Recently this card was shown to me. It’s a memorial card commemorating Manchester United’s victory over Blackpool in the FA Cup final. The football funeral card business was huge at one point and, in the days of football half-half friendship scarves, was a somewhat macabre way of providing a souvenir of a game. I’ve written a lot on these in recent years and here’s an article I posted a short while ago:
It’s great to see the 1948 card pictured above and it adds to the view that these continued into the 1950s. People have written that the trend for doing football memorial cards died out after World War One but in my article I explain how it continued for decades. It was also a prominent activity with a variety of people profiting from it. Manchester was one of a number of centres for the activity and cards were printed in the city for distribution at games across England.
On this day (29th January) in 1955 –goals from Joe Hayes and Don Revie give Manchester City a 2-0 victory over Manchester United in the FAC in front of 74,723. Here’s the story and film of that game (some great footage here!).
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Today (28th January) in 1961 Denis Law’s six goals for Manchester City against Luton in the FAC were wiped from the records when the game was abandoned. City were winning 6-2. Here for subscribers to the blog is the story of that game and the ‘typical City’ replay that followed.
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On this day (24th January) in 1970 Manchester City and Manchester United met for the fourth of five meetings that season. This game was in the FA Cup and the following article tells the story of that game and includes highlights of the match.
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Here’s film from this day (23 January) in 1932 of Manchester City playing Brentford at Maine Road. The 1930s was a good era for both clubs – in fact Brentford challenged City for the 1936-37 League title. The game shown here is a FA Cup tie at Maine Rd in front of 56,190.
The game is the second on this film and starts after about 1 minute 25 seconds. Watch out for some lads obviously playing up for the camera at the start of the City-Brentford clip. My favourite is the lad who larks around with his coat (below image).
There’s also a cracking City goal right at the end of the clip. Enjoy!
On Monday I asked: ‘Can you name the ground featured in the image above? This is tough because it doesn’t give much away, although the curve in the terracing may help.’ I also gave the following clues:
This image was taken in 1922 as the ground was being prepared for a major event; the venue is still used by a leading English club.
The answer is Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. The image was taken as they were getting the ground ready to stage the 1922 FA Cup final.
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I had planned to run ‘Historic Name That Ground’ only during the close season as in previous years, but it’s proving of interest so I’ll keep it going for a little while yet. If you have an old image of a ground that you think it’d be worth including in this weekly quiz then please get in touch. They don’t have to be from the 1900s to 1960s – even ground images from the 70s and 80s may prove a challenge to identify these days. You can email me at gary@GJFootballArchive.com Thanks.
The night (May 23 2011) after beating Bolton 2-0 in the final Premier League game of the 2010-11 season, Manchester City staged their first official homecoming victory parade since 1976. Here’s the story of what happened in the stadium for fans who couldn’t be there.
Here for subscribers is the story of that parade and City’s celebrations…
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On this day (May 18) in 2019 Manchester City defeated Watford 6-0 at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final. This equalled the record score achieved in the final by any team.
It’s the 40th anniversary of the 1981 FA Cup final today (May 9) and ten years ago, as we looked forward to Manchester City appearing in the 2011 FA Cup final, I was asked by the Manchester Evening News to write profiles of the eleven players who started the 1981 final.
For the last few days I have been posting these profiles, one a day, free to read here. These will only be free to view until May 16, so please take time to dig them out and read them while you can. Thanks.
Here’s the last of the eleven (appearing here as it was written in 2011)…
As we look forward to the 2011 FA Cup final, Gary James takes a look at the eleven players who made the starting line-up for City’s last FA Cup final in 1981. Today, goalscorer Tommy Hutchison.
33 year old Scottish international Tommy Hutchison became a cult hero for the Blues. A dedicated, consistent and skilful professional, he was also superbly fit.
Earlier he played for Alloa and Blackpool before signing for Coventry in 1972. It was an inspired purchase by former City boss Joe Mercer, who had been a fan of the player’s for some time, shortly after he had left Maine Road. Hutchison was later voted the greatest Coventry player of all time.
John Bond also recognised the player’s strengths, signing him for City eight years later: “I said I’ll give you £400 a week, which wasn’t the best wage in the world. His attitude was good and he signed without making a demand.”
Hutchison’s arrival helped City enormously. Bond: “There isn’t a City supporter anywhere who says anything but good about Tommy Hutchison. He was absolutely tremendous, and became a real star. He made everything happen. He was a revelation. I know people say this kind of thing a lot but he was a different class. I always enjoyed having him in my side.”
Hutchison of course played his part throughout the Cup campaign. In fact frustration had seen Everton’s Kevin Ratcliffe sent off for head-butting the City man in the 85th minute of the quarter-final. In the subsequent replay Hutchison created two goals within the space of three minutes.
In the 29th minute of the Wembley final, Hutchison dived to head a centre by Ranson. The diving header flew past Aleksic’s left hand from some distance out. It was the 150th goal scored in Wembley F.A. Cup finals.
As the game progressed City looked certain winners, then ten minutes from full-time Spurs had a free-kick. Ardiles tapped the ball to Hoddle, who curled it around City’s defensive wall. Corrigan was certain he had the shot covered but Hutchison, who had dropped back behind the wall for the free kick, somehow got in the way. The ball hit his shoulder and was diverted across goal for the Spurs equaliser.
Goalkeeper Joe Corrigan walked to a disconsolate Hutchison, lifted him up, patted him on the back and tried to encourage him: “My view was that we still had a few minutes left. We’d been on top for most of the game. We could still win. I also knew that what had happened to him could have happened to any one of us. So I just told him to “get up, get on with it. It’s only 1-1 and we are still going to win!” He was devastated to be fair, but we did almost win it in the dying minutes.”
That own goal guaranteed Hutchison a place in Wembley history as the first player to score for both sides in a FA Cup final – it even became a question in the Board game Trivial Pursuit – but it never changed how fans viewed him. He remains one of the Club’s biggest heroes, even though his time at City was ultimately too short. Hutchison was one of the biggest reasons why the Blues had reached Wembley, and the goal was simply an unfortunate incident, albeit a very important one.
A year after Wembley, Hutchison’s role as a stabilising force was over and he was transferred to Bulova (Hong Kong).
At the age of 43 he received a special merit award from the PFA to mark being the oldest player in League football while appearing for Swansea.
In 2011, Hutchison heads up Bristol City’s Football In The Community Scheme. It’s a role he has enjoyed for over a decade: “The great thing is seeing some young kids, who I first met 8 years ago when they were trouble waiting to happen, change. One even pulled a knife on me once. It’s great to see that our work has really made a difference.”
My biography of Peter Barnes is now available to subscribe to. Order by May 15 and you will receive a copy signed by me & Peter, the book posted to your home address before it appears in any shop AND your name printed in the book. Order (and more details) here:
On this day (May 9) in 1981 the 100th FA Cup Final took place between Manchester City and Tottenham.
Here for subscribers is a long read on the build up to that game, the final and the post-final scenes. It contains material from interviews I have performed over the years with Dennis Tueart, John Bond and Joe Corrigan. There are also a few quotes that may surprise readers of what discussions took place after the final.
Here goes….
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