On 20 November 1976 Dennis Tueart scored the only goal as Manchester City defeated West Bromwich Albion at Maine Road. Here’s a video of an interview I did with Dennis last year. In this we focus on him leaving Manchester City for the NASL and New York Cosmos; his experiences there and his return to City. Dennis is always a great talker and there are some wonderful moments in this as he talks about this significant time in the changing Manchester City and in the excitement of New York soccer.
The conversation links Tony Book, Leonard Rossiter, Pele, Carlos Alberto, John Cleese, Dave Sexton, Malcolm Allison and Franz Beckenbauer amongst others.
It lasts about 50 minutes so get your self a brew and sit down to watch:
Dennis’s biography is still available (see link below).
If you have enjoyed this interview then why not subscribe to access other interviews in the archive, plus over 1000 articles/features. See below for details.
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.
On this day (19 November) in 2023 Old Trafford staged its first Manchester Derby in the Women’s Super League. A crowd of 43,615 watched City defeat United 3-1 after the Reds had taken the lead.
The United goal came from a Katie Zelem’s penalty, given for handball against the Reds’ former captain Alex Greenwood, despite the Blues being in control for much of the match.
Two goals in a little over a minute from Jill Roord first and then Lauren Hemp (see photo) inflicted United’s first Women’s Super League defeat of the season. It also lifted City above the Reds. Khadija Shaw added a third for City in the second half, by charging down the goalkeeper Mary Earps’ clearance, before City’s Laia Aleixandri was sent off for a second yellow for pulling back Lucía García.
It was a wonderful victory for the Blues who had been keen to face United at Old Trafford in earlier seasons. However, according to journalist Suzy Wrack: ‘United have waited to play a derby at Old Trafford until the performance gap between the six‑year-old club and their neighbours, the 2016 WSL champions and regular contenders, was a little smaller. They have played four times at Old Trafford, against West Ham twice, Everton and Aston Villa, before breaking the club’s attendance record for the visit of City on Sunday with 43,615 fans present.’
This was not a record for the women’s Manchester derby however, as that had been set on 11 December 2022 when 44,259 had watched City and United play out a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
After the game City boss Gareth Taylor spoke to the media: ‘There’s a huge feeling of pride playing like we did in such a big spectacle. When you turn up to Old Trafford and there is a huge crowd there, it is a completely different game to any other normal WSL game.
‘I thought the two goals we scored in the first half were actually the hardest chances, there were some easier ones [not taken]. So yeah work for us to do still but credit to the players.
‘We were thrown into another situation again with another red card. We can’t have too many complaints about it, but we are prepped for those situations now. Fair play to the players that came on, they helped us to manage the game and helped us to nullify any chances United had. “
United defender Hannah Blundell commented: ‘Against the run of play we got the penalty, then the disallowed goal spurred them on and let them have momentum and we need to figure out how to switch that.We will come back stronger and I know we will with this team. We have a lot of players who can put in the performance and there is a togetherness in this team.’
It’s been almost four years since I set this website up, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to thank everyone interested in my work. I’d also like to explain why I’m doing this; what the archive consists of and how often it will be added to.
First – why? For some time before setting it up people kept asking me when I’d be doing my own blog. Overthe years I’ve always been pleased with the responses to my guest appearances on podcasts, vlogs and blogs. The feedback has been excellent but I’ve always had so much more to say. I care passionately about ensuring football’s history is properly researched & recorded and feel there’s always a place for detailed, quality research. Debunking myths, adding to our knowledge and performing detailed research has always been important to me.
The idea of creating this blog and archive came because I wanted to create content, based on the research I’ve performed over the decades, while also setting up an archive of my past work. Much of my writing is now out of print and it matters enormously to me that books like Manchester A Football History should be available (subscribers can access the full 2010 edition of that book on this site, plus my first book).
I am a self employed historian and spend all my working week writing, researching and publishing my work. I am not an employee of any organisation (I know some think I’m employed by a football club but I’m not an employee nor am I an official club historian of any club). In recent years I have worked on projects with Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Leicester City, amongst others – sometimes paid, sometimes unpaid. I am independent of any organisation and care passionately about the quality and accuracy of my work. As so much of this is out of print, I am keen to create this archive for my work and add to it as time goes by.
Next – what? So what is my football archive? It is a place where over 1,700 articles/features have been posted. These include new material, interviews, profiles, past articles, book sections and more. Some of this material was written some time ago or is based on interviews performed many years ago (including interviews with players who have since died). Most of the material posted so far is connected with Manchester City but there are articles of interest to Manchester United, Manchester Corinthians and other teams, including England. Further articles on Manchester’s clubs will follow.
Some articles are free to download but other material is available to subscribers only. As mentioned earlier, my research and writing is something I strive hard to ensure is of quality. My commitment to those who read my work is that I will always seek to maintain the highest standards. I am eternally grateful to those who purchase my books or subscribe to my work.
To see what articles have already been published go to the search page (using the links under the banner at the top of this page) and either search on a key word or have a look at the categories listed there.
Next – when? There are already over 1700 posts/articles live and this will increase significantly over the coming months. I’m keen to hear from subscribers which books, articles, interviews they’d like access to here. I want this to develop into a community of readers whose views absolutely matter.
A limited amount of content will always be free for anyone to read but those subscribing will have access to everything on this site for as long as they subscribe. For subscribers I will post a minimum of 4 articles/features each month. To subscribe costs £3 a month or you can sign up on an annual basis for the discounted fee of £20 a year (the 2010 edition of Manchester A Football History, which is available as a pdf to subscribers, cost £24.95 when published and is now out of print).
If you’re uncertain whether to subscribe or not then why not subscribe for a month at £3 and see if you’re getting value for money. The £20 annual subscription works out about £1.67 a month.
Thanks for reading this. If you’d like to subscribe then please do so below. I really appreciate the support and I promise I’ll continue to add content that informs, entertains and has been researched to the highest standards.
Best wishes, Gary
£3 per month or £20 per year for full access to all posts and the archive.
The subscriber list for Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is now closed. The book will be published in December and you can still order a copy to be posted out on publication. It’s worth mentioning that at this point no book shop has ordered the book and therefore the only way to get a copy before Christmas will be to order it direct from me.
Here’s a reminder of details of price, availability and publication…
It’s taken longer than anticipated but we’re now reaching the final stages. The book has been written and is with the design team. Publication will be this year (December 2024) and the book will be similar in style to Manchester City Women: An Oral History, published five years ago. However, there is one major difference, this book will be hardback.
The purchase price is £25 and the book will be posted to you before it is sent to any retailer. In addition, any order via this website will be signed by author Gary James.
Those with a delivery address in the UK can order here (outside UK please contact for additional postage costs):
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 mid December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
The proof reading process has begun for the book. It’s looking great so far.
It’s going to be a hectic period but it is always enjoyable to see how these things develop. The final cut off for text is this weekend, so I’m making one final call for the names of women who played for the Manchester Corinthians at some point during the club’s astounding 40+ years to be identified.
There is a list of all known players included within Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History and, while over 350 names have been identified, I know there are many other women who played at some point during the club’s history. So please ask your families, spread the news and let me know of anyone who has possibly been missed.
I want to record the names of the players and, where possible, the years they played. So please get in touch. The appropriate pages within the book will be designed and ready for printing this weekend, so we’re right at the deadline.
It’s worth remembering that some Corinthians had previously kept quiet because of reactions they may have had to playing football in the past. In fact, during my research, I have met women who had not told their families that they played football and so asking the simple question ‘Did you play football, Nan?’ will sometimes bring out a wonderful aspect of your nan’s life. So, I urge you all to ask your mum, mam, ma, mātā, mom, madar, mama, nan, gran, nani, nana, nonna, granny, babushka, grandma (or whatever term of affection you use for your mother or grandmother) about playing sport.
Ask your mam or your nan if she played – you never know what you’ll hear! Granny may well have been one of the club’s pioneering figures – or a leading light at another club whose story needs to be told – but just hasn’t talked about it!
If you find a Corinthian then get in touch. I really don’t want to leave anybody out of my book. But time is short – I need to know by end of Friday!
As well as asking your mam or your nan, how about helping the book by subscribing to it? You will get a copy of the book (posted out before it appears in the shops) and your name will be included in a special roll of honour published within the book if ordered by end of today (15 November) here:
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 mid December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
£25.00
Opportunities to buy multiple copies, sponsor the book or donate to ensure it’s published to the size and standard the women who played deserve exist. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com for more information on those opportunities.
This book is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and will consist of over 300 pages. It will be fully illustrated throughout and subscribers can order it now for £19.95 (including UK postage and packaging). All orders received by end of 15 November 2024 will have the purchaser’s name included within the special roll of honour at the back of the book. You can order the book for someone else – all details will be checked and confirmed before publication.
The book will be published this December.
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.
The book will include the story of the club as told by the women involved, alongside a significant amount of archive material. Myths will be corrected and the facts of this pioneering club will be told in an easy to read format.
Guided by Percy Ashley, the club went on to represent Manchester, football and female endeavour for decades, winning major international tournaments in Europe and South America. The Corinthians are, without doubt, one of the most important football clubs ever to come from Manchester and they were a prominent and pioneering club in so many ways.
As well as the interviews and dozens of archive trips there’s been a concerted effort to compile as comprehensive list as possible on women who played for the club. I’ve managed to compile a list of around 300 women who played for the club. Objects and trophies have also been rediscovered. This is the type of detailed research I enjoy. It’s time consuming, difficult and often frustrating but occasionally you find a little gem that adds significantly to our knowledge. There have been quite a few of those.
The Hebden Bridge talk when the campaign for a Blue Plaque and other tributes was publicly announced, December 2021
Those subscribing to the book will receive a copy signed by author Gary James and posted out to subscribers before it appears in any shop or is distributed to any retailer. This is the ONLY way to guarantee your copy.
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will include interviews with players from every era of the club from a founding player back in 1948-49 through to those playing for the club in its final days over 40 years later (yes, that’s right – over 40 years later!). The book will finally tell the story of the club from start to finish via the voices of the women who played. Via these voices the entire history of the club will be explained with the key figures identified and remembered. There’s a remarkable trail of women linking the first game with the last.
The book will be published to a similar style and quality to the acclaimed Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is destined to be another landmark publication on a major, pioneering women’s football club. Dozens of former players have been interviewed for this book and their remarkable stories and memories will be supported with an amazing array of photographs, newspaper articles, match programmes, trophies and other items of memorabilia from every era of the club’s existence.
Alongside chapters chronicling the history of the club there will also be features on founder Percy Ashley, who dedicated his life to promoting women’s football, and on Gladys Aikin (a key figure not only with the Corinthians but also with the early years of the Women’s Football Association) and George Aikin, who continued to take the Corinthians on tours into the 1980s. There will be special features on the major tours of the 1950s and 1960s when Percy Ashley led the Corinthians to major international success.
The cover of the book will be worked on by the designer over the coming months but following feedback from former players the maroon has been replaced with a darker blue, more reminiscent of the colour most frequently worn by the Corinthians (based on the reports, programmes and other material found so far and the majority of comments from players). This may still change of course (‘The Authorised History’ will probably change colour too). The back will contain later images and wording.
If you’d like to purchase my earlier book on women’s football then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order that and other books here:
A reminder that the special offer to order the Corinthians book for the discounted price of £19.95 (RRP will be £25) and get your name printed in the subscriber list within the book ends today (Friday 15 November). So order here if you want it. After this date the book will revert to its publication price of £25. Order it while you can. It’s worth mentioning that at this point no book shop has ordered the book and therefore the only way to get a copy before Christmas will be to order it direct from me.
Here’s a reminder of details of price, availability and publication…
It’s taken longer than anticipated but we’re now reaching the final stages. The book has been written and is with the design team. Publication will be this year (December 2024) and the book will be similar in style to Manchester City Women: An Oral History, published five years ago. However, there is one major difference, this book will be hardback. For those subscribing already, this is a step up from what we anticipated at ordering.
The purchase price after Friday 15 November will be £25 so ordering before then not only guarantees that the book will be posted to you before it is sent to any retailer, it also means you will receive it at a discounted price (£19.95). Also, if ordering before our publication cut off – 15 November 2024 – you will be able to have your name included in a special subscriber list at the back of the book. All pre-publication orders will also be signed by author Gary James.
Those with a delivery address in the UK can order here (outside UK please contact for additional postage costs):
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 mid December 2024. This is a UK only discounted price of £19.95(RRP £25). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
40 years ago today (14 November 1984) Australia visited Maine Road for a friendly. It was part of a series of matches against British clubs. City announced that the Blues would field a team of senior players but in the end this was a mixed team, containing several youth/fringe players.
The game ended in an Australian win. Here’s how the match was previewed in the City programme:
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.
I’m making one final call for the names of women who played for the Manchester Corinthians at some point during the club’s astounding 40+ years to be identified. There will be a list of all known players included within Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History and, while over 350 names have been identified, I know there are many other women who played at some point during the club’s history. So please ask your families, spread the news and let me know of anyone who has possibly been missed.
I want to record the names of the players and, where possible, the years they played. So please get in touch by the end of Friday 15 November. The appropriate pages within the book will be designed and ready for printing this weekend, so after Friday it’ll be too late.
It’s worth remembering that some Corinthians had previously kept quiet because of reactions they may have had to playing football in the past. In fact, during my research, I have met women who had not told their families that they played football and so asking the simple question ‘Did you play football, Nan?’ will sometimes bring out a wonderful aspect of your nan’s life. So, I urge you all to ask your mum, mam, ma, mātā, mom, madar, mama, nan, gran, nani, nana, nonna, granny, babushka, grandma (or whatever term of affection you use for your mother or grandmother) about playing sport.
Ask your mam or your nan if she played – you never know what you’ll hear! Granny may well have been one of the club’s pioneering figures – or a leading light at another club whose story needs to be told – but just hasn’t talked about it!
If you find a Corinthian then get in touch. I really don’t want to leave anybody out of my book. But time is short – I need to know by end of Friday!
As well as asking your mam or your nan, how about helping the book by subscribing to it? You will get a copy of the book (posted out before it appears in the shops) and your name will be included in a special roll of honour published within the book if ordered by 15 November here:
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 mid December 2024. This is a UK only discounted price of £19.95(RRP £25). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
£19.95
Opportunities to buy multiple copies, sponsor the book or donate to ensure it’s published to the size and standard the women who played deserve exist. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com for more information on those opportunities.
This book is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and will consist of over 300 pages. It will be fully illustrated throughout and subscribers can order it now for £19.95 (including UK postage and packaging). All orders received before 15 November 2024 will have the purchaser’s name included within the special roll of honour at the back of the book. You can order the book for someone else – all details will be checked and confirmed before publication.
The book will be published this December.
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.
The book will include the story of the club as told by the women involved, alongside a significant amount of archive material. Myths will be corrected and the facts of this pioneering club will be told in an easy to read format.
Guided by Percy Ashley, the club went on to represent Manchester, football and female endeavour for decades, winning major international tournaments in Europe and South America. The Corinthians are, without doubt, one of the most important football clubs ever to come from Manchester and they were a prominent and pioneering club in so many ways.
As well as the interviews and dozens of archive trips there’s been a concerted effort to compile as comprehensive list as possible on women who played for the club. I’ve managed to compile a list of around 300 women who played for the club. Objects and trophies have also been rediscovered. This is the type of detailed research I enjoy. It’s time consuming, difficult and often frustrating but occasionally you find a little gem that adds significantly to our knowledge. There have been quite a few of those.
The Hebden Bridge talk when the campaign for a Blue Plaque and other tributes was publicly announced, December 2021
Those subscribing to the book will receive a copy signed by author Gary James and posted out to subscribers before it appears in any shop or is distributed to any retailer. This is the ONLY way to guarantee your copy.
Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will include interviews with players from every era of the club from a founding player back in 1948-49 through to those playing for the club in its final days over 40 years later (yes, that’s right – over 40 years later!). The book will finally tell the story of the club from start to finish via the voices of the women who played. Via these voices the entire history of the club will be explained with the key figures identified and remembered. There’s a remarkable trail of women linking the first game with the last.
The book will be published to a similar style and quality to the acclaimed Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is destined to be another landmark publication on a major, pioneering women’s football club. Dozens of former players have been interviewed for this book and their remarkable stories and memories will be supported with an amazing array of photographs, newspaper articles, match programmes, trophies and other items of memorabilia from every era of the club’s existence.
Alongside chapters chronicling the history of the club there will also be features on founder Percy Ashley, who dedicated his life to promoting women’s football, and on Gladys Aikin (a key figure not only with the Corinthians but also with the early years of the Women’s Football Association) and George Aikin, who continued to take the Corinthians on tours into the 1980s. There will be special features on the major tours of the 1950s and 1960s when Percy Ashley led the Corinthians to major international success.
The cover of the book will be worked on by the designer over the coming months but following feedback from former players the maroon has been replaced with a darker blue, more reminiscent of the colour most frequently worn by the Corinthians (based on the reports, programmes and other material found so far and the majority of comments from players). This may still change of course (‘The Authorised History’ will probably change colour too). The back will contain later images and wording.
If you’d like to purchase my earlier book on women’s football then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order that and other books here:
On 13 November 1880 the earliest known game played by St. Mark’s Church side took place in Gorton and ended in a 2-1 defeat by the Baptist Church from Macclesfield. Both sides fielded 12 players and the first St. Mark’s goalscorer was James Collinge. There are a lot of myths about the origins of the club (some are quite infuriating!) so a while back I performed an online talk on the latest research into the origins of City. I focused on the period prior to 1887 when the club was based in the West Gorton and Gorton areas. This was extremely well received and can be viewed by subscribers below. I’ve also written the following article to help explain all too.
By the summer of 1894 St. Mark’s had evolved into Manchester City.
For this article I’ve decided to go through some of the details of City’s birth and highlight some of the key themes from that talk.
Often it is assumed that there’s nothing else to learn about the history or origins of a football club but, with deep research and determination, we can uncover material and stories long forgotten. The origins of City, like most clubs, are often difficult to trace and I’m aware of some football clubs that present stories as if they are facts without the evidence to back them up. Fortunately, the current leaders of City have always been keen to ensure the club’s history is remembered and recorded correctly. Mistakes and assumptions have been made over the decades but, thanks to the efforts of several people, the club has a desire to record its history correctly.
I’ve spent decades researching the origins of our club – Back in 1986 I started to search for match reports from our earliest known season as St Mark’s in 1880.
Some of Gary James’ microfilm copying requests at libraries during the 1980s
However, there are still many gaps in our knowledge. New material has been found in recent years. As a slight diversion it’s worth talking about a frustrating day’s research I had which ultimately turned out to be hugely beneficial.
About four years ago while researching for the book The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919, I travelled to an archive to search through physical copies of a newspaper. It had been a long stressful journey and there were many issues obtaining the material I needed. With about thirty minutes to go before the archive closed they brought out a newspaper binder I needed to research but it was wrapped in plastic. The archivist said: ‘I don’t think I can let you look at this as it’s so badly damaged.’
I explained about travelling some distance; what I was doing; how important this material was and so on. The ‘paper had never been microfilmed or digitised and so the only option of reviewing this 100-year-old newspaper was to see this physical copy. The archivist inspected the newspaper and clearly took pity on me saying: ‘Go on then, you can look at it for the next half hour. After that it’s going back in storage and may not come out ever again.’
Frantically, I searched through the paper before spotting the treasure I’d been hoping for – a series of articles on early football figures talking about team’s origins in the 1880s. I spotted one on a Newton Heath (Manchester United) figure who spelt out that their first colours were red & white (not green & gold) and named the person who had introduced football there then, a few issues later, I found the real gold and that was an interview with Walter Chew. Chew has, for over a century, been described by some as the father of Manchester City. In this feature he formally named the club’s first ground ‘Farmer’s Field’ which backed entirely an assumption I’d made and wrote about in the mid 1990s which went against common thinking at the time. That was satisfying but then the article added an angle I had never expected. Walter claimed his brother William and his friends founded the St Mark’s football team while Walter founded another team, Belle Vue Rangers, which is also one of the roots of our club.
For decades we have assumed that the W Chew listed in the first St Mark’s match reports was Walter Chew because of his years of service to the club and Manchester football. Occasionally, both Walter and William played in the same St Mark’s team and when that occurred Wm Chew was sometimes written, but when only one brother played then he was listed as W Chew. This is an area of research that is still ongoing but if Walter’s own views are correct then it makes absolute sense that the W Chew in the earliest known game was William not Walter. Walter was only 16 at the time (his obituary in 1948 reveals he was 84 at the time of his death, which means he was 16 in November 1880 when the earliest recorded game took place – though of course there may have been earlier games!), while all the other players were 17-20 in that first team. William was 19.
Two years after St Mark’s earliest known game 17-year-old Walter bought a ball and set up Belle Vue Rangers with other local lads from the West Gorton area.
Walter’s claim that his brother William and friends created the St Mark’s team is sensible. We’ve always known that some of the boys who played cricket for St Mark’s set up the football team and one of those was 19-year-old engineering student William Sumner. I’ve written about William often over the years and have stated previously that I believe he may well have been the one with football expertise due to his schooling and experiences as a boy.
Sumner was the first captain and was lodging within the St Mark’s parish from 1879, while studying at Owens College (Manchester University). I believe he organised some football coaching sessions which occurred during 1880. The earliest known actual game of football came in November 1880 when St Mark’s played the Baptist Church from Macclesfield. There were 12 players on each team and almost every member of the St Mark’s team has been found in a St Mark’s cricket match report too. The cricket team, incidentally, first played in the 1860s and I’ve traced a match report from 1867.
Sumner was clearly a talented footballer and despite an injury which limited his playing involvement with the club, he joined the more significant (at the time) Manchester AFC andIn later years Sumner also played for Manchester FC. It has often been stated that he played for them in a FA Cup tie against Stoke in November 1883, however ongoing research (January 2023) suggests that was another player ‘A. Sumner’.
Genealogist Glen Midgley has researched William Sumner’s life extensively and he discovered that Sumner was born on 21 December 1860 in the Barton area. He died when he was only in his forties.
19-year-old Sumner seems the most likely person to have introduced football to St Mark’s. William Chew was also 19 and it’s possible the two men discussed the sport while playing for the cricket team, but we’ll never know for certain. As with so many football clubs it seems unlikely that the specific person who introduced football to St Mark’s will ever be conclusively identified. Perhaps that’s how it should be because the club succeeded because of many, many individuals.
There isn’t enough space here to go into everything we know but it is important to list a few key facts from those early years:
St. Mark’s Church was consecrated in 1865.
First rector was Irishman Arthur Connell and he played a leading ‘community’ role. He set up a savings bank, library, school, ragged school, soup kitchens and much more.
Arthur Connell
St Mark’s had a very active social scene and by the mid 1870s St. Mark’s Cricket Club existed (ongoing research shows it began in 1860s, shortly after church opened; reports have been found from 1867).
In November 1880 the earliest reported association football match was played by St. Mark’s BUT contemporary reports do not claim this to be the first. As the opposition were a team from Macclesfield it seems likely that earlier games against teams closer to West Gorton would have been staged. There were certainly clubs playing football within a few miles of St Mark’s.
The earliest reported St Mark’s rugby game was also played that same week.
The 12 players who appeared in the earliest known football game were: Charles Beastow; William Sumner, Frederick Hopkinson, W Chew (previously assumed to be Walter but probably elder brother William), Henry Heggs, William Downing, Richard Hopkinson, Edward Kitchen, ‘A MacDonald’, John Pilkington, John Beastow & James Collinge.
‘A MacDonald’ is unclear possibly Alexander McDonald (16, a cooper living in Ancoats), but more likely to be Archibald MacDonald (20, an iron moulder).
The first known goalscorer was James Collinge.
One of the umpires/referees was William Hardy, another member of the St Mark’s parish.
The first ground was Farmer’s Field off Thomas Street (1880-81).
In 1881-82 the club moved to Kirkmanshulme Cricket Club. That season also saw Walter Chew, together with a cousin, establish his own team ‘Belle Vue Rangers’. They also bought the first ball used by Belle Vue Rangers – it burst playing v Hurst!
St Mark’s become known as West Gorton by January 1883. They played at Queens Road (now Gorton Park and the only former ground of Manchester City that it is still possible to play a football game on).
West Gorton had playing issues and struggled to field a team at times.
Walter Chew and Edward Kitchen linked both the Belle Vue and West Gorton clubs and a merger between Belle Vue and West Gorton, re-established West Gorton AFC for 1883-84 season.
In 1884 the club split into two with Gorton AFC established, playing at Pink Bank Lane.
Around 1884-85 the earliest known photograph (below; rediscovered by Frank Borson in early 2000s) of Gorton AFC was taken.
Between 1885-87 Gorton AFC played at the Bull’s Head Hotel, Reddish Lane.
In 1887 a move to a new ground (Hyde Road) led to the club re-establishing itself as Ardwick AFC. The club also paid its first professional there.
Ardwick win the Manchester Cup in 1891 & 1892 and join the Football League in 1892.
In 1894 financial issues lead to the collapse of Ardwick (former Gorton player Lawrence Furniss (below image) paid off the club’s debts) and as the club was dying a new one was established called Manchester City Football Club with the aim of representing the whole of Manchester.
The move to Hyde Road in 1887 meant that the club was actually geographically closer to its St Mark’s roots than they had been for several years. Ardwick may have been a separate borough but in walking distance St Mark’s was only a short distance away.
The origins of our club, like many others, have been misunderstood or incorrectly reported over the years and there are many areas of ongoing research that will fill the gaps over the coming years. It takes time and effort to research at the level needed. When I first started researching there were some stories that had been passed down for years that have since been challenged and corrected but there are many other areas to reflect on. There are many other areas where further research is still needed.
For years I’ve worked with a variety of people on the origins of City (one of the key elements of my PhD research was on the origins of football in Manchester and my research into this continues). In the 2010s MCFC set up a research group called Project Blue which I willingly helped and explained the myths that exist and what we still don’t know. The following slide was part of a lengthy presentation I performed on 14 December 2011 on that where I explained how we got where we were at the time and those who had worked together on uncovering the club’s early history.
One of my slides presented to the history research group Project Blue on research into Manchester City’s origins on 14 December 2011
I was always grateful to Dennis Chapman, John Maddocks and Ray Goble who welcomed me into their ‘club’ of research and others, such as Dave Masey who, like me, was a member of the Association of Football Statisticians. Dave continues to help my research. Thanks to these guys and others when I was starting out I have tried to ensure I help and support others researching. The more we research and share, the greater our collective knowledge.
There is still much to be done and sadly lots we will never know.
Whatever research is uncovered over the coming years one thing is clear and that is the history and origins of Manchester City are wrapped up in community initiatives and a desire by some to use football as a positive, community building enterprise. People like William Sumner, Walter & William Chew, Lawrence Furniss and Joshua Parlby (who was the driving force behind the new club Manchester City in 1894) should always be remembered for their part in the formative years of football in our city.
I’ll be talking about Joshua Parlby on 1 March at 6pm and anyone can join this online talk for free (so long as you register in advance). Details here:
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Attendance: 50,182; City 4 United 0 (League Cup 4th round)
A 35 second opener from Tueart and a world-class performance by Hartford give City total control of this tie. However few at Maine Road are able to celebrate as a fifth minute tackle by Buchan on Bell causes the influential City star to be stretchered away. City deserve the victory, but the cost is high.
I’ve written lots on Colin Bell over the years and I was fortunate to interview him a few times too. You can read some of the articles I’ve written here:
Gary James' Football Archive 