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Michael Frontzeck was a German international left-back signed by
Manchester City manager Alan Ball for £350, 000 from Bundesliga side VfL
Bochum. Although he was 31 years of age when he arrived at Maine Road
he came with an impressive pedigree, having earned 19 full international
caps and been a member of the German squad that were beaten 2-0 by
Denmark in the final of Euro 1992. He had also won a Bundesliga
championship medal with Stuttgart in the same season.
He made his
Premiership debut in a 1-1 away draw at Southampton on January 31st
1996, with City lying just one place above the relegation zone. A
fifth-round FA Cup tie with Manchester United followed a couple of weeks
later, a game for which Frontzeck will always be remembered by City
fans as he conceded 'the penalty that never was'. With City leading 1-0
referee Alan Wilkie adjudged Frontzeck to have fouled Eric Cantona in
the penalty area, a decision which mystified everybody in the ground
(including Cantona), and the resultant spot-kick sent the Blues on the
way to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals. League form was
also suffering, with only two wins from twelve games, and although 1-0
wins over Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday gave some hope of
salvation at least a point was needed from the last game at home to
Liverpool to avoid relegation, with other results having to go their
way. A 2-2 draw proved not to be enough as Coventry City and Southampton
both avoided the drop at City's expense on goal difference, and
Frontzeck would have to play his football out of the top flight after
only 12 league appearances.
The 1996/97 Division One campaign got
off to a winning start, Ipswich Town beaten 1-0 at home in the opening
game, although the tough-tackling Frontzeck received his marching orders
in the 65th minute as he was sent off for a second bookable offence.
What nobody could have foreseen was the prelude to one of the most
traumatic seasons in City's history as manager Ball resigned in late
August to be replaced by caretaker boss Asa Hartford. Steve Coppell then
took over as permanent manager on October 7th only to resign one month
later for medical reasons, himself being replaced by assistant Phil Neal
on a caretaker basis. This meant that Frontzeck had amazingly played
under four different managers in his ten months at the club, but with
Neal at the helm Michael was only chosen once more when he made an
appearance as a substitute in a 2-1 home defeat to Tranmere Rovers on
November 23rd. After making a total of 25 league and cup appearances
(including 4 as substitute) he was subsequently allowed to return to
Germany on a free transfer when he signed for Freiburg.
He spent
two years with Freiburg before returning for a season to the club with
which he started his career, Borussia Monchengladbach, and eventually
retired from professional football in 2000, by which time he was 36
years of age. He decided to stay in football as a coach and later went
on to manage German clubs Alemannia Aachen and Ariminia Bielefeld.
(David Redshaw)
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