Ray RANSON

 Born on June 12th 1960 in St. Helens, Merseyside, Ray Ranson was a right full-back who went on to make over 200 appearances for Manchester City in two different spells with the club. He signed apprenticeship forms in July 1976 and turned full-time professional two years later in August 1978, during which time he was capped by England at youth level. He had to wait just four months for his full debut in a goalless home draw against Nottingham Forest on December 23rd, aged just 18, and went on to make a further 7 league appearances that season.

The following season of 1979/80 was when Ranson really established himself as the regular number two, being given his chance by Malcolm Allison as a number of experienced players had been sold in favour of a blend of youth and big-money buys. Allison's attempted overhaul of the team got off to a bad start, 14th place in the table by mid-October and already knocked out of the League Cup in a 1-0 third round replay defeat at Sunderland. Even though results improved up until Christmas the team then embarked on a shocking 17-game run without a league win, coming either side of a disastrous 1-0 humbling at fourth division Halifax Town in round three of the FA Cup. The final league position of 17th was the lowest since the Blues had returned to the top-flight in 1966. Nevertheless, Ranson was second only to keeper Joe Corrigan in appearances made, missing only the league games against Tottenham Hotspur in January and Ipswich Town in the last match of the season.

The 1980/81 season ultimately turned out to be the highlight of Ray's footballing career. Despite the Blues not registering a victory in the first dozen league games, Ranson had scored City's first goal of the campaign in a 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa in August. Ironically it proved to be the only goal he would get during his time at Maine Road. When Allison and general manager Tony Book were sacked in October they were replaced by ex-Norwich boss John Bond, who kept Ranson in the team in spite of a number of changes in personnel. The transformation was immediate with the loss of only three league games until the end of February, and a great run in the League Cup only being halted by Liverpool in a 2-1 aggregate semi-final loss. In the FA Cup meanwhile, the team were going great guns, disposing of first division sides Crystal Palace, Norwich, Everton and Ipswich on their way to the Centenary FA Cup final with Tottenham Hotspur. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, Tommy Hutchison netting the City opener before deflecting a Glenn Hoddle shot into his own net. The first-ever Wembley cup final replay ended in a 3-2 defeat, McKenzie and Reeves getting City's goals, in a match made famous by a superb individual goal by Ricky Villa to win the trophy for Spurs. After climbing to an eventual 12th place finish in the league the season had been a success for both the club and Ray, who had made a total of 46 league and cup appearances. (David Redshaw)

After the heroics of the season before the 1981/82 campaign brought equally great expectations for Manchester City and Ray Ranson. He had already broken into the England under-21 team, even captaining the side, and it was hoped he could push for full international honours. With three points for a win on offer for the first time City were unbeaten in the first four games, and despite a dip in form around October they recovered to go top of the league with a 2-1 home win over Wolves on December 28th. Though they had been knocked out of the League Cup in a 1-0 fourth round defeat at Barnsley, in round two Ranson had been part of the side that had beaten Stoke City 9-8 on penalties, the first time a domestic match in England had been settled by this method. The league challenge, however, eventually fizzled out as only five more games ended in victory and the club finished in 10th place. The FA Cup run of the previous term could not be repeated as they were beaten 3-1 at Coventry City in the fourth round, and a season of consolidation ended with Ranson making 44 league and cup appearances.

Despite winning the first three games of the following season a dramatic slump saw City in the lower half of the table by January, Ranson being an ever-present in the team. The desired progress in the cups had also not been achieved with defeats at Southampton in the Milk Cup and Brighton in the FA Cup, the latter prompting the resignation of manager John Bond who had been unhappy with things behind the scenes for some time. His replacement, assistant John Benson, went into the last game of the season at home to Luton needing only a draw to stay up, but the Blues were beaten 1-0 to be relegated to the second division, and the heady days of the late sixties and early seventies were now a distant memory. Ray had made a total of 47 league and cup appearances in a disastrous season, only missing a 4-1 away defeats at both Swansea and Southampton back in March.

Billy McNeill from Celtic was brought in to replace the sacked Benson before the start of the new season, the first time that Ranson was to play his football outside the top-flight. A run of five straight wins in September and October, including a 6-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers, saw the Blues move into second place in the table. Although Ray had been a virtual ever-present for the past five seasons he lost his place to youngster Geoff Lomax in November, after featuring in every game for the first three months, and from then on was to make only sporadic appearances. With disappointment in both cup competitions, a 2-1 round three defeat at Blackpool in the FA Cup and a 3-0 humbling at Aston Villa in the Milk Cup, the Blues slipped to an eventual fourth place league finish, ten points behind promoted Newcastle in third. Ranson's final game in his first spell at the club was the last game of the 1983/84 season, a 5-0 thrashing of Cambridge United at Maine Road, and in November he was sold to Birmingham City for a derisory fee of £15, 000 after reportedly falling out with manager McNeill. (David Redshaw)

Biography (Part 3) 1992/93

Ray Ranson was brought back to Manchester City in January 1993 by manager Peter Reid, ostensibly as a temporary replacement for the long-term injured Ian Brightwell. He was signed from Newcastle United, for whom he had made 83 league appearances, more than eight years after he had played his last game for City. He had earlier spent five years at Birmingham City where he had won promotion alongside City in 1985.

Ranson's first appearance in his second spell was in a 4-2 defeat of Chelsea at Maine Road on January 9th, making him the only player from the 1981 FA Cup Final team to have played in the newly-formed Premier League. Despite characteristic inconsistency the Blues were still lying around the top ten in the league by the time of his signing, but the fans had become unhappy with the style of football being dished up by Reid and his assistant Sam Ellis. In the FA Cup the Blues had beaten Reading, QPR and Barnsley to set up a quarter-final tie with Tottenham Hotspur in March, but they were beaten 4-2 at home, having also been knocked out of the League Cup back in October by the same team. Although the team had suffered some good and bad results in the run-up to the end of the season they eventually finished in a respectable ninth place, with Ray having performed in all but three league games.

His final appearance for the Blues came in the closing fixture of the season on May 8th, a 5-2 home loss to Everton. The 18 starts Ranson made during the season meant that he had brought his total number of appearances in his two spells at City to 233 (2 as substitute), scoring one goal, and he also made 10 appearances for the England under-21 side during his career. Ray had joined an elite band of players at Manchester City who had played for the club in three separate decades, before he was transferred to Reading on July 27th 1993. After his spell at Reading, where he made 24 appearances, he later went on to become player-manager of non-league Witton Albion, finally retiring in 1995 due to a series of niggling injuries.

After his football career he decided to concentrate on the world of business, where he had already formed a finance and insurance broking company in 1991, to take advantage of the growth in the sports industry. In 1995 he set up a joint venture company with the Benfield Group. In 2002 Ray left Benfield in order to develop a number of sports-related businesses including ProZone, a sports analysis business for coaches. He later twice headed consortiums in unsuccessful attempts to buy Aston Villa and Manchester City, but in 2007 he completed a deal to take over Coventry City just minutes before the club was due to go into administration. (David Renshaw)