Category Archives: Gary James

Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Eight)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the seventh chapter of the book (a 10,500 word section). This focuses on football as a business (yes, it was a business even then!), the move into league football for Manchester’s clubs and the relaunch of them as Manchester City and Manchester United.

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Seven)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the sixth chapter of the book (a 10,000 word section). This focuses on the earliest Manchester entrants in the FA Cup, as well as Ardwick AFC and Newton Heath.

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Steve Daley, MCFC Player of the Month

Over the years much has been said about Steve Daley and his time at Manchester City with many myths developing. While his price tag had a direct impact on his performances it is unfair to suggest that he achieved nothing (which is often said these days!) during his time at City. This image actually shows something positive and is a nice reminder that late in 1979 he was viewed so positively that he was acclaimed as City’s player of the month for November. Presumably his match winner v Bolton that month played its part.

Obviously, things like this are subjective but I do believe the wider narrative of him as a ‘failed’ player developed simply because the media focus on how expensive he was was overwhelming. As fans we were told that he HAD to deliver game after game because of his price (think about how that narrative is used today and consider what happens when a player doesn’t perform as the highest level expected of him; how many times are we told ‘Haaland hasn’t had a touch yet!’ because it’s a story that some want to tell?). Steve Daley was for many, many years City’s record transfer. It wasn’t Daley’s fault his transfer was so expensive but it was something that was always hurled at him if he had a poor game. I interviewed him a few years back and we discussed his transfer, City fans and the ridiculous spending City did. It was great to interview Steve and I enjoyed it immensely, helping fill in some gaps.

This interview is available to subscribers below.

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Six)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the fifth chapter of the book (a 8,200 word section). This focuses on the establishment of clubs in the 1870s and 1880s, including City and United’s predecessors.

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Five)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the fourth chapter of the book (a 11,000 word section). This focuses on the footballing communities that developed during the mid to late 1800s.

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Once A Blue: Bert Trautmann

My first article for Once A Blue, the Manchester City Former Players Association, is now live. It’s about the legendary Bert Trautmann: https://onceablue.com/gary-jamess-city-soundbites-1-bert-trautmann/ Enjoy! Photo is of Steve Fleet, Bert’s understudy, with the Trautmann figure we had made for the old City museum.

The Noel Gallagher Interview

With lots of rumours about Oasis concerts next summer and with Pep leaving City, it feels an appropriate time to re-release this… Back on Thursday May 20 2021 I interviewed Noel Gallagher about his support of Manchester City, Pep, Europe and more. It was great for two Mancs of a similar age to get together to chat about City. I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too. It’s all free to listen to below…

Here’s part one:

Part two:


Part three:

Part four:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-part-4-1.mp3

Part five:


Thanks to Noel and the staff at his studios & office for making this happen.

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Four)

Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the third chapter of the book (a 11,500 word section). This focuses on the mid 1800s and the development of Manchester’s earliest known association football club Hulme Athenaeum and its long term impact.

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City Programme Articles 2026-27

I’m delighted to say that I’ll be writing a feature in this year’s Manchester City match programme again. It’s a continuation of last year’s popular tracker feature Five Fifteen Fifty. This year the series will track the following season’s game by game – 2021-22, 2011-12 and 1976-77. All three were title challenging seasons and all three were entertaining in their own ways with twists and turns. I was a season ticket holder at the Etihad for the two most recent seasons and a regular in the Platt Lane Stand (occasionally the North Stand) as a boy in 1976-77. It’s going to be wonderful talking about some of my boyhood heroes and some of our Etihad heroes too.

I hope everybody enjoys the feature. As well as tracking those seasons there’ll also be a memory match involving ‘today’s’ opposition and, where possible, one of those three tracker seasons.

If you are lucky enough to get to see the programme I hope you enjoy it.

Manchester City Women: The Audio Interview

Earlier this month I was interviewd for the Counter Pressed podcast by Flo Lloyd-Hughes and also Becky Taylor-Gill about the history of Manchester City’s women’s team. It was a really enjoyable hour chatting about the birth of the club, its successes and developments and a few key moments along the way. I’m sure those interested in football (men’s or women’s), Manchester or my research will enjoy listening. Here’s the recording:

I mention both the City Women book I researched and the Manchester Corinthians book too. A second edition of the Corinthians book will be out later this year and anyone ordering before publication can get their name printed inside the book as a subscriber, supporting this non-profit making venture (no publisher or author royalties are taken and every penny profit goes towards organising events for the Corinthians or preserving the collections of the Corinthians). You can find out more here:

Manchester Corinthians