Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (26 August) in 1996 the reign of Alan Ball as Manchester City boss finally and thankfully came to an end. It was by some way the worst managerial period of the last fifty years at the club (and that’s saying something!).
Three games into the new season he resigned. He should have gone at least a year earlier!
City would’ve been better with Bobby Ball as manager!
On Monday I recorded an interview with Mike Sweeney for BBC Radio Manchester about Maine Road and the Etihad. You can listen to it here (I’ve not listened but I’ve been told I’m about 90 minutes in):
2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Maine Road’s first game and to commemorate this landmark moment I have been posting a different image or feature on the old stadium each day for the last 100 days. Today is day 100 and is the actual centenary of that historic first game. So guess what I’m covering today? On this day (25 August) in 1923 Manchester City’s Maine Road Stadium staged its first game. Here is film of that landmark day in Manchester’s sporting history…
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-million-spectators-welcome-return-of-football-1923-online
You can also read a 1100 word article about the opening of the stadium and on why the ground was considered to be the ‘English Hampden’ and not the ‘Wembley of the North’ that some have tried to claim in more recent times.
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It’s Day 99 of my Maine Road 100 countdown to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. One more day to go! I hope you’ve enjoyed this free series. Today it’s about the oldest and youngest players to have appeared for City at Maine Road. Any ideas who they may be?
Billy Meredith was the oldest to play for City at Maine Road. He was 49 years & 238 days old when he played for City against Preston on 22/3/1924. This was Maine Road’s first season too!
Glyn Pardoe was the youngest to play for City at Maine Road. He was 15 years and 314 days old when he made his debut v Birmingham City on 11/4/1961.
Tomorrow will be the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. I hope you have enjoyed my 100 day countdown. If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:
It’s Day 98 of my Maine Road 100 countdown to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. I hope you’ve enjoyed these. Today it’s about the players who have scored most goals in individual games at Maine Road. Any ideas who may be heading the list and how many goals they may have scored in a single game at Maine Road?
The following are the players who have scored most in a single game for each of the domestic competitions at Maine Road:
League: 5 goals – scored by Tommy Browell v Burnley 24/10/25 & George Smith v Newport 14/6/47
FA Cup: 5 goals – scored by Frank Roberts v Crystal Palace 20/2/26
League Cup: 4 goals – scored by Dennis Tueart v Notts County 29/10/80. You can see stuff on this here:
You can read about Frank Roberts v Palace here:
If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:
It’s Day 97 of my Maine Road 100 countdown (almost there!) to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game and today it’s a simple one on the club that visited Maine Road as an away team the most. Any ideas who that was?
The team that’s played as a away side the most at Maine Road in League games is Arsenal. Of course Manchester United did play home games at Maine Road during the 1940s, but as an away team Arsenal have been the visitors the most. They’ve played City in 56 League games at Maine Road.
The team that’s appeared as an away team against the Blues the most in the FA Cup is Leicester City (6) while Blackpool (7) have been the most frequent Maine Road opponents in the League Cup.
If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:
It’s Day 96 of my Maine Road 100 countdown (not long to go now!) to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game and a brief post on the first and last first team penalty takers at Maine Road. Anyone know who they were? I’m sure many people reading this were there when the last penalty was taken in a first team game at Maine Road. Got it?
That’s right the last first team competitive penalty taken at Maine Road was by Stuart Pearce on 21 April 2002 v Portsmouth. He missed (Elsewhere on this site I tell the story of that day – well worth reading if you’re wondering what was so special about it).
The first penalty at Maine Road was also missed. That was taken by Frank Roberts in the opening game v Sheffield United on 25 August 1923.
Of course Garry Bradbury will claim it’s actually him who took the last penalty at Maine Road as he took one for Merseyside CSA in the Supporters’ Club challenge against Prestwich & Whitefield, in a match that was claimed to be the final game at Maine Road on 12 June 2003.
If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:
Busy day today talking about the history of Manchester City, in particular the story of City’s stadia. It’s 100 years on Friday since Maine Road’s first game and we’ve just had the 20th anniversary of the Etihad’s (then known as City of Manchester Stadium) first game. Time flies!
The interviews today started with Mike Sweeney interviewing me about Maine Rd and the Etihad for BBC Radio Manchester – that will be played on Friday assuming all is okay – and then it was off to Manchester City for the next set of interviews about the club’s grounds and other stuff.
Later I’m chatting elsewhere about football, sorry soccer, in the USA. A busy day.
It’s Day 95 of my Maine Road 100 countdown (not long to go now!) to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. Earlier I asked the question: Of all the brilliant players who graced Maine Road over the decades who do you think was the one who scored most goals at the old stadium? Answer later today. Watch this space about 9pm UK time!
Well, the answer is Colin Bell. Colin scored 107 first team goals at Maine Road with Eric Brook next on 106 first team goals. The main image is Colin scoring v Spurs in December 1967.
I bet there are a few fans out there who saw every one of Colin’s 107 first team Maine Road goals. Feel free to leave comments on the great City star below. Also, why not check out the other articles that mention Colin such as this on his debut for Bury:
Or this interview I did with him many years ago:
It’s Day 95 of my Maine Road 100 countdown (not long to go now!) to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. Following on from yesterday’s feature when I answered the question about who has made most appearances in City’s first team at Maine Road here’s a post about goalscorers.
Of all the brilliant players who graced Maine Road over the decades who do you think was the one who scored most goals at the old stadium? Answer later today. Watch this space about 9pm UK time!
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