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Mark Ward arrived at Maine Road on December 28th 1989 as part of a
three-man deal that saw Trevor Morley and Ian Bishop moving to West Ham.
Howard Kendall was the man in charge at City responsible for this move,
one that angered many home fans at the time. These supporters were not
so much angry at the arrival of Ward himself, or for that matter that
Kendall had brought in yet another player with Everton connections. It
was simply the fact that Bishop - one of the Blues' most popular players
- had been forced out of the club as part of the deal. Ward's career
had begun at Everton as an apprentice in 1980. A move to Northwich
Victoria (where he played in an FA Trophy final at Wembley) preceded his
return to the professional game with Oldham three summers later.
In
August 1985, £250,000 took him to West Ham where he made 165 League
appearances before joining City. His debut for City came in a 2-0 home
win against Millwall in the club's final game of the 1980s. Wearing the
number eight shirt, he was an ever-present for the rest of the season,
one in which the Blues finished 14th in Division One. In those 19 games,
Ward scored three times, with all three coming in the space of three
games in eleven days in April 1990. Curiously enough all these games
were away - Aston Villa (2-1), Millwall (1-1) and Queens Park Rangers
(3-1). A neat, compact player with two good feet, Ward missed just two
of the 38 League games of the 1990/91 season.
By this time he'd also
become the regular penalty taker and his total of 13 goals for the
season was helped not inconsiderably by nine strikes from twelve yards
out. Under new player/manager Peter Reid, City finished fifth, their
best position since 1977/78 and had started to produce some exciting
football. Ward was a key member of this team and it surprised many fans
when he left Maine Road for £1.3 million in August 1991 to rejoin his
former manager Howard Kendall who was back in charge at Everton. He
scored 16 goals in 67 League and Cup competitions for City. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City)
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