BANTAMS NOSTALGIA: City leave it late on Premiership debut

THE summer of 1988 will be best remembered for the double departure of Stuart McCall and John Hendrie in the wake of City’s play-off heartbreak.

But in the rebuild that followed, Terry Dolan paid £80,000 for striker Paul Jewell from Wigan.

It would begin a 10-year association with Valley Parade as a player for the Liverpudlian – and a place on the club’s legends board as manager.

Jewell, who signed 32 years ago this week, would score 56 goals in 269 league appearances. Memorably, he would then lead City to the Premiership in his first full season at the helm.

Written off by an army of critics led by Sky’s Rodney Marsh, the Bantams were dismissed as simply there to make up the numbers in their first spell in the top flight for 77 years

Some even predicted they would struggle to make double figures in points. Jewell and his team would gloriously prove them wrong in clinching survival on that unforgettable May afternoon against Liverpool.

But their survival fight had started nine months earlier on Teesside against Paul Gascoigne’s Middlesbrough.

Jewell enjoyed some sensational results during his two-year tenure in the City hot-seat.

That opening-day victory at Middlesbrough was not the most riveting spectacle but it put down a marker that his Bantams meant business.

And for those travelling fans, there was some belief that the Premiership dream would not turn into the nightmare that the so-called experts had so confidently forecast.

The big moment came in the final minute of a game that had been high on huff and puff but low on excitement.

It was delivered by a player who had not even expected to be involved.

Jewell had signed Dean Saunders in the week building up to the new season from Benfica. But the clock was ticking as he waited for the paperwork to go through.

Saunders did not train properly with the rest of the squad in the days before the Middlesbrough game because nobody was sure if he would be able to take part.

The deal was eventually registered at 11.55am the day before – five minutes before the cut-off point to play at midday.

But he still needed his international clearance to be signed off – confirmation of that came only 90 minutes before kick-off. Talk about cutting it fine.

Jewell named Saunders on the bench as he went with the partnership of Robbie Blake and Dean Windass up front. The hugely-experienced Welshman’s contribution would be brief but telling.

Middlesbrough had finished ninth the previous season; it was a challenging yardstick for the Premiership “newbies”.

Gascoigne was the star attraction but there was established quality throughout the side – Brian Deane, Christian Ziege, Gianluca Festa and former City keeper Mark Schwarzer.

Jewell gave Andy O’Brien the task of shadowing Gazza. Wherever he went on the pitch, the City defender was programmed to follow.

He stuck to his task superbly to shackle the playmaker as City resisted the predictable Middlesbrough pressure in the first half.

Debutant David Wetherall cleared off the line to deny Deane while John Dreyer kept Andy Campbell quiet.

Windass fired over the bar but chances were few and far between.

Then Jewell turned to Saunders with 12 minutes to go. Let’s see if all the fuss in getting the deal done in time would prove worth it.

With the clock on 89 minutes, the City boss got his answer.

Gunnar Halle sent a sweeping ball down the right where it was picked up by Lee Mills near the touchline. He cut inside and suddenly there were gaps to exploit.

Mills clipped a pass through and Festa was caught flat-footed and out of position.

His flailing dive failed to cut out the ball as it found Saunders on the edge of the penalty area.

Gascoigne sensed the danger and raced across but it was too late. Saunders took a touch to steady his aim and drove low past Schwarzer.

“Dean has played at the highest level most of his life and I knew he was the sort of personality who could nick us a goal,” said Jewell afterwards.

City and their manager had announced themselves on the Premiership stage.

MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Ziege, Vickers (Townsend 78), Festa, Gordon, O’Neill, Mustoe, Gascoigne, Stamp, Deane, Campbell (Ricard 70).

CITY: Walsh, Halle, Wetherall, O’Brien, Jacobs, Beagrie, Dreyer, Whalley, Redfearn, Blake, Windass (Saunders 78).