
The tall defender, a product of City’s youth scheme, was given his first team chance at Maine Road by Dave Sexton two days before his 18th birthday and within minutes had set Peter Bodak up for his memorable chipped ‘Goal of the Season’. The form of Paul Dyson and Gary Gillespie restricted his chances until Sexton played three centre-backs to great success. The mature youngster took to First Division football like a duck to water and played regularly over the next three years winning England under-21 honours. After Bobby Gould’s arrival Ian’s appearances were restricted to midfield or full-back and in 1985 the club accepted Brian Clough’s £200,000 offer and he moved to Nottingham Forest in a double deal with Stuart Pearce. Just over a year later he moved on to Norwich and played over 300 games for the Canaries before injury ended his career. He subsequently tried to restart his career with first Colorado Rapids, then later with Swedish club IK Brage. After returning to England he coached at Darlington, Cardiff, Hartlepool and Norwich City.
• Defender/midfielder
• Joined from apprentice (aged 17 years months) under Dave Sexton
• Left for Nottingham Forest as part of the Stuart Pearce deal (aged 21 years 4 months) under Don Mackay
• Substitute appearances: 11
• Unused substitute: 8
• Bookings: 5












































































































































































































































England U21, 2 caps
1984-85
13 November 1984 Turkey U21 v England U21, Bursa, UEFA U21 Championship 1986 qualifying, 0-0
30 April 1985 Rumania U21 v England U21, Brasov, UEFA U21 Championship 1986 qualifying, 0-0
6 further caps and 1 goal with Nottingham Forest (total 8 caps, 1 goal)