Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive

Manchester City V Real Madrid, 19 December 1979

On this day (19 December) in 1979 Manchester City’s first meeting with Real Madrid occurred. Back then it was viewed as a prestigious friendly, or at least that’s what it was supposed to be, but it turned out to be a controversial game with implications for the Blues for some time. Here’s an 1800 word article with images of that game and the controversy surrounding it.

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The 1980s: Season’s Greetings

Continuing the series focusing on Manchester City in the 1980s here’s a nice Christmassy themed programme cover from today (18 December) in 1982. If you’re wondering City’s sponsor was SAAB and this was the first season of shirt sponsorship at Maine Road.

The day’s opponents were Brighton and the game ended 1-1 (Kevin Bond scoring for the Blues). Bond is the player on the far left of this photo. Notice Joe Corrigan (far right)… I get the impression he’s muttering ‘what is the game coming to? Cars on the pitch… there’ll be referees sat in a room miles away awarding a penalty after a perfectly good save is judged to be a foul, by someone sat watching a telly next!’

If you want to know more about this period then why not subscribe? As well as all the other benefits you could read the following 3,500 word feature on the 1982-83 season. Enjoy (well, if you know the outcome of this season you can enjoy this memory refresh while reflecting on the modern day successes of the Blues!).

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1983-84 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

Forward as Goalkeeper for 3/4 of Game v Chelsea

I love this cutting showing Manchester City striker Eric Brook in nets, deputising for the Blues’ injured keeper. It looks like Brook had a bandana on his head here too! The photo was taken on this day (December 17) in 1932 when the Blues faced Chelsea.

You can read the match report here. City were losing 1-0 when Nicholas was injured 15 minutes into the match and the scoreline became even more convincing as the game progressed. However this report (from a London edition of a national newspaper) states that City were the better team in both halves.

The 1980s: Full Members Final?

Today’s 1980s flashback is an on this day (17 December) from 1985 when newspapers carried the news that Full Members’ Cup finalists Manchester City and potential finalists Chelsea planned to meet to set a date for the competition’s final. These were strange days and I guess there are many younger fans who have no idea what the Full Members’ Cup was all about. Elsewhere on this site you can find material on it or you can read the article on this season below (see boxes on subscribing below).

The issue was that the competition needed a Wembley final to add some credibility to it and both City and Chelsea were determined this would take place at a weekend. The preferred date was 1 March 1986 but this required clubs to postpone fixtures as the article suggests. What was not realised on 17 December 1985 was that City’s opponents on 1 March would object. Why? Well, City’s opponents were Oxford and they were the team that Chelsea had to beat to reach the national final. Had Oxford won then it seems likely they would have had no objection to rearranging their League game with City, but once Chelsea beat them the chance of City getting their preferred date was never going to happen.

In the end the final was played on Sunday 23 March, the day after an Old Trafford Manchester derby!

The 1980s was a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club and you can find out more on this season by reading the following 2,500 word feature on 1985-86. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Kendall v Everton

Continuing this series of features covering the 1980s for Manchester City… Today it’s back to this day (17 December) in 1989 and Everton v Manchester City. It’s a goalless game but this match is important as it’s new City manager Howard Kendal’s return to Goodison right at the start of his MCFC career. You can watch a brief interview with Kendall before the match action. City wearing their maroon and white stripes away kit with maroon shorts here. Enjoy!

If you want to know more about that weekend and the entire 1989-90 season then become a subscriber and read the following 8,000 word article on that season. Enjoy!

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Today’s feature was one of many on the 1980s. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Machin’s Warning

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s continues today with a reminder of the day in 1988 manager Mel Machin warned the City team to be careful of Shrewsbury. See the newspaper article. The Blues were due to play them the day after this article (published on Friday 16 December 1988) was published. Anybody remember the score? I was in the Kippax that day and you can watch what happened here (look out for future Blue Carl Griffiths!):

That game was played on 17 December 1988. If you want to know more of the 1988-89 season for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read the following 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Away v Charlton

Today’s 1980s flashback is a brief reminder of this day (15 December) in 1984 when a crowd of 5,568 witnessed Manchester City’s 3-1 victory at Charlton Athletic. This was a promotion season for City and the club’s goalscorers that day in the old Second Division (2nd tier) were Jim Melrose, David Phillips and Gordon Smith. The return game with Charlton was hugely significant.

You can find out more on this season and the rest of this important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club by subscribing. The following subscriber article is a 2,600 word feature on the 1984-85 season. Enjoy!

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1985-86 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Impressive Win

Today’s 1980s flashback is an on this day (14 December) from 1985 when Manchester City thrashed Coventry City 5-1 at Maine Road. ‘Woo Gordon Davies’ opened the goalscoring in the 18th minute. Paul Simpson made it 2-0 (though some reports claimed it was an own goal). In the end Davies (2), Simpson (2) and Mark Lillis scored with Coventry’s goal coming from Terry Gibson.

The 1980s was a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club and you can find out more on this season by reading the following 2,500 word feature on 1985-86. Enjoy!

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: It’s December 1982 – What Do You Want From the City Store?

Continuing the series focusing on Manchester City in the 1980s here’s a list of items available at the City Souvenir Shop in December 1982. It’s an interesting list but what would you want to buy?

For a few minutes I was puzzled by the items marked ‘centenary’ thinking are they talking of the centenary of the earliest known game as St Mark’s in 1880 or have they got things completely wrong? Then I realised these items refer to the 100th FA Cup Final (so not really a centenary of the FA Cup either, but I do know City’s souvenir shop did talk of it as the ‘Centenary Final’, though that is usually regarded as the 1972 final; the 1981 final was known as the ‘100th Final’).

I bet there are a few reading this who bought some of the items on the list.

If you want to know more about this period then why not subscribe? As well as all the other benefits you could read the following 3,500 word feature on the 1982-83 season. Enjoy (well, if you know the outcome of this season you can enjoy this memory refresh while reflecting on the modern day successes of the Blues!).

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1983-84 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: 35 Year Ago Today City Women First Ever Home Game

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the 1980s with an on this day (12 December) from 1988… On this day Manchester City Ladies (now Women) played their first ever home game. We often focus on the first game of any kind (featured recently – a victory at Boundary Park) but rarely discuss the first home game played by the women’s team. So here goes… It was a 1-1 draw with Oldham Athletic at the Platt Lane Complex. City’s scorer was Heidi Ward and the team was managed by Neil Mather. The squad for this match was:

Michelle Flynn, Donna Davies, Kate Themen, M Hewlett, M Braddock, Paula Hinchcliffe, Tonia Slack, Michelle Mather, Louisa Felton, Donna Haynes, A Marsland, Debbie Darbyshire, Rowena Foxwell, Lisa Burnett, Heidi Ward, C Morgson, Helen Clark, J Walsh (Record of who started/subs not kept). Some of the women are on this photo,

The match report is of that game with the City equaliser described like this: ‘[City in the 2nd half] began pressing for a goal which came from H. Ward, a good drive into the bottom left hand corner of the Oldham net.’

There were other chances for City with Louisa Felton and Heidi Ward coming close to giving City a 2-1 lead but it wasn’t to be.

You can find out more on the City women’s team by following the tags or doing searches below.