Big Mal: A City legend and winner at Sporting CP | OneFootball

Malcolm Allison is one of the greatest coaches in Manchester City’s history and also enjoyed spectacular success in a season at Sporting CP.

Behind his larger-than-life persona of champagne, cigars, fedoras, and sheepskin coats, Big Mal as he was affectionately known, was a brilliant football innovator.

Alongside ‘Genial’ Joe Mercer, the duo masterminded a golden period in the late 1960s at Maine Road with a fearless team that won the old First Division, FA Cup and League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

With his tactical acumen and training techniques, Allison, who passed away in 2010, was a visionary with a swagger and charisma that made him irresistible.

After leaving City, he had spells at Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Plymouth before a return to Maine Road that lasted only a year.

But he was to enjoy more glory soon after with a season in the passionate footballing city of Lisbon as the manager of Sporting.

His immediate task when he took over in the summer of 1981 was to overhaul crosstown rivals Benfica who had won the Dobradinha of League and Cup triumphs the previous season.

Allison set about changing the atmosphere inside the dressing room, allowing the players to relax and have fun on a pre-season tour to Bulgaria, shortly after taking over.

Sporting were a team full of Portuguese internationals including Eurico and Rui Jordao who would be part of the national team that would reach the semi-finals of the 1984 European Championships, losing a heartbreaking semi-final to France in extra time.

To that squad he added Ferenc Meszaros, a goalkeeper from Hungary – a footballing nation that Allison had always revered since the Mighty Magyars of the 1950s under influential coach Gusztav Sebes.

He also put his trust in the young players in the squad and gave them the confidence to show their attacking qualities, just as he had to players such as Colin Bell, Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee and Neil Young during his City days.

The impact was incredible and at the start of March 1982, seven months into the campaign, Sporting remained unbeaten domestically, top of the table and in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup.

In Europe, Allison’s side thrashed Luxembourg side Red Boys 11-0 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup before pulling off a brilliant 4-2 victory over a strong Southampton side that included former European Player of the Year Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon and Alan Ball.

The tie was essentially over inside 45 minutes at The Dell with the green and white stripes racing into a three-goal lead before the break as the Saints suffered their first home defeat in 12 months.

Allison identified a weakness in the Southampton set-up, playing deep on the wings, and his side ruthlessly exploited it.

Recalling the game on Football Focus in the late 1990s, he said: “They were all worried about Keegan and I said ‘it’s no problem, he won’t bother you’. I just used to dismiss it if I thought there was a problem. We had a lot of good players.

“They didn’t know what to do Southampton. There were things that we did to them that tormented them.”

However, they were surprisingly beaten in the following round, losing 1-0 to Neuchatel Xamax on a cabbage patch pitch in Switzerland after a goalless draw in Lisbon.

The league challenge was at least going smoothly until a wobble in March when Sporting were finally beaten in successive away games at Boavista and Portimonense.

But that was sandwiched by a 3-1 Derby de Lisboa victory over Benfica at the Estadio Jose Alvalade with Jordao scoring a hat-trick.

He scored another four on the final home game of the season as Sporting claimed the title in style with a 7-1 win over Rio Ave.

Full-time prompted a pitch invasion with Sportinguistas pulling the shirts and shorts off players as a memento of a glorious title campaign.

Allison raced back to the dressing room to enjoy the champagne and was held aloft by his players who fondly referred to him as ‘Mister’.

There were more celebrations to come shortly after as Sporting completed the double with a 4-0 victory over Braga in the Taca de Portugal.

But it was to be a short stop; Allison was gone by the start of the following season and it would be another 18 years before Sporting would win another Portuguese title.

A special man and manager had sprinkled his stardust in Lisbon just as he did at Maine Road.