Trevor CHRISTIE

When 27 year-old Trevor Christie arrived at Manchester City from Third Division Derby County in August 1986 he had already numbered Leicester City, Notts County and Nottingham Forest amongst his former clubs in what was something of a 'tour of the East Midlands'. The Newcastle-born centre-forward had been a proven goalscorer in the early part of his career, his best return being an excellent 19-goal haul from 39 games for Notts County in the 1983/84 First Division season. He was signed by boss Billy McNeill as part of the deal which saw Mark Lillis move in the opposite direction, Christie's valuation being set at £100, 000. With little money available to cash-strapped City it was hoped that he could form a successful front partnership with Gordon Davies, as the team had scored only 43 league goals the previous term, and a repeat would see another season of struggle near the wrong end of the table. Having been signed only a couple of weeks before the start of the new season McNeill had him immediately flown out to join City's pre-season tour of Spain in a bid to get him match fit.

He made his debut in the opening game of the 1986/87 First Division season against newly-promoted Wimbledon (the photo above is during the game), and was immediately on the mark in a 3-1 home win with Graham Baker netting the other two. The next two games saw a well-deserved point in a 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield followed up by a 1-0 away defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. The following Saturday the visitors to Maine Road were Norwich City and Trevor was once again on the scoresheet as he bagged both goals in a 2-2 draw to leave the Blues in a mid-table position.

Despite the satisfactory start to the season things then went badly wrong as manager McNeill, who had been unhappy with the level of boardroom interference for some time, chose to resign in late September to take over the reins at Aston Villa. His successor was his assistant Jimmy Frizzell, who decided after only two games that Christie was surplus to requirements as he had signed Imre Varadi from West Bromwich Albion, and Trevor's last game came in a 2-1 home defeat to Leicester City. After scoring 3 goals and playing in only 9 league games and a League Cup tie against Southend United (0-0), Christie's short-lived spell at Maine Road came to an end, the much-travelled striker once again on the move as he was allowed to leave for Walsall in October for an undisclosed fee.

After three years with The Saddlers he later went on to play for Mansfield Town before having spells in non-league football with Kettering Town, Hucknall Town and Arnold Town, eventually retiring with injury in 1994 to pursue a career in sales. (David Redshaw).