On this day (26 September) in 1946 goalkeeper Alec Thurlow signed for Manchester City with the hope that the young ‘keeper would be a permanent replacement for Frank Swift. Sadly, Alec was forced to retire from the game in 1950 through tuberculosis. He went on to have major surgery with seven ribs removed. He also had a collapsed lung. Alec died in a sanatorium at the age of 34 in 1956. You can read more on Thurlow here:
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Three days after making his Manchester City debut in a League Cup tie with Leicester (22 September 1965, 3-1 City win) Stan Horne made his League debut for Joe Mercer’s Blues. The game, played on this day (25th) in 1965 ended in a 1-0 City win over Derby County at Maine Road. The scorer was Jimmy Murray.
Horne had previously played for Mercer’s Aston Villa too.
Here’s a great article and photo of Manchester City’s undersoil heating at Maine Road. It gives some background to what was a revolutionary pitch system when installed in the 1970s. Back in 2002 I interviewed former chairman Eric Alexander about it and he explained that it had been his idea to install a Swedish system. The idea came when he was in Sweden on business and noticed that the offices where he had a meeting had a heated car park. He thought that if that could be achieved with a car park imagine what could be done with a football pitch. He contacted the company and the rest was history.
There’s more on the system and its installation in my 2003 book Farewell To Maine Road, including the regret that the system was installed relying on pipes running lengthways, i.e. end to end. According to Bernard Halford this meant that the full pitch had to be heated even if only one goal was frozen. ‘It was too expensive when we were financially stretched,’ claimed Bernard, although the money that came from TV was significant. Often City’s games were played when other games were postponed and City frequently ended up on TV when games at Bolton, Oldham and other northwest clubs were postponed due to frozen pitches.
Subscribers can download a PDF of Farewell To Maine Road here:
Today (23 September) marks the anniversary of the takeover of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour. It was on this date in 2008 that the legal transfer occurred. People often focus on transfer deadline day (1 September) when the news first broke but negotiations continued throughout the month until everything finally was signed on this date. For those interested, the image comes from Ian Herbert’s article on 23 September 2008 talking about the takeover. A couple of days before this I was invited in to talk to Khaldoon Al Mubarak about City’s history. I’ve since talked about this at supporters meetings and maybe one day I’ll post the story of it here.
If you’d like to find out more on the extraordinary 2008-09 season then why not subscribe and read this 11,300 word article on it (below) – not much happened that year did it? As always, this includes material from exclusive interviews I have performed with various figures associated with the club over the years. The article, like everything else on this site is under copyright and cannot be posted elsewhere without my express permission.
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Forty Years Ago Today (23 September 1986) David White made his debut for Manchester City. It had been a strange 24 hours after manager Billy McNeill had left the club for Aston Villa. White was the latest of City’s FA Youth Cup winning team to make a first team appearance and the Manchester Evening News report highlights him a little.
If you’re interested in knowing more, here’s a 2,500 word feature on the 1986-87 season for subscribers:
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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.
The revised and updated edition of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will be published at the end of November 2026. Anyone ordering before 10 October will be able to get their name printed in a special roll of honour at the back of the book, as well as receiving the book before it appears in any shop. So order below if you want to take up this offer.
As with the first edition this book will be non-profit. The book builds further on the original book, viewed as a landmark publication. Income from the book will continue to be used to promote these remarkable women; stage events for them and capture their stories for posterity. Over fifty Corinthians were interviewed for the first edition and others have been found and interviewed for this updated version. This includes additional Corinthians from the 1940s, adding to the three founding Corinthians interviewed for the first edition. Their voices are so important to the story of this remarkable club.
I’m determined to ensure all Corinthians are remembered so please also get in touch if you’re a Corinthian who may have slipped through the net somehow.
Order before 10 October 2026 and you will get your name published within a special roll of honour within the book and it will be sent out to all subscribers on publication late in Novmeber 2026. This will be before it appears in any shop. Sadly, due to postage costs the book can only be posted to UK addresses. You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button below and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
UK ONLY – one copy of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History 2nd edition (paperback)
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This is for one paperback book at £19.95 ()incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
UK ONLY – one copy of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History 2nd edition (paperback)
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This is for one paperback book at £19.95 ()incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
£19.95
Opportunities to buy multiple copies, sponsor the book or donate exist too. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com for more information on those opportunities.
Note: the cover is currently being redesigned and is likely to be different to the ones shown here.
On this day (22 September) in 1959 Manchester City’s Cup final hero Bobby Johnstone returned to his former club Hibernian after 50 goals in 137 first team appearances for the Blues. Here are a few details on him and a quote saying he was better than Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney & others. Enjoy…
At the start of that season there had been indications that 29 year old Johnstone was nearing the end of his Maine Road career. He had made only 18 League appearances and scored four goals during the 1958-9 season and, although he was vital in a number of games, City were beginning to look to a future without him. Les McDowall had already started looking at a nineteen year old striker playing for Huddersfield. He appeared to offer a great deal, the only problem was the price. City would have to pay a considerable amount to sign the young, exciting forward. His name? Denis Law. It would take McDowall some time to sign the youngster, but as the close season began he considered City’s strengths and weaknesses. City was in a period of transition. Old campaigners like Johnstone were on their way out. Indeed he left for a fee of £7,000 on this day in 1959.
Later Roy Warhurst, the City half-back signed from Birmingham during the 1957 close season, described the Scotsman as the greatest player he ever saw: ‘Johnstone was the greatest footballer I ever played with or against. I was 29 when I came to City and I’d seen all Britain’s best. But there was nobody to compare with Bobby, when he felt like turning it on. Not even Carter, Doherty, Finney, Billy Steele or Matthews. They couldn’t touch him.
‘My first game for City was a tour game in Holland. Bobby was brilliant. As the locals cheered him off the park I kept thinking “this is some great outfit I’ve joined.” It was the greatest display I’ve seen from any player that night.’
It is widely known about Bobby’s goals in the 1955 & 1956 FA Cup finals but here’s a couple in a thrilling game v Newcastle in 1957. City lost 5-4 but it’s well worth watching for the drama of it all. Look out for the crowd scenes, especially the exaggerated acting by a lad after about 1min 25 seconds who spills his drink!
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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 sixth chapter of the book (a 10,000 word section). This focuses on the earliest Manchester entrants in the FA Cup, as well as Ardwick AFC and Newton Heath.
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Here’s a cutting from the City match programme in October 1938 with a letter from the son of 1890s City star Fred Williams who was reporting his father’s death to the club. Williams made his debut on 28 November 1896 and went on to play 129 games for the club scoring 38 goals. He was only 63 when he died. You can read about his debut season below…
This is an article on Manchester City in 1896-97 and is available to subscribers:
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It’s City v Sunderland today. the first meeting between these clubs was a 2-1 City win in December 1899. The legendary Billy Meredith scored one of City’s goals that day. There have been cup finals, charity shield games and key matches in the League. Many of these are featured on this site. Here’s a link to all the articles tagged Sunderland:
