Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Over the years I’ve done quite a few talks on the history of football to Manchester and have also focused on the financial significance of the sport to Manchester. Here are a few slides that spell out a few facts. Obviously, I normally include explanation behind a lot of this when I talk but nevertheless I think they may be of interest as stand alone slides.
These slides were from 2019 and so the figures will have changed since then but they do give a general feel for the financials:
This story gets repeated often over the decades as individuals, clubs and authorities talk about building a ‘Wembley of the North’. Back on 20 June 1992 the latest version of the story was that a new stadium would be built as Manchester’s bid for the 2000 Olympics. The article claimed that work on this stadium would start whether Manchester was awarded the Games or not.
In the end Manchester was not awarded the Games but the city did stage the 2002 Commonwealth Games and a new stadium, present day Etihad, was built for that.
The article was published in a Liverpool newspaper and it’s interesting that there’s talk in this of building an arena at King’s Dock, which of course has also happened.
There are some errors in the article, for example it claims that neither City nor United had expressed an interest in moving to the stadium but City had been in discussions for several years about supporting the Olympic bids. In fact in 1989 the club had announced it was interested in a move if a stadium was ever to be planned.
On this day (21 June) in 1970 the Manchester Corinthians women’s team defeated a team calling themselves Internationals in West Yorkshire. The team was actually Harry Batt’s team of players from Chiltern Valley who went on to play unofficially as England in both Copa 70 and Copa 71 (the unofficial women’s World Cups). There’s been a documentary made recently on Copa 71 which talks of what this team did.
Worth noting that Manchester Corinthians, who defeated Batt’s team 3-1 (or 4-1 depending on reports), had also played in unofficial international tournaments as England and in 1960 had won a prestigious global tournament in Venezuela.
You will be able to read more on the victory over Batt’s team and on the Corinthians’ ground-breaking international trophy successes of the 1950s, 60s & 70s in my new authorised history of the club. Written following years of painstaking research the book will be published later this year, but you can subscribe to it now and get your name published in a special roll of honour at the back. For details:
Today (20 June) in 1992 while English football was gearing up to the first season of the newly established Premier League, Manchester City’s Club Secretary Bernard Halford claimed to have an army containing some of the world’s biggest music stars promoting the club. I’m not entirely convinced this was the truth but Bernard seemed to believe it according to this report.
It makes interesting reading – especially the bit about Mick Jagger, Axl Rose and others asking for a City shirt in their quest to promote Manchester’s Blues.
Over the years I interviewed Bernard quite a bit and I do remember him telling me how he’d given Freddie Mercury a City shirt after the legendary Queen concert at Maine Road. This article suggests the same happened with others. I’ve posted previously the David Cassidy image of him in a City shirt at his 1970s Maine Road concert.
I’d love to see a music hall of fame somewhere with an exhibit ‘City shirts worn by rock legends’ – who knows? Maybe they all used to meet up for City chat after Top of the Pops finished?
On 20 June 2003 following the UEFA Cup draw, which had seen Manchester City drawn against Welsh Club TNS, discussions were being taken as to where the Welsh leg of the game could be played. Initially reports like this one suggested Wrexham but ultimately the game was moved to Cardiff. With the City leg played at the new City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad) this meant both legs were played in the two newest major stadia in the UK.
This cutting has some interesting quotes on the European status of the two clubs at the time.
16/08/2024 – 20:00 – United v Fulham
24/08/2024 – 15:00 – Brighton v United
31/08/2024 – 15:00 – United v Liverpool
14/09/2024 – 15:00 – Southampton v United
21/09/2024 – 15:00 Crystal Palace v United
28/09/2024 – 15:00 United v Tottenham
05/10/2024 – 15:00 – Aston Villa v United
19/10/2024 – 15:00 – United v Brentford
26/10/2024 – 15:00 – West Ham v United
02/11/2024 – 15:00 – United v Chelsea
09/11/2024 – 15:00 – United v Leicester City
23/11/2024 – 15:00 – Ipswich Town v United
30/11/2024 – 15:00 – United v Everton
03/12/2024 – 19:45 – Arsenal v United
07/12/2024 – 15:00 – United v Nottingham Forest
14/12/2024 – 15:00 – Manchester City v United
21/12/2024 – 15:00 United v Bournemouth
26/12/2024 – 15:00 – Wolverhampton v United
29/12/2024 – 15:00 – United v Newcastle United
04/01/2025 – 15:00 – Liverpool v United
15/01/2025 – 20:00 – United v Southampton
18/01/2025 – 15:00 – United v Brighton
25/01/2025 – 15:00 – Fulham v United
01/02/2025 – 15:00 – United v Crystal Palace
15/02/2025 – 15:00 – Tottenham v United
22/02/2025 – 15:00- Everton v United
26/02/2025 – 20:00 – United v Ipswich Town
08/03/2025 – 15:00 – United v Arsenal
15/03/2025 – 15:00 – Leicester City v United
01/04/2025 – 19:45 – Nottingham Forest v United
05/04/2025 – 15:00 – United v Manchester City
12/04/2025 – 15:00 – Newcastle v United
19/04/2025 – 15:00 – United v Wolverhampton
26/04/2025 – 15:00 – Bournemouth v United
03/05/2025 – 15:00 – Brentford v United
10/05/2025 – 15:00 – United v West Ham
18/05/2025 – 15:00 – Chelsea v United
25/05/2025 – 16:00 – United v Aston Villa
*All fixture are subject to change due to TV selections
18/08/2024 – 16:30 – Chelsea (a) (4.30pm kick-off time confirmed)
24/08/2024 – 15:00 – Ipswich Town (h)
31/08/2024 – 15:00 – West Ham United (a)
14/09/2024 – 15:00 – Brentford (h)
21/09/2024 – 15:00 – Arsenal (h)
28/09/2024 – 15:00 – Newcastle United (a)
05/10/2024 – 15:00 – Fulham (h)
19/10/2024 – 15:00 – Wolverhampton (a)
26/10/2024 – 15:00 – Southampton (h)
02/11/2024 – 15:00 – A.F.C. Bournemouth (a)
09/11/2024 – 15:00 – Brighton (a)
23/11/2024 – 15:00 – Tottenham Hotspur (h)
30/11/2024 – 15:00 – Liverpool (a)
04/12/2024 – 19:45 – Nottingham Forest (h)
07/12/2024 – 15:00 – Crystal Palace (a)
14/12/2024 – 15:00 – Manchester United (h)
21/12/2024 – 15:00 – Aston Villa (a)
26/12/2024 – 15:00 – Everton (h)
29/12/2024 – 15:00 – Leicester City (a)
04/01/2025 – 15:00 – West Ham United (h)
14/01/2025 – 19:45 – Brentford (a)
18/01/2025 – 15:00 – Ipswich Town (a)
25/01/2025 – 15:00 – Chelsea (h)
01/02/2025 – 15:00 – Arsenal (a)
15/02/2025 – 15:00 – Newcastle United (h)
22/02/2025 – 15:00 – Liverpool (h)
25/02/2025 – 19:45 – Tottenham Hotspur (a)
08/03/2025 – 15:00 – Nottingham Forest (a)
15/03/2025 – 15:00 – Brighton (h)
02/04/2025 – 19:45 – Leicester City (h)
05/04/2025 – 15:00 – Manchester United (a)
12/04/2025 – 15:00 – Crystal Palace (h)
19/04/2025 – 15:00 – Everton (a)
26/04/2025 – 15:00 – Aston Villa (h)
03/05/2025 – 15:00 – Wolverhampton (h)
10/05/2025 – 15:00 – Southampton (a)
18/05/2025 – 15:00 – A.F.C. Bournemouth (h)
25/05/2025 – 16:00 – Fulham (a)
Here’s a rare letter from the archives. It’s dated 11 June 1913 and was written by the secretary of Hyde FC (present day Hyde United) to Companies House to answer some questions about the valuation of Hyde’s ground, Ewen Fields. It’s a little difficult to read but the key points are:
Hyde wore ‘Amber Shirts and Blue Pants’ back then. The ground valuation had increased because the club had installed additional hoardings at Ewen Fields. This meant the ground’s assets were considered to be: a covered stand, open stand, hoardings, turnstiles, dressing rooms, baths and office furniture.
The club’s president was Rev. Henry Enfield Dowson, after whom Dowson Road is named.
As we’re in a period of International football, I thought it would be worth remembering that there were four full internationals played at Maine Road.
Each of these took place during a six year spell in the 1940s.
FULL INTERNATIONALS AT MAINE ROAD
| Date | Type of game | Against | Score | Scorers | Crowd | Team |
| 16 October 1943 | War Interna-tional | Scotland | W 8-0 | Lawton (4), Hagan (2), Carter, Matthews | 60,000 | Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Britton, Cullis, Mercer, Matthews, Carter, Lawton, Hagan, Compton |
| 24/4/46 | Burnden Park Disaster Fund Match | Scotland | D 2-2 | Welsh (2) | 70,000 | Swift, Walton, Hardwick, Wright, Leuty, Mitchell, Matthews, Welsh, Lewis, Fielding, Mannion |
| 13/11/46 | Home International | Wales | W 3-0 | Mannion (2), Lawton | 59,121 | Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Wright, Franklin, Johnston, Finney, Carter, Lawton, Mannion, Langton |
| 16/11/49 | Home International/ World Cup qualifiers | N. Ireland | W 9-2 | Rowley (4), Froggatt, Pearson (2), Mortensen (2) | 69,762 | Streten, Mozley, Aston, Watson, Franklin, Wright, Finney, Mortensen, Rowley, Pearson, Froggatt |
In addition to these matches various other representative matches have been played at Maine Road. These include the following inter-league games, under-21 fixtures and B Team games.
You can read more on the 8-0 victory over Scotland in 1943 here:
On 15 June 1972 one of the most shameful days in the history of Manchester City Football Club occurred when Joe Mercer resigned to take over at Coventry City. It’s a long story, which I go into in significant detail in Football With A Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, but in essence following the takeover battle of 1970-71 the new guard of directors (which included Ian Niven and Peter Swales) were gradually gaining greater control of the club. Niven, a proud supporter of Malcolm Allison, always felt Allison should have control of all aspects of team affairs and never actually rated Mercer (Niven asked me in 1989 when my first book came out: ‘Why’ve you got Mercer writing the foreword? He did nothing for City!’).
Joe felt unwanted and he was probably right. Despite being City’s most successful manager of all time until the trophy-successes of Pep Guardiola, the new board wanted Malcolm in control. Ultimately, Malcolm also felt let down by the new board and he resigned within a year.
It was a shameful day when Mercer felt so let down that he had to leave City. The highly successful era he had managed came to an end and it is significant that under the new board only one major trophy was ever won. The club lost its way and the die was cast. There were some great moments – but they were moments not years of success like Mercer had brought with Allison as his number two.
Copies of my Mercer biography are still available here:
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