Category Archives: Free

Jeremy Vine and Media Today

If you missed myself and Pete Boyle on BBC Radio 2 today at 1.30pm (UK time) talking about City and United then you can play it here

It was the Jeremy Vine show (after 1hour 40mins):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00209p6

Enjoy! I was on as a City supporter and Pete Boyle represented the United angle.

Sadly, our time was reduced and so I didn’t have chance to mention Sir Howard Bernstein, who died this weekend. Howard was a key figure behind Manchester’s redevelopment and was hugely influencial in the regeneration of east Manchester, including the stadium and the wider Etihad campus.

His death is a sad loss to Manchester. A politician who did what he said he’d do and helped improve the city.

Something that has been getting a bit of attention this weekend concerns MCFC sponsorship deals back in 2011. The journalist Nick Harris was complaining about it yesterday and implied the value was inflated and so on. It’s all fairly typical stuff but it is worth noting that Harris’ view has changed significantly since 2011. Back then he actually claimed City’s sponsorship was fair, and possibly even undervalued!

I won’t go into it all but here’s how his August 2011 piece was headlined:

Sir Howard Bernstein is mentioned in other articles on this site such as:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/sir-howard-bernstein/

The Financial Significance of Football to Manchester

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:

A Wembley for the North?

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.

Corinthians Defeat ‘Batt’s England’

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:

Order: Manchester Corinthians Book

Bernard’s Manchester City Global PR Push!

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?

Status Quo (left) & Queen 1986 concert at Maine Road. Copyright Garry Lippett

Manchester City v TNS in Wrexham?

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.

Manchester United 2024-25 Fixtures

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

Manchester City 2024-25 Fixtures


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)

Rare Hyde Letter

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.

England at Maine Road

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

DateType of gameAgainstScoreScorersCrowdTeam
16 October 1943War
Interna-tional		ScotlandW 8-0Lawton (4), Hagan (2), Carter, Matthews60,000Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Britton, Cullis, Mercer, Matthews, Carter, Lawton, Hagan, Compton
24/4/46Burnden Park Disaster Fund MatchScotlandD 2-2Welsh (2)70,000Swift, Walton, Hardwick, Wright, Leuty, Mitchell, Matthews, Welsh, Lewis, Fielding, Mannion
13/11/46Home InternationalWalesW 3-0Mannion (2), Lawton59,121Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Wright, Franklin, Johnston, Finney, Carter, Lawton, Mannion, Langton
16/11/49Home International/ World Cup qualifiersN. IrelandW 9-2Rowley (4), Froggatt, Pearson (2), Mortensen (2)69,762Streten, 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:

“Stanley’s Match” – England 8 Scotland 0 16th October 1943