Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive

Women’s Football Interviews and Videos

If you’re interested in women’s football or in football in Trafford or Manchester here are some video interviews we did as part of the work on the #WEuro2022 Heritage Lottery funded project for Trafford. These interviews are with women who played for Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City, Manchester United, FC Redstar, & Macclesfield:

We start with Jan Lyons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHkt5rGOJ5E

Now Gail Robertson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TO4nnHtp-U&feature=emb_logo

Next Lesley Wright:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPgjj84gHfw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Finally, Jane Morley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tbzsOIpO7I&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Here’s an interesting clip of the Corinthians playing in 1960:

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60bf2dbfc69ade0020ef3021?q=ladies%20football%20international%201972&size=30

Margaret Shepherd and Margaret Whitworth were also filmed as part of the wider project (they were interviewed by Wigan & Leigh). Here they are:

Margaret Whitworth actually appears on this BBC clip from 1960 playing:

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60bf2dbfc69ade0020ef3021?q=ladies%20football%20international%201972&size=30

Also, here’s my talk explaining about the history of women’s football:

This talk on the history of women’s football was staged at the National Football Museum on 1st July as part of my work on a consultancy basis with Trafford local archives. The talk lasts about 47 mins. Enjoy!

The Trafford Archive website I mention during my talk is available here:

https://exploringtraffordsheritage.omeka.net/exhibits/show/traffordwomensfootball

Jeremy Monga signs for Manchester City on five-year deal

Manchester City have announced a new signing. Here’s the press release: Manchester City is delighted to announce the signing of Jeremy Monga.

The highly rated 17-year-old winger joins the Club after emerging as one of the brightest young talents in English football, having already gained significant first team experience despite his age.

The England youth international, who joins from Leicester City, has signed a five-year deal that will keep him at the Etihad Stadium until the summer of 2031.

Born in Coventry, Monga joined Leicester City’s Academy at Under-9 level and progressed rapidly through the ranks. His outstanding performances at youth level saw him become the youngest scorer in Premier League 2 history at the time of his goal against Aston Villa in November 2024.

He went on to earn opportunities with Leicester’s Development Squad before breaking into the first team while still only 15 years old. Monga made history in April 2025 when he became Leicester’s second-youngest appearance maker and the second-youngest Premier League debutant in history after appearing against Newcastle United.

Monga arrives at the Club having already made 37 senior appearances for Leicester City, including seven in the Premier League.

On signing for City, Monga said: “When I became aware that Manchester City were interested, I knew instantly this was the right choice for me.

“For any young footballer, to become part of this amazing club is a dream come true. This has been the best club in England over the past 10 years. And it has also handed opportunities to players from the Academy like Phil Foden and Nico O’Reilly which shows that the pathway is there.

“It is a privilege to be here, and I’m delighted to have joined.”

Director of Football Hugo Viana added: “Jeremy is an exciting player who has already made huge strides in his young career.

“We were already very aware of him as a Club and we have seen his ability first-hand from his time at Leicester. At 17-years-old we feel he is only going to continue to improve and that this is the correct next step in his career.

“We look forward to supporting him on every step in his journey.”

Frank Soo Blue Plaque

I was delighted to be one of the guests today when a Historic England blue plaque was unveiled for groundbreaking footballer Frank Soo. Soo was the first player of Chinese heritage to play for England and he was born in Buxton. HIs dad was from China, his mum was from Manchester. The unveiling today took place in the town and members of the Soo family were present today. HIstorian Martin Polley, representing Historic England, made a great speech about the player and other speeches were made by family members, local historians and blue plaque campaigners. Guests included Max Portman, representing the British Society of Sports History. Stoke City sent a message too. Here are a few images from the day.

You can find out more about Frank Soo (who was a teammate of Joe Mercer’s for England) and the campaign to erect a blue plaque to him here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74yg20g378o

You can find out about other footballing blue plaques mentioned on my site by searching on ‘plaque’ below. Here you can read about the blue plaque campaign on the Manchester Corinthian Ladies FC:

Photos from the Corinthians Plaque Unveiling

Frank Soo and Joe Mercer remained friends throughout their lives. Frank, for example, attended Joe’s This Is Your Life.

This is Your Life Joe Mercer

70 Years Ago: Trautmann in Neck Brace

Here’s an image from 70 years ago this month (July 1956) showing Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann in Germany with his wife during his recuperation from his ‘broken neck’ injury in the FA Cup Final. Notice he’s still bandaged and has a brace on his neck and back.

Billy Meredith at 49

Here’s an image of Billy Meredith from March 1924 supposedly from Manchester City’s game at Cardiff City, though personally I think it’s actually from the FA Cup tie at Brighton a couple of weeks earlier. Regardless of which game it’s from Meredith was 49 at the time.

Hyde Road in 1908

Here’s an image of Manchester City’s Hyde Road in February 1908. The game was Manchester City 1 (Blair) Fulham 1 in the FAC played on 22 February 1908. The stand in the background is the Main Stand, which was destroyed by fire in November 1920.

Historic Name That Ground: The Answer

Yesterday I asked if you can name that ground. This image is from the early 1930s. Can you name the ground? The answer is not as straightforward as it should be and proves why historians and others researching football’s history need to properly analyse their material. According to the newspaper this came from the ground is Everton’s Goodison Park photographed in 1933 (keep reading!):

BUT it is clearly not Goodison Park and is actually Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux ground. Like Goodison there were well known stands such as the multispan roof on the right.

The message here is don’t believe everything you read in the papers whether a modern story or one that’s 90 years old! The newspaper that got this wrong was the Daily Express.

If you’d like to look at previous posts showing old grounds then do a search on the phrase Historic Name That Ground in the search box below. Here’s a link to one of the old articles:

Historic Name That Ground – Week 29

Ten Years Ago Today: The New Badge & Pep’s Arrival

Ten years ago today (3 July) the new Manchester City badge was officially launched at the Cityzens Weekend. It was also the formal official welcome for new manager Pep Guardiola. There was a surreal moment for me when I was asked to go on stage to be interviewed about the new badge.

I had been consulted by the club on the history of all of City’s badges, emblems and similar for about a year or so, and had performed a series of talks to fans throughout the consultation period.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/img_2377.mov

This was the most detailed badge consultation had ever performed with fans at any club – sadly too many clubs impose a badge without listening to fans. Doing the talks as part of the consultation helped bring out the stories of each emblem and why it was significant – or not! Understanding why, for example, the red rose was introduced in 1972 following the takeover of the club by Joe Smith & Co. or how the 3 emblazoned lines had always been a part of City’s badge (apart from 1972 and the Swales years that followed) helped some determine what elements mattered most to them.

You can find out more about City’s badge history here:

Manchester’s Emblems

In 2016 I was the warm up act for Pep so it’s a wonder anybody listened. It was a great, positive day for the club and for all of us there. The years since Pep’s arrival have been truly outstanding. We all had hope on this day in 2016 but who’d have thought it would have been as great as it has been?