Colin Murphy v Dario Gradi
Gradi had been assistant to Murphy at Derby County, so this seems like an unusual spat to cover. After all, Murphy had taken stick from Malcolm MacDonald in 1982, and our battles with Barry Fry in 87/88 are well known as well.
A 2-2 draw in our second game out of the GMVC had Gradi fuming, not least because we’d already knocked his side out of the Littlewoods cup. “Professional football is about passing skill and control. There was no skill out there today,” said Gradi of our tactics.
Later in the season, Murphy took the Imps to Crewe. The ‘football army’, as they were toute,d turned us over, 2-0, and were promoted at the end of the season. Instead of revelling in his victory, Gradi took it as a chance to lash out at City, again.
“It’s a lot easier to improve at what we’re doing,” the one-time apprentice to the master said. “You can’t improve on the tactic of kicking the ball 50 yards; all you can do is get bigger forwards.”
Murphy responded immediately. “We have played in a way for a long time, and while you are trying to rearrange as we have been this season, there can be indecision as to whether to play it short or put in the long ”
That indecision was removed a couple of days later – playing slick passing football, City drew 2-2 with UEFA Cup opponents, Orgryte, in a friendly. “We elected to play them at their own game in the second half,” he said of the Swedish side. Gradi was wrong – we could improve on our tactics.