The Man City flop who revived his career in Seattle!

When you think of Manchester City spending big money your memory is most likely only limited to the Sheikh Mansour era. The man who is the current vice president and deputy prime minister of theUnited Arab Emirates, meaning he's seen atrocities under his responsibility like Emirati authorities convicting at least 44 defendants out of 84 human rights defenders and dissidents following an 100% unfair trial and allegations of being held in prolonged solitary confinement, something that'd been proven to drive people insane for long enough. The 84 individuals were accused of terrorism-related crimes for their involvement in only establishing an independent advocacy group, the Justice and Dignity Committee, in 2010. Including some getting 40 to life in prison, people like academic Nasser bin Ghaithv, Abdulsalam Darwish al-Marzouqi, and Sultan Bin Kayed al-Qasimi, with the mass trial was characterized by very significant violations of due process and fair trial standards, such as restricted access to case materials and info, inadequate legal representation, judges influencing witness testimony, breaches of the principle of double jeopardy, credible reports of severe abuse and mistreatment, and hearings conducted behind closed doors. One of which also included among the defendants is prominent Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor, member of the Board of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and of the  Advisory Committee for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. Another being the mistreat of the UAE's migrant workers. Where employers hold way too much control over migrant workers under their corrupt and horrible sponsorship system, preventing them from doing extremely basic things like changing jobs without the employer’s given consent. Employers can even file false “absconding” charges even when workers try to leave to escape their abuse, causing them to risk either detention and deportation despite being mistreated themselves. Migrant workers also face many other widespread abuses across the gulf nation like wage theft, illegal recruitment fees, and passport confiscation, which leaves them in situations that are in every way forced labor. The UAE also bans trade unions, preventing those same constantly abused migrant workers from demanding stronger protections for themselves and others. Plus the UAE’s Federal Penal Code criminalizes vaguely defined acts of gender non conformity and same sex love, allowing the authorities to arrest people for a wide range of mundane behaviors. Including again more basic things like public displays of affection, gender nonconforming expressions, and campaigns promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, violating freedom of speech as well. The law also criminalizes “sodomy” with an adult male. But Manchester City's giant spending didn't always come with someone with such a terrible human rights record.

All the way back in September 1979 Manchester City spent a at the time English transfer record of £1,437,500, yes that was once the transfer record. A move that even at the time seemed bizarre. To get some perspective the last player who broke the English transfer record was Trevor Francis, someone who was a full and well-established English international plus had scored 29 goals at Birmingham City before his transfer. Daley had only mad 2 appearances for both the England youth and England B team and had played for Wolves for all of his career, a team that had been relegated the pervious year. It went down in history as one of the worst signings of all time, you can find it on lots of worst signings list and even by the Guardian was named the "the biggest waste of money in football history" With Manchester City manager Malcolm Allison and chairman Peter Swales subsequently accused each other of inflating the fee. Yet he came to America with the Seattle Sounders and immediately rebounded. Being that he made the NASL All-Star second team in 1982 and 1983, even earned the nickname "Six million dollar man". So why did he fail at Man City, why did they even want him for a record fee and why did he rebound in Seattle with the Sounders? That's what I found out!

Steve Daley started out as a Wanderer and stayed with black and orange for his whole youth career. Playing for the Wath Wanderers, the youth team at the time for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Starting at 15 years old after a opportunity came his way because his father who was secretary of the local working men’s club, Cudworth West End and invited him to play there for a year. A opportunity he too with both arms, the teen scoring 46 goals in a season playing against most men in their 30's. He quickly made a great impression at Wath with his hard working personality. Willing to clean and polish boots to stay at the side. Soon enough he was 1 of Bill McGarry's signing. The very same man who instilled the principals that lasted for the rest of his life. Through his disciplinarian ways.

Steve Daley made his debut as a substitute in a 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest in September 1971. His league debut was also in another 4-2 win against Southampton this time scoring the fourth goal in the 4-2 victory. And in his Southampton debut had a welcome to pro soccer moment for the ages. Daley's warm welcome to the world of professional soccer was through Southampton old fashioned hard-man McGrath. “Early on in the game I went past him and I crossed the ball and ‘The Doog’ (Derek Dougan) headed it over the bar. I got a good reaction from the crowd and there was also a reaction as if somebody had been hurt. I turned round to see that John McGrath had still carried on his slide-tackle to demolish an advertising hoarding. Anyway, I had to get back to defend the goal kick and John McGrath is waiting for me. Clearly he wants a word.” Steve’s voice began to break. The Southampton stopper had a few words of wisdom for the Wolves whippersnapper. The conversation went something like this:

John McGrath: “Listen ‘ere you. You try and get past me again and I’m going to break both of your legs just below the kneecap.”
Steve Daley: “You’ve got to catch me first pal.”
John McGrath: “Consider yourself caught. You ain’t gonna finish the game today mate.”

Steve Daley: “I’m a young man coming into the game, you’re an old man going out. I’ll still be playing when you finish.”
John McGrath: “There is a hospital bed in Wolverhampton and it’s got your name on it. You’ll be on traction for six months and fed through a drip.”

At this point Steve knew that John meant what he said and he was about to feel the full force of these words. “Phil Parkes threw a great ball to Derek Parkin. He controlled it and pinged a great ball to me on the left wing. The full back has tried to close me down really quickly and I’ve knocked it inside him… and seen John McGrath coming towards me.” Steve then paused and took a gulp of fresh air before he continued. “I’ve overhit the ball which was unlike me, and the ball is now closer to John McGrath then is it to me and I’ve got to make a quick decision. I can either go through and take him on again. I can back off and let him take the ball away or I can close my eyes, go in full belt and if he gets hurt…then bad luck.”

John made the decision for him. “I woke up on a stretcher lay next to the goals with Chungy (Sammy Chung) asking me how many fingers he was holding up?! I said, ‘what’s up Sammy, has he hit you as well’?”

It took him a number of seasons to establish a regular first-team place however he still had many positive memories of his Wolverhampton teammates during that time however! “What a player Mike Bailey was,” says Steve. “He was brilliant. I don’t think he was appreciated as much as he should have been. He would always encourage those around him and it took them years to replace him. Mike Bailey was a fellow midfielder who made 361 appearances for the Wanderers in the 70s. Steve's praise wasn't only for Mike though. “Frank Munro was incredible. If the opposition’s goalkeeper had the ball on a goal kick or out of his hands Frank would always say to the striker/forward, ‘I’m going to nut you right in the back of the head when that ball comes down here mate, as soon as that ball’s in the air I’m coming for you’. The centre forward would go to head it and end up ducking and Frank would duck and let it go back through to Lofty. That would happen four or five times a game. He came to us as a midfielder. He had such control of the ball and was always so cool even under pressure.” Munro made almost 300 appearances for the Wolverhampton Wanders and 9 total appearances for the Scotland Men's national team.

Daley had his moment early in the 70s with the team. Winning a League cup with the Wolves in 1974 playing a huge role in a triumph Wolves fans at the time will never forget. Even more impressive and unforgettable however was when Daley earned himself the nickname ‘The Daley Express’. A goal scored in just 18 seconds against Ferencvaros in the UEFA Cup semi-final crowned him the fastest ever goalscorer in Wolves’ European history, a record he still holds to this day. “Waggy (Dave Wagstaffe) was injured and Bill McGarry put me out on the left wing. We kicked off, the Doog passed it off, the ball found its way to Alan Sunderland who played it down the line and then it came straight across to me. It beat everybody and I never even thought about what I was going to do and just hit it first time and fortunately it went in the bottom corner.” Which was a key moment in their run through to the1972 UEFA Cup Final. His high stamina, impressive skill with the ball and great work ethic already made him a Wolves fan favorite.
As Daley began to make his way through the ranks he began to grow close to fellow Wolverhampton Wanders players Kenny Hibbitt and Willie Carr all midfielders affectionately know together as ‘Dales’. They trio began to shine in the 76/77 season, the season after they got promoted back up into England's top division. As they all hit double digits in the goals column with Daley leading the way with Daley having scored 13 goals, easily the best of his career. Daley even won Wolves player of the year for 1977. Despite this they were still regulated in 20th place at the end of the season In the summer of 1978, Daley had another personal accomplishment when he was selected for the England 'B' tour of Australia and won his first cap at that level in a 1-1 draw against Malaysia. He played six times for the 'B' side during 1978, scoring twice (against Singapore and Czechoslovakia 'B'). Something that only increased his value.

So the Wolverhampton Wanders started the bidding at a million pounds. That's when Daley got a call. As Daley recalled, it was an early morning phone call that first alerted him to what would be a day that began a new era of his life.
“I got a phone call on the Wednesday morning telling me that City were interested in me and that I had to get up to Manchester straight away,” Daley recalled back in 2009.
“I had a Ford Cortina and needed some petrol so Phil Shaw, the Wolves secretary, gave me a tenner and I filled up the car and off I went up the M6. “I met the chairman and Malcolm Allison and signed for the Club.”

Now the rumour at the time was that Daley was the victim of Manchester City’s attempt to keep up with Manchester United, who had just signed Bryan Robson for a similar amount. Because this was a time where Manchester City had to keep up with Manchester United and not vice versa. A rumour that only looks more likely with Daley also signing abank-breaking ten-year contract that only served to put more pressure on him as it's a record that's only been tied since then. That's why it perhaps isn't a surprise that his time at Maine Road went poorly. Doesn't help that the Man City he signed with was a in a state of flux.

Allison was back at the Club where he had enjoyed such stellar success as coach with him calling all the shots as manager.

But the City of 1979 was a very different beast to the Club Allison, along with the late, great Joe Mercer, had piloted to so much success a decade earlier. hat wasn’t all that Malcolm parted with as he depleted the great City team of the 1970’s to get his man.

Steve spoke truthfully, holding nothing back about his ill-fated move to Manchester City in which the fee hung around his neck like a lead weight. “Malcolm Allison signed me and I was assured that they wouldn’t be selling any players. If I’d have known he’d have to sell the club’s best players to get the transfer through, I wouldn’t have signed. They sold Gary Owen, Asa Hartford, Peter Barnes and Mick Channon who were all internationals so it was always going to be an uphill battle.” In their place came a blend of promising youngsters, supplemented by several big money signings of whom Daley was the most conspicuous.

Human nature being what it is, with the gargantuan size of Daley’s transfer fee came giant-sized, 100% unrealistic expectations. He was a great player but to justify a record breaking fee he'd have to be near perfect, something he sadly wasn't. Daley’s City career got off a most horrible of horrible starts as we went down to a 1-0 home defeat to Southampton on his debut which was followed by a 4-0 loss away to West Brom. The whole year was a top-start season subsequently saw more lows than highs with the most notable low being an FA Cup third round exit at the hands of Fourth Division Halifax Town much to Daley’s but mostly the fans’ frustration. With the results more than often ending up on the losing side for the Citizens confidence took a nosedive with Daley often being the lightning rod for most of the fan's criticism and understandably so considering the price he was bought for. “We played Halifax in the FA Cup. We were in the First Division and they were struggling in the Fourth Division and I don’t think they had won a game all season. They beat us 1-0 and with 15 minutes to go I looked over to the bench and saw Malcolm Allison holding up a board with ‘11’ on it. I thought to myself, ‘we must be playing bad, he’s fetching us all off’. I had left a fantastic midfield at Wolves and thought I was to be signing for a fantastic midfield at City. The team was ripped apart and the player that got signed for the most money people understandably expected things from and they pointed the finger.”

All the fingers and eyes were on Steve Daley. I asked Steve as to why it was such an obscure amount of money and not a flat 1.5 million. With Daley even in his 2nd season you can see the weight of the world on his shoulders and the pressure was evident. With the fans putting on more than anyone else. “I don’t know…I’m still paying it back!” “The harder I tried the more it wouldn’t work. I was in and out of the team and it was difficult,” Daley added. And if you thought the 1980/81 season would be even better, yeah nah. The season started badly again this time with Allison had been fired and replaced in October 1980 by John Bond, who went on to have his own success with the Citizens. The success was immediate as well with Bond leading Manchester City to the 1981 FA Cup final as well as that season’s League Cup semi-finals. Success that Daley would see zero part of it. He only made appearances for the Club in the 1980/81 campaign only scoring 2 goals and having 1 assist. “I had death threats. I had mail coming to my house telling me that if I didn’t leave Manchester I wouldn’t see my 27th birthday. I even got threatened that my kids would be kidnapped. To be honest, at the time they were playing up so it wouldn’t have been a bad thing!” Even in the face of this adversity Steve always tried to raise a smile and crack a joke to detract from the gravity of the situation. “Manchester City had got nothing to do with this. I’m just glad there wasn’t social media back in those days…I wouldn’t look as young as I do now!” “There is nobody more disappointed than me that it didn’t work out. The abuse I was getting in the press was disgusting and it wouldn’t have mattered where I was in the country they’d have followed me. When I made my first appearance for City we lost 1-0 to Southampton. I’d already enquired if John McGrath was playing before the game! The abuse from the fans was disgraceful too. What struck me first…was a meat pie! So at least I got a pre-match meal. The fans were throwing pennies at me and saying that’s all you are worth Daley.” “Part of the presentation is to show the newspaper cuttings about me being the biggest waste of money in football history. One manager at Manchester City, who will remain nameless, said I was the biggest baby he had ever met in his life and also said that I wasn’t fit to be a father and that I didn’t treat my fellow professionals like I should. I went around the dressing room the next day and not one of the players agreed with the comments.”

Now almost 3,000 words into this article on a site about the Sounders were going to talk about his time on the Sounders, we did it! In 1981 Bond decided to move the record setting midfielder on to North American Soccer League outfit the Seattle Sounders the perfect city for any English men when moving to America, because it's rainy and full of cynical people so it might as well be England. In late February for a bargain basement fee of just £300,000 which pales in comparison to the £1,437,500 he was bought for by Man City. This is where the nickname "Six million dollar man" turned to one of affection from one of mockery. Which helped Steve Daley to have a much more positive outlook on his career and time in Manchester City. I had to leave the country. America was the perfect place. Nobody is going to try and swim and catch me are they?” Steve signed for Seattle Sounders for a reported £300,000, so City did at least get some money back. “It might have been dollars Jase,” Steve joked. “I think it was two dollars to the pound back then too!

“Seattle got a bargain let me tell you! I was playing without the pressure of that situation but still had to perform and it was brilliant. Alan Hinton was the manager and we had got to the Soccerbowl Final against the New York Cosmos. We had big Joe Corrigan in goal. Ray Evans, David Nish, Bruce Rioch, Peter Ward, Kenny Hibbitt and myself. It was a great team but one of the rules was that you had to have four American players on the pitch at any one time. I was there for two-and-a-half years and loved every bit of it.” Daley talks about how he played and interacted with some of the biggest legends in the history of the game plus got used to playing the beautiful game "soccer style". “Seattle got a bargain let me tell you! I was playing without the pressure of that situation but still had to perform and it was brilliant. Alan Hinton was the manager and we had got to the Soccerbowl Final against the New York Cosmos. We had big Joe Corrigan in goal. Ray Evans, David Nish, Bruce Rioch, Peter Ward, Kenny Hibbitt and myself. It was a great team but one of the rules was that you had to have four American players on the pitch at any one time. I was there for two-and-a-half years and loved every bit of it.” “I played against Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Neeskens. I didn’t play against Pele but he spoke to me once. He said ‘excuse me’, so I let him past!" "After playing against Franz Beckenbauer I asked him if there was any chance I could have his shirt after the game. When we were coming off the pitch I asked him again and he started to take his shirt off and he asked me for mine. I asked him if he needed it to wash the car with or something? He told me that he knew who I was as I had cost huge money and then we went and had a beer in the bar.”

He wasn't alone in America either he brought the family with him! “All of the family had come over with me and we all loved our time there and it was a great time in our lives and very educational too for the kids. I then came back to Burnley just for a season then went back out to San Diego for another two years.” Alan Hinton the Sounders coach at the time, he was even called Mr.Soccer was a big fan of his as he said when Daley decided to stay in the Emerald city for one more year. 'I'm delighted Steve and his family have decided to stay,' . 'He has certainly added to our attacking tactics during this present winter season, and he has always given 100 percent of himself.' He didn't earn that praise for nothing either. Daley twice made the NASL All Star Second XI, as well as reaching the Soccer Bowl - the Super Bowl equivalent - in 1982 as he himself already said. He scored 2 goals in the semis to push them towards the historic 1982 clash with the New York Cosmos, making Sounders history, giving us our 1st shot at major glory. He did want to return to England sooner but decided against it. "I just looked at things in reality," Daley said "The Sounders are a great club -- the entire setup,' he said. 'The way they treat the players and the way they sell the game to the public, it's going to be a winning club and I want to be part of it." He even earned the praise of many of his teammates during his time as a Sounder. Joe Corrigan a veteran Man City keeper who played with Daley in both the Sounders and England B teams. With the veteran Manchester City keeper spoke of his ex-Maine Road teammate as ‘a fabulous guy’ whose incredibly expensive move to the north made him a victim of poor timing, followed as it was by the sale of star players.

“I played alongside him for England B and Seattle Sounders as well and he was placed in an unenviable position when he went to City. He had this phenomenal fee on his head but he stood up to be counted.

“It was a horrible time for him and the club but he’s an incredible fellow with a great sense of humour. We both played in that huge FA Cup shock in 1980….the joke was that NASA had spent £10m and landed a rocket on the moon. We had spent £5m and didn’t make it past Halifax.” Ex-Wolves and Sounders teammate Kenny Hibbitt also spoke highly of his character. He picked me up for training every morning over there and was one of the best midfielders I played with,” Hibbitt recalled.

“We made a great trio with Willie Carr in there at Wolves after Mike Bailey – and Steve would have been an absolute legend if he had stayed at Wolves. But he’s a legend to me.”

Steve Daley certainly submitted his bid as a Sounders legend as he netted 5 or more goals and a incredible 18 assists in the 1982 season en route to the Soccer Bowl. Despite a down year for the Sounders that saw Alan Hinton's attacking style which really helped Daley but in this case cost the rest of the team. As locker room issues spilled their way onto the pitch and helped the Sounders to their 1st ever losing record. Daley again however got 5 or more goals and a less impressive but still impressive 14 assists. Daley was a part of many more historic moments as well even in his short stint in the Puget Sound. Such as his impressive 3 assist performance in the Sounders amazing 5-4 win over San Jose. Or the Sounders August 4th win over the New York Cosmos 3-2 scoring the 2nd goal in front of the largest crowd the Sounders had been in front at that point within the season. Daley's 18th assist which was a record helping Peterson his 17th goal all year which helped us beat our rivals the Portland Timbers to win the division. Even helping in our shock 3-0 win over Manchester United in the 1982 EuroPac tournament.

Daley had his impressive moments even in the struggle that was the 1983 season. Including his 2nd NASL All-Star selection. Being a part of when the Sounders faced the Chinese national team in the 1983 EuroPac tournament. His time in Seattle even earned him a legendary night out with the best ever player from Northern Ireland fittingly called George Best making a joke about his price tag then Daley made a joke about Best's drink problems. That evening the two then went on a amazing night out in which Daley 'had never seen so many blondes in all my life'. Like in Manchester City though sadly he was also the victim of bad and cheap ownership when Bruce Anderson took over and started slashing funds as the league was falling apart and everyone was losing money. With Daley being sold back to his native England.

That's where he ended his career and due to his great play overseas and to end his career he mended his awful rep. “It gave me an unbelievable character and it taught me about life and what people can be like.” Steve always found the positive from the negative and he became one of the best after-dinner speakers in the country after his career had finished. “I turned it around and went into speaking and I won soccer speaker of the year three years in a row.” “See, I did win something! I’ve stopped doing the after-dinners now. I was a speaker longer than I was a player – funny that!” “I’ve had a great career, a great life and I have a fantastic family,” he says. Steve ended his professional career at Walsall, by pure default. “I came back from America and went to see the Port Vale manager, John Rudge. They were playing Walsall in a friendly at Fellows Park and after the game John just disappeared. I saw Garry Pendrey and he asked what I was doing there. I told him that I was meant to be signing for Port Vale and he told me not to move and stay put!" "When I do my dinners I sort of put myself down a wee bit,' he says, after a long pause. He also used his failure at City to his advantage. "Although it didn't work for me at City, it gave me the ammunition to go on the after-dinner circuit." Daley even found the redemption in the eyes of Man City by the end of his career. “I went to do a corporate lounge at City recently for a game against Wolves. There were 400 people in the room and when I walked through the door I got a standing ovation. I told them that it’s a pity they didn’t do that in 1979! I also told them that they never expected to be paying to see me again!” Thanks a bunch for reading!