Doing anything next Wednesday (12 February)? I’ll be doing a free talk on the Manchester Corinthians at Tameside Local Studies and Archive Centre, Cotton Street East, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 7BY at 2pm. Anyone can attend but, the Tameside archive centre encourage attendees to book in advance by either emailing archives@tameside.gov.uk or calling 0161 342 4242. If people decide to attend on the day, that is absolutely fine of course.
Here’s the blurb about the event:
The pioneering Manchester Corinthians women’s football team was established during 1948-49. They toured the globe promoting the sport, Manchester and female endeavour at a time when women’s football was banned by the Football Association. Many Corinthians were from Tameside and several still live in the borough today.
Experiencing tours to Portugal, Germany, South America, North Africa, Italy, France and Spain during the 1950s to 1970s, the Corinthians also played a significant role in overturning the FA ban, establishing the Women’s FA and creating regular competition domestically and internationally.
Gary James will be discussing their history, talking of the challenges they faced and the club’s achievements during a 40+ year existence. In 2019 Gary established a campaign to erect permanent tributes to the players and his authorised history of the club was published in January 2025. He has been attending and researching women’s football since the 1980s.
Gary has captured the stories of women who played for the Corinthians throughout its history, including three women in their 90s who were there at the start in 1948-49. A couple of the Corinthians are anticipated to be present at the talk.
Copies of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will be available on the day at a discounted price of £20 (RRP £25).
You can find out more on the Corinthians’ book here:
On this day (February 3) in 1990 Manchester City and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. The derby became remembered as the ‘Wellied It!’ derby. Here is the story of that day with quotes from an interview I did with Ian Brightwell a few years ago. He explains how the ‘Wellied It!’ phrase came about and why he said it. Enjoy….
Howard Kendall’s City arrived at Old Trafford for the return derby match on February 3 1990. So much had changed since September when Mel Machin’s City had defeated Alex Ferguson’s United 5-1 and so the game was always going to be a difficult one to call. As the Blues were now supposedly a better side it is true to say most City fans eagerly awaited this particular match. Disappointingly, United only gave City 600 seats and 4,500 terrace tickets, although even that was considerably more than in the years that followed. The eventual attendance was only 40,274 in a stadium holding a minimum of 48,000, as many disenchanted United fans stayed away.
Although there were noticeable gaps in the United sections, the paddock in front of the Main Stand appeared full of City supporters. They were later joined by Blues evacuated from the Stretford End and estimates from impartial observers suggested there were around 12,000 City fans in the 40,000 crowd.
The match was the 100th meeting in the First Division and commenced with City tearing into the Reds as they had in September. The Blues were actually two points better off than United in the League and the difference in position prompted City fans to chant “Fergie in” to annoy the home contingent… Football humour, hey?
Squandering some early chances, City looked the more composed overall but when Clarke missed a sitter some fans still muttered about Everton rejects (it had been a thing ever since Howard Kendall’s arrival and transfer of several former Evertonians to Maine Road). It wasn’t just the Evertonians who should have given City the lead; Ian Brightwell was also guilty of a shocking miss when, with Leighton off his line, the youngster feebly lobbed the ball wide. Don’t worry, he made up for it!
Against the run of play it was actually United who took the lead when Clayton Blackmore was gifted a free header. Fortunately, within five minutes Mark Ward found Brightwell who, from fully 25 yards out, blasted a stunning shot past Leighton for the equaliser. Afterwards the delighted player explained exactly how he’d scored by succinctly telling the media: “I just wellied it!” In May 2010 he remembered how the expression came about: “We totally outplayed them, but Clayton Blackmore scored even though we’d had most of the chances. I had a chance in the first half, but that’s a different story. Once they went a goal ahead you’d normally think it’s going to be difficult, but we still had a lot of chances and I felt we’d still do it. I remember that the ball was out on the right and Mark Ward sort of half-crossed it. It came to me and I’ll never forget this – I heard Steve Redmond on the half way line shout: “Bob…” I’d best not say his exact words, but let’s just say he wanted me to have a go in his strong scouse accent! It was on my left foot, which isn’t my strongest, but I did what Reddo said. It went in the top corner!
“I ran off and jumped about twenty feet in the air – or at least that’s how it looks on the photos. I remember the noise because back then the away fans used to get about 10,000 tickets at Old Trafford and it was phenomenal.
“When we came to do the post-match TV interview I was asked the usual stuff and then was asked about the goal. So I told him what I just told you, being careful not to say what Reddo actually shouted! Just as I was doing it, someone walked past and we had to do the interview again. But then the same happened again. So we had to do it a third time. By this point I thought I had to say it in a different way – inexperience I guess. I didn’t need to, but I ended up saying: ‘the ball came out to me and I just wellied it!’ It’s true I did, but now it’s the phrase that people remember. It summed it up nicely, but it wasn’t what I’d meant to say.”
The match should have brought a City victory, but everyone seemed satisfied with a point. You can watch highlights of the game here:
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it’s one of the oldest fixtures either club has with a rich history stretching back to the 1890s. Both sides have found major success with City’s first major trophy coming in 1904 and Arsenal’s arriving 26 years later. As you’d expect with such a long history there are plenty of articles on my website about both clubs. Here’s a link to all those tagged Arsenal:
There are a few events lined up where I’ll be talking about the Corinthians. These are free to attend (details below) and tonight (31 January) I’ll be on Lewis Connell’s sport show on Tameside Radio too. That’s on at 7pm (link below). Thanks to Lewis for the invite. He’s been a key supporter of the Corinthians project over the last few years.
Wednesday 12 February 2pm at Tameside Library, Ashton under Lyne
Thursday 27 February (evening) at the West Yorkshire branch of the MCFC Supporters Club
Wednesday 5 March – 5.30pm (general) at Manchester Central Library
Watch this space for further details soon.
There will also be talks with schools and other groups soon. If you’d like me to talk at your library, group or school then please get in touch.
The book is now beginning to appear at bookshops. Amazon now say they have copies if you want to buy it from them. You can also buy copies direct from me.
The book consists of 356 pages. It is illustrated throughout and you can order it below for £25 (including UK postage and packaging).
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
£25.00
To get a feel for the Corinthians’ story and the book you can watch an 18 minute video put together by Imprint Films here:
If you’ve issues watching the video there (youtube may ask you to sign in) you can also watch it here (click on the ‘Watch on Youtube’, bottom left if your link doesn’t work):
I’d like to say my heartfelt thanks to Manchester City for their help and for inviting the Corinthians. I’s also like to thank all at Imprint Films for doing the video. In the spirit of Percy Ashley himself, they have funded the production of this video themselves and have the desire to see the Corinthians story spread widely. This is, of course, something I totally believe in myself. We need to spread this story and let the entire world know about the Corinthians.
Please share the video and, while you’re at it, spread the news about the book too. Both are self funded and we need help to spread the word.
I know there’s a chance of European men’s football taking place in Manchester that night but the event has been scheduled/timed to take that into account. On Wednesday 5 March at 5.30pm I’ll be doing a talk at Manchester Central Library. More information will follow nearer the time but for the moment see:
I missed this yesterday but another Manchester footballing figure has died. Manchester United’s record-breaking former goalkeeper David Gaskell, has died aged 84. Gaskell was just 16 years and 19 days old when he came on for United, following an injury to first-choice keeper Ray Wood. The game was the first ever Manchester derby in the Charity Shield, played at Maine Rd in October 1956. He remains the record for the youngest player to make their debut for United.
He kept a clean sheet and United won the Shield match 1-0.
My thoughts are with Gaskell’s family and friends.
Here’s a report of the 1956 Charity Shield. Note they say Gaskell is 15 not his actual age, but he made history that day not just as United’s youngest player. He was also the first substitute in a Manchester derby. Substitutions were not allowed in competitive football but as this was a charity game and Wood could not continue in nets both teams agreed.
For those lucky enough to get the match programme for today’s game at the Etihad my programme feature focuses on Tony Book and Denis Law. It’s not extensive as I’m sure they’ll also be featured elsewhere, but I wanted to make sure I made mention of them in my piece too.
City v Chelsea has been an important fixture over the decades with European semi finals played between the sides over fifty years ago for example. Many of these are featured on this website, so why not have a search around. Here’s a link to all articles tagged Chelsea on here:
On this day (24 January) in 1969 the Manchester Evening News did a piece on Gladys Aikin and her role as the manager of the Manchester Corinthians. It was a piece focusing on a woman being in charge of a football team and did include one or two comments about ‘offside rule’ but was important in the wider scheme of things. Gladys’ story is told in my new book of course and her daughter Carol talks about her mum (and also Carol’s own time with the club) in this video, filmed at the Corinthians reunion last month:
Over the coming weeks and months. I’ll be talking at some events about them – including this Monday (27 January) at the Reddish branch of the MCFC supporters club:
It’s free to attend and copies of the book will be available on the night. If you can’t make it but do want to order the book then I will sign all copies ordered below.
The book consists of 356 pages. It is illustrated throughout and you can order it below for £25 (including UK postage and packaging).
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
As part of the series on Manchester City in the 1960s I’m taking a look today at an Irish player who joined the club in January 1965 and went on to captain the team, Johnny Crossan. Here goes…
Johnny Crossan was born in Derry on 29th November 1938 and first came to the notice of English clubs when he was a youth. Crossan: “I had apparently been doing quite well as a youngster. I had got into the Derry team when only aged 14 and Joe Mercer came over to have a look round and weigh up likely prospects. Later, I learned he wanted to sign me for his club, which was then Sheffield United, and a fee of around £5,000 was discussed. I never did find out what went wrong. Perhaps Derry wanted more money.”
He moved on to Coleraine a little later, and then another proposed move to England collapsed when problems over a possible transfer to Bristol City resulted in a ‘life’ ban. Crossan then moved to the continent, signing for Sparta Rotterdam, and then Standard Liege. At Liege he played in the European Cup. By October 1962 the English ban was lifted and he was transferred to Sunderland for £27,000.
At Roker Park he managed to score 39 goals in 82 appearances, before George Poyser brought him to Maine Road as a last desperate act to save his own job.
Johnny Crossan signs with City boss George Poyser, January 1965
Crossan made his debut in a 2-0 defeat at Derby County on 30 January 1965.
Although the Irishman did little to impress City’s support during Spring 1965, over time he did prove to be an excellent signing.
When Mercer took over from Poyser he was delighted to find Crossan was already at the club. He was determined to award him the captaincy and always admitted that Crossan was one of the main reasons City achieved success: “We received tremendous help from one little fellow in the dressing room – Johnny Crossan. In those early days this whimsical Irishman was a wonderful dressing room influence as we tried to mould players we hardly knew into a fighting unit.”
The promotion season was Crossan’s best at Maine Road and clearly demonstrated his playing ability, humour, and captaincy skills. He seemed to be destined to play a major part in City’s future when tragedy struck. At the age of 28 he was involved in a car crash close to Roker Park prior to the 1966-7 season. He missed the opening game of the season and, despite managing to regain his place, his City career was nearing its end. Foolishly he tried to disguise an injured knee and as a result gave the impression he just wasn’t trying. In actual fact he was probably trying more than most, but he was simply unable to cope. He also suffered from a grumbling appendix.
In August 1967 he was transferred to Middlesbrough for £32,000 – proving that he was still a player with much to offer. At Middlesbrough he made a total of 56 appearances and scored 8 goals, but suffered with insomnia and was forced to endure several hospital visits.
Once his footballing career was over Crossan returned to Derry, and in later years played an active role in training local youngsters.
In total Crossan made 24 international appearances for Northern Ireland (ten while with City), and proved to be a very popular player within the dressing room and, for most of his City career, on the terraces. Without Crossan Mercer and Allison would have found it more difficult to lift the Blues out of the Second Division, and the transformation in City’s fortunes may have taken a while longer.
Johnny Crossan
Born: Derry, 29th November 1938
Debut v Derby County (away) 30/1/1965
City Appearances:
FL: 94 apps. 24 goals.
FAC: 14 apps. 2 goals.
FLC: 2 apps. 2 goals.
TOTAL: 110 apps. 28 goals.
Middlesbrough Appearances:
FL: 54+2 apps. 7 goals.
FAC: 5 apps. 1 goal.
FLC: 2 apps.
TOTAL: 61+2 apps. 8 goals.
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Today’s article on the 1960s is free for anyone to read and tells the story of Manchester City signing Denis Law back on 15 March 1960. There’s also film here of his debut and a great colour film of City and Law that season (see below). City manager Les McDowall had been after signing Denis Law for many, many months before he finally signed the Scottish striker for a British record fee of £55,000 the day before the transfer deadline on 15 March 1960. It had been a tense negotiation. Law himself had expected to join Arsenal to link up with his Scottish colleague Tommy Docherty, however, Huddersfield were adamant that they could not sell Law for anything less than £55,000.
Ken Barnes welcomes Denis Law to Maine Road, 1960
It all came to a head at Leeds Road where Arsenal had sent coach Ron Greenwood to negotiate a good deal. At the same time City, represented by Les McDowall and Chairman Alan Douglas, were keen to sign the 20 year old Scotsman. The Gunners had only given Greenwood power to offer £25,000 plus David Herd, making a total of £50,000, whereas McDowall and Douglas were able to discuss the pros and cons of offering more. The discussions and negotiations went on while Law himself was playing Table Tennis in the games room. When the young player was summoned he quickly realised that his move to Arsenal was off and, after less than ten minutes, he agreed to join the Blues at a cost that was said to be three times his weight in gold.
Denis Law’s Manchester City debut 1960
Law made his debut a memorable one by scoring in the 4-3 defeat at Leeds on 19th March 1960. You can view Law’s first goal for City here:
I think the commentary was added some time after and that the commentary was done in a studio over the top. The commentator (is it Stuart Hall?) mentions City’s kit as being old gold and black but colour film of kit from that season shows City wearing yellow and maroon – as can be seen in this wonderful film from that same year which includes Tottenham v City from about 5 minutes in:
Eleven days after Law’s debut he scored again as City defeated West Ham 3-1. He made one other appearance, away at Chelsea, before the player became the subject of his first controversy at the Club. Law was selected to play for Scotland at Hampden Park on 9th April – the date of the vital home game with West Bromwich Albion – and the City management took the view that playing for your country was more important than playing for your club. This angered many supporters, who realised that a Law-less City would struggle and that relegation was still a strong possibility. The Blues were only two points above the relegation zone.
The controversy heightened when other clubs took a different view and refused to release players. The City Board then felt justified in asking the League for a postponement, but the League refused. In the programme for the game, the Board outlined their views and explained how the circumstance had occurred. The article ended by stressing that the situation of club V Country cannot be allowed to continue.
As expected, without Law the Blues were defeated 1-0.
You can find out more on Manchester City in the 1959-60 season by reading the following article on the season. This is available to subscribers.
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Gary James' Football Archive 