Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (1 February) in 2016 after increasing speculation from the media Manchester City announced that Pep Guardiola would succeed Manuel Pellegrini as their manager in the summer. The BBC’s Phil McNulty said at the time: “The combination of the charismatic Catalan’s coaching brilliance and the financial backing he will receive makes this a partnership the rest of football world could come to fear.”
Here’s the BBC Report from that day:
A reminder to all those who have signed up that today (Wednesday 1 February) at 6pm (UK time) I’ll be doing my presentation on the origins of Manchester City FC, focusing on St Mark’s & the club’s development prior to its re-birth as Ardwick AFC. This is a free event where I will explain how the club was born and developed. There are lots of myths out there, but I will be focusing on the facts and the latest research.
A link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand. I added a final few places and so you may be able to join for this Zoom talk if you register asap via this link:
I will be presenting the facts and history of the birth of the club and its development in the West Gorton and Gorton areas of Manchester prior to 1887. Dispelling myths and revealing the latest research and evidence of what actually happened.
The link will be sent out shortly before the event is live to all those registered. Only those registered will be admitted into the video chat site. You must register here if you want to get involved.
The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.
On Wednesday 18 January I held a discussion about Manchester City FC away games. Subscribers can now listen to a recording of that talk here (it costs £20 a year to access everything on the site or £3 per month). The talk lasts about 1 hour so get yourself a brew and listen to the story of traveling away.
We talk about the train specials that the City Supporters Travel Club used to organise and their coaches too (remember number one coach with Helen ‘the Bell’ Turner?). Amongst the moments/subjects discussed were the history of travelling to away games; Trevor Francis’ debut; railway & coach specials; the experience of being an away fan; games at Notts County, Barnsley, Stoke, Bradford, Oldham, QPR, Leeds & more. Thanks to all who participated in this for your efforts, especially Graham Ward, Roger Reade and the guys from the Lad & Dad Away Days podcast who all brought up their own memories of games.
The next History Talk will take place later today 1/2/23 at 6pm-7pm UK time. This will be more of a presentation and will be about the origins of Manchester City. You can register for that and find out more here:
Here’s the recording of the MCFC Away Days talk. This is for subscribers only:
If you would like to access it here and support my writing & research while also reading all the great content (including PDFs of Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens) then please subscribe. It costs £20 a year (access everything) or £3 per month (see below).
Subscribe monthly here at £3 per month (cancel anytime) or annually at £20 above.
Today (1 February) in 2017 Gabriel Jesus scored his first Manchester City goal as the Blues defeated West Ham 4-0. The goals were from De Bruyne (17), David Silva (21), Jesus (39) and Toure (pen, 67) at the former London Olympic Stadium. Attendance 56,980. A few stats and reports from that day/the game here:
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