Category Archives: FA Cup

United’s First Homecoming Led By City Man

This is an important photo of Manchester United’s first homecoming parade in 1909. The Reds had won the FA Cup and City director Albert Alexander (senior) was asked by United to lead the homecoming parade. City had won the same cup in 1904 and Alexander had led that parade, so the decision was taken to show continuity between the two trophy successes (the first for each club).

Alexander is the man who supplied the carriages and horses and can be seen on this photo holding the reins in between manager Ernest Mangnall and United star Charlie Roberts.

I met and interviewed Albert’s grandson Eric quite a few times over the years – on one occasion Eric took me on a tour of the Isle of Man where he lived and where he acted as an official in the island’s famous TT races. Eric was a wonderful ambassador for City and football in general. He was rightly proud of his family’s direct involvement in the fortunes of City from the 1890s through to the modern era. Eric’s grandfather held almost every position at the club, including acting manager in 1925-26 (taking City to Wembley) and Eric’s father, Albert junior, was chairman when City achieved tremendous success in the 1960s and early 1970s. Albert junior had been a programme seller back in early 1900s too!

Eric was chairman after his father and had to make way for Peter Swales in 1973. You can read more on the Alexanders across this site (use the search or tags).

United and City were close throughout the lives of both Alberts with Matt Busby once asking Albert junior to be a director at Old Trafford (he declined saying City was his club). A seat was reserved for Albert junior at every United home game.

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Any Train Experts Able To Help?

About twenty years ago I was given this photo of a train dressed to take Manchester City to the FA Cup Final. The person who gave it to me was certain it was from 1904 but someone else suggested 1926. Personally I have no idea whether it was either year but hopefully someone out there can help. Is anyone able to work out whether the train itself would’ve been around in 1904 or 1926? Obviously, the year of construction could help identify the year the photo was taken. Any help appreciated.

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Billy Meredith at 49

Here’s an image of Billy Meredith from March 1924 supposedly from Manchester City’s game at Cardiff City, though personally I think it’s actually from the FA Cup tie at Brighton a couple of weeks earlier. Regardless of which game it’s from Meredith was 49 at the time.

Hyde Road in 1908

Here’s an image of Manchester City’s Hyde Road in February 1908. The game was Manchester City 1 (Blair) Fulham 1 in the FAC played on 22 February 1908. The stand in the background is the Main Stand, which was destroyed by fire in November 1920.

The Span of Success: Will This Change This Month?

Every year, once the domestic season ends I update the table showing the English clubs’ span of success – i.e. the number of years between a club’s first major success (FA Cup, League, League Cup, major European trophy) and their most recent. Here’s the table as it stands today (17 May 2026) after Manchester City’s success in the FA Cup. Obviously, there’s a chance for Arsenal (currently 11th), Aston Villa (7th but could be top if they win their European final) and Crystal Palace (just on the table following last year’s FAC success but could rise above those other ‘one major trophy’ clubs) to move up the table this month.

2026 Span of Success (as of 17/5/26, after FAC final)

Even if Arsenal do win the League or Champions League this year they’ll only rise to ninth as they didn’t win a major trophy until the 1930s.

For comparison purposes here’s the table after the 2023-24 season ended (see below). Notice the moves up the table of Spurs and Newcastle in recent seasons:

As I always say, the span of success does not show how many trophies each club has won nor does it show how frequently that club has experienced great eras of success, but it does demonstrate how wrong those people are who believe certain clubs were unsuccessful until recent years, or those who think certain clubs have always been giants. The column on first major success helps to show when some clubs first became trophy-winning significant (often after transformational investment too!).

I know clubs focus on their financials but winning a trophy has longevity, gaining the odd Premier League place provides a bit of extra cash now but no long term kudos. Winning a trophy attracts new fans and brings money-spinning opportunities too. Look at how winning the FA Cup has helped Palace this last year or so.

If I was a supporter of any of the major clubs who have not found significant success in recent decades then I would absolutely want my team to go for whichever cup competition seems the most likely to win. That’s what I always wanted from Manchester City before they were able to compete for the League again. Winning the FA Cup in 2011 helped everything that followed happen – it gave confidence and a trophy winning mentality.

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An Interview About Joe Mercer

Fifteen Years On: 2011 FA Cup

Today (14 May 2026) marks the 15th anniversary of Manchester City’s 2011 FA Cup final success over Stoke. There are so many angles to that first major success of the modern era for Manchester City and it is impossible to cover them all here. Elsewhere on this website I talk about the 2011 FA Cup run, especially that semi-final win over Manchester United. If you’ve not heard it have a listen to this:

Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final

Today I’ll focus on the final itself with a lengthy article on the final below. This is a subscriber article. It costs £3 a month to subscribe OR take out an annual subscription at £20 (works out about £1.67 a month). All subscribers get full access to everything throughout their subscription.

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Southampton v Manchester City: The First Meeting


Tomorrow sees City and Southampton meet in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley . The first ever meeting between these clubs was a FA Cup tie in 1910 (5 February) and this image is from that very first meeting. City won the tie 5-0 with goals from Jimmy Colin, George Dorsett, Tom Halford, Billy Lot Jones and George Stewart. Here’s a contemporary report of the game:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/img_8537.jpeg

15 Years Ago: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final

On 16 April 2011 Manchester City faced Manchester United in the FA Cup semi final. Five years ago I produced Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final and I think it’s well worth listening to today to get a feel for how significant this game actually was. This special 1 hour audio recording looked at the game and the years between City’s 1976 League Cup success and the FA Cup glory of 2011. The 2011 semi-final was a crucial step in City’s journey since the 2008 takeover and I felt it was vital to do a special marking this.

So what’s in this special recording? Well, I’ve included exclusive material from interviews and recordings I’ve done over the years with Garry Cook, Brian Marwood, Roberto Mancini, Peter Barnes and Peter Swales.  Why Swales? Well, have a listen and you’ll hear why. Basically though I’m trying to set the tone for why the 2011 FA Cup semi final victory and overcoming Manchester United was so significant.

On Mancini… I include a few words from him recorded in 2011 and at one point he talks about the view that was then being expressed that City were ‘trying’ to buy success (now they say City ‘have’ bought success!). His words are a reminder that City have been having that particular criticism thrown at them for over a decade! Oh well, I wonder how long those criticisms were laid at other clubs who had seen major investment which propelled them forward?

Anyway, get yourself a brew and be prepared to be transported back in time. Here’s the recording:

If you enjoy the recording then please let me know, comment or subscribe to the site. If it’s of interest then, over the coming months and years, I’ll produce others like this highlighting key points in Manchester City – and Manchester’s – footballing history. It costs £20 a year to subscribe (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe (you can always try it for a month). It’s worth bearing in mind that the 2010 Manchester A Football History cost £24.95 and all subscribers will be able to access all of that for as long as they are a subscriber (plus all the other stuff of course). You can subscribe below.

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Match Stats for the 2011 FA Cup Semi-final

City 1-0 United (HT 0-0)

Yaya Toure 52

City: 25 Hart 04 Kompany (yellow card), 05 Zabaleta (yellow card), 13 Kolarov, 19 Lescott, 11 Johnson (Wright-Phillips 79), 18 Barry, 21 Silva (Vieira 86), 34 De Jong (yellow card), 42 Y Toure, 45 Balotelli (yellow card). Substitutes 12 Taylor, 38 Boyata, 07 Milner, 08 Wright-Phillips, 24 Vieira, 10 Dzeko, 27 Jo

United: 01 Van der Sar, 03 Evra, 05 Ferdinand, 15 Vidic, 22 O’Shea (Fabio Da Silva 84), 13 Park Ji-Sung, 16 Carrick, 17 Nani, 18 Scholes (red card), 25 Valencia (Hernandez 65), 09 Berbatov (Anderson 74). Substitutes 29 Kuszczak, 12 Smalling, 20 Fabio Da Silva, 08 Anderson, 28 Gibson, 07 Owen, 14 Hernandez

Referee: Dean

Attendance: 86,549

Manchester City Women: The First Game After Relaunch

On this day (April 13) in 2014 Manchester City’s women’s team played its first competitive game after the relaunch. It was a FA Cup tie against Reading played at the Regional Athletics Arena. 

Here for subscribers is a section of Manchester City Women: An Oral History discussing that opening game:

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The 1933 FA Cup Semi Final – Manchester City v Derby County at Huddersfield

On this day (18 March) in 1933 Manchester City faced Derby County in the FA Cup semi-final at Leeds Road. Here for subscribers is the story of that day, including images, a match report and film of the game. Enjoy!

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