Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive

Roy Cheetham

Roy Cheetham was born in Manchester on this day Manchester born (21 December) in 1939. He joined Manchester City from school in 1956 and went on to become a loyal clubman over a 12 year Maine Road career. In total he made 138 (plus five as sub) League and cup appearances, but he also made a staggering 218 Reserves games for the Blues.  Sadly, Roy passed away on 8 December 2019. I met up with him at City’s stadium shortly before Christmas 2004 for an interview. Here for subscribers is that interview. He talks about his City career, moving to Detroit to play in the American soccer league of the time and more:

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Hyde Road Action Photo

Here’s an action image I found while researching about thirteen years ago of Manchester City v Preston North End played at Hyde Rd on 20 December 1913. That day a crowd of about 20,000 watched as the two sides drew 1-1 with Tommy Browell scoring for Manchester’s Blues.

50 Years Ago Today: Tony Henry

Tony Henry signed professional forms for Manchester City on this day (20 December) in 1974. You can find several articles that mention Tony throughout this website. Start looking here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/tony-henry/

A Convincing Manchester City Win

On this day (19 December) in 2021 Manchester City (the Premier League leaders) defeated Newcastle 4-0 at St James’ Park. City were on a run of seven consecutive league wins but this was not the easy, walkover the score suggests.

Ruben Dias scored an early goal with the second coming from Joao Cancelo – an incredible strike. In the second-half, a Riyad Mahrez volley made it 3-0 and the fourth came from Raheem Sterling.

Here are the highlights:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/newcastle-united-0-4-manchester-city-extended-highlights-63775519

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Season’s Greetings 1982

Here’s a nice Christmassy themed programme cover from today (18 December) in 1982. If you’re wondering City’s sponsor was SAAB and this was the first season of shirt sponsorship at Maine Road.

The day’s opponents were Brighton and the game ended 1-1 (Kevin Bond scoring for the Blues). Bond is the player on the far left of this photo. Notice Joe Corrigan (far right)… I get the impression he’s muttering ‘what is the game coming to? Cars on the pitch… there’ll be referees sat in a room miles away awarding a penalty after a perfectly good save is judged to be a foul, by someone sat watching a telly next!’

If you want to know more about this period then why not subscribe? As well as all the other benefits you could read the following 3,500 word feature on the 1982-83 season. 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!).

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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.

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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.

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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

The first League Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Manchester United

Today (17 December) in 1969 a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford was enough to send Manchester City to their first League Cup final. Manchester’s two top flight clubs met in their first ever League Cup tie between them during the 1969-70 season. That was the first season when all 92 League clubs entered the competition.

Here, for subscribers, is the background to each of the 1969-70 semi-final legs and a report on each game with lineups, attendance details etc.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Subscribing gives access to all the articles posted so far, including a PDF of the book Manchester A Football History

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Manchester City 2 Crystal Palace 2

On this day (16 December) in 2024 Manchester City’s last competitive game before appearing in the Club World Cup ended in a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace. City’s scorers were Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis and you can see highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-crystal-palace-extended-highlights-63838348

Manchester Corinthians Book

A reminder that the Corinthians book can be ordered now for posting out on publication (before it appears in any shop). The latest date we have suggests the book will be ready for posting out to all pre-publication orders between Christmas and New Year.

The book will be similar in style to Manchester City Women: An Oral History, published five years ago. However, there is one major difference, this book will be hardback.

The purchase price is £25. Ordering before publication guarantees that the book will be posted to you before it is sent to any retailer. All pre-publication orders will also be signed by author Gary James.

Those with a delivery address in the UK can order here (outside UK please contact for additional postage costs):

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

You can find out more on the book here:

Manchester Corinthians

The First League Manchester Derby

With the latest League Manchester Derby occurring this weekend it seems appropriate to remember the first ever Manchester derby played in the Football League. The match between Manchester City and Newton Heath was played at City’s Hyde Road ground today in November 1894. You can read the story of the game (with all the stats, background etc.) here:

The First Manchester Derby In The League – 1894

Red Star Belgrade 2 Manchester City 3

On this day (13 December) in 2023 goals from Micah Hamilton (a debut goal!), Oscar Bobb (his first for City) and Kalvin Phillips brought City a 3-2 victory at Belgrade. You can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/match-highlights-red-star-2-3-man-city-63838096