Author Archives: garyjamesfootballarchive

The 1900s: 1903-1904 The FA Cup

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 9400 (yes that’s right!) word article telling the story of 1903-04 when Manchester won its first major trophy. If you’re a subscriber you’ll need to get a brew before reading this celebration of that season. If you’re not a subscriber then why not?

Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about? Then subscribe and read this series of articles.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: 1902-1903 Maley’s The Man

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 1400 word article telling the story of 1902-03 when Celtic legend Tom Maley became City boss.

Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about? Then subscribe and read this series of articles.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: 1901-1902 Ormerod Ousted

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 1800+ word article telling the story of 1901-02.

Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about? Then subscribe and read this series of articles.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe

More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: 1900-1901 Attendances

The series of features on the 1900s continues today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1900-1901 when Manchester City finished 11th in the First Division (top tier). There were 18 clubs in the division that season. Despite this relatively low position, City were the second best supported club – the highest position either Manchester team had enjoyed up to that point. League champions Liverpool were the 5th best supported club. Newton Heath (MUFC) were still a Second Division club and were 22nd best supported team.

All these figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.

Match programme for 29 September 1900. Manchester City v Stoke

In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.

1900-1901 Average Attendances

AverageTeam
18700Aston Villa
18300Manchester City
16225Everton
15800Newcastle
15000Liverpool
13600Sheff Utd
11525Sunderland
10575WBA
10175Bolton
9950Sheff Wed
9450Notts County
9350Nottm Forest
8375Middlesbrough (2)
8050Derby
6950Bury
6850Stoke
6575Blackburn
6325Preston
5900Small Heath (2)
5900Woolwich Arsenal (2)
5850Wolves
5475Newton Heath (2)
4975Leicester Fosse (2)
4625Grimsby (2)
3725Stockport (2)
3575Lincoln (2)
3125Walsall (2)
3100Burnley (2)
2850Barnsley (2)
2825Chesterfield (2)
2800Glossop (2)
2675New Brighton Tower (2)
2375Burton Swifts (2)
2075Burslem Port Vale (2)
2050Gainsborough Trinity (2)
1850Blackpool (2)

This series of features covers the final years of Ardwick, the birth of Manchester City and the Club’s first national success. Why not subscribe and read every feature?

More on the 1900s tomorrow.

The 1900s: 1900-1901 Cassidy’s Goals

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 1200+ word article telling the story of 1900-01.

Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about?

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe

More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: 1899-1900 First Division

Starting today: A new series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about? Well, now’s your chance to find out. This series covers the period 1900-1910 It starts with the second half of the 1899-1900 season in this 1300 word article:

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe

More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: 1899-1900 Attendances

The series of features on the 1900s starts today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1899-1900 when Manchester City was a First Division club for the first time. They were the third best supported club – the highest position either Manchester team had enjoyed up to that point. In fact City had been the best supported club for the opening months of the season as the heading photo shows (that’s from 20 January 1900).

All these figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.

Manchester City with the Second Division Shield, 1899

In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.

1899-1900 Average Attendances

AverageTeam
19825Aston Villa
16725Newcastle
16000Manchester City
12925Everton
11325Liverpool
11175Sheff Utd
10475Sunderland
8950Notts County
8125Derby
7875Nottm Forest
7700Stoke
7150Sheff Wed (2)
6575Wolves
6475Blackburn
6250Leicester Fosse (2)
6225Newton Heath (2)
6175WBA
5925Burnley
5925Middlesbrough (2)
5775Bury
5050Small Heath (2)
4825Preston
4800Bolton (2)
4125Woolwich Arsenal (2)
4000Glossop
3775Grimsby (2)
3775Lincoln (2)
2950Chesterfield (2)
2875New Brighton Tower (2)
2525Walsall (2)
2400Barnsley (2)
1875Gainsborough Trinity (2)
1675Burslem Port Vale (2)
1650Loughborough (2)
1650Luton (2)
1500Burton Swifts (2)

This series of features covers Manchester City in the opening years of the twentieth century. Why not subscribe and read every feature?

Tomorrow there’ll be a subscriber article on the 1900-01 season in a similar style to those recently posted on the 1890s. Here’s an 1800 article below on Manchester City in the final months of 1899:

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe

More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Berlin Olympic Stadium’s First English Game

Tonight the Euros final will see England play in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. There have been many games involving English teams in that stadium over the decades but the first English game played there was a highly political match played on 19 May 1937. It doesn’t get mentioned as often as it should but I’ve talked about it often over the decades. The match saw League Champions Manchester City become the first English side to play in the Berlin Olympic stadium when they faced a German national 11 – club v country! 

The German national side beat “England’s greatest players” 3-2 in a propaganda led game.  According to the English players there that day, tHe Blues had a morale victory when they refused to perform the Nazi salute. You can read more on this game below.

I am not going to pretend that English football teams making tours of Continental countries do not have a very pleasant time, but at the same time these tours are not picnics.  You are there to play serious football, and you have to go about it in the ordinary businesslike way.”  Sam Barkas, City Captain, 27th May 1937

As Sam Barkas hinted, sometimes end of season football tours are not the fun experience a lot of fans think. Sometimes the tour takes on a whole different meaning.  This is certainly true for the May 1937 tour to Germany.

The Blues, as Champions of England, were invited to play a series of high profile matches across Germany and its neighbouring States.  Although this was a major honour for City it has to be stressed that the whole concept of the tour, as far as Germany’s Nazi rulers were concerned, was to promote Germany’s sporting prowess against the best England could offer.  

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or £20 per year and you then have full access to all items posted in the archive for as long as you subscribe.

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The 1900s: Manchester City

A new series of features starts tomorrow. This series provides a season by season account of Manchester City FC in the early 1900s. Some are 2000+ word articles, others are a bit less, but each adds to the story of how the club evolved. So, if you’ve ever wondered how Manchester found its first major success or wondered about the scandal that rocked the club, here’s your chance to find out. This series covers 1900-1910.

Watch this space tomorrow for details.

Match programme for 29 September 1900. Manchester City v Stoke

Manchester Corinthians Latest

I’d like to give you a quick update on progress…

The book will be published later this year and will include material from every year of the club’s existence with dozens of former players interviewed. I’ve managed to interview women who played in EVERY season of the club’s 40+year existence and these interviews, together with some wonderful photographs, will form the basis of the book.  It will also include the names of every player identified during the course of the research I’ve undertaken over the last decade – in excess of 300 names! – together with details of games played and more.

The story of the club will be told via the voices of the women who played and this will be supported by the most detailed research into the club ever performed. Newspapers, diaries and other literature have been consulted from archives in both the UK and abroad. Exclusive information on the club’s history will be documented here for the first time.

Thanks to all those who have contributed either by telling their story or by ordering the book pre-publication. This means a lot, so thanks for that support.

Nearer publication I will be emailing subscribers to ensure subscriber names, addresses etc. are correct so that no one misses out. If you’ve subscribed watch out for those emails over the coming months.

Thanks to all those who have supported the project. 

One area in which you can help further is by thinking of anyone you know who may have played for the club. I will be including as comprehensive a list as possible of former players within the book and would hate to miss anyone. As some former players may not have been mentioned in newspaper reports, match programmes or elsewhere it would be great if those who were involved could think back and let me know any names who you remember who may have been missed. Every name on the list is being checked against other sources/player memories, so feel free to email me with anything you think may help.

If you’ve not subscribed to the book you can here:

Order: Manchester Corinthians Book

Thanks again,

Gary