight league
goals, including doubles in 4-0 successes over Leeds United and Swansea,
and was also on the mark
in the excellent 3-1 defeat of Liverpool at
Anfield on Boxing Day, City's first win there in 28 years. Having been
knocked out of the League Cup at Barnsley in December, a 3-1 third round
home loss to Coventry on January
23rd ruined any FA Cup hopes, and
after that only 5 more league games out of the remaining 21 ended in
victory, the club slipping to an eventual 10th place finish. Reeves had
been the club's only ever-present all
season, with 48 league and cup
appearances and 13 goals.
The 1982/83 season would turn out to be
a watershed in the club's history, and Kevin's last one with the Blues.
Inconsistent performances had left them in mid-table by the New Year
and dumped out of the League Cup 4-0
by Southampton in November. When
they were knocked out of the FA Cup by a similar scoreline at Brighton
on January 29th it forced the resignation of manager Bond, who was
replaced by assistant John Benson.
Although only three wins came from
the next sixteen games Reeves was on the mark four times in seven games,
including one in a 2-1 derby defeat at Manchester United, but needing
only a point from the last game to stay
up City went down 1-0 to Luton
Town and were relegated. This proved to be Kevin's last game for the
club
and he subsequently moved to Burnley in August 1983, where he
joined manager Bond for the fourth time.
Reeves had made 158
appearances for City (including one as substitute), scoring 39 goals,
and during his
career had won 2 full England caps, 3 for the England B
side and also made 10 England Under-21 appearances.
Unfortunately he was
forced to retire from the game in January 1984 aged just 26 due to an
arthritic hip injury.
Kevin later went on to have coaching spells at
Burnley, Birmingham City and Stockport and was assistant
manager to
Brian Flynn at both Wrexham and Swansea before being appointed Chief
Scout at Stoke City
in August 2005. He later worked at Wigan Athletic and Everton as a member of Roberto Martínez'
backroom staff. (David Redshaw)
CLUB CAREER:
1974–1977 AFC Bournemouth 63 (20)
1977–1980 Norwich City 119 (37)
1980–1983 Manchester City 130 (34)
1983–1984 Burnley 31 (12)