Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Three days after making his Manchester City debut in a League Cup tie with Leicester (22 September 1965, 3-1 City win) Stan Horne made his League debut for Joe Mercer’s Blues. The game, played on this day (25th) in 1965 ended in a 1-0 City win over Derby County at Maine Road. The scorer was Jimmy Murray.
Horne had previously played for Mercer’s Aston Villa too.
As it’s Manchester City v Arsenal here’s a flashback to March 1993 with a connection to both clubs. Back then I travelled to Arsenal’s old stadium, Highbury, to interview the Arsenal manager George Graham, not about the Gunners’ form that season or about a game with City but about his former boss – and Arsenal and Manchester City legend – Joe Mercer.
Joe was the Aston Villa manager who brought George to England many, many years before George had found fame as a footballer and Joe had taken Manchester City to their first European honour. Joe did win the League Cup as Aston Villa boss, but these were not great days for the former Everton and Arsenal playing legend, but he did always feel responsible for bringing George to England (and loved the success he brought Arsenal).
My interview with George had been arranged for Tuesday 30 March 1993 some time in advance but then Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham was scheduled for the following Sunday at Wembley (a highly unusual occurrence at the time!). I expected to get a call cancelling the interview but instead George decided to go ahead with it.
On the day I parked up outside Highbury quite early but as I pulled up I saw George leave the stadium and jump into a car. I was early, so wasn’t too worried. Then I remembered the FA Cup semi-final and assumed that George would be busy with plans. I expected to be told when I entered the marble hall at Highbury that the meeting would be off.
When I spoke with the reception staff they told me to take a seat. They said that George had been called away and so could be a few minutes late (which he was). I was relieved because I’d been convinced he would cancel (it’s happened often with other busy managers).
I sat in reception thinking about the chat and then, a few minutes after we were due to meet, George walked in. He spoke with the receptionist and then came towards me, hand out, saying ‘I’m George Graham’ (I remember thinking ‘I know’ but I did love the fact that he introduced himself). He took me up to his impressive office at Highbury – no other offices at any ground I had been to at that time could match the quality and status of that room.
We then did the interview. It’s not my best – I think I was overawed by the situation – but I was appreciative of George’s time. During the interview Stewart Houston, his assistant, popped in to check something with George (I turned off my recorder) and George ushered him away, telling him that he was busy. Again, I loved this – other managers have sometimes disappeared and not come back but for George he’d set this time aside to see me and chat about Joe Mercer and that’s what he was doing.
Arsenal beat Spurs that weekend so, I suppose, George knew what he was doing but I do remember watching that game on TV thinking that if Arsenal lose I’d never be able to tell anyone that George had spent time being pestered about Joe Mercer when he should’ve been preparing for Tottenham!
If you subscribe to this site you can hear the interview below. I have been researching and writing for a long time and my Joe Mercer book was my third (first published in 1993). I am not employed by anyone and I do not have sponsorship either and so I’ve set up this website to help share my writing and research. The intention is to develop the archive and to provide access to as much of my material as possible over the coming weeks, months & years. Subscribers can already access over 1600 articles/posts including the entire Manchester A Football History book and audio interviews with Malcolm Allison and John Bond.
It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe.
Anyway, here’s the George Graham interview:
To listen please subscribe. Each subscriber gets full access to the 1600 articles posted so far and everything posted during your subscription..
An update hardback edition of my Joe Mercer biography can be bought here:
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This Sunday Manchester City and West Ham face each other in the Premier League with a City victory (or an equal result to Arsenal’s game) giving the Blues the title. It’s another of those last day title deciders that City fans have had to get used to over the years.
Although there had been other seasons when City needed to get a good result in their final game to avoid relegation, earn promotion etc. the first last day title decider involving the Blues came in 1968. Back then Joe Mercer was manager and Malcolm Allison his number two. They believed in entertaining football – a contrast to what the rest of English football seemed to believe it as the following report shows.
Have a read of what was said back in May 1968 to fully appreciate how wonderful that team was and how refreshing City were to late 1960s football:
You can read about the build up to that game; the story of the match itself and quotes from those involved below. Enjoy!
Read more of this content and everything else on this site when you subscribe today. £20 a year (works out about £1.67 a month) and you access all the interviews, articles and the entire Manchester A Football History book too for as long as you’re a subscriber. Thanks Gary
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Happy 79th birthday to former Arsenal manager George Graham. George was brought to England by Joe Mercer to play for Aston Villa and on 30 March 1993 I travelled to Arsenal’s old stadium, Highbury, to interview George. I wanted to capture his views on his former boss – and Arsenal legend – Joe Mercer.
As I mentioned earlier, Joe was the Aston Villa manager who brought George to England many, many years before George had found fame as a footballer and Joe had taken Manchester City to their first European honour. Joe did win the League Cup as Aston Villa boss, but these were not great days for the former Everton and Arsenal playing legend, but he did always feel responsible for bringing George to England (and loved the success he brought Arsenal).
My interview with George had been arranged for Tuesday 30 March 1993 some time in advance but then Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final with Tottenham was scheduled for the following Sunday at Wembley (a highly unusual occurrence at the time!). I expected to get a call cancelling the interview but instead George decided to go ahead with it.
On the day I parked up outside Highbury quite early but as I pulled up I saw George leave the stadium and jump into a car. I was early, so wasn’t too worried. Then I remembered the FA Cup semi-final and assumed that George would be busy with plans. I expected to be told when I entered the marble hall at Highbury that the meeting would be off.
When I spoke with the reception staff they told me to take a seat. They said that George had been called away and so could be a few minutes late (which he was). I was relieved because I’d been convinced he would cancel (it’s happened often with other busy managers).
I sat in reception thinking about the chat and then, a few minutes after we were due to meet, George walked in. He spoke with the receptionist and then came towards me, hand out, saying ‘I’m George Graham’ (I remember thinking ‘I know’ but I did love the fact that he introduced himself). He took me up to his impressive office at Highbury – no other offices at any ground I had been to at that time could match the quality and status of that room.
We then did the interview. It’s not my best – I think I was overawed by the situation – but I was appreciative of George’s time. During the interview Stewart Houston, his assistant, popped in to check something with George (I turned off my recorder) and George ushered him away, telling him that he was busy. Again, I loved this – other managers have sometimes disappeared and not come back but for George he’d set this time aside to see me and chat about Joe Mercer and that’s what he was doing.
Arsenal beat Spurs that weekend so, I suppose, George knew what he was doing but I do remember watching that game on TV thinking that if Arsenal lose I’d never be able to tell anyone that George had spent time being pestered about Joe Mercer when he should’ve been preparing for Tottenham!
If you subscribe to this site you can hear the interview below. I have been researching and writing for a long time and my Joe Mercer book was my third (first published in 1993). I am not employed by anyone and I do not have sponsorship either and so I’ve set up this website to help share my 35 years plus writing and research. The intention is to develop the archive and to provide access to as much of my material as possible over the coming weeks, months & years. Annual subscribers can already access over 1250 articles/posts including the entire Manchester A Football History book, my first book on MCFC (published in 1989) and Farewell To Maine Road, plus audio interviews with Malcolm Allison and John Bond.
It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe.
Anyway, here’s the George Graham interview:
To listen please subscribe. Each Monthly subscriber gets access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything posted during their subscription. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime). There’s also a special annual subscription available (see below).
To listen please subscribe. Each annual subscriber gets full access to the 1000+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming months. This includes PDFs of 3 of my books and interviews with Malcolm Allison and others. Annual subscription is available at the special price of £20 a year (about £1.67 a month).
An update hardback edition of my Joe Mercer biography can be bought here:
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DonateLate in 1993 Jimmy Wagg interviewed me on GMR about my new book on Joe Mercer. Next month it’ll be 30 years (I know!) since that book came out and so I thought I’d post the recording of the interview with Jimmy from that year. The quality is not great (neither are my answers at times!) but you can now hear the recording on my website.
If you want to hear why I did the book and the answers I gave back then have a listen now. Here goes (again apologies for the quality of the recording):
While you’re here why not have a look at all the other articles, interviews, videos and material on this site. Subscribers get access to everything and this includes PDFs of the entire Manchester A Football History book; From Maine Men To Banana Citizens (my first book) and Farewell To Maine Road. There are also audio recordings of my interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison, George Graham etc. It costs £3 per month or £20 per year. Details of how to subscribe below:
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DonateBroadcast live on this day (25 March) in 1970 was the This is Your Life TV episode with Joe Mercer as the subject. Here are the details plus a special recording which supporters of all the clubs Joe was involved with could be interested in.
This Is Your Life was viewed at the time as significant recognition for a lifetime’s achievement. Only major stars and personalities were featured in those days, and the main idea would be that the subject of the programme would be surprised by the sudden appearance of presenter Eamonn Andrews and his ‘Big Red Book’. The subject would then be whisked away to a studio or other location where a variety of figures from the person’s life would be brought out to tell anecdotes and the like. The main part of the show would be broadcast live.
Back in 1970 young Manchester City supporter John Stapleton was working on the series and he suggested they feature Joe Mercer as the topic of one show. John, who has gone on to be a prominent broadcaster with a well-regarded TV career was interviewed by me a few years back and we discussed the programme and John’s part in the idea of featuring Joe: ‘I did it purely for the benefit of me and my dad. Eamon Andrews, the presenter, had of course a great interest in sport and I put the idea to him and the rest of the production team. Together with Norah, Joe’s wife who in recent years I often sat with at games sharing her boiled sweets, we concocted a situation where Joe and Malcolm were in a London hotel before a trip to watch a European game in 1970. Malcolm disappeared – deliberately as part of the show though Joe didn’t know this – and Joe was called to reception urgently. Eamon leaped out to do the big “This Is Your Life” reveal and Joe had no idea whatsoever. It was a great day for us all and Joe was thoroughly deserving of it as well.’
Joe was staying at a Hilton Hotel in London. As John described, He had been due to fly with Malcolm Allison to the continent to watch ECWC semi-final opponents Schalke but he had received a message to say the game was off. It was all a ruse of course. That night television viewers watched as Eamonn Andrews surprised Joe at the hotel reception desk: ‘Joe Mercer, former England playing star, now manager of Cup winning Manchester City, tonight. This Is Your Life!’
At the start of the show the City team appeared. This had been an extremely busy time for the Blues. Over a 18 day period City had played two League games, the League Cup final, the second leg of the ECWC quarter-final with Coimbra and found time to work with television to honour their manager. This live show occurred on Wednesday 25 March and City were to face Derby in the League on 27th and Manchester United on 28th, plus they had to play the first leg of the ECWC semi-final with Schalke on 1st. It was incredible that a team would be involved in this at such a busy time but that’s the way it was.
As Joe explains in the show Malcolm Allison was nowhere to be seen. He had been staying with Joe at the hotel and the City manager commented: ‘I’m a great sleeper you see, and subconsciously I heard Malcolm getting up and I thought, oh, he’s going to the bathroom. I thought, well, he hasn’t come back, so he must be having a bath, and then I went back to sleep. I woke about ten and Malcolm had gone, but occasionally this happens – Malcolm disappears!’
Andrews explained that Allison had left early to watch the match which was still on. Joe was flabbergasted: ‘He’s left all his clothes! I’ve had to pack his bag as well!’
During the course of the show, Andrews informed Joe that Alf Ramsey had named the squad he was to take to the 1970 World Cup: ‘I know you haven’t had a chance to hear the news, but I’m going to tell it to you now, that two of your boys have been named by Alf for the World Cup – Francis Lee and Colin Bell. And two more in the twelve reserves – Mike Summerbee and Alan Oakes. Congratulations lads, and to the whole of the Manchester City.’
Joe was overjoyed.
Subscribers to this website are now in for a special treat as an audio of the entire episode has been preserved and can now be listened to here:
You can listen to this special recording of Joe Mercer, Eamon Andrews, Dixie Dean, Malcolm Allison, Stan Cullis, Stanley Matthews etc. by subscribing. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 Oct 2022 or there’s an annual option (below).
You can listen to this special recording of Joe Mercer, Eamon Andrews, Dixie Dean, Malcolm Allison, Stan Cullis, Stanley Matthews etc. by subscribing. It costs £20 per year (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since the site began in December 2020, that includes history talks, videos, a couple of my books, hundreds of articles etc.
Joe appeared on several other This Is Your Life shows including in November 1988 when Tom Finney was the subject and in 1980 when Emlyn Hughes was. He also appeared on two for Matt Busby, one in 1958 and one in 1971 (which opened at Maine Road).
The Programme details for the Joe Mercer episode are:
The guests were:
Filmed tributes:
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DonateOn this day (22 March) 1969 Manchester City and Everton met in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park. Here for subscribers is the story of that day, including material from interviews I have performed with some of the key people (such as Tommy Booth). Enjoy!
To read this and all the other in-depth articles please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (see below). Annual subscribers get full access to everything posted since December 2020 and the hundreds scheduled to be posted during their subscription.
To read this and all the other in-depth articles please subscribe. It’s £3 a month (cancel anytime). Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything scheduled to be posted during their subscription.
I’d like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to visit my website. I have been researching and writing about Manchester football since the 1980s. I am not employed by anyone and I do not have sponsorship either and so I’ve set up this website to help share my 32 years plus writing and research.
The intention is to develop the archive and to provide access to as much of my material as possible over the coming weeks, months & years. Subscribers can already access hundreds of articles/posts including PDFs of a couple of books and exclusive audio interviews, talks etc.
It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe. If you’d like to check whether it’s value for money, have a search through content before subscribing – or even subscribe for a month, access what you want and then cancel!
Thanks for the support, Gary.
On this day (10 March) in 1971 a crowd reported as 100,000 witnessed a 2-0 Manchester City defeat by Gornik in the ECWC quarter final first leg. The story of that game and the rest of the tie is available below (with video clips) for subscribers to this site.
If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book, talks, articles, interviews etc.) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (see below). Annual subscribers gets full access to everything posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming year.
If you would like to read this and more then please subscribe. It costs £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything to be posted throughout their subscription. Cancel any time.
On this day (9 December) in 1967 a remarkable game took place at Maine Road that became known as the Ballet On Ice. Manchester United supporter Bobby Greenroyd watched the game on Match of the Day and wrote to City afterwards: “I am a regular Manchester United fan, but after Saturday’s game your next home gate will be increased by one.” High praise, particularly as United themselves were on the verge of European Cup glory.
Why and how did this happen and which leading MCFC figure sneaked out to buy a bag of chips while the club celebrated its 1968 League title success? Here for subscribers is an article that explains all….
Read this and everything else on the site when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year or £3 per month (see below). Annual subscribers get access to everything posted since December 2020 plus all material during the subscription.
Read this and everything else on the site when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (see above) or £3 per month. Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1st October 2022 plus all material during the subscription. Why not give it a go for a month?
“When I heard the team I said two prayers. One of thanks to the Scots for leaving me out, and one on behalf of Adam Little who had taken my place. I knew then we’d do well to get away with less than five goals against.” So said Bill Shankly referring to the selection of the England team to face Scotland at Maine Road in October 1943. You can read the story of this incredible game here:
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Gary James' Football Archive 