Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Starting tomorrow a new series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1920s. Some of these will be free to read by everyone while others will only be available to those who subscribe to the site on a monthly or annual basis. The 1920s was an important decade for Manchester’s Blues with title challenges, FA Cup finals and stadium moves.
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Always a controversial question but back in the early 1900s there was only ever one answer and that was Manchester City who were often referred to as simply ‘Manchester’ in official publications for both City and their Manchester rivals. Here’s an image of the title section of the official programme which directly references ‘Manchester’ (meaning City) and Newton Heath.
Obviously, as there was no Manchester United then I guess it was inevitable that City would be known as Manchester to some. It just surprises me that an official publication for both clubs would use ‘Manchester’ so regularly. Presumably both clubs were happy with this. So if anyone asks ‘which club is Manchester? then the one both were happy to call Manchester must be in with a big shout!
On another topic… notice the opportunity to have your flask filled up at City’s headquarters, the Hyde Road Hotel, before the match? Imagine if that option was brought back at the Etihad!
In September 1924 the Manchester City match programme referred back to City’s welcome at Arsenal (Arsenal game was played on 1 September 1924). Apparently in the Arsenal programme City were described: ‘The Citizens have established an unfading popularity in London, and for more years than we care to recall they have upheld the best traditions of the highest class of football.’
It’s great to read how City were viewed back then, especially as in the last decade or so some connected with the London club have tried to imply City have ‘no history’ or little connection to the period before Arsenal won a major trophy (Arsenal’s first major trophy came in 1930; City’s first was in 1904). Views change over time of course.
Notice the use of the word ‘Citizens’ too. Often clubs, including City, used that nickname for the Blues.
If you’d like to know more about Manchester City in the 1920s then have a read of this subscriber article on the 1924-25 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you are not currently a subscriber then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
Here’s the article:
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It’s Wolves x Manchester City this weekend. There are plenty of features on games between the two clubs on my site such as this one… On 22 March) in 1958 City pulled off a surprise draw at eventual champions Wolves. The odds had been against City getting a point with the football world of the time assuming Champions-elect Wolves would easily defeat City. Amazingly, City took the lead after a mere 14 seconds. Here’s a description of the goal (it was an own goal! Is this the earliest own goal ever?):
Here’s the rest of the match report:
To find out more on this period in football then why not read my series on Manchester City in the 1950s. Here’s a 2,200 word article on the 1957-58 season. Enjoy!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
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I noticed on Twitter/X that this video of mine of Rico Lewis celebrating Manchester City’s 2023 Premier League success has been retweeted hundreds of times in only a few minutes. As I’m travelling today I didn’t know why but soon investigated and found the news that he may be leaving City.
I don’t know anything more but hope he stays. Regardless of what happens it is a nice reminder of the joy Rico demonstrated on the day of City’s Premier League success.
Georgi Kinkladze scored the first penalty at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light when he equalised in the 75th minute of Manchester City’s 3-1 defeat on Friday 15 August 1997. Earlier that night former Blue Niall Quinn scored the stadium’s historic first League goal.
While you’re here, why not subscribe and read an indepth article on the 1997-98 season? The article is almost 9,500 words long – there’s so much to say! Some people write entire football club histories that are shorter than that. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with many other subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 9500 word article on that season:
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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DonateIf you’re interested in women’s football or in football in Trafford or Manchester then get your self a brew, settle down and enjoy this video of my talk. It was part of my work on the #WEuro2022 Heritage Lottery funded project and my long standing project into the history of women’s football in Manchester. Here goes:
This talk on the history of women’s football was staged at the National Football Museum a few years back. The talk lasts about 47 mins. Enjoy!
The history of women’s football in Trafford is documented in the new book on women’s football I’ve co-edited. You can find out more about that here:
My work on the Manchester Corinthians continues and you can find out about the Authorised History here:
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:
When Billy McNeill joined Manchester City in 1983 he commented on how surprised he was at the number of post-match media reporters there were at games. Apparently, the volume was much higher than he’d expected and similar comments were expressed three years later when Alex Ferguson experienced his first press conferences at Old Trafford. Back in the 70s and 80s no matter what division the Manchester clubs were in (City were second tier in 1983) there was considerable media interest. Back then there was a strong Manchester newspaper scene with northern issues of most national newspapers produced in the city, often filling their sports pages with the latest from City and United.
This photo shows Billy in the centre of a post match press conference. I wonder how today’s managers would react to this style of meeting with the journalists. Nowadays similar press conferences appear to be organised more formally. Anybody recognise the journalists?
You can read more from Billy McNeill’s early days at City in the following 2,500 article on the 1983-84. It’s called ‘Fish Supper’ because manager Billy McNeill said City were so skint at the time that they could hardly buy a fish supper! Sadly, the purchases were often funded out of the money City had received for their talented young defender Tommy Caton who joined Arsenal.
Subscribers can read a 2,500 word feature on the 1983-84 season below. Enjoy!
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If you missed the season features on the 1980s then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
On Saturday 2 August we managed to stage another wonderful free event celebrating the pioneering Manchester Corinthians women’s team. This included a film show, talk and (most importantly) interviews with 6 Corinthians covering every era of the club’s existence. There were other Corinthians in the audience plus Wayne Murray (representing his mum and auntie – Elaine & Shirley Orange), Issy Pollard (Doncaster Belles & England) and Dennis Tueart (Manchester City, Sunderland and England).
Keeping to the best traditions of the Corinthians this free event also raised funds for the Hebden Bridge Women’s walking football team – several players were in attendance wearing their football shirts too.
Hebden Bridge was important to some of the recent promotion of the Corinthians’ stories. It was here in 2021 that I first publicly announced the idea of erecting a blue plaque. That was at an earlier free event and this year’s free event at the Hebden Bridge Picture House completed the journey to some extent. Thanks to the cinema for all their support too.
The film shown was by Imprint and one of the people behind it, John Tueart, was also present. Imprint have made their film free to download too so please watch the following and share the link widely ( let’s get everybody talking about the Corinthians). Here’s the link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AWsGr3G_izE
Thanks again to all who attended, especially those who donated money for the local walking football team and those who bought the book (£5 from every book sold also went to the local team). Please keep spreading the word. Here are a few photos from the event:
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