Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive

130,000 Capacity Stadium for Manchester City

This is an interesting cutting from 1935 talking about the possibility of increasing Maine Road to cope with the huge crowds that wanted to watch Manchester City play. It may seem crazy today but wasn’t such an odd idea in the 1930s. You can find out more on the story here:

Maine Road 100 – Day 57

A Corinthians Original on TV in the States

This video clip is well worth watching. It’s 92 year old Flo, who was one of over fifty Manchester Corinthians I interviewed for the Authorised History. I absolutely loved seeing this and I’m sure you will too. She’s a true star and pioneer of women’s football, working hard to promote the stories of the Corinthians herself. She’s now living in the States and made the news over there for her dedication to football and for being one of the original Manchester Corinthians. My wife & I have kept in touch with Flo for the last few years since we first chatted. I interviewed her about her time at the club a couple of years ago. She’s one of three originals interviewed for the first edition of the book. Others claimed that no one before about 1953 was around, but there are quite a few sprightly 90+ year olds interviewed for the book who can talk about playing football in the 1940s and early 1950s. Anyway, you can see for yourselves that Flo’s passion for football remains (as does her Manchester accent). She’s an inspiration. Here’s the video:

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Flo’s story is one of over fifty included within the book and this October an updated second edition will be available. If you order before the end of August you can get your name printed in it. For details see:

Manchester Corinthians

Guess Manchester City’s FA Cup Final Shirts: The Answer And More

Yesterday I posted images of early Manchester City FA Cup final shirts and asked ‘which shirts are from which finals’ with a bonus question of ‘can anyone work out the players’ who wore these (no searching on t’internet for matching player numbers please!).’ So here are the answers and further details on these players/shirts.

The shirts and players who wore them are:

4, pale blue, top right – Ken Barnes 1955 FA Cup Final

Unnumbered maroon, top middle – Ernie Toseland 1934 FA Cup Final

5, shiny blue, top right – Paul Power 1981 FA Cup Final

4, maroon & white, bottom left – Ken Barnes 1956 FA Cup Final

Cornflower blue, bottom middle – Sam Cookson 1926 FA Cup Final

8, red/black, bottom right – Colin Bell 1969 FA Cup Final

Notice the two balls on the photographs? They are the 1956 FAC Final ball and the 1969 FAC final ball. All shirts and balls were on loan to the Manchester City Experience (the original club museum set up in 2003) as part of our exhibition.

I’ve got further images and more information on these shirts below but first it’s worth talking about the only City FA Cup final shirts missing when we did this exhibition in the mid 2000s (obviously City have reached multiple FA Cup finals since that time) being 1904 and 1933. We simply could not track down shirts from either final, though we kept getting close to borrowing a scarlet shirt from the 1933 final. We put the shirts together and I took these photos of them.

Here’s a contemporary photo of the 1904 FA Cup final shirt. The player here is James McMahon.

James McMahon wearing his 1904 FA Cup final shirt

The 1933 FA Cup final was the first final to feature numbered shirts (Everton wore 1-11, City 12-22) and City’s shirts were usually described as being scarlet. City had word what they called ‘Lucky Scarlet’ a few times in the previous decade, though it never quite seemed that lucky! Here’s a contemporary image of the 1933 FA Cup final shirt back, worn by Matt Busby, showing the numbering used.

Matt Busby in the 1933 FA Cup Final

The oldest shirt we had on display was Sam Cookson’s 1926 FA Cup final shirt and here’s a close up of the Manchester coat of arms worn on that shirt. This was the first time City had worn the coat of arms in a final (City didn’t wear any emblem in 1904):

Notice the shade of blue too. It’s a darker blue than City were known to wear and was known as cornflower blue at the time. It was a special colour for the final against Bolton. Someone at City must have remembered (or maybe it was the FA) that there had been some comments in 1904 that City’s blue and Bolton’s white were too close in colour. I’ve always found that a bit odd but I guess City didn’t want to take any chances when the two sides met again in 1926.

The 1933 final was scarlet as mentioned earlier and the players wore numbers for the first time but in 1934 numbers were not worn. Personally I’d have thought they’d keep up the idea but maybe someone somewhere moaned about these new fangled ideas like wearing numbers in a similar way to how some moaned when squad numbers were introduced and player names were added. Here’s a close up of Ernie Toseland’s 1934 shirt badge. The shirt was described as maroon and the shorts were revolutionary…. We had an expert from Umbro come to visit and he looked at the shorts (we had Toseland’s full kit on display) and was delighted to see an exclusive design. They contained a diamond shaped piece of fabric stitched in and he told me that this was a pair of Umbro’s ‘crotch resistant’ shorts. He explained more, but whether they gave benefit is open to question.

Here’s Ken Barnes’ 1955 emblem. A more traditional blue but it’s interesting that the away colour of maroon makes its way on to the emblem. I wonder if they thought City would wear maroon at some point when the sew on patch was created?

In 1956 the emblem colour was red with yellow edging (to match the numbers on the back). People often try to suggest yellow is not a traditional City colour but it has been used on plenty of kits, including the numbering in 1956 and as the main colour of the away shirt in 1959-60.

Here’s Colin Bell’s 1969 FA Cup final shirt in front of the old honours board. I believe this honours board is still held in City’s archive somewhere. Maybe we should dig it out and update it. I may post another feature on the board itself another day – people think it’s as old as Maine Road but Bernard Halford had it made in the mid 1970s, just after the League Cup win if my memory is working today!

Here’s the special emblem to mark the 100th FA Cup Final. People get confused about this cup final with some saying it was the Centenary Cup Final (as the emblem does!) or the 100th FA Cup Final. The FA were quite clear at the time – the 1972 FA Cup Final was the Centenary Cup Final (marking 100 years since the FA Cup was established) and 1981 was the 100th FA Cup Final. So City or Umbro got this wrong and if you look at the First Day Cover (below) or any of the match programmes, souvenirs etc. you’ll see they created a special 100th cup final emblem.

I’ve done a lot of research on City’s kits over the decades. There’s lots of comments on them in my books, especially Manchester The Greatest City, Farewell To Maine Road and my City Folklore book. There are also other features across this website. Some only for subscribers and some for all. Why not subscribe (see below) and read all the content on this site? You can subscribe for a month at £3 per month or sign up for a year at £20. Why not try it for a month?

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Guess Manchester City’s FA Cup Final Shirts

In the mid 2000s we set up a FA Cup final display as part of a special exhibition at the Manchester City Experience (the original club museum set up in 2003). We managed to borrow shirts from several star players and their families with the only City FA Cup finals missing being 1904 and 1933. We simply could not track down shirts from either final, though we kept getting close to borrowing a scarlet shirt from the 1933 final.

We put the shirts together and I took these photos of them. So which shirts are from which finals and can anyone work out the players’ who wore these (no searching on t’internet for matching player numbers please!).

I’ll post the answer tomorrow along with a lot more detail about these shirts and the other missing kits.

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Sam Cowan’s Often Incorrectly Reported Quote

Manchester City’s 1930s captain Sam Cowan is often reported to have said something like ‘We’ll be back next year’ to the King when City lost the 1933 FA Cup final to Everton BUT this cannot have been true. So, here to spell it all out is the story… City reached the FA Cup final in 1926 (losing 1-0 to Bolton), and again in 1933 (losing 3-0 to Everton).  Sam Cowan had played in both these games and felt bitterly disappointed with each defeat.  By the time of the 1933 final Cowan was City’s captain and that defeat had hurt him more than the 1926 final.  He hated being runner up and was determined to see the Blues triumph.  He vowed to guide the Blues to glory and promised supporters that City would be back in 1934 to win the trophy.  His promise became a reality and over the years Sam’s promise has become part of City folklore with various publications, including official City magazines and other works, claiming that Sam had told King George V at the 1933 final that the Blues would be back in 1934 to win the trophy.  Sadly, the story has become corrupted and Sam never did make a promise to the King.

So what did Sam say and why did everyone believe he had made a promise to the King?  The Guest of Honour at the 1933 final was the Duke Of York, the present King’s grandfather and the future King George VI.  He attended because King George V was too ill to make the final, and so that simple fact proves Sam could not have made a promise to the King.  

Lawrence Furniss, the City President, told journalists immediately after the 1934 final that Sam had predicted that the Blues would be back twelve months earlier, and he also suggested that Sam had mentioned this to the Duke Of York.  So it’s possible this comment is the one which later became adapted by journalists looking for an even better story.

As an aside here’s a photo of the King at City’s Hyde Road ground in 1920 and Lawrence Furniss is the man stood immediately behind the King:

The King with the Mayor in Hyde Road’s ‘Royal Box’. Notice Lawrence Furniss stood, behind the King. Furniss was a major figure from the 1880s to the 1940s at City.

What is known is that Sam appeared on a newsreel shortly after the 1933 final with Everton’s Dixie Dean where both men toasted each other for the future and Sam stated that he hoped his team, Manchester City, would win the Cup in 1934.  This film was shown across the country and made it clear that Sam wanted to return to Wembley.

In 1934 Sam guided City to a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth.  Apart from Furniss’s comments nothing was said of a prediction by Sam to the King or Duke of York, it was only years later when it was mentioned.  In fact the first time the story was quoted appears to be in 1955 when City’s fifties captain Roy Paul talked of emulating Sam Cowan by guiding City back to Wembley the following year. Books and articles from the period then made the claim that Sam had told the King in 1933 the Blues would return.  Clearly, this was a corruption of the truth, but the story sounded great and future generations accepted this as fact.

Clearly, reaching Wembley in successive seasons was a major achievement for Sam and his team.  Likewise any losing captain is likely to make a statement saying ‘We’ll be back’.  As Sam was not a boastful character it is unlikely he would have said anything more than he was determined to guide his side back to Wembley for what he hoped would be a successful trip.

Regardless of the validity of Sam’s prediction it is clear that Sam was a major influence with the Blues, and he became the first City man to appear in three FA Cup finals while with the club.

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Two)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the first chapter of the book (a 5,000 word section). This focuses mainly on the middle ages up to the early 1800s and talks of the 1608 ban on football in Manchester, Peterloo and leisure activities such as cockfighting and early cricket activity, as well as football of course. There is material in every section of the book that should interest fans of Manchester football, no matter which team you support, or academic researchers/historians.

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Joe Mercer OBE

Today (9 August) is both the anniversary of Joe Mercer’s birth and the anniversary of his death. He was born in 1914 and died in 1990 and I spent several happy hours visiting him in his final years. I also wrote his authorised biography in 1993 (updated in 2010). In 1965 Joe Mercer became Manchester City manager. Until the successes of Pep Guardiola Joe remained City’s most successful boss. Back in 2004 I wrote the following piece for the Manchester City match programme which, for those Blues wondering who Joe was and why he was significant, may help to explain his importance to the club. Enjoy… it starts with the original introduction (and all references to Joe’s family etc, are from 2004 of course).

***

In Search of The Blues considers the life and career of a former City great who sadly is no longer with us, Joe Mercer OBE.  The reason we have decided to reflect on Joe’s life today is that last Monday (9th August 2004) marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of the former City & England manager.  Sadly Joe passed away on the same date in 1990 – his 76th birthday. Joe was City’s manager during the Club’s most successful period, and Gary James, author of “Football With A Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, OBE”, provides a commentary on Joe’s lifetime of achievements.

Why is Joe Mercer so important to this Club?

Joe breathed new life into a club that was struggling to survive.  During the early sixties City had reached a critical level – one director actually suggested the Blues should merge with United! – and Joe’s appointment was one which had to succeed.  Joe brought in a highly enthusiastic Malcolm Allison as his number two and between them they transformed City from a struggling sleeping giant into League Champions, FA Cup winners, League Cup victors and European Cup Winners’ Cup winners. 

The Blues became renowned for their positive approach and swashbuckling style and Joe encouraged everyone to enjoy life at Maine Road.

Without Joe’s arrival in July 1965 it’s very difficult to see how City’s fortunes could be resurrected.

How did his partnership with Malcolm Allison work?

There have been many theories over the years of how the two men worked together.  Many people focus on their contrasting styles – Malcolm the flamboyant one; Joe the fatherly figure – but during the 1990s Malcolm answered a similar question by stating:  “we made it work because we told each other the truth, and we never really fell out.  We had a great relationship.  I enjoyed it all and I think, like Joe, those first five years were the best ever for me.  I think that fortune favours the brave, and I think that sometimes you have to be fortunate where you work and who you work with.  I was very lucky when Joe got the City job, and took me there.  And we started right from the grass roots, right from the bottom and took them to the top.  That is real achievement!”

How does Joe compare to football’s other great managers?

In 1990 Bobby Charlton said he was one of football’s most important figures and added:  “Joe was a great, great person and we don’t say that about many people.  They don’t produce people like him very often.  He was a true great, along with the likes of Bill Shankly.”

Joe’s period as City manager coincided with a number of famous managerial careers – Shankly (Liverpool), Busby (United), Revie (Leeds), Nicholson (Spurs), Stein (Celtic) – and so comparisons should be easy, however each Club was at a different phase in development and it would be foolish to directly compare.  However, it is clear however that during 1967-8 City swept aside the great sides created by his contemporaries and that the Mercer-Allison side won many admirers across the Country because of the style of play and positive attitude.  

In addition to Joe’s time at City he did have some success away from Maine Road and, of course, he managed England for a brief but entertaining spell.

Why did Joe Leave?

Initially, because of Joe’s health problems at Villa, he had anticipated being at City for only a few years.  Naturally, Malcolm was keen to manage the Club in his own right but that didn’t seem possible while Joe was still at the Club.  In 1971 Malcolm was given the role of Team Manager but Joe’s position was less clear.  Power struggles in the Boardroom and various other issues placed Joe and Malcolm in different camps and, when an offer from Coventry came in 1972, Joe felt it was time to move on.  

What was Joe’s managerial record away from Maine Road like?

His first League management role was at Sheffield United.  The Blades were struggling when he arrived mid season and were relegated (1956), however during the course of the next couple of seasons he developed a good cup-fighting side and was offered the Arsenal manager’s job at one point. 

In December 1958 he became the Aston Villa manager and again created a good cup fighting side and brought the Villa Park club the Second Division Championship in 1960.  He also guided them to success in the 1961 League Cup and took them to the final again in 1963.

Sadly, problems at Villa during 1964 caused Joe health problems.  He went to see a doctor and according to Joe some years later:  “He told me ‘It’s either polio or a stroke.’ And as I was leaving the room he called me back and said ‘What about the fee?’  I turned and said ‘well, I must be a bloody bad risk then!”

At the time Joe was also managing the England under-23s and had even been tipped as England manager (August 1962) – that proves how highly Joe was thought of as a manager prior to his phenomenal success at City.

After City, Joe won a manager of the month award at Coventry and took on the role as England caretaker manager during 1974 for 7 games.  His first game in charge saw Kevin Keegan and Stan Bowles – a former player under Mercer at City – both score in a victory over Wales.  Joe was offered the job on a permanent basis but turned it down for health reasons:  “I had the most terrible sciatica.  I was almost a cripple with it.  I was offered the job but I didn’t feel fit enough.  It was as simple as that.”

Why did he join City in the first place?

After his health problems at Villa Joe missed the daily involvement with the game.  He started to report on games for newspapers but reporting was a poor substitute for management.  In 1965 when the City approach came it was a major gamble for all concerned.  Joe was not really fit enough to take on the role immediately and the Club had to think carefully about the appointment.  Joe didn’t think about it for long.  He was desperate to get back into the game and was determined to take on the job.  He recognised the potential at the Club – a year earlier he had stressed he wanted only to take on a job at a progressive, positive club.

His family was not as enthusiastic at first but his wife Norah knew he had to take it on:  “I married a footballer.  I realised he had to go back – it would have killed him hot to.”

Who was his first signing at City?

Ralph Brand, a Scottish international who had scored 128 goals in 207 games for Rangers, was the first signing but it was not a success.  Joe’s second signing was considerably more successful however, that was Mike Summerbee.

What did Joe achieve as a player?

As a player he had enormous success.  With his first club Everton he won the League Championship in 1939 – who knows what else Everton and Joe would have won had war not intervened – while his time at Arsenal saw him win two further Championships (one as captain) and the FA Cup.  He also captained the Gunners to the 1952 final where they were reduced to ten men for a significant part of their defeat by a strong Newcastle side. 

In 1986 when Arsenal celebrated their centenary they introduced many significant and famous players from their history on to the pitch.  According to Arsenal author Keith Fisher Joe Mercer received the biggest ovation of them all.

Joe also had a great England career, and captained the international side during crucial wartime morale boosting internationals.

His popularity was so high he even appeared on magazine covers.  

How is Joe remembered outside of Manchester?

Joe is remembered as a truly great player at both Everton and Arsenal.  Both sides recognise that his contribution to their history is immense while at a national level Joe is remembered as one of the Football League’s 100 legends.  

As a manager, Joe’s record at Aston Villa is not perhaps viewed as positively as it should be, however his time at Coventry (1972-1974) is remembered fondly.  As is his period as England manager.

In 1976 he was awarded the OBE for services to football.

Which team did he support as a boy?

As a boy growing up in Ellesmere Port, Joe was an Evertonian.  However he also had a soft spot for Nottingham Forest and, in particular, Tranmere Rovers as his father, Joe Mercer Snr, had played League football for both sides.  Sadly, he passed away while Joe was still a young boy, but Joe always retained a strong feeling for Tranmere.  In later life he became a regular attendee at Prenton Park.

Did he achieve any notable milestones during his playing and managerial career?

At the age of 35 in 1950 he was presented with the Football Writers’ Player of the Year trophy and continued to play top class football until injury forced him to retire at 39.  Naturally, there were all his trophy successes as a player.

By managing City to the FA Cup in 1969 he became the first man to win both the FA Cup and the League as a player and as a manager.  The first man to surpass this achievement was Arsenal’s George Graham who had actually been brought to England by Joe when he was Aston Villa manager.

In 1970, Joe managed City to the League Cup and ECWC double – this is recognised as the first major English/European trophy double although Leeds did win the Fairs Cup and League Cup (but some leading sides still boycotted this competition at the time) in 1968.

Since Joe passed away have his family retained their love of the Blues?

Definitely, Joe’s 84 year old widow Norah is a regular attendee – she came to the Lazio game last week and is determined to be here today.  She loves the Club and is a very popular presence on match day.  She has also been to the stadium for various other activities including last season’s Hall of Fame dinner and the official opening of the Manchester City Experience in April.

Norah has been part of City life since her husband first accepted the City job.  She is also a keen member of the Merseyside CSA.

Finally, how did Joe view the game during his later life?  Did he still love it with the passion he had as a boy?

Joe tried to keep focus on the game rather than activity off it.  During the 1980s, towards the end of his life, he was asked his views on the problems of the ‘modern game’ and gave a comment which is as relevant today as it was then:

“Football is a great game.  It is all about goals, goalmouth incidents, and end-to-end attacking football.  There is nothing wrong with the game; plenty wrong with managers, players, directors, legislators, and the media.  Football has been very kind to me and I really mustn’t complain so can I leave you with this thought – The object of playing any game is for enjoyment.  If you have enjoyed it and done your best you have won no matter what the result!”

Manchester City’s First Overseas Born Player

Although most Mancunians were unaware at the time, one of the players with Ardwick AFC (Manchester City’s predecessors) was actually the first overseas international to play in the Football League.  Walter Bowman was born in Canada during 1862, and arrived in the British Isles in August 1888 as a Canadian international.  

The Canadians were playing a number of friendly fixtures against sides in Ireland, Scotland and England, and they even faced Newton Heath winning 2-0 with Bowman scoring.  Whether this appearance was witnessed by any of the Ardwick officials at the time isn’t known, but Bowman returned to Canada with his team mates shortly afterwards.

A second tour followed in 1891 – including a 3-1 Ardwick victory on 12th December 1891 – and Bowman remained behind after the rest of the Canadians had returned home.  He joined Accrington, making his debut in January 1892.  That match made him the first overseas international to play in the League and on 25 August 1892 he signed for Ardwick.  He didn’t manage to make his Ardwick debut until 18 February 1893 when he scored as Crewe were defeated 3-1.

Bowman became a Manchester City player when the Club was re-established and he remained with the Blues until the close season of 1900, with one of his most significant matches being the 11-3 record victory over Lincoln on 23rd March 1895, although Bowman failed to make the scoresheet.

After City little is known of Bowman’s life.  An article in April 1929 talked of a reunion in Toronto of the touring side but Bowman did not attend.  It was believed he was living in the USA in a copper mining city in western Montana called Butte, but he was never traced.  No matter what the final resting place of Bowman, his place as the Football League’s first overseas player means his name will never be forgotten.

Weaver

On this day (8 August) in 1998 Nicky Weaver made his Manchester City debut at home to Blackpool.  City won their first match in the third tier of English football 3-0.  The attendance was 32,134.

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