Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (9 December) in 1922 Manchester City defeated Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Hyde Road. This action shot from the game shows Blackburn threatening the City goal. The stand in the background is the Popular Side at City’s former home 102 years ago today.
If you enjoy these daily snippets why not subscribe and access all the other great content on here. For details:
On this day (8 December) in 1989 the captain of Manchester City’s 1936-37 League title success died. The captain was defender Sam Barkas, who had been born in December 1909. Here’s a profile of this legendary figure who also played for Bradford City and Workington.
SAMUEL BARKAS (1934-47)
Defender, 5ft 9in, 13st. 7lbs, b. Wardley, 29 December 1909, d. Shipley, W.Yorks, 8 December 1989
Signed from Bradford City, 20 April 1934 (£5,000)
Transferred: Workington player-manager, May 1947
Career: Middle Dock, Thorndale, Barnes Rovers, Bradford City, City, Workington Town
Debut v Liverpool, 2 May1934
Appearances: League: 175 apps. 1 gl; FA Cup: 20 apps. 0 gls; Charity: 1 apps, 0 gls Wartime (League & Cup): 75 apps. 3 gls; Total: 271 apps, 4 gls.
Captain of the great 1936-37 Championship winning side, Barkas was a stylish left back who joined the Blues for £5,000 from Bradford City in April 1934 shortly before the FA Cup final. Naturally, he was unable to play at Wembley but did manage to play in the final two League games that season. In fact Barkas was to miss only one of the first 68 League games played after his arrival as he quickly proved his value with many outstanding performances.
One of the first players to create positive play from defensive positions, Barkas became renowned for always trying to create attacking opportunities and even managed to score a goal himself – to bring a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the 1934-5 season at West Bromwich Albion.
As the decade progressed Barkas became an England international and a major figure in Manchester. Sadly, the war interrupted his career as he was in his prime – he was 29 when war broke out – and when football returned on a professional, national basis Barkas was almost 37. Nevertheless he managed to guide the side to the Second Division title and appeared in 33 League matches during 1946-7. His last appearance came on 14th June 1947 (City’s latest ever finish) when the Blues defeated Newport County 5-1 with all goes coming from George Smith.
He later became Workington Town manager and also had a spell on City’s scouting staff.
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (8 December) in 1998 the infamous Auto Windscreen Shield tie between Manchester City and Mansfield Town took place. It’s okay we can talk about this now that City are treble winners!
It was a competition City did not want to be in and it was a fact known across City’s supporter base. They also knew that a weakened team would be played and, to be frank, we were mostly full of apathy for the competition. The League was the only competition that mattered that season.
For the record future Blue Lee Peacock scored twice for Mansfield – a 53 minute penalty and another three minutes later – before Danny Allsopp scored City’s consolation in the 74th minute. If you want to relive that game (why would you?) here’s a match report from a Mansfield based newspaper:
On this day (7 December) in 1957 Ken Barnes (pictured here with Don Revie and Johnny Williamson) became only the third person to successfully convert three penalties in a Division One/top flight game, as Manchester City defeated Everton 6-2. Albert Dunlop, who later became a City scout working for Barnes, was the Everton ‘keeper that day and Barnes remembers facing Dunlop for each attempt: “I stuck one to the left, one to the right and he was so confused by the time the third award arrived that I could have back-heeled it in!”
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (7 December) in 1972 Manchester United secretary Les Olive, acting on behalf of the club, sent a letter to all First and Second Division clubs informing them that the Reds would like to receive offers for George Best. The letter shown here is the one sent to Manchester City.
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (6 December) in 1945 the legendary Manchester City forward Peter Doherty (described as the greatest Irish footballer of all time into the 1970s) was transferred to Derby County. A few years back I wrote this profile of him.
Subscribers to my site can read the article below:
If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and my audio interview with John Bond for example) then please subscribe. 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.
On this day in 1921 the FA banned women from playing football on FA affiliated grounds. A century later, in December 2021, I staged a talk at Hebden Bridge on this ban. The night was sponsored and supported by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared Ltd. It was a wonderful night and lots of attendees asked about the future and what they could do to help promote the stories of the women who played at a time when the FA tried to kill female participation in the sport. Well, after that night a lot has happened to recognise the Manchester Corinthians.
As part of my longstanding project into female participation and involvement in football in Manchester I have been researching and writing Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. This hardback book will be out soon (it’s at the printers).
A lot has been written on the Corinthians (see the section on women’s football on this site for a few examples) but not nearly enough, plus there are some inaccuracies out there that the book will correct (even now there are some that keep on being repeated – including both the start and end points for the Corinthians!). Basically, this team possessed a talented group of players who toured Europe and South America promoting football, female endeavour and Manchester.
I talked quite a bit about Corinthians at Hebden Bridge that night in 2021 and we were fortunate to have four Corinthians as guests that night. Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd, Lesley Wright and Gail Redston between them covered around 42 seasons of activity at the club.
I’ve been tracking down the names of other Corinthians to include in the book. It is now being printed with over 350 names. Earlier this year I had found 230 names, so a lot has been achieved. See:
The Hebden Bridge night was significant.That night I mentioned my idea of having a plaque erected for the Corinthians in a significant/related location in Manchester. Several members of the audience thought this was a wonderful idea and asked if they could support the wider promotion of the Corinthians – one more or less suggested we should march on Downing Street to persuade them to do something about it!
In 2019 I’d written articles for a variety of publications suggesting the same and urging the FA and others to recognise the Corinthians. In the Manchester City men’s match programme as well I highlighted my desire to get a plaque erected about their achievements.
Via Manchester Council I was put in contact with the Friends of Fog Lane Park and we ultimately set up a successful appeal in their name. The FA made a significant donation which funded the plaque and our fundraising efforts raised enough to allow the Friends to commission 2 murals and other tributes to the Corinthians as well.
Those present at Hebden Bridge in December 2021 helped raise the profile and that event was significant in highlighting the incredible achievements of its female footballers. Now, the authorised history of the Corinthians will tell the story of the club from its birth right through to the blue plaque appeal. It will use the voices of the women who represented Manchester and England in a positive manner and who won trophies in South America & Europe and who toured North Africa. They won a significant European competition before either Manchester men’s team yet their achievements were not recognised by the city until the blue plaque appeal started.
I am immensely proud of how this has all happened. The event at Hebden Bridge was free to attend and was made possible by the support of a locally based business, Cansquared (Geoff Matthews – who co-hosted the evening). We felt it was vital we made this free to attend to spread the word.
If anyone runs a bookshop, library or key Manchester venue and would like a Corinthians event then please get in touch. I’d be happy to promote the club and the book of course. The more we can do to promote their story the better.
Thanks for reading this. If you would like to find out more about the Corinthians then follow the tabs on this site or use the search function. If you’d like to know more about the FA Ban then you can download for free an article I co-wrote here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2021.2025415
You can find out more on the Corinthians book here:
A few copies of my book on Manchester City Women are still available. This tells the history of City Women via the voices of the women (and some men) involved. The book has been heralded as a model for oral histories by the Oral History Society.
Here’s a link you can follow to order a signed copy of the City Women book:
On this day (5 December) in 2020 in front of an official crowd of zero (these were the days when no fans were allowed to attend due to Covid) Raheem Sterling (5th minute) and Kevin De Bruyne (penalty after Sterling had been brought down) gave City a 2-0 victory at home to Fulham. You can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-2-0-fulham-extended-highlights-63742795
On Monday (2 December 2024) we had a wonderful celebration for the Manchester Corinthians – the incredible women’s team that toured the globe promoting football, Manchester and female endeavour. If you couldn’t join us then here are a few video clips and photos of what was a truly special day.
We’ll start with my welcome speech, explaining the significance of the Corinthians and welcoming a room of around 90 people…
Next two Corinthians who have been consistent promoters and advocates for the club over the years (decades, actually!): Margaret Shepherd and Anne Grimes. Margaret starts with thanks to Gary James for his efforts and then Anne reads her poem about legendary Manager Percy Ashley. Well worth listening to:
And now a special video. It starts with 90 year old Mary Bee speaking after receiving her copy of the Armstrong Projects North West Football Awards 2024 Special Recognition Award and ends with the Corinthians singing their anthem. An absolute must see!
A few key points from yesterday’s event:
Women from the pioneering women’s football team Manchester Corinthians held a reunion at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium on Monday (2 December 2024). In attendance were over 80 people, including over forty women who played for the club between 1948-49 and its final days over forty years later.
Several players in attendance were in their 80s and 90s, playing for the club in its formative years. This included women who participated in trophy winning tours across Europe and South America during the fifties, sixties and seventies.
The Corinthians raised significant amounts of money for charity during their existence, while also promoting football and female endeavour at a time when participation in the sport was often frowned upon.
During the 1950s, playing as an unofficial England side, the Corinthians won a major European tournament in Germany and were supported on their travels by legendary Manchester City men’s goalkeeper Bert Trautmann.
In 1960 they found success in an unofficial ‘World Cup’ (officially the first ‘Torneo Internacional De Futbol Femenino’) in Venezuela as part of a significant tour of the West Indies and South America. Former player (outside right) Margaret Whitworth, who was present at the reunion, remembers: ‘We were treated like film stars. There were crowds everywhere we went. Playing in front of 56,000 was thrilling and the way women’s football was treated was so different to how it was back in England at the time. Here we had to play on park pitches or at other sports grounds, but there we played in major football stadiums.’
The reunion was organised by Dr Gary James who has been researching and promoting the Corinthians’ story for a decade. In recent years he led the project to erect a blue plaque to the team and later this month his book on the club, Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History, will be published. For the first time it tells the story of the club from formation through to its final game. Many of the Corinthians present at the reunion have been interviewed for the book, which is destined to become the definitive story of the club. Their achievements deserve this recognition. More on the book here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/order-manchester-corinthians-book/
Organiser Gary James, a Research Professor at New York University, commented: ‘This remarkable football club gave opportunities for women to play at a time when women’s football was banned by the FA. They toured the world but, more importantly, they played a part in developing women’s football for over forty years. Their players and officials created competition and helped to change the way women’s football was governed. Some of their players are still coaching and developing teams today. For several years I’ve wanted to help them gain recognition, not simply for one high profile moment, but for over seventy years of activity. The reunion was my thank you to all of them for what they achieved for football and Manchester.’
During the late 1960s the club’s management played a leading role in the creation of the Women’s Football Association. Both the Corinthians and their sister club the Nomads were founder members, and their manager Gladys Aikin became a member of the governing body’s committee. In fact, Gladys oversaw the Women’s FA international committee which instigated the first official England international team in 1972. Corinthian Jean Wilson played in the historic first official international and she was present on Monday too. Gladys’s daughter Carol, a former goalkeeper with the Corinthians and a Women’s FA Cup winner with Fodens, was present at the reunion as memories of Gladys’s time were discussed.
Those attending the reunion talked fondly of the club’s original manager Percy Ashley, who was the driving force when the Corinthians toured the globe, winning tournaments and raising significant amounts for charity. After his death in 1967, the Corinthians continued to play and former players present on Monday remembered how, in the 1970s, they were frequently coached by the Manchester City 1956 FA Cup winner Dave Ewing at City’s Platt Lane training complex.
Many of the Corinthians present went on to become players with Manchester City’s women’s team during its inaugural season of 1988-89. This includes Lesley Wright who continues to find success as the England Over 60s walking football captain. She also coaches women’s football at Stockport County, continuing the Corinthian influence through to the modern day development of the sport.
About Manchester Corinthian Ladies Football Club
Manchester Corinthian Ladies FC was an English football club founded during 1948-49. Its driving force was manager Percy Ashley. At this time the FA ban on women’s football using FA affiliated grounds was in place (from 1921; lifted in 1970). During the inaugural seasons the Corinthians played friendlies and in small scale competitions in the UK, but during the mid to late 1950s they embarked on a series of European tours.
Their fame grew and they received invites to play across Europe, in Africa and in South America. Occasionally playing as an unofficial England side in tournaments (these were the days before there was an official England team), they found success often, becoming the most successful women’s team by some distance.
Under the management of Percy Ashley, followed by Gladys Aikin and then George Aikin, the Corinthians were important representatives of women’s football, both internationally and domestically, always contributing to the game’s growth and development.
The club spawned sister clubs, including Dynamo Ladies and the Nomads, who were also successful and often accompanied the Corinthians on tour and in competition. Both the Corinthians and Nomads became founder members of the Women’s Football Association.
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
This book is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and will consist of over 350 pages. It will be illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). All orders received before publication (late December) will be sent out on publication.
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.
£25.00
On this day (3 December) in 1951 cult goalkeeping hero John Burridge was born. 43 years and 147 days later he appeared for Manchester City’s first team and became the oldest player to appear in the Premier League. You can read more about the 1994-95 season here:
Gary James' Football Archive 