 He scored five goals in 56 Third Division North appearances as Billy Wootton's "Latics" posted 11th and sixth-place finishes in the 1947–48 and 1948–49 campaigns.Spurdle then joined Jock Thomson's Manchester City for a £12,000 fee in January 1950, but could not prevent the club from suffering relegation out of the First Division in 1949–50.Les McDowall was then put in charge at Maine Road, and led the club to an immediate promotion with a second-place finish in the Second Division in 1950–51.