Category Archives: Free

Manchester FA Accept MCFC

On this day (11 April) in 1894 the Manchester FA agreed to accept the newly established Manchester City FC into the Manchester FA so long as the new club could secure a ground. This was an important point as Ardwick AFC had been against the local FA accepting MCFC at this time as they were hoping to retain use of the Hyde Road ground and continue playing. Much of this time is incorrectly reported with many incorrectly assuming Ardwick to MCFC was a simple name change.

If you want to know the facts not the fiction, plus my own interpretation of the events then in March 2023 I performed a one hour talk on 1894 etc. Subscribers can view that here:

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Neutral Venue

On this day (9 April) in 1975 Fulham and Birmingham City met at Maine Road in a FA Cup semi-final replay.  It was an evenly matched game until – with only around a minute of extra-time left – Fulham striker John Mitchell chased a hopeful ball into the Birmingham area.  The Birmingham ‘keeper Dave Latchford blocked a shot which then rebounded off John Mitchell’s leg and into the net to give Fulham a 1-0 victory.

The attendance for this midweek replay was 35,205 with over 20,000 coming from Birmingham (according to their local press!).  Although Maine Road was a regular and popular semi-final venue during most of its history, it does seem a rather strange choice for this tie considering the location of the sides taking part. 

   

Happy Birthday Joe Royle

Future Oldham Athletic manager, Manchester City player and manager Joe Royle was born at Norris Green, Liverpool on this day (8 April) in 1949 .  During his City career Royle won the League Cup as a player and back to back promotions as a manager. There are quite a few Royle articles on this site such as:

Royle Goal
On This Day 1977 – Manchester City and Joe Royle
99 Dreams
MCFC 1999-2000 LEAGUE and CUP REVIEW

Penalty Decides

When Manchester City and Fulham these sides met on this day (6 April) at Easter 1928 City were fighting for promotion out of Division Two, while Fulham were desperate to avoid relegation.  It was a Good Friday game and a crowd of 50,660 attended, though some reports claimed it was a 60,000 crowd (these were the days before Peter Swales though!).

The match was not as entertaining as other fixtures between the Blues and the Cottagers during this period, although the first few minutes suggested otherwise.  The Daily Dispatch reporter explained:  “Though they had a strong wind and sun against them, Manchester City opened the scoring in practically the first advance they made.  Marshall taking a pass by Sharp almost from the flag on the half-volley and crashing it into the net.”

After 30 minutes Fulham went further behind when their left-back Barrett handled a shot from Marshall.  Frank Roberts netted the resultant penalty.  Ten minutes later McNab scored a consolation goal for Fulham.  

In summary the Daily Dispatch claimed that the penalty – hotly disputed by Fulham – was the only significant difference between the sides (well it did end 2-1!). 

Trophy Success for Droylsden in Glasgow

This weekend Droylsden Town over 50s women’s walking football team won at the Glasgow Life tournament. In fact, in a highly competitive tournament that had teams from across Britain, Droylsden had entered two teams in the 6-a-side competition. The draw kept them apart during the group stages, but both teams managed to win their groups, which meant they also missed each other in the knock out stage.

Ultimately, they both won through to the final that meant that the Over 50s final, played close to Hampden Park at the Toryglen football centre, was an all Droylsden final.

A tense final saw the teams evenly matched, with the game ending 2-2. A penalty shootout was needed to determine the winners.

The trophy was presented by legendary Scottish footballer (and World Cup winner) Rose Reilly. Members of the two Droylsden teams have played competitive 11-a-side football at the highest levels possible earlier in their careers for a variety of prominent clubs including Manchester City, Manchester United, Manchester Corinthians, Doncaster Belles, Brontë, Cleveland Spartans and many more, including a Women’s FA Cup finalist.

Congratulations to Droylsden on your success and on bringing further honour to Manchester’s sporting life.

Here are a few of Droylsden’s goals from the competition. The first is a well worked team goal:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/img_5273.mov

This is the first equalising goal in the final for the eventual winners:

blob:https://wordpress.com/f8e7d9a0-3e48-4f6d-83a9-5391f139bcea

Here’s a great goal from Lesley Wright:

blob:https://wordpress.com/13eabbca-6f4f-41f4-862f-a1ab01819a7d

100 Years Ago Today: Hyde Road’s Last City Victory!

100 years ago today (April 2 1923) Manchester City won a first team game at Hyde Road for the last time. They defeated Sunderland 1-0 with a goal from Horace Barnes after about thirty minutes. The above is a report of that goal (I love the way these things used to be described – ‘the linesmen drew the attention of the referee…’).

It was a controversial game which angered City’s Hyde Road fans, as this section of the report shows:

Also worth bearing in mind that this was the 3rd game in four days – what would today’s managers make of that! Even in the 1980s I remember games being played on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday.

In the other games City had lost 2-0 at Sunderland (March 30) and beaten Chelsea 3-0 (March 31)at Hyde Road.

The gate receipts at Sunderland on Good Friday we’re said to be quite substantial from a 35,000 crowd. So substantial that the Roger Park offices were broken into that night BUT, fortunately for Sunderland, the takings had already been taken from the ground (presumably by staff not fans!).

After this last win at Hyde Rd two further top flight games were played there – a 1-1 with Nottingham Forest and a 0-0 with Newcastle United. Neither of which attracted particularly significant crowds and there was no great ‘Farewell To Hyde Road’ commemoration (if I’d have been around I’d have tried to write a book on the old place). Maybe fans felt the move still wouldn’t happen as Maine Road was some way off completion?

Interesting note:  Maine Road’s last victory was against Sunderland on 21/4/2003 and again there were two further home games to come after it!

Swindon Town 0 Manchester City 2

On this day (1 April) in 2000 Manchester City won 2-0 at Swindon Town. The game was watched by 12,397 and the goals came from the now dependable (there had been concern amongst fans earlier in his City career) Shaun Goater – his 27th of the campaign – and Mark Kennedy.

Manager Joe Royle was delighted, although concerned by City’s first half performance: ‘I am delighted with the victory and I thought we fully deserved the points. It wasn’t the best game in the first half, but Shaun Goater did well for the first goal, and we always looked comfortable after the half-time interval and more dangerous after we changed things around.’

The game had not been a good one for 25-year-old midfielder Tony Grant who had made his first start since January. He was replaced by Ian Bishop early in the second half and from that point on the game came alive. Despite the result the Swindon directors were pleased with the match. The Wiltshire club had allowed City fans to occupy both ends of their tiny ground, and it was reported that over half of the 12,397 crowd were supporting the Blues. At £17 per ticket it was calculated the additional gate money was worth over £100,000 to the relegation bound club.

In the table, City had a game in hand over most clubs, and now lay third on 72 points. The near invincible Charlton (87 points) still headed the League while Barnsley (74 points) were second. Ipswich were fourth – one point behind City after the same number of matches – while Birmingham were fifth on 69 points.

The First Noel and More

In the build up to MCFC’s ChampionsLeague final the other year I interviewed musician Noel Gallagher about his support for City. Here are the first 15 minutes of that interview.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-first-15-minutes.mp3 

If you enjoyed that you can listen to part two and the other sections via the following links. Subscribers to my site get access to hundreds of articles, recordings (such as my earlier interviews with Malcolm Allison & John Bond). There’s also lots of free content on the site. If you enjoy this and would like to support my research, the site etc. then why not donate a couple of pounds to pay the website’s bills and help fund detailed research into football’s history. You can do that lower down this page. Thanks.

Now, here’s part two:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part two

Part three:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part three

Part four:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part four

Part five:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part five

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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Manchester-Liverpool Rivalry

In terms of football the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool were extremely close for decades but in business and everyday life they have been rivals (bitter at times) for over 150 years. People will talk about all sorts of factors with the main one discussed being about the trade issues Manchester faced because Liverpool basically controlled Manchester’s access to the sea. I don’t want to go on too much about it all but I do want to show these sections from American newspapers which give an indication of what the situation was from another nation’s point of view.

It’s interesting to note that at least one of these articles shows that Manchester tried to ensure the whole of England benefitted from the city’s growing prosperity, suggesting that previously Liverpool only benefitted from this kind of trade.

Crittenden Record, July 04, 1907
Americus Times, April 14, 1903,
The Morning News, July 23, 1894

There are lots of articles on my site about Manchester’s teams and those from Liverpool. Here are details of articles than are tagged ‘Liverpool’:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/liverpool/

Here are articles tagged ‘Everton’:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/everton/

32nd and 33rd League Goals of the Season

Today (30 March) in 1929 legendary goalscorer Tommy Johnson netted twice as Manchester City defeated Burnley 4-1 at Maine Road (other scorers were Brook and Marshall). These were Johnson’s 32nd and 33rd League goals of his record breaking season when he netted 38 League goals. I wonder if he’ll still hold the record for most City League goals in a season by the end of this current season.