Paul POWER

A fully-fit Paul Power got the 1982/83 season off to a bright start with a goal on the opening day in a 2-1 away win at Norwich, and by the beginning of November it was looking promising with City sitting in second place in the league. But things were to go disastrously wrong over the coming months. Paul had got both goals in a 2-0 replay victory over Wigan Athletic in the League Cup in October, but in the next round a trip to The Dell, after a 1-1 draw at Maine Road, ended in a 4-0 defeat. Then a dramatic slump in league form saw only two more wins until mid-January, and when a fourth round FA Cup visit to Brighton on January 29th resulted in a 4-0 beating it immediately prompted the resignation of manager John Bond, who had been unhappy with things at the club for some time, and he was replaced by his assistant John Benson.

An injury to Power meant he missed the next seven league matches, during which time the Blues failed to win a game, but he was back for the run-in to the end of the season. When Luton Town arrived at Maine Road for the last game of the season City needed a point to guarantee survival, but a 1-0 defeat condemned the Blues to relegation and Paul was to get a taste of life out of the top-flight for the first time in his career.

Benson was replaced by ex-Celtic boss Billy McNeil before the start of the next season and with the club struggling for cash he immediately brought in a number of bargain buys. The ploy was initially successful as the team filled the promotion places, but there were failures in the cups with defeats at the hands of Blackpool (1-2) and Aston Villa (0-3) and league form also dipped before a good run in December. Despite being an ever-present Power had to wait until mid-January to notch his first-ever Division Two goal in a 3-1 win at home to Crystal Palace, and when he was injured against Charlton Athletic at the end of March it meant he missed the whole of April at a vital stage of the campaign. Sadly the Blues' promotion challenge petered out and they eventually finished in fourth spot, just out of the promotion places but ten points behind Newcastle United in third. (David Redshaw)

Although the team got off to an indifferent start in the 1984/85 season a four-game winning streak in September and October pushed them up the table, and by Christmas they were sitting just out of the automatic promotion spots. Defeat at Chelsea in the League Cup (1-4) and a third round FA Cup exit in early January at Coventry, where Power scored City's goal in a 2-1 defeat, meant the team could now concentrate solely on achieving promotion. When Paul scored in a 4-0 home win against Shrewsbury Town in March it put City at the top of the table, but some indifferent results were to follow and by the last game of the season only a win would suffice in order to go up. The visitors to Maine Road were Charlton Athletic and in front of a bumper crowd of 47, 285 City ran out 5-1 winners to go up in third place. Skipper Power had once again been an ever-present for the season, being named the club's Player of the Year for a second time to add to the award he had won four years previously.

Back in Division One the aim for City was consolidation in the league and possibly a good run in both domestic cups. A topsy-turvy season saw them fluctuate from a lowly twentieth in October to a respectable ninth place in February after a run of six wins in seven games, during which Paul had grabbed his only goal of the campaign in a 2-1 home win over West Bromwich Albion. The highlight had been a 1-0 win at Liverpool on Boxing Day, but despite defeats to Arsenal and Watford in both major cup competitions Paul was once again set to lead his team out at Wembley, this time in the final of the newly-formed Full Members Cup. In front of a 68, 000 crowd the Blues lost 5-4 to Chelsea in a pulsating game, and with a fifteenth place finish in the league the season was termed a relative success. For Paul, however, the game at Newcastle on April 26th was to be his last one in a sky-blue shirt, as after eleven years at Maine Road he was snapped up by Everton manager Howard Kendall for a mere £65, 000 in June 1986.

He had made another 36 league appearances in his final season which brought his total for league and cup games whilst with City to 445 (including 9 as substitute), with 36 goals scored, and he had also appeared for the England 'B' squad in a game against Spain. During his later years with the Blues Power had played a major part at a time when the club's fortunes were on the wane during the difficult early eighties, and fans will remember him as a reliable, model professional who always led by example.

The move to Everton was supposed to be mainly in a coaching capacity with Paul acting as cover to more established players in case of injury, but his form when he got into the team was so good that he won the first honour of his career, a League Championship Winner's medal when they lifted the league title in 1986/87. He actually returned to Maine Road during the season, scoring once in a 3-1 Everton win but, typically, refused to celebrate. After retiring from football he continued in a coaching role at Goodison before joining the PFA coaching staff. In 1997 he was to return to his beloved Manchester City, taking up a role with the club's Football Academy. (David Redshaw)