Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Four years ago today (5 January 2021) the great Colin Bell MBE died. I did an interview for the Blue Moon Podcast the day after Colin passed away. It was an emotional morning of course. The guys at the podcast have made the entire interview free to listen to here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/gary-james-pays-45924408
There are plenty of articles about Colin on my website. Follow the link below to see those tagged ‘Colin Bell’:
Now that Pep Guardiola has managed his 500th Manchester City game (yes, I know he’s been ill and missed games but he’s still the manager when they occurred) here’s a brief look at the only manager ahead of his record at the club, Les McDowall (note: Les missed some games on scouting missions, so similar to Pep’s missed games?). Enjoy!
Les McDowall
June 1950 – May 1963
Previously: Impressive wing-half for City during 40s.
Took Over From: Jock Thomson, who left in February 1950 as City headed towards relegation, but it is believed Wilf Wild with Fred Tilson filled the void between managers.
Inherited: Bert Trautmann, Roy Clarke, Joe Fagan & Johnny Hart.
Players Brought In Included: City’s talented forward Don Revie & inspirational captain Roy Paul. Also Alex Harley & Peter Dobing.
Best Buy: For his role in the Revie Plan and long term commitment to the City cause – Ken Barnes.
Youngsters He Gave Debuts To: Joe Hayes, Dave Wagstaffe, John Benson, Neil Young, Alan Oakes & Glyn Pardoe.
First Game: Preston North End 2 City 4 (City scorers George Smith 2, Roy Clarke and Dennis Westcott), 19 August 1950, attendance 36,294.
High Points: Winning promotion during his first season; FA Cup finalists in 1955 & FA Cup winners in 1956 (and finishing fourth that season).
Coaches: Thirties stars Fred Tilson & Laurie Barnett.
Tactics: Became noted for tactical innovations such as the Revie Plan (although people assume this to be Revie’s idea the name came from the fact he was the key player; it had previously operated in the Reserves with Johnny Williamson in the role). The Plan revolutionised City’s play and led to the mid-fifties success.
Last Game: West Ham United 6 City 1 (City scorer Alan Oakes), 18 May 1963, attendance 16,602.
Season By Season Record:
League
1950-51 P 42 W 19 D 14 L 9 GF 89 GA 61 Pts 52
1951-52 P 42 W 13 D 13 L 16 GF 58 GA 61 Pts 39
1952-53 P 42 W 14 D 7 L 21 GF 72 GA 87 Pts 35
1953-54 P 42 W 14 D 9 L 19 GF 62 GA 77 Pts 37
1954-55 P 42 W 18 D 10 L 14 GF 76 GA 69 Pts 46
1955-56 P 42 W 18 D 10 L 14 GF 82 GA 69 Pts 46
1956-57 P 42 W 13 D 9 L 20 GF 78 GA 88 Pts 35
1957-58 P 42 W 22 D 5 L 15 GF 104 GA 100 Pts 49
1958-59 P 42 W 11 D 9 L 22 GF 64 GA 95 Pts 31
1959-60 P 42 W 17 D 3 L 22 GF 78 GA 84 Pts 37
1960-61 P 42 W 13 D 11 L 18 GF 79 GA 90 Pts 37
1961-62 P 42 W 17 D 7 L 18 GF 78 GA 81 Pts 41
1962-63 P 42 W 10 D 11 L 21 GF 58 GA 102 Pts 31
2 points for a win
FA Cup
1950-51 P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 GF 0 GA 2 Reached 3rd round
1951-52 P 2 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 3 GA 6 Reached 3rd round
1952-53 P 3 W 1 D 1 L 1 GF 9 GA 6 Reached 4th round
1953-54 P 2 W 1 D 0 L 1 GF 5 GA 3 Reached 4th round
1954-55 P 6 W 5 D 0 L 1 GF 10 GA 4 Reached final
1955-56 P 7 W 6 D 1 L 0 GF 11 GA 4 FA Cup winners
1956-57 P 2 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 5 GA 6 Reached 3rd round
1957-58 P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 GF 1 GA 5 Reached 3rd round
1958-59 P 2 W 0 D 1 L 1 GF 3 GA 4 Reached 3rd round
1959-60 P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 GF 1 GA 5 Reached 3rd round
1960-61 P 4 W 1 D 2 L 1 GF 4 GA 4 Reached 4th round
1961-62 P 2 W 1 D 0 L 1 GF 1 GA 2 Reached 4th round
1962-63 P 3 W 2 D 0 L 1 GF 3 GA 2 Reached 5th round
League Cup
1960-61 P 2 W 1 D 0 L 1 GF 3 GA 2 Reached 3rd round
1961-62 P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 GF 2 GA 4 Reached 2nd round
1962-63 P 6 W 3 D 2 L 1 GF 10 GA 12 Reached 5th round
TOTAL (League & cup fixtures)
P591 W220 D127 L244 GF 1049 GA 1135
Trophies Won: FA Cup (1956)
Other Competitive Fixtures: 1 Charity Shield game
They Said: “Les McDowall was very much an old school manager – shirt & tie, office type. You rarely saw him but when you did it was usually when he was unveiling one of his new tactical plans. We had one where we played with 5 at the back and I had a number 7 shirt on. He would probably have excelled in today’s game because he was absolutely driven with tactical formations.” Defender Bobby Kennedy talking in 2005.
Followed By: George Poyser
After City: Became Oldham Athletic manager shortly after leaving City. Died in August 1991 at the age of 78.
I’ll say it now before we all get swamped with messages later: Happy New Year! It’s been a tough year for various reasons, including the poor health and then death of my dad, but there’s also been some positive news within my family too. There’s also been (finally!) the publication of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History – that was delayed but eventually made it this last week! I was particularly touched earlier this month by these comments from Corinthian Margaret Shepherd (and then the poem about Percy Ashley from Anne Grimes):
Anyway, happy new year to all my family & friends and anybody who reads my work. The support is appreciated.
Here’s film from this day (30 December) in 2023 of the World Champions defeating Sheffield United 2-0 in their first home game following their return to England. City had won the FIFA Club World Cup earlier in the month. City’s goals came from Rodri and Alvarez.
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DonateAt Elland Road Manchester City defeated Leeds 3-1 on this day (28 December) in 2022. Erling Haaland scored twice to establish a new record – the fastest man to twenty goals in the Premier League. Rodri score the other City goal and you can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/leeds-united-manchester-city-extended-highlights-63807863
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DonateOn this day (27 December) in 2023 Manchester City and Everton met at Goodison Park in City’s first game back in England following the FIFA Club World Cup. The world champions defeated Merseyside’s Blues 3-1 with goals from Foden, Silva and Alvarez.
Highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/everton-v-manchester-city-extended-highlights-1-63839298
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DonateOn this day (24 December) in 1948 the great maverick Mancunian footballer Stan Bowles was born. Here’s a profile of him…
Bowles joined City as an amateur on 27 July 1965, becoming an apprentice on 1 October 1965 and then professional on 29 December 1966.
Then in 1967 things really began to happen and Bowles’ first game was as a substitute in a League Cup tie at home to Leicester City. He scored two goals in the second half and the following Saturday he made his League debut another memorable one. He scored two again!
Lots of stories have circulated over the years about his time at City. Like Mario Balotelli many years later some are truthful; others are exaggerations and some are completely make up.
The stories go that Bowles once missed a flight to Amsterdam where City were to play against Ajax, and that Bowles’ interest in the horses led to Joe Mercer saying: ‘If Stan could pass a betting shop like he can pass a ball, he’d be a world beater.’ Suspensions and other issues led to Stan refusing to sign a new contract and he asked to leave. That in itself led to him being suspended for 14 days on the advice of the Football League.
Inevitably Bowles moved on, first to Bury (July 1970) and then to Crewe (September 1970).
A spell at Carlisle followed and then in September 1972 a bid of £110,000 took him to Loftus Road where he won five England caps as a QPR player.
Seven years later Nottingham Forest’s Brian Clough bought him for £210,000 but sold him again less than a year later after further issues. Further spells were reported at Orient, Brentford, Hounslow and Epping.
In 2015 it was announced he was suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease, like his former boss Joe Mercer. Bowles died on 24 February 2024.
At City Bowles made a total of 20 first team appearances, scoring 4 goals, but he remains recognised as a hugely talented player.
There are articles on this site mentioning Bowles. Here’s a selection:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/stan-bowles/
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DonateJoe Royle signed for Manchester City on this day (24 December) in 1974. You can find several articles that mention Joe throughout this website. Start looking here:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/joe-royle/
On this day (23 December) in 1995 there was a great deal of speculation that Manchester City would be the first team to field four ‘foreign players’ which wound PFA chief Gordon Taylor up considerably. There had been a rule in place limiting the number of foreign players to three but this had been challenged by English clubs, following the historic Bosman judgement in the European Court of Justice.
Basically, before Bosman challenged the restrictive trade practices UEFA insisted that a maximum of three foreign players could appear for clubs. The Bosman judgement was immediately considered by Premier League clubs who felt it meant they could play as many players from the European Union as they wanted (though the maximum of 3 from outside the EU was still a limit).
The Premier League, supported by the FA, said the ruling meant that City and other clubs could play as many EU players as they wanted. At Maine Road Alan Ball had brought Danish under-21 international Ronnie Ekelund on loan and together with Eike Immel, Uwe Rosler and Georgi Kinkladze it was suggested he would play against Chelsea on 23 December 1995.
In the end Ekelund came on as substitute for Rosler, so 4 ‘foreign players’ had appeared that day but only 3 at any one time (though there’s a whole other discussion to be had about players from other United Kingdom countries and Ireland and whether they should count as that day the Republic of Ireland’s Niall Quinn played, as did Gerry Creaney from Scotland and Welsh international Kit Symons!).
As for the game… City lost 1-0 to Chelsea!
Ekelund had a brief up and down career at City, making only 6 (plus 3 as sub) appearances and he was soon off to Barcelona, while the change to the ‘foreign player’ rule was to have a massive impact on the development of football in England, paving the way for the multitude of talented players at City today.
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On this day (22 December) in 1993 David White left Manchester City after years of dedication to the Blue cause. He was transferred to Leeds United in a swap deal for David Rocastle. It was a sad loss for the Blues but it was also a new beginning for Rocastle.
You can read more on the 1993-94 season here:
There are lots of articles on this site that mention David White. Take a look at:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/david-white/
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