On this day (28 March 1953) Frank McCourt, Billy Spurdle and Ken Whitfield each scored as Manchester City defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 at Maine Road. The attendance was 27,127. You can read more on this period for Manchester’s Blues with the following 2,000 word article on the 1952-53 season. Enjoy!
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Good luck to Manchester City in tonight’s women’s Champions League quarter final second leg at Chelsea. Fingers crossed the 2-0 first leg is enough (or can be added to!).
On this day (27 March) in 1926 the first all-Manchester FA Cup semi final occurred. You can see film of that game here and subscribers can read about the match below. Here’s the film from Bramall Lane:
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Here’s film of the FA Cup semi final from this day (26 March) in 1955 when Manchester City defeated Sunderland 1-0 at Villa Park. Roy Clarke was the City scorer. Enjoy: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/59403/
This series on Manchester City in the 1950s includes free items and items only available to subscribers. If you’d like to find out more on the 1954-55 season then subscribe and read the following 3,400 word article on it. It’s a season when City reached the FA Cup final and Don Revie was FWA Footballer of the Year.
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It was one of those crazy Manchester City days in the 1980s (and you can see film of it below!) when City travelled to Walsall for a League game on this day (25 March) in 1989. That day every one attending the match had real value for money when Nigel Gleghorn replaced the injured Andy Dibble in goal. City were 2-0 down when Dibble collapsed in agony with a groin problem. Gleghorn put on the green shirt and helped the Blues to fight back with David Oldfield – the fifth most expensive City player up until that point at £600,000 – scoring his first goal for the club. Paul ‘Golden’ Moulden equalised and then, early in the second half, he scored again to bring a 3-2 lead. Gleghorn made a couple of good saves and even kicked superbly to keep the pressure off City but then a ridiculous out of character back pass from Oldfield gave Walsall opportunity to score, and the game ended 3-3.
The substitute ‘keeper was certainly the man of the match, winning applause from both sets of supporters after being stand-in for around an hour. You can see highlights here (wonderful commentary from the Walsall video commentator too). City had the away section behind the goal on the right and the covered paddock opposite (right). I was stood in the paddock behind the row of stanchions. Notice the bananas too:
Subscribers can read a series of articles covering the 1980s – a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. The 1988-89 article is a 4,100 word feature below. Enjoy!
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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.
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.
There’s been a lot of promotion of the Manchester Corinthians recently with talks at libraries, bookshops and football supporters clubs; articles at Manchester City; in United We Stand and interviews on various stations including this one on BBC Radio Manchester (after 30 mins): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kw7hxd
Of course, the best way to find out more about the Corinthians is to read my new book. Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages (hardback).
It is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
On this day (24 March) in 1951 Manchester City defeated Leeds United 4-1 with goals from Johnny Hart (image is of Johnny, but not from that game), Jimmy Meadows, George Smith and Dennis Westcott. The attendance was 35,149.
If you’d like to read more on this season, then her’es a 1,500 word article on the 1950-51 season. Enjoy!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
On this day (23 March) in 1968 came a game between two title challenging teams – Leeds Utd and Manchester City. The view was that this game could knock City out of the title race if it went Leeds’ way. So what happened? Here’s film of the game:
You can find out more aboutthe potential impact of this game by reading this subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1967-68 season. If you’d like to read this 7,600 word article (yes, 7,600 words on one season!), plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.
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Today (22 March) in 1958 Manchester 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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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
Women’s football grew at a phenomenal rate in the 1940s and early 1950s in Manchester and on this day (22 March) in 1949 it was reported that the Manchester Corinthians had gained 18 new players in a month. In addition it was claimed that: ‘one of the biggest crowds seen around there for a long time’ had gathered at Fog Lane Park, Didsbury to watch a game between two full women’s teams. It was anticipated that the final Sunday in March would see the Corinthians have three complete teams ready for action at 2pm. The sport was growing and you can now find out the facts (not the fiction!) about this incredible team in my new book. Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages.
It is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
Gary James' Football Archive 