However, there was another departure this summer who made arguably a greater contribution to City’s resurrection but wasn’t rewarded with his big day.
Kevin Horlock was ushered through the backdoor with little more than a handshake and a pat on the back as he joined his boyhood heroes, West Ham, for a bargain £300K. Since then, any lucky blues with Sky (and too much time on their hands) will have noticed him performing consistently in the same holding role he filled in his last days at City.
With a spate of midfield arrivals this summer, someone had to go, and Horlock himself admitted that after seven years, it was time to move on. In the Premiership, Super-Kev had been far from super. He did a job but didn’t fit in with the club’s developments, much like Goater and Ali really. Of course, their impact in the Nationwide will never be forgotten, but is Horlock’s contribution remembered with the same affection? It certainly should be.
Super-Kev was Frank Clark’s first signing (£1.5m from Swindon in early 1997) and was therefore City’s longest serving player when he left in September. His debut was impressive, in the televised 4-1 win at Oxford, and he continued to impress as City secured safety in his first season.
The following season, 1997-98, wasn’t quite the new beginning we’d all hoped for. Clark’s other signings failed to deliver and Horlock was shifted about. City were ultimately relegated on the last day but for me, Horlock’s free-kick at Wolves in the run-in was typical of what he did for City.
In a must-win game, he trotted over from left-back and planted a 20-yard free-kick in the top corner to put City 2-1 ahead. He could always be relied upon and would always fight to the last. It’s just a shame when your keeper drops the ball in his own net and allows a deflected 85th minute equaliser to creep in (see Cardiff’s number one).
In his 211 games for City, Horlock was used in a variety of roles but every time he adapted to City’s needs, never failing to deliver wherever he played. During the 97-98 season, he was often used at left-back or left-midfield, owing to a shocking lack of options, until Joe Royle realised his most effective role in time for City’s attendance boosting exercise in Division Two.
From a utility man Horlock became an attacking centre-midfielder who would get you ten goals a season. A player incapable of scoring an average goal who had a knack of scoring at the perfect time (it’s worth noting that City didn’t lose when he scored until Liverpool away - Sept ‘00). Goals against Fulham and Millwall kept us on course before 4 in the last 9 games helped drag City out of the mire. We all remember Dickov’s last minute goal that saved us at Wembley but how about the goal that pulled us back into the game to begin with?
Of course, Horlock was by no means flawless. It was often painful to watch him turn or track back in midfield and he had a bit of a petulant streak. The best examples were during that season when he was sent off for two late challenges against Northampton and famously for “aggressive walking” at Bournemouth. He was also tremendously one-sided, but what he lacked on his right he made up with on his left.
Once he engineered the ball onto his stronger foot he could spray it across the park like the best of them. When he teamed up with Mark Kennedy in the 1999-2000 season, back in Division One, he displayed that perfectly. City got off to a flyer with Goater and Kennedy banging them in, and Horlock chipping in from midfield and the penalty spot (yet even Gareth Taylor could score goals in that side).
In November, City were still riding high at the top of the table and on a wet Wednesday evening, he scored another peach from 25 yards to cap a 3-1 win over Barnsley. I went down to get my shirt the next day and as I proudly declared my desire to have ‘Horlock 6’ splashed on the back, the girl on the counter gave a rendition of ‘Super, Super-Kev’. The place was buzzing and it was largely down to Horlock.
A double against Grimsby, the second a last-minute stonker to win the game, maintained City’s spell at the top before Charlton stepped in to take the title. So down to the final day again and once more it was Horlock who kick-started City. 1-0 down and getting battered, his cross splits the Blackburn defence for Goater to knock in the leveller.
Horlock then struggled to make an impression in the Premiership but who didn’t in the City side that season. In 2000-01 the goals dried up and when Keegan came in he was now more of a holding midfielder, allowing Ali to do all the pretty stuff. Nevertheless, he still managed picture-book strikes against Wolves, Bradford and Birmingham as City romped to the Division One title.
Last season Super-Kev worked his way back into the team and secured a regular first-team spot. The Northern Ireland cap even retired from international football to keep his place and concentrate on consolidating a top-ten finish (though missing out on the occasional goalless draw at some European outpost is hardly the biggest of sacrifices).
Some quickly forget (did they ever realise) how much Horlock did for the team and gave to the club. I accept he is by no means the complete player and he wasn’t everyone’s favourite but there is no denying the part he played in turning around our fortunes. City owe him more than a speedy, convenient exit to reduce the payroll.
Keep it up with the Hammers Kev, though please don’t get promoted – I couldn’t bear to watch you bossing our midfield.