If Manchester City's current manager, Pep Guardiola, remains the focus of attention for many millions of football supporters who admire the cerebral ebb and flow of his tactical gymnastics, he is not the first wizard of the chalkboard to walk the corridors at City.
Ninety years ago to the day, Malcolm Allison was born and, after a truncated playing career at West Ham, where tuberculosis brought his career to a premature end, he took to management like the proverbial duck to water.
Allison had always been an aficionado of tactical analysis, chairing -- as a player -- enthusiastic talk-ins at Cassettari's, a dreary formica-topped eatery a stone's throw from the old Upton Park in East London.