Tommy BOOTH

Owing to back problems, Tommy Booth played just three of the first 25 League games for City at the start of the 1974/75 season. New manager (and former captain) Tony Book tried to replace Booth with a combination of the inexperienced Jeff Clarke and Colin Barrett but as the season wore on realised he would have to look for something more permanent. Booth's total of just 18 appearances for the whole season was by far his lowest since breaking into the first team seven years earlier. In June 1975 Book finally managed to obtain the services of the current Sunderland and England centre-half Dave Watson and although Booth failed to start any of the first twelve games of 1975/76, by the end of it he had carved out a new position for himself. Owing to a serious injury to Colin Bell, Tommy slipped into a midfield position and whilst a completely different kind of player to Bell, Booth made this transition quite easily. As Malcolm Allison quite rightly observed later, Tommy was indeed a good passer of the ball and was always good value at set pieces. It was at such a set piece that Booth's header back across goal provided Dennis Tueart with the opportunity to score one of Wembley's most spectacular goals and to clinch a 2-1 victory for City in the 1976 League Cup Final against Newcastle.

As usual Booth always gave 100% for City and his goal tally of eight (from 30/2 combined appearances) during 1975/76 proved to be his best ever return during his time at Maine Road. Booth's place in midfield in 1976/77 was largely under threat from the likes of Paul Power, Gary Owen and Asa Hartford so when Mike Doyle suffered an injury towards the end of the campaign, Tommy found himself reinstated to the first team and in his old position of centre-half playing alongside Dave Watson. Not surprisingly he again let no-one down, playing the last twelve games of the season as City finished runners-up - by just one point - to Champions Liverpool. Doyle was unable to force himself back into the side at the start of the 1977/78 season, one in which Booth played in all bar three of the 42 League games, the majority of which were alongside the newly appointed captain Watson in the heart of City's defence. For the rest of the 1970s Tommy Booth was a much-valued member of what would today be called 'the first team squad', making 20 league appearances in the 1978/79 season and 24 the following campaign. Along with goalkeeper Joe Corrigan he was really the only other surviving member of the great Mercer/Allison team from the late 1960s and the fact he was also literally the local boy made good always made him a great favourite with the fans. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City)

 In October 1980 City had failed to win any of their first twelve League games and the managerial partnership of Tony Book and Malcolm Allison were replaced by a former playing colleague and student of Allison's, John Bond. Although Tommy featured regularly in the league during the 80/81 season (30 appearances) he had the disappointment of missing out on a trip to Wembley in the 1981 FA Cup final, City drawing 1-1 with Spurs, and also the replay as City went down 3-2. He was a regular during the run to the semi-final of the League Cup - playing 5 of the 7 games - before Liverpool put an end to a spirited City, 2-1 on aggregate. Bond's arrival, along with that of his son Kevin, also a centre-half, and the emerging Tommy Caton combined to spell the end of Tommy Booth's 13-year playing career at Maine Road. Booth made just one appearance in the 1981/82 season - a game that turned out to be his last for City - in a 3-0 defeat at Birmingham on 19th September. It was his 487/4th game in City's first team (with 36 goals) a figure beaten by only six other players in the club's history.

On 4th October that year a reported £30, 000 transfer took him - along with Gary Buckley - to Preston North End where Tommy Docherty was manager. He scored twice in 84 League games for Preston before retiring from playing and joining the coaching staff at Deepdale in 1984. The following year he became manager but owing to a shortage of money and a poor run of form his reign lasted just nine months and he was dismissed in January 1986. It was his last job in football. Booth's replacement was his former Maine Road team-mate Brian Kidd who had the misfortune to last just three months. Tommy then joined forces with his brother Paul to set up a sports trophy business, one that lasted three years before his brother left the area. A keen golfer, Booth was on the course one day when a chance conversation eventually led to a long-term job for a national television and satellite company as an installation engineer. Still fondly remembered by City supporters of a certain vintage, Tommy Booth became a matchday host at the City of Manchester Stadium as well as being an active member of the club's Former Players' Association. (Ian Penney - author of The Legends of Manchester City)