White.hot!
DANNY PRYER chats with former Manchester City winger and present… David White about the club – past
HE’S fast, fast and more fast! – That was the chant which echoed around Maine Road in the late 80s when a local boy began to make his mark on the first team.
David White is – and always has been – Manchester City through and through, he was one of the club’s own.
It’s 30 years ago since his surge into the first team, after being part of the FA Youth Cup winning side of 1986.
A lightning quick, goalscoring winger, who claimed he was 75 per cent graft and 25 per cent skill, and would always fall over when he crossed it!, White graduated into the starting XI, as well as the likes of Ian Brightwell, Paul Lake, Paul Moulden and Andy Hinchcliffe.
But the man who was one of City’s famous young players of yesteryear fears for the prospects of today’s home-town players.
“I think you ask every fan about the team and they say yeah, it’s still important, you want to be cheering local lads who come through the academy,” White said.
“Well, you look at the academy now, there’s one or two players in there, but ultimately none of that matters one bit if you’re not winning titles.
“The most important thing for City is to win the Champions League, competing in that and winning the Premier League regularly.
He continued: “That’s the level they’ve got to be at. I don’t think you can do that with kids, that’s unless they’re outstanding but I don’t know how they can get to that outstanding level.”
City’s former number seven had his first opportunity in the reserves at 16 – just two hours after playing for his school team!
He said: “I was playing in a house match at school and my dad turned up at the side of the pitch, called me over and said, “You’re playing for the reserves tonight. Within two hours, I was kitted up, playing open age football against Chesterfield.
“We also trained with the first team a lot and at least twice a week we’d go and play against them. I was playing against Paul Power, it was hard but so what?
“I was kicked in the air by Everton’s John Bailey as a reserve team player, but those are the things that make you grow, you’re in at the deep end.
“Just getting on a reserve team coach was as valuable.You’re suddenly sat with grown men. They’re playing cards for money.”
White signed a YTS, an apprentice type scheme at the age of 16, which saw him taken under the wing of ex-City captain and former manager Tony Book – and earning the sum of, wait for it, £27-a-week.
White mentioned with a laugh: “It was just massively different to how it is now. It pretty much did feel boot campy, that was the overall feel of it.
“‘Skip’ (Book) did what he had to do to make us grow up, whatever it needed for us to
come out of that apprentice system and into the first team.
“I was put on general cleaning duties. I had to collect all the kit at the end of the day as the first team players would literally come in off the training pitch and dump everything on the floor.
“Some days, the pitch was muddy and the balls would be filthy with dry mud all over them and you'd be literally sat there scrubbing every single ball and putting them back in the bag.
“It’s absolute madness how today’s lot don't do these jobs that we had to do!”
White, who turns 50 at the end of October, has always been an orthodox member of the Etihad faithful, as well as an authentic English-style winger – and believes current City wide man Raheem Sterling has room for improvement. “Sterling’s decision-making process could be a lot better, but then we’re talking about him becoming as good as someone from Real Madrid or Barcelona,” said White. “He is scoring goals and making them regularly, but if he could improve his decision-making it would make him a brilliant player.” After coming through the ranks, White went on to play 340 games for Manchester City and scored 96 goals in eight years. He later played for Leeds and Sheffield United and earned one cap for England. Of his City days, White picks out two 5-1 thrashings as a couple of his personal highlights. The demolition of Manchester United and his assist for Hinchcliffe’s memorable header in 1989 and his four-goal haul and assist at Aston Villa playing as a centre-forward two years later. “We used to get the better of them (United) as kids all the time, but that was the only time we’d beaten them at first team level,” said the former City winger. “It was a great day for the players and a great day for the fans. “(On the assist) It was a great goal, I watch it a lot. People say to me now, ‘You used to knock the ball past people and pick someone out’, and I always say, ‘No, I didn’t’. “I used to knock the ball past people and cross the ball into an area where I believed the attacker should be – and that’s the difference. Did I mean to pick Andy Hinchcliffe out? No, he was just there.You haven’t got time to look up in those situations. “(On Aston Villa) I knew I had a striker’s instinct as a kid, I was always a good finisher and I scored goals. I was a right-sided player but I don’t know how it first came about playing up-top that day. “That was the best game I had. It wasn’t a shock to me that I scored four because of what my game was based on over the years – making and scoring goals.” @dannypfootball
i was kicked in the air by everton’s john bailey in the reserves, but those are the things that make you grow