Category Archives: FA Cup

Manchester City Women: Ten Years Ago

On April 13 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. As with the first game as Manchester City Ladies back in November 1988 I was there for this first game as Manchester City Women.

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

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My new book on an earlier pioneering team, Manchester Corinthians, will be published this summer. You can order that now and all pre-publication orders will have the purchaser’s (or another) name printed in the book. See:

Order: Manchester Corinthians Book

If you would like to buy Manchester City Women: An Oral History a limited number of copies are available direct from me (I’ll sign them) via:

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Manchester City V Ipswich Town FAC Semi

On this day (April 11) in 1981 John Bond’s Manchester City faced Bobby Robson’s Ipswich in the FA Cup semi-final. Here’s a piece I wrote for the Times a few years back on the significance of the game for both teams.

Subscribers can view the article and all others on here (including the entire Manchester A Football History and a PDF of my first book). It costs £20 a year (works out about £1.67 a month) or join up a month at a time for £3 and you can sign up below. Thanks.

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100 Years Ago Today: Meredith’s Last Competitive Game

Here are some images from Billy Meredith’s last competitive game on this day (29 March) in 1924. these are great images of the general scene. The match was a FA Cup semi final between Manchester City and Newcastle at Birmingham City.

Subscribers can read more and watch film of Meredith’s last game here:

Billy Meredith’s Last Game: 1924 FA Cup Semi

The 1990s: Spurs, The Umbro Stand, Swales Out and That Pitch Invasion!

Today’s 1990s flashback is from this month in 1993. It’s actually the 7 March 1993 when Manchester City faced Tottenham in the FA Cup Quarter-Final at Maine Road. It was a day that saw the media express shock at the behaviour of City’s fans when they invaded the pitch during the tie with Spurs.  They condemned the supporters without understanding the background story.  To put the record straight it’s vital the day’s events are covered correctly.  Here for subscribers is the full story of that game, including quotes from Niall Quinn and Peter Swales (from my interviews with them in the years since that day…

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If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and the audio interview with John Bond) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (see below).

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If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and the audio interview with John Bond) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here).

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100 Years of a National Crowd Record for MCFC!

Today (8 March) marks the centenary of a record Manchester City set on this- the record is the highest attendance on a club ground! Happy 100th anniversary! The record set in 1924 saw 76,166 attend City v Cardiff. City had moved to their new Maine Road stadium in August 1923. The capacity of the venue was estimated at around 90,000 but was actually approximately 83,000 when the stadium opened (it was enlarged in 1931 and 1935).

In its first season the capacity was tested and, on this day (8 March) in 1924 the largest attendance for any footballing fixture (including three FA Cup Finals) in Manchester gathered to watch the Blues. This was also, at the time, the record crowd for any game played on an English club ground. It was beaten ten years later when 84,569 watched City v Stoke – so It’s 100 years of this record for the Blues!

You can read about the remarkable day in 1924 below:

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You can read about the attendance that brought this record (again by City at Maine Road) here:

A National Record – 84,569

Other record crowd articles can be seen here:

Welcome to Gary James’ Football Archive

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This has been a sample of the material on http://www.GJFootballArchive.com If you would like to read all the in-depth articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and the audio interview with John Bond) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Each subscriber gets full access to the 260+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.

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Five in the FA Cup

Last night (27 February 2024) Erling Haaland became the third Manchester City player to score five goals in a FA Cup game when he faced Luton. The two previous players to achieve this feat were Frank Roberts (see link below for video of the game he scored 5 in) and Bobby Marshall. Marshall’s five came in a FA Cup replay at Swindon on 29 January 1930 when City won 10-1. The attendance for this Tuesday afternoon match was 46,082 – a remarkable figure for an afternoon game in the days before floodlit competition.

Here are a couple of reports of that game (the second contains the goalscoring times/sequence):

Here’s the story of Frank Roberts’ five:

Maine Road 100 – Day 91

Of course Denis Law had scored 6 in a FA Cup tie v Luton but these were wiped from the records:

FAC Draw a Reminder! Law’s Expunged Six

For Haaland there were a few records/points to note:

  • He is regarded as the first player to score five or more in the FA Cup (1st round onwards) since Duane Darby scored 6 for Hull v Whitby in 1996-97.
  • He is the first to score five or more for a top-flight club in the FA Cup since George Best scored 6 for United v Northampton in 1970.
  • He is the first to score five against Luton for City since Denis Law in 1961 when Law scored 6 but all were wiped from the records as the game was abandoned.
  • This is the second time Haaland has scored five goals in a game in his senior career, previously doing so for City against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in March 2023.
  • Since his debut for City in July 2022, Haaland has scored 79 goals in 83 games in all comps, 30 more than any other Premier League player in the that time (Salah 49).

Luton v MCFC: Story So Far!

It’s Luton v Manchester City in the FA Cup tonight. The two sides have met on 7 previous occasions in the competition with City winning 4, drawing 1 and 2 ending in defeat. There was also the famous expunged game where Denis Law netted six. ‘Expunged’ – what a great word! For anyone wondering, it means wiped from the records. So none of those six count in either Law’s goals record or City’s, but it is a game that often gets remembered.

You can read about that one here:

FAC Draw a Reminder! Law’s Expunged Six

Other fixtures include…

Paul Cooper saving a penaly:

Saving a 56th Penalty: Paul Cooper

Both sides pay their respects following the death of a monarch (interesting to note that that weekend’s FA Cup games went ahead as scheduled. Over 65,000 watched City defeat Luton 2-1 at Maine Road).

Royal Reactions (part one)

Of course, Luton played their part in one of the most infamous end of season games in 1983. I won’t put a link here to that but do a search if you’re interested as there’s plenty on my website about that day!

The full record for Manchester City against Luton prior to tonight’s game is:

CompetitionPlayedWonDrawnLost
League37141211
FA Cup7412
League Cup6321
European0000
Other0000

FAC Draw a Reminder! Law’s Expunged Six

It’s interesting that yesterday (28 January), the day Luton Town were drawn at home to Manchester City in the FA Cup, was the anniversary of one of the most remarkable FAC games between the two clubs. On 28 January 1961 Denis Law’s six goals for 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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If you would like to read this and the blog’s in-depth, longer articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe below. It’s £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (cancel anytime). Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything posted during your subscription.

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The 1970s: In the Event of a Replay…

Today (29 January) in 1977 Manchester City faced Newcastle United in the FA Cup 4th round at St James’ Park and the local newspaper in Newcastle published this information for fans about how to get tickets for a potential replay. Back then replays would be played midweek of the following week, often on Tuesdays in case further replays were required.

As you can see from this cutting a replay was scheduled for the following Tuesday (if needed) at 7.30pm. The cheapest tickets available were 70p for Kippax terracing with seats at various prices.

In the end a replay wasn’t needed as City defeated Newcastle 3-1 with goals from Gary Owen, Joe Royle and an own goal from Craig.

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The 1970s: Book’s Blues Going To The Moon?

We often think that January transfer speculation is a modern phenomenon but back in the 70s it was a ‘thing’ too. Back then the transfer deadline was usually in March but FA Cup defeats or even challenges often led to speculation that players would be moving on. On this day (18 January) in 1975 it was reported that Manchester City boss Tony Book was so fed up of transfer speculation that he expected to hear that a couple of his players were off to the moon! City had been knocked out of the FA Cup and it’s possible that prompted all the speculation.

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If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.

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