Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day in 1975 Manchester City faced Stoke at Maine Road.
Here for subscribers is a flashback piece detailing what features were in the MCFC match programme that day and game information:
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If you read tomorrow night’s match programme you’ll see (if all goes to plan) my One Moment In Time feature which is an image of Bobby McDonald playing against Watford. So, for this feature I thought I’d republish an article I wrote in 2011 on McDonald. This was first published in the build up to the 2011 FA Cup final. I took a look at the eleven players who made the starting line-up for City’s FA Cup final in 1981. Subscribers can read my feature on left-back Bobby McDonald below.
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Fairly early on in the game between Manchester City and Arsenal the fans of the London club started to sing the old ‘Where were you when you were…’ chant. You’d think they’d know because often City were attracting better crowds than Arsenal. Let’s look at 1982-83 when I experienced my first relegation as a City fan. Back then City were the 4th best supported club (26,789) and Arsenal were 6th (24,153) – see the average attendance table above. City finished in a relegation position and Arsenal were 10th.
The following season Arsenal did attract a better average than City but they were the 5th best supported club in the entire 4 divisions and City were the 6th. In terms of League position Arsenal were 6th and City were 4th in Division Two.
We could talk about the late 1990s but neither club had a ground that could satisfy the demand to see them, so a sell out Maine Road in 1998-99 for third tier City has to compare with a sell out Highbury for title challenging Arsenal.
Since then stadium size has dictated average support but if we go back to earlier decades and assume that Arsenal’s ‘Where were you when you were sh*t’ refers to City heading towards relegation or being out of the top flight then City’s record is impressive overall. In 1965-66 (the last 2nd division season before the 1980s) City averaged 27,739 (10th best in entire League) while First Division Arsenal were the 9th best supported club on 29,036.
We can jump back even further. In the 1920s Arsenal were perceived as a popular club and in 1925-26 they averaged 31,471 – the 3rd best in the League. Where were City? Oh, City who were relegated that season were the 2nd best supported team with an average of almost 32,000. Not much more than Arsenal but the Gunners were 2nd in the League and City were relegated!
The year after Second Division City were the 3rd best supported club and top flight Arsenal were 4th!
The year after that (1927-28) Second Division City were the best supported club in the entire League with 37,468. Where were top flight Arsenal? 7th best supported with 27,434.
It’s all a nonsense but if Arsenal fans, or any other team, want to sing songs like this then it would help if they knew their own history of support.
In 1932 Manchester City and Arsenal faced each other in the FA Cup semi-final. It was the Blues’ third semi appearance in eight years and they would go on to better this stage in each of the following two seasons. This semi was controversial and it had major repercussions for City. You can read the full story (and watch highlights) below:
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As it’s Manchester City v Arsenal here’s a flashback to March 1993 with a connection to both clubs. Back then I travelled to Arsenal’s old stadium, Highbury, to interview the Arsenal manager George Graham, not about the Gunners’ form that season or about a game with City but about his former boss – and Arsenal and Manchester City legend – Joe Mercer.
Joe was the Aston Villa manager who brought George to England many, many years before George had found fame as a footballer and Joe had taken Manchester City to their first European honour. Joe did win the League Cup as Aston Villa boss, but these were not great days for the former Everton and Arsenal playing legend, but he did always feel responsible for bringing George to England (and loved the success he brought Arsenal).
My interview with George had been arranged for Tuesday 30 March 1993 some time in advance but then Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham was scheduled for the following Sunday at Wembley (a highly unusual occurrence at the time!). I expected to get a call cancelling the interview but instead George decided to go ahead with it.
On the day I parked up outside Highbury quite early but as I pulled up I saw George leave the stadium and jump into a car. I was early, so wasn’t too worried. Then I remembered the FA Cup semi-final and assumed that George would be busy with plans. I expected to be told when I entered the marble hall at Highbury that the meeting would be off.
When I spoke with the reception staff they told me to take a seat. They said that George had been called away and so could be a few minutes late (which he was). I was relieved because I’d been convinced he would cancel (it’s happened often with other busy managers).
I sat in reception thinking about the chat and then, a few minutes after we were due to meet, George walked in. He spoke with the receptionist and then came towards me, hand out, saying ‘I’m George Graham’ (I remember thinking ‘I know’ but I did love the fact that he introduced himself). He took me up to his impressive office at Highbury – no other offices at any ground I had been to at that time could match the quality and status of that room.
We then did the interview. It’s not my best – I think I was overawed by the situation – but I was appreciative of George’s time. During the interview Stewart Houston, his assistant, popped in to check something with George (I turned off my recorder) and George ushered him away, telling him that he was busy. Again, I loved this – other managers have sometimes disappeared and not come back but for George he’d set this time aside to see me and chat about Joe Mercer and that’s what he was doing.
Arsenal beat Spurs that weekend so, I suppose, George knew what he was doing but I do remember watching that game on TV thinking that if Arsenal lose I’d never be able to tell anyone that George had spent time being pestered about Joe Mercer when he should’ve been preparing for Tottenham!
If you subscribe to this site you can hear the interview below. I have been researching and writing for a long time and my Joe Mercer book was my third (first published in 1993). I am not employed by anyone and I do not have sponsorship either and so I’ve set up this website to help share my writing and research. The intention is to develop the archive and to provide access to as much of my material as possible over the coming weeks, months & years. Subscribers can already access over 1600 articles/posts including the entire Manchester A Football History book and audio interviews with Malcolm Allison and John Bond.
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Anyway, here’s the George Graham interview:
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I thought I’d give this a mention again because this is likely to be something truly special. There’s a new documentary series going to be made on City and there are lots of City fans involved in the production. As part of the series the production team and MCFC are looking to find 4 generations of living Blues who can tell their stories of supporting City. They want to find fans who can be interviewed that have 4 (or more) generations of living City fans.
There are 4/5/6 generation families who have lost the earlier generations who have interesting stories I know, but the key here is that they need to be able to interview each generation. If you fit the bill and are interested then get in touch. There’s a bit more here:
https://www.mancity.com/news/club/fans-wanted-documentary-series-63861469
You can email families@projectkippax.com if you do have 4 generations of living blues and want to be considered for the series.
They are also looking for film, video, cine camera, mobile phone footage from City over the decades. In some ways the older the better. They want to find stuff that hasn’t been seen before. Obviously, any footage must have your own copyright and not recordings from commercial media – for example, copied from YouTube or other media/social media outlets.
For the film footage email: archive@projectkippax.com
As I said earlier there are City fans involved in the production, some of whom have excellent reputations in the world of media production and have been dedicated match going Blues for decades. I’m also involved.
The first live televised match played between Manchester City and Wimbledon was the Wimbledon victory on Monday 20 September 1993 shown on Sky TV (not City’s first live TV game on Sky though, that was QPR in 1992). Robbie Earle netted the only goal in the 55th minute of the Premiership encounter.
You can read more on that season here:
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DonateOn this day in 1947 Manchester City faced Manchester United at Maine Road. This was a home game for City against their tenants United.
Here for subscribers is a flashback piece detailing what features were in the MCFC match programme that day:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or sign up for a year at the discount price of £20 per year. Why not subscribe for a month and see what you think?
A year ago today (19 September 2023) the reigning European champions Manchester City started their defence of the Champions League at home with a 3-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade. It was one of those games that felt as if City would never score at times, despite immense pressure from Pep Guardiola’s team.
In fact City went a goal behind with a goal those of us in the stadium were convinced was offside (so did the referee’s assistant, positioned in front of the East Stand) but VAR allowed it to stand. The goalscorer was Belgrade’s Osman Bukari, who fired home just before half-time.
When the second half commenced we were convinced the Blues would overcome the deficit and sure enough Julian Alvarez met an Erling Haaland throughball, rounded the keeper and prodded home the equaliser a mere 73 seconds into the second half. Many Blues missed the goal as they were still returning from the toilets and the bars!
Alvarez netted a second on the hour mark when his free-kick from the left evaded everyone and flew past ‘keeper Omri Glazer. Rodri did what Rodri does best when he sent a curling strike into the net after 73 minutes. It was another classic, just like the final in Istanbul.
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-red-star-belgrade-highlights-63830758
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DonateFor those who haven’t seen Manchester City’s match programme yet this season I’d just like to take a few moments to talk about my article this season. This year I’m doing a two page feature called ‘One Moment in Time’ where I select an image from a game, usually connecting the two clubs playing that day, and provide some information or tell a story.
For Ipswich I selected a classic 1981 FA Cup semi final image of fans on the Holte End while for Brentford I dug out an old glass plate image of City at Brentford in 1937 when the two teams challenged for the title.
I’ve already selected the photos and written my articles for tonight’s game with Inter, as well as the Arsenal and Watford games. You’ll have to buy the programmes to see what they are but I’m sure most City fans could guess that the Inter Milan feature will come from a certain major game between the two clubs in recent seasons.
I’m looking for ideas for future games of course, so if there’s a memorable image that you are aware of from a game between City and their opponents throughout this season then get in touch and remind me. It may be an image I’ve forgotten about. I’m trying to ensure these are not always the standard images people have seen. Where possible I want to select photos that are either capturing a moment that typifies City’s long history and great players or is a rare incident that was caught on camera.
Read the City programme throughout the season to see if your favourite City images are there.
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