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Derek Parlane arrived at old Maine Road in 1983 on a free transfer from Leeds United where he’d endured much abuse from the fans over his lack of goals. City had just been relegated for the first time in 17 years and he strongly suspected he would be swapping one exceedingly grumpy rabble for another, going from a Yorkshire frying pan into a Lancashire hotpot. Plus, he wasn’t entirely sure of enjoying a winning relationship with the manager, Billy McNeill, given that the two of them had been fierce Old Firm rivals in the previous decade. But Parlane netted on his debut and there was nothing the lumpen centre-halves of Grimsby Town, Carlisle United and Barnsley could do to stop him scoring.
It was, for sure, a different era for Manchester City who continue their bid for world domination in today’s FA Cup final by attempting to complete an historic domestic treble – a different era for football altogether.
“Here’s something to prove that,” says Parlane when we meet for lemonades on a scorching afternoon. “One time playing for…
In conversation he is a throwback to a vintage period for Rangers: the sometimes momentous 1970s. In a game older Rangers fans will never forget, Willie Waddell handed Parlane his debut aged 18 on the night of April 19, 1972 in the European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final second-leg against Bayern Munich. After 21 minutes the ball fell at an awkward angle to him and Parlane somehow dug out a half-volley and scored past the great Sepp Maier
"It was my Sliding Doors moment, the night that launched my career," he recalls. "I've sometimes thought back to that 21st minute against Bayern Munich in Glasgow and wondered: 'what would have happened to me had that shot gone over the bar?' It might all have been so different. The ball dropped to me, it was a half-volley, and my shot just scraped under the bar. I was incredibly lucky. I was just an ordinary guy in the right place at the right time.
"When Willie Waddell came in that night and started reading out the team - 'McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Parlane, Jackson, Smith . . .' - I was astonished. I thought there had been some mistake. I believed Alfie Conn would…