The First All-Manchester FA Final

This weekend the 2023 FA Cup final at Wembley will be the first all-Manchester FA Cup final but it is not the first all-Manchester FA Final. That came in 1985-86 when the two Manchester clubs reached the FA Youth Cup final.  In the build-up to Wembley this final will probably be overlooked but I wanted to make sure we do remember. Here’s a brief piece on the final.

In April 1986 Manchester City’s youth team defeated Manchester United 3-1 on aggregate in the final of the FA Youth Cup.  It was a tremendous achievement at the time, and one which proved that it was the Blues, rather than the Reds, who knew how to find and recruit young players – when Alex Ferguson arrived in Manchester later in 1986 he was dismayed that City tended to sweep up all the local talent and put things in place to change the situation. He even chatted to City’s chief scout Ken Barnes about the Blues’ strengths. More on Ken in a moment.

Of the 11 City boys who played in the 1986 final an amazing seven would also appear in the first team.  Two of those would captain the Blues; two would play for England; and one would continue to play for the Blues into the late 1990s.  For the record the City eleven plus subs were:

Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray, David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused subs: Steve Macauley (1^st leg) & John Bookbinder (2^nd leg).

City’s Chief Scout at the time was 50s Cup winner Ken Barnes and years later I interviewed him about the success. He firmly believed that it was exceptional to find so many young star players at the same time:  ‘We were dead lucky.  I have to say that I don’t think it will ever happen again.  I don’t recall any team having so many of the players coming through from the Youth team.  It was only circumstances as such that they all got into the team at the same time.  There was no alternative – the club had no money.  No money to buy new players – so the young lads were thrown in at the deep end.  Maybe if we had had a good team at the time 3 or 4 of them wouldn’t have got into the team and, who knows what would have happened to them.  It enlightened me the year they won the Youth Cup.  They went throughout the whole season in the Lancashire League and lost only one game.

‘That was a remarkable youth side.  In the past we had boys like Tommy Caton, Ray Ranson, Nicky Reid, John Beresford and Darren Beckford but we never had a team like the 1986 one.  Most of the youngsters played for our nursery team Midas… Nearly all those who have made it into the first team played with them from the time they were 11 or 12.’

Here is the City first team match programme commenting on the success:

1986 YOUTH CUP STATISTICS

Old Trafford, 24 April 1986
Manchester United – Manchester City 1–1 (0–0)
1-0 49 min. Aidan Murphy
1-1 82 min. Paul Lake (penalty)
Attendance: 7,602

Manchester United: Gary Walsh, Tony Gill, Lee Martin, Ian Scott, Steve Gardner (capt), Jon Bottomley, Aidan Murphy (red card, 69 min), Mark Todd, Dennis Cronin, David Wilson (replaced by Tony Hopley), Paul Harvey. Manager Eric Harrison.

Manchester City: Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray (red card, 69), David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused sub: Steve Macauley. Manager: Tony Book

Second leg

Maine Road, 29 April 1986
Manchester City – Manchester United 2–0 (1–0)
1-0 02 min. David Boyd
2-0 86 min. Paul Moulden
Attendance: 18,158

Manchester City: Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray, David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused sub: John Bookbinder. Manager: Tony Book

Manchester United: Gary Walsh, Tony Gill, Lee Martin, Ian Scott, Steve Gardner (capt), Paul Harvey, Aidan Murphy, Mark Todd, Dennis Cronin, Jon Bottomley (replaced by Tony Hopley), Karl Goddard. Manager Eric Harrison.