Category Archives: Free

The Noel Gallagher Interview

It seems an appropriate time to re-release this… Back on Thursday May 20 2021 I interviewed Noel Gallagher about his support of Manchester City, Pep, Europe and more. It was great for two Mancs of a similar age to get together to chat about City. I really enjoyed it.

Here’s part one:

Part two:


Part three:

Part four:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-part-4-1.mp3

Part five:


Thanks to Noel and the staff at his studios & office for making this happen.

Subscribe to get full access to GJFootballArchive.com

Fancy subscribing to my website? Subscribers get access to all the 1600+ articles, interviews etc. that have been posted so far on my site and all those posted during your subscription period. It costs £20 a year (works out about £1.67 a month) or £3 a month if subscribing a month at a time.

Subscribe

Former Manchester City Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson Has Died

Former City and England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has died at the age of 76. My thoughts are with is family and friends.

Back in 2007 Sven arrived at Manchester City and brought positivity, entertainment and so much more in an extraordinary season. The season began with a great start which included City defeating Fergie’s United 1-0 in Sven’s first derby. His City career ended with him having a 100% win record in the derby. Here’s a video of Geovanni’s goal:

Thanks Sven for a great season.

MCFC V Ipswich: Abandoned Match

The last two games abandoned at Maine Rd were actually both meetings between City and Ipswich. Here’s a reminder of one of them. It’s the 3 January 1994 meeting. After 39 minutes City’s game with Ipswich Town was abandoned with the Blues winning 2-0.  The scorers were Vonk and Ingebrigtsen – his only League goal for the Blues was expunged from the records as a result!

The referee David Elleray angered the City players, especially Tony Coton, by abandoning the tie due to a waterlogged pitch.  As a fan I wasn’t particularly happy either! The pitch had been appalling at the kick-off and perhaps the game should not have commenced.  Naturally, it was a big disappointment at the time.

As I mentioned, I was at this abandoned game in the ‘new’ Platt Lane Stand. Were you also at Maine Road that day? If so why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?

You can read more on the 1993-94 season here:

Manchester City Season – 1993-94

David White Double v Liverpool

On this day (21 August) a Wednesday night meeting with Liverpool ended in a 2-1 victory for Manchester City. You can see highlights of the game (and relive the days of night matches on the Kippax/at Maine Rd) including two David White goals here:

Swift Return

On this day (20 August) in 1949 Frank Swift was talked out of retirement following health problems with Manchester City ‘keeper Alec Thurlow.  Swift’s return match ended in a 3-3 draw at home to Aston Villa, watched by 43,196.  Here for subscribers is a profile of Alec Thurlow (Unfortunately, it’s a sad story!):

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

Subscribe

Sven’s First Manchester Derby

On this day (19 August) in 2007 Sven’s Manchester City defeated Fergie’s United 1-0 in Sven’s first derby since joining City that summer. His City career ended with him having a 100% win record in the derby. Here’s a video of Geovanni’s goal:

Chelsea v City

It’s Chelsea v Manchester City today. There are lots of features on this site about the two clubs such as this one talking about Alan Oakes’ debut:

Oakes’ Debut Game

Other features on City & Chelsea games can be read here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/chelsea/

Forward as Goalkeeper for 3/4 of Game v Chelsea

This weekend Manchester City face Chelsea and it’s reminded me of this newspaper cutting from the 1930s. I love this cutting showing Manchester City striker Eric Brook in nets v Chelsea. He was deputising for the Blues’ injured goalkeeper. It looks like Brook had a bandana on his head here too! The photo was taken on December 17 1932. You can read the match report here.

City were losing 1-0 when Nicholls was injured 15 minutes into the match and the scoreline became even more convincing as the game progressed. However this report (from a London edition of a national newspaper) states that City were the better team in both halves.

4-4 at Chelsea X 2

It’s Manchester City at Chelsea this weekend. Last season that same fixture ended in a 4-4 draw and this was heralded as a great game by the Sky TV pundits. As fans, these sort of games never feel like great games at the time but neutrals obviously love them. For fans of the teams involved they tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game last year I was asked when City’s previous 4-4 draw was and I spent a few minutes thinking ‘I’ve never seen one before involving City, or have I?’ So, I then started to scour the material in my collection and was somewhat surprised to find it was against Grimsby in September 1950! Certainly many, many years before I was born.

My favourite goal in last season’s match at Chelsea was the one Haaland scored with his er… um… er… shorts area. The City scorers were: Haaland (25 minutes pen, 47 minutes),  Akanji (45+1 minutes),  Rodri (86 minutes) and for Chelsea (including two City old boys): Thiago Silva (29 minutes),  Sterling (37 minutes),  Jackson (67 minutes),  Palmer (90+5minutes pen)

Incredibly last season’s game wasn’t the first time City had drawn 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before last year’s match. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about the earlier match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year – as they did in 2023-24!

Chelsea 4 Manchester City 4

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.

Choose an amount

£2.50
£5.00
£7.50

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate
How To Subscribe

Stadium Opener

On this day (14 August) in 2003 the City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad Stadium) staged its first competitive game as City defeated TNS 5-0 in the UEFA Cup. Relive that night (and Granada TV!) with this video of the game:

The report above talks of the UEFA Cup draw with TNS.