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:
Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive
Post-Match Press Conference 1980s Style
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!
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or there’s a special annual rate of £20 below which gives access to everything posted since December 2020 and works out much cheaper.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
If you missed the season features on the 1980s then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Thank You
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:
Home in Barnsley
On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
England’s First… Gladys Aikin’s Role
It’s wonderful that England have won, once again, the Women’s Euros. It’s so important for moments like this to be celebrated and recognised for the significant achievement they are. During recent weeks much has been said about the first England women’s international against Scotland back in 1972. That’s great – the history of women’s football in this country goes back a long way – however I am a little disappointed that the role of one significant figure in the development of international football has not really been mentioned. That’s he role of Gladys Aikin, the first chair of the England Women International Committee.
Gladys was the manager of the Manchester Corinthians and she was one of the founding people behind the establishment of the Women’s FA. She was also someone who challenged the FA a ban and in the early 70s she worked with others to establish an England international team. She became the first chair (though she always described herself as Chairman using the convention of the time) of the England Women International Committee and was ultimately responsible for that first England squad (see letter).
I’ll be mentioning Gladys during the Free Corinthians event I’m staging at Hebden Bridge on Saturday 2 August (4pm-6pm) so why not come along and hear more on her and the Corinthians? Follow the link for tickets and details:
1983: Jack Charlton & Brian Clough Tipped For MCFC Management Role
On 8 June 1983 it was reported that both Jack Charlton and Brian Clough were possible for the vacant manager’s position at Manchester City. The Blues had been relegated the previous month, leading to the dismissal of caretaker John Benson. Benson had been appointed following the departure of John Bond in January and Benson was a reluctant manager – basically he’d been told that he either took the job or he’d be sacked from his assistant manager position!
Ultimately, Billy McNeill became the City boss. Notice the comment from Swales about resigning – as I’ve often said it was down to his supporting directors that he remained in charge for as long as he did!
You can read all about the 1982-83 season for City in this 3,500 word subscriber feature. Enjoy (well, if you know the outcome of this season you can enjoy this memory refresh while reflecting on the modern day successes of the Blues!).
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
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.
Subscribe to get access – Annual
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.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1983-84 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Opening of the Gilford, County Down MCFC Supporters Club
Here’s a cutting from 23 June 1978 reporting on the official opening of the Gilford branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club by Ken Barnes and Ian Niven. From my notes I understand the branch is now the oldest affiliated MCFC supporters club branch in Northern Ireland but I’m happy to be corrected if that’s not the case. Is there anybody mentioned in the article or on the photograph still involved with the supporters club? Feel free to let me know.
Bert Whalley Plaque Reveal
On 27 July in 2021 I attended the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating the life and career of Bert Whalley at Stalybridge Celtic. Whalley is one of Manchester & Tameside’s unsung footballing heroes. Bert passed away in Munich, a victim of the air crash in 1958. The unveiling was performed by former United captain Bryan Robson and Bert’s granddaughter Lindsay Vare.
Several former United players were there, including Tony Whelan who had given a one hour talk to United’s under 23s about Bert. It’s great to see clubs educating their current/future stars about the names from their past.
Special recognition to Mark Metcalf for his efforts ensuring the plaque happened. Mark’s been responsible for organising several blue plaques over the last decade, including one for Joe Mercer in Ellesmere Port.
For those interested Bert Whalley’s plaque is situated at Stalybridge’s Bower Fold ground and can be viewed on the exterior of the main stand.
To read about Bert’s life see:
Action Shots of Blackburn v Manchester City From Over 100 Years Ago
The quality isn’t great but here are some images from Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Blackburn on 21 February 1914. City’s scorers were Howard and Joe Cartwright.
Ardwick v Everton under Floodlights in 1890
It wasn’t the first game under floodlights for Ardwick (Manchester City’s predecessors) but it was a significant occasion when on Monday 10 March 1890 the club played Everton under lights at Hyde Road. This match report describes the game. Notice that not much is said about the lights themselves. That’s because it wasn’t the first occasion the club had played under lights in Manchester and those reading the report would be expected to know what Well’s patent lights were due to the features that had been written previously.
People often talk of the 1950s as being the birth of floodlit football but, of course, like many things in football’s history there had been firsts decades earlier.
On 14 October in 1953 the first game under floodlights at Maine Road took place, Manchester City 6 Hearts 3. Here’s an article about that period and City’s first formal floodlighting system, including a photo from the actual game and another report.
Subscribe to get access
If you’d like to read this article then why not subscribe? The £20 annual subscription works out about £1.67 per month. Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides annual subscribers with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
Gary James' Football Archive 