On this day (29 September) Francis Lee’s views on leaving Bolton Wanderers were published in Soccer Star magazine. Hmm, I wonder where he ended up? Do a search on this website and you’ll find the answer. Surprisingly the editorial team didn’t spot the spelling mistake in Wanderers.
Category Archives: Free
First Female Ref
On this day (29 September) in 1967 Soccer Star magazine published this small piece on Pat Dunn, the first female referee. Of course, like with much of what was written about women and football at the time it does include the usual level of stereotypical comments. Thankfully times have changed.
The Oldest Surviving Official MCFC Match Programme?
Recently I’ve been contacted by someone who had in their possession a couple of Manchester City match programmes from 123 years ago. These were from the first season the club did its own official match programme (there was an earlier joint effort between 2 rugby and 2 football clubs that was described as official from the 1890s – see below – but 1900-01 was the first for MCFC on their own). He sent me scans of them and one programme was produced for a match played on this day (29 September) in 1900. Here are some images and details from it.
This was a special game for City, though the programme was not produced because it was a special game. This was the fifth issue of the season and contained eight pages, like the others. The significance of the game however was that Arthur Balfour MP was a visitor that day. Balfour would become Prime Minister in 1902 and was still in that role when City won the FA Cup for the first time in 1904 (he wore a City rosette at the final!).
The back page talks about Balfour’s visit. Both the front and the back pages are quite difficult to read as they’ve faded. It is interesting that the club felt able to make light of Balfour’s lack of enthusiasm for ‘socker’ (yes, socker or soccer as we grew to call it, was an English word for association football before the Americans became recognised for their use of it). Balfour preferred golf (after the 1904 FA Cup final he called himself a football ‘ignoramous’. Bob Hulmes, who sent the programme scans to me, managed to transcribe the wording regarding Balfour:
Says Balfour: “What shall I do with the sphere?”
We have specially desired fine weather today as the Right Hon. Arthur James Balfour is due to make his first appearance on the Hyde Road Football enclosure this afternoon. Some little decoration will be made, for the most pleasing sight to the hon. gentleman will be a mighty crowd of enthusiastic well wishers. It is not often that we have a leader of the nation at such functions, and the occasion is historic as far as Manchester is concerned. No doubt our honoured guest wishes he had the opportunity to open a game of golf instead of socker but we are ready to excuse a “miskick” on this occasion. We are grateful for kind acceptance of our invitation. Mr Balfour and Lord Rosebery have patronised the Palace ground, now the former honours the Manchester City ground.
Surely the City Team will rise to the occasion and cause some of the rampant enthusiasm to be showered upon them by a dashing display.
It’s worth noting some of the advertisements. There’s one for Joseph Alexander’s coaches and carriages (the Alexander family business. Note: The Alexanders remained key members of City’s management/directorship/shareholding for most of the 120 years that followed!). There’s also the Wellington Hotel, Stockport Road, which was run by the ever popular City official Joshua Parlby, and the Matlock House Hydro – one of City director John Allison’s business.
The game was against Stoke and they are wearing their then home colours of ‘claret shirts and blue knickers’.
Bob also nudged me towards page 8 which included a wry comment about the previous Wednesday’s friendly at Newton Heath (United):
Did anyone try to count the spectators at the match with Newton Heath on Wednesday? If so, did they succeed in getting past double figures?
The official attendance was estimated by Newton Heath as 600 (I wonder if they had a mickey-take name along the lines of Emptyhad for United’s games at Bank Street?
Before the 1900-01 season there was an official match programme produced for both Newton Heath and Manchester City, alongside a couple of rugby clubs. It was first ‘mocked up’ in May 1898 but went into production for the 1898-1899 season. It continued into the 1900-01 season by which time City were producing their own official programme. Both programmes were in competition throughout that 1900-01 season.
Thanks to Bob Hulmes for allowing me to us images of his match programme. The programme belonged to Bob’s grandfather. He lived in Ardwick, near Hyde Road, and he followed City until his death in 1964. Bob found two programmes from 1900 lining a drawer when his grandfather died in 1964, which shows exactly how rare these images are. It’s a pure fluke in many ways that they survived and fortunately the family looked after them over the decades.
Recognising the Manchester Corinthian Ladies Football Team
There has been some good publicity for the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque unveiling which will take place on 6 October. The latest is an article in She Kicks. Follow the link for the story and images:
For wider background on the club….
The club toured the globe representing England and promoting female endeavour, football and Manchester and now, over 70 years after they were established, their achievements have helped generate significant improvements to a park and helped foster a great community spirit. Through the dedicated work of a group of volunteers, especially the Friends of Fog Lane Park, a blue plaque, two murals and other tributes telling the Corinthians story will be erected and revealed on Friday 6 October at noon.
We all know how our public parks, particularly in cities, often suffer vandalism and other anti social activity and through the Corinthians’ story he Friends of Fog Lane Park have changed the look of a vandalised building and have built on the good work they had already performed to make Fog Lane Park, Didsbury a safe, well used and popular park.
There’s so much to say but both the Friends of Fog Lane Park and the Corinthians deserve significant praise. In total over £6000 was raised for these tributes and this came from a large number of individuals as well as the FA, Manchester Council and the Corinthians’ old friends (and on the pitch rivals) Dick, Kerr Ladies (see below for names of those who made donations).
The Corinthians won major tournaments in Germany, Venezuela, France and elsewhere. They were the link team between the world renowned Dick, Kerr Ladies and the modern era, playing a significant role in football’s development. Often they played as England in these tournaments too, adding a bit of international significance in the days when formal England teams did not exist.
Another major achievement was that at formation of the Women’s Football Association not only was Gladys Aikin, the Corinthians’ manager, playing a key role but the club joined the WFA as two clubs – Corinthians and Nomads. This demonstrated their commitment to the long term development of the sport.
A year or so ago Will McTaggart, who hosted a number of football film shows with me in the years before Covid, alerted me to a clip that’s been found by the BBC of the Manchester Corinthians women’s team of the 1960s. This clip is from March 1965. You can watch it here:
As a reminder here’s more on the story to erect the plaque:
In 2019 I wrote an article for the Manchester Evening News on the women’s achievements and hoping for FA recognition and had meetings with a variety of local organisations about promoting the Corinthians further. Covid slowed everything down but then in 2021 I publicly announced for the first time the desire to have a plaque erected to the pioneering Manchester Corinthians. This was at a celebration evening at Hebden Bridge organised with Geoff Matthews. Our guests included several former Corinthians players and the mood of the audience was encouraging and supporting, which then led on to rekindling discussions with Manchester based bodies.
Support came from Manchester City Council and we discussed erecting a plaque at Fog Lane Park, the initial home of the Corinthians. In fact the women were based there for over twenty years. Via the council the Friends of Fog Lane Park came on board and we set up an appeal under their name, as custodians of the park. I wrote to contacts at the FA and elsewhere and within next to no time donations came flooding in from a variety of former players, family, friends, journalists and the Dick, Kerr Ladies Foundation via Gail Newsham. It was gratifying to see so much support (a full list of those who donated appears below – thanks to you all!).
My discussions with the FA eventually resulted in them agreeing to fund the plaque, the unveiling and to support other tributes. This meant we’d reached our goal. The plaque is a reality and will be unveiled soon.
The Friends of Fog Lane Park managed to get matching funds from Manchester City Council too and so now, as well as the plaque and a lectern providing a Corinthians’ timeline, there will be two impressive murals painted by artist Gavin Renshaw.
On October 6 at noon the blue plaque will be unveiled with over twenty of the Manchester Corinthians present.
The club’s entire history, including its final years over 40 years after it was founded, will be documented in a book that will be published in 2024. You can find out about that here:
If you appear on the following photos then please get in touch or if you played for the Corinthians at any point between 1949 and 1982 we’d love to hear from you. I’m also keen to track down more photographs and items of memorabilia associated with the team. Please email me at gary@GJFootballArchive.com or contact via this page: https://gjfootballarchive.com/contact/
Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting further stories about the Corinthians. Recently I was fortunate to interview a 90+ year old who played for the Corinthians from formation in 1949.
Those who have donated to the appeal to erect permanent tributes to the Corinthians include:
Pam Barnes, Dan Mooney, Adam Turgoose, ‘Ben’, ‘Jean J’, Jonathan Kaye, Megan Riley, Helena Byrne, Dawn Burrows, Clare Wilkins, Linda Foley, Debbie Enever, John Carrier, Jacqui McAssey, Michael Cottam, Karen Ohanco, David Hoyle, Daniel Rubin, Heidi James, Gary James and the Dick, Kerr Ladies Foundation. There were also a small number of anonymous donations – thanks to all of you too. Everyone has contributed to this appeal. Please come along to the unveiling if you can.
Newcastle v Manchester City: The Story So Far
City v Newcastle is one of the most enduring fixtures in English football. There have been cup finals, title deciders, dramatic games, shared heroes and so much more. The two clubs first met in the League in October 1893 (Ardwick/MCFC’s 2nd season in the League) and have since played each other 189 times overall with City winning 76 and Newcastle 72 games.
As tonight is a League Cup tie, the most famous meeting of the teams in that competition came in 1976 at Wembley when Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart both scored for the Blues.
Anyone at Maine Road on the day City played away against Newcastle at Maine Road? See:
100 years ago there was the last meeting at City’s famous old Hyde Road ground:
In 2012 a Newcastle v City game was crucial in the Blues’ title charge:
Elano’s wonder goal in 2007:
In 2021-22 there was a memorable City victory:
Most Blues of my age and above will remember where they were when our King returned to action on Boxing Day 1977. Here’s an interview I did with him a few years back when we talked about that special day:
When I was a teenager there was a second tier meeting that attracted a significant crowd for the period:
My Dad’s generation will remember the 1955 FA Cup final:
During 1956-57 there was a ‘game of the season’ in the FA Cup between the clubs:
My grandad’s generation would’ve remembered Billy Meredith’s last game:
Who remembers the title decider at Newcastle? Details:
There was a really odd thing a while back where a Newcastle paper claimed that their local team had first worn bar scarves at games. A few simple searches soon proved there were much earlier bar scarfs:
Some of the above are free to read and some are for subscribers only. Follow the link below if you want to find out more about subscribing:
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DonateHeatwave at Tottenham
110 years ago today! A famous heatwave game for Manchester City at Spurs. Photos from this match often get mistakenly published as Hyde Road but this match was definitely in London and played on 27 September 1913. The City scorer was Billy Lot Jones (Spurs won 3-1).
I know it’s difficult to work out but this is the City goal:
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Dennis Tueart Interview
Here’s a video of my latest interview with Dennis Tueart. 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.
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DonateDennis Tueart’s biography is available at most bookshops, including the usual online retailers such as:
COMPETITION: From Maine Road To The Etihad 100 Years Book
Fancy winning a copy of the new book on Maine Road and the Etihad? The publisher, Reach, has offered to post out a copy of the book to the winner of a competition (Sadly, only UK postal addresses will be allowed). See below for details of how to enter…
The competition is open until Sunday 1st October at 9pm UK time and only one entry per person will be allowed. To enter simply send the answer to the following question, along with your name and location (not your address, just your nearest town/post town), via email to: comp@GJFootballArchive.com
The question is: Who was the architect of Maine Road when it was first built in 1923?
The answer does appear on my website in a variety of locations, so go search for it if you don’t know and then enter the competition. The winner will be selected at random from all the correct entries received on Monday 2nd October and will be informed later that day.
As for the book…
I’m delighted to say I’m one of the co-authors on the new book which focuses on Maine Road and the Etihad stadia (the two most recent permanent homes of Manchester City).
I’ve contributed the Introduction, the story of Maine Road’s first game and the 100 Maine Memories of Maine Road. I tried to make sure the 100 Maine Memories cover both the great and the unusual so, inevitably, Colin Bell is featured but so is the wonky North Stand scoreboard! If you attended Maine Road it will all make sense and if you didn’t it’ll give you a great feel for what life was like at the old place.
Please enter the competition and good luck with it.
While you’re here, why not subscribe to the website and unlock all the articles on here? See:
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.
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DonateSwales Sells Main Stand
Here’s a nice little quote from 1973. It’s a reminder of the days just before Peter Swales became Manchester City chairman but he was already the main mouthpiece for the board (something that riled chairman Eric Alexander significantly!). It shows how Swales was already trying to grab the headlines with comments that he knew would get media attention.
The background is that there had been some discussion on whether Rodney Marsh would be sold as, according to the media, he wasn’t exactly fitting in with City’s perceived direction and had, according to some, cost the Blues the League title in 1972. You can read about that elsewhere on my site (see below).
I wonder if Swales ever did get any offers for the Main Stand as a result of this? I do know that Punch magazine did a humorous piece outlining that it had been bought by Tottenham for £500,000 and their forward.
You can read about 1971-72 here:
Tameside Radio Interview Re Manchester Corinthians
I was interviewed last week about my research and writing and managed to chat a bit about the Manchester Corinthians. The interview was with Lewis Connell on Tameside Radio and can be heard below. The interview starts after about 40 minutes:
Gary James' Football Archive 