Category Archives: Free

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

A Shameful Day

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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Manchester City 5-1 Newport County

On 16 June 1947 the Western Mail carried this match report of Manchester City’s 5-0 victory over Newport County, which was played on 14 June. The game was remarkable for a number of reasons:

  • Prior to the 2019-20 Covid affected season this was the club’s latest finish to a season. 2019-20 ended in August (Champions League) with the League campaign ending on July 26 2020. The 1946-47 season had been affected by snow and frozen pitches, causing many games to be postponed.
  • City played with only ten men for much of the second half due to an injury to Billy Walsh
  • The Blues won 5-1 with George Smith scoring all five goals. No player has ever scored more goals for the Blues in a League game (Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland have scored 5 in the League of course – you can read about those elsewhere on this site). Denis Law did score 6 goals in a FA Cup tie v Luton but this was abandoned and wiped from the records.
  • Roy Clarke made his City debut and, as City were promoted, he became the first man to play 3 successive league games in 3 different divisions when he appeared in his next City game. He’d joined from Cardiff (Division 3); made his City debut in Division 2 then played in Division 1. Subscribers can read more about Roy Clarke here:
MANCHESTER CITY – HALL OF FAME: Roy Clarke
  • City had achieved promotion over a month earlier (May 10) when they defeated Burnley 1-0 in front of a Maine Road crowd of 69,463.
  • City were promoted as champions.

Preston and City Great: The Death Of Jimmy Ross

One of the earliest stars of League Football died this month (12th June) in 1902. Jimmy Ross, who was a major figure for almost three seasons with Manchester City and had competed in every season of League football since the League was established in 1888, died with an illness described as “an acute skin disease and a raging fever.”

Ross was one of the Preston ‘Invincibles’ in 1888-89 and also scored 7 (sometimes reported as 8) against Hyde in the famous FA Cup record breaking game (read more on that game here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/02/22/hyde-v-preston-a-record-breaking-day/ ).

At the time of his death Ross was a Manchester City player. His last first team appearance was appropriately against Preston North End in the First Round of the F.A. Cup in January 1902.  

City helped his mother, whom he was looking after at the time of his death, financially.  They also arranged the funeral and he was buried at Southern Cemetery (according to newspaper reports of the time he was buried in a grave that contained another City player – Bride – who had died a couple of years earlier). Several City players/personalities carried the coffin, including Billy Meredith.

More can be read on Ross’ life here:

The Great Jimmy Ross

Manchester City’s All-Time Best FA Cup Winning Eleven

So far I’ve told you about the eleven players selected for my all-time best Manchester City FA Cup final winning team and today it’s the time for the manager.

I was asked to select an all-time City eleven and had two rules – they had to actually play in a winning final (so, unused substitutes were not allowed) and they could not be a member of the current playing squad. I also tried to focus on the fact that this eleven would also be facing an all time Manchester United eleven. Therefore victories over United in key games were always in the back of my mind.

For the manager I could select anyone who had managed the Blues in a FA Cup winning final. It was tough because of the wonderfully talented and inspirational leaders the club has had, starting with Tom Maley in 1904. In the end I went for:

Manager Pep Guardiola (since 2016)

Imagine this talented team being guided by this inspirational coach! A tactical innovator he would love the versatility of this team with attack-minded defenders, a hugely talented midfield and some of the best goalscorers the FA Cup has ever seen. Forward-thinking 1960s coach Malcolm Allison would be enthralled watching him in action.

I have no idea how many of you read the article in the FA Cup final but another writer picked the United all-time FAC eleven. When comparing the two I’m convinced my 11 would easily defeat United’s. Maybe I should post that and see what you all think?

Manchester City’s All-Time Best FA Cup Winning Eleven

So far I’ve told you about Bert Trautmann, Tony Book, Glyn Pardoe, Vincent Kompany, İlkay Gündoğan, David Silva, Billy Meredith, Colin Bell and Fred Tilson in my all-time best Manchester City FA Cup final winning team and today it’s the time for the final couple of names.

I was asked to select an all-time City eleven and had two rules – they had to actually play in a winning final (so, unused substitutes were not allowed) and they could not be a member of the current playing squad. I also tried to focus on the fact that this eleven would also be facing an all time Manchester United eleven. Therefore victories over United in key games were always in the back of my mind.

The final two players selected are heroes from the 1969 and 2011 finals:

Neil Young (1961-1972)

A Mancunian who scored the only goal of the 1969 final – a trademark left foot shot past Peter Shilton – and followed this with the opening goal in City’s first European trophy success the following season. The leading goalscorer during the 1967-68 title winning season, Young played in a variety of attacking roles, always contributing goals.

1971 ECWC v Chelsea North Stand being built but used for terracing. Neil Young. Photo by Alan Jubb.

There are lots of articles that mention Neil Young on this site. You can read some here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/neil-young/

Yaya Toure (2010-2018)

Bustling, powerful and rampaging, the African Footballer of the Year was goal scorer in the 2011 FA Cup semi against United and that season’s final too. This versatile midfielder can play a holding role or play box-to-box, adding many options to this team. He is adept at turning any game.

Yaya Toure

You can read about the significance of 2011 and Yaya’s significant role in that in this feature here:

2011 – What It Meant Historically

More on the all-time FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow when I highlight which manager was selected. I think most can work this out!

Manchester City’s All-Time Best FA Cup Winning Eleven

So far I’ve told you about Bert Trautmann, Tony Book, Glyn Pardoe, Vincent Kompany, İlkay Gündoğan, David Silva and Billy Meredith in my all-time best Manchester City FA Cup final winning team and today it’s the time for another couple of names.

I was asked to select an all-time City eleven and had two rules – they had to actually play in a winning final (so, unused substitutes were not allowed) and they could not be a member of the current playing squad. I also tried to focus on the fact that this eleven would also be facing an all time Manchester United eleven. Therefore victories over United in key games were always in the back of my mind.

The next two players selected are (and the first one will be no surprise but the second may be!):

Colin Bell (1966-1979)

The King and first name on this team sheet. 1969 FA Cup winner whose courage, stamina, speed, skill, enthusiasm and strength all combined to make him one of the game’s biggest legends. Bobby Charlton called him: ‘One of my great heroes… He was an outstanding player.’ Who would argue with that?

There are lots of articles on Colin Bell on this site. You can read some here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/colin-bell/

Fred Tilson (1928-1938)

This England international’s best performances often came in the Cup, scoring more goals (22) in the competition than any other City player. In 1934 he netted 9 goals in 8 games, including two at Wembley, meaning he edges Francis Lee for selection. This centre-forward was a key contributor when City won the 1937 League Championship too.

You can read more about 1934 here:

The 1934 FA Cup Final

More on the all-time Manchester City FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow. It was a tough selection and over the next few days I’ll post the rest of the starting eleven.

You can read about the significance of 2011 in this feature here:

2011 – What It Meant Historically

More on the all-time FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow.