Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive
Manchester A Football History part 4
This is the third chapter of the 2010 edition of the book Manchester A Football History (Gary James, published by James Ward). As with everything else on this site copyright laws apply. The book is published here for the personal use of subscribers to this site. For any other use please email the publishers at info@manchesterfootball.org
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FA Cup success, football infrastructure and the establishment of Manchester’s footballing identity – FREE DOWNLOAD FOR LIMITED PERIOD
Great news! Following the recent purchase of the original design FA Cup by Sheikh Mansour and my appearance on Football Focus, my academic article on the significance of that success to Manchester has been made free to download for a limited period.
Please use this link to access the academic website and article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970.2014.961378
The Manchester City video I contributed to can also be viewed here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchesters-first-trophy-1904-fa-cup-documentary-63745781
More on 1903-04 for subscribers here:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/01/08/manchesters-first-great-season/
On This Day 1977 – Manchester City and Joe Royle
On this day (11th January) in 1977 Joe Royle ensured Manchester City, wearing their famous red & black striped kit, progressed to face Newcastle United in the FA Cup by scoring the only goal of the Third Round replay at West Bromwich Albion. The first game had ended in a 1-1 draw at Maine Road.
Royle’s goal came in the 19th minute on the snow at the Hawthorns in a game that many people felt should never have started, though City were not going to complain about that once they had control of the match. According to some reports Albion didn’t have a single shot in the match.
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Manchester A Football History part three
This is the second chapter of the 2010 edition of the book Manchester A Football History (Gary James, published by James Ward). As with everything else on this site copyright laws apply. The book is published here for the personal use of subscribers to this site. For any other use please email the publishers at info@manchesterfootball.org
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On This Day 1953 and 1954…
On this day in 1953 Manchester City defeated Swindon Town 7-0 in the FA Cup third round at Maine Road. The goalscorers were Hart (4), Broadis, Cunliffe, and Williamson.
Exactly one year later future Manchester United and Manchester City full-back John Gidman was born in Garstang. Gidman went on to make 123 first team appearances for United and 71 for City. He briefly became a cult hero at Maine Road by stating that City were the only side he would leave Old Trafford for at the time of his transfer in 1986.
Eric Alexander, former Manchester City Chairman Interview (from 2015)
Eric Alexander was a wonderful man who had lived and breathed football, in particular Manchester City and the Lancashire FA for his entire life (he was also a key member of the Isle of Man TT for decades). Sadly Eric passed away in 2019. I met up with Eric often over the years, once travelling across to the Isle of Man where he gave me a personal tour of the island and told me some fascinating tales (maybe I should post some of those sometime?)
Every Manchester City fan should know about Eric and his family – who were key figures at City from formation as MCFC in 1894 through to Eric’s death. So, here’s an interview I did with Eric in 2015, shortly after he celebrated his 82nd birthday in July that year.
If you would like to read the full article and other pieces like this then please subscribe below. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Each subscriber gets full access to the 100+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.
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Football Focus, Colin Bell and the 1904 FA Cup’s Significance
There was an absolutely brilliant, emotional tribute to Colin Bell on the BBC’s Football Focus yesterday by ‘James Bond’ actor and MCFC fan Timothy Dalton. Everyone should watch it. It really was a nice piece.
Plus I was surprised to see myself later in the programme talking about Manchester City and the recent purchase of the FA Cup they won in 1904. The reason I was surprised is that I filmed the piece for MCFC and didn’t think the BBC would bother showing me and would just focus on the trophy itself.
I was delighted it appeared because it was so important the story of the significance of that trophy to Manchester is fully known. It was the point when Manchester became a Footballing City.
The BBC Iplayer has the episode available for the next 6 days. Watch it while you can:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000r753/football-focus-09012021
Manchester A Football History part two
This is the first chapter of the 2010 edition of the book Manchester A Football History (Gary James, published by James Ward). As with everything else on this site copyright laws apply. The book is published here for the personal use of subscribers to this site. For any other use please email the publishers at info@manchesterfootball.org
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can sign up for a year at £20 here or at £3 per month lower down.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time).
Colin Bell Interview/Tribute
I did an interview for the Blue Moon Podcast the day after Colin Bell MBE passed away. It was an emotional morning of course. The guys at the podcast have made the entire interview free to listen to here:
Gary James' Football Archive 