At 6pm on Friday Manchester City will take on Brazilian side Fluminense in the FIFA Club World Cup final. Fluminense are a team that we never dreamed City would meet in a truly competitive game and it’s caused some to ask whether there’s any connection between the clubs. Well, yes, there is and it’s a major one. One of City’s earliest goalkeepers, Charlie Williams, became regarded as Fluminense’s first true manager/coach. That’s a big deal and well worth remembering.
A while ago Morten Olesen, a longstanding Danish Blue, wrote a lenghy guest blog on Williams and it’s still available free of charge here:
It’s well worth reading. At one point Olesen comments: ‘In 1911, almost 10 years after its founding, Fluminense was looking for their first coach. The choice had fallen on the now almost 40-year-old Charlie Williams, who was persuaded to take the job for a salary of £ 18 a month (well over £ 2000 in 2021 money) two return trips to England, as well as free board and lodging.’
It’s interesting that over the last 24 hours or so there’s been an awful lot of traffic to Olesen’s guest blog, so it does show that people are desperate to find out about MCFC and Fluminense connections. If you use any of this material please ensure you credit Morten for his research.
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Gary James' Football Archive 