Allison’s methods live on...

MANCHESTER City kit manager and former Latics Les Chapman writes every week for Chronicle Sport

MALCOLM Allison’s death was very sad news for me and everyone involved with Manchester City.

He was one of the first innovative coaches in English football.

Malcolm came up with different systems, formations and tactics to move the game forward.

I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times.

Even though it was later in his life when his health was declining, he was such a big character at the club that you knew when he was in the room. He had a real presence about him.

Our players wore black armbands in the 3-2 victory at Blackpool, and I am sure there will be further tributes in Sunday’s match against Arsenal at Eastlands.

As for the game at Bloomfield Road, I think we were very fortunate to come away with all three points as Blackpool were excellent.

I was surprised by how good their performance was and how much attacking football they produced.

Charlie Adam, their captain, was superb in midfield.

But when you don’t play to the best of your ability you still need to grind out a result if you are to challenge for honours, and that is exactly what we did.

The master — Carlos Tevez — struck again with two goals, and David Silva’s strike was very skilful. That was his best performance in a City shirt.



A LOT is still being made of Nigel De Jong’s challenge on Hatem Ben Arfa, in which the Newcastle United player sustained a broken leg.

People have come out attacking and defending Nigel but I can honestly say he is unfazed by the media spotlight. He is a tough character and is just going about his business.

Nigel is not a person I would put in the same category as some of the vicious players I saw back in my day.