On this day (25 February) in 2018 Pep Guardiola won his first major trophy in English football when his Manchester City team defeated Arsenal to win the League Cup. The goals came from Sergio Aguero (18), Vincent Kompany (58) and David Silva (65). Afterwards Pep told the media: ‘The first half was not good – too many mistakes with simple passes – but the second half we played with more courage, more personality. That is why we were outstanding after the break.
‘It was so important we won this after going out of the FA Cup. Now we have to focus absolutely on the Premier League and trying to win the games we need to win the title and try and progress to the Champions League quarter-final. This win is not for me, it’s for Manchester City.’
Today (5 February) in 1964 Manchester City defeated Stoke 1-0 in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final. The goalscorer was Derek Kevan. This was the first time City had reached the semi final stage but the competition was not particularly welcome at this time in football history. Here’s a report of the game:
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Attendances across football were low in this competition. This Maine Road tie with Stoke was watched by 16,894. The first leg, on 15 January, had seen City suffer a 2-0 loss at Stoke.
Were you at either of these games? Please post your comments if you were. I’m keen to understand how fans felt about the semi final back in 1964.
Heavy snow fall across the country threatened fixtures in January 2010, then on Tuesday 5 January, a day before it was scheduled to be played, the all-Manchester League Cup semi-final was called off. Manchester City’s pitch was perfectly playable, however traffic chaos in Manchester was an issue.
The Blues had been desperate for the match to be played as the mood seemed perfect for a City victory. There was a great deal of positivity. Similarly, at United a FA Cup defeat to Leeds had increased the pressure on the Reds. By the time the two sides did face each other the momentum had changed.
I was in the North Stand when this game was eventually played. Were you at the game when it took place? If you were why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?
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On this day (2 December) in 2009 goals from Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimir Weiss gave Manchester City a 3-0 victory over Arsenal in the League Cup quarter-final tie. A crowd of 46,015 watched the game in Manchester. Here’s a contemporary report of the game:
An odd one this but that’s football… On this day (21 November) 1960 Portsmouth became the first side ever to beat Manchester City in the League Cup. The round three tie ended 2-0 before a Fratton Park crowd of 10,386. Future City boss Ron Saunders scored both Portsmouth goals. Ah well! Here’s a contemporary report of the game (it seems Trautmann got into a bit of a dispute with the crowd and the police had to intervene!)
You can read about Ron Saunders’ time at City here:
On this day (30 October) in 1973 The second round League Cup tie between Manchester City and Walsall went to a second replay. City won the game 4-0 with a hat-trick for Francis Lee, but a pitiful crowd of 13,646 witnessed the match at Old Trafford. City fans didn’t mind playing a 2nd replay, but they did object to it being played at United’s ground.
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
New Manchester City manager John Bond’s first cup game was the fourth round tie against Second Division promotion hopefuls Notts County at Maine Road, played on this day (29 October) in 1980 The game had the potential to end in defeat, especially as Bond would be unable to play any of his new signings (remember the struggles pre-Bond’s arrival earlier in the month and the impact he and his new arrivals Now, Hutchison and McDonald had?), nor would the expensive Steve Daley be able to play due to injury.
The match actually ended 5-1 to the Blues with Dave Bennett opening the scoring after 16 minutes. Dennis Tueart was in inspiring form that night scoring the other four City goals, but the result was prof that Bond’s whole approach had lifted the Club. Basically, Bond had taken Allison’s team and given them belief and confidence. Some of the younger players, like Bennett and Caton, may have been given their chance under Allison, but it was under Bond that they started to achieve their potential.
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If you’d like to support my research then why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides annual subscribers with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
Today (26 October) in 2011 Manchester City won 5-2 at Wolves in the League Cup before 12,436. Edin Dzeko scored twice of course that day. You can see highlights of the game here:
On this day (25 October) in 1994 Manchester City faced QPR in the League Cup in what was an incredible game that kept fans on the edge of their seats. The Blues had already disposed of Barnet 5-2 on aggregate in the second round and clearly expected to put in a good performance at Loftus Road. Sadly, within a minute they conceded a goal just as they had in the earlier League Cup match at Barnet and Brian Horton’s side suffered for a while. By the 37th minute they managed to get their act together a little and Summerbee equalised with a 20 yard volley. A minute later Rangers took the lead again.
Fortunately, in the 46th minute Keith Curle netted a penalty to bring City level once again, followed eight minutes later by a magnificent Beagrie volley which made it 3-2 and brought a series of somersaults from the popular ex-Evertonian. Five minutes later, the same player headed through to Lomas who made it 4-2.
In the 87th minute Rangers pulled a goal back to keep City on their toes, but the referee’s whistle signalled the start of a party for the fans while their QPR equivalents began to demonstrate against their chairman. Apparently, some unhappy QPR fans were keen to listen to the advice of a few experienced Mancunian demonstrators!
You can watch highlights of the game here:
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If you’d like to support my research then why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides the subscriber with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
On this day (8 October) in 1975 I celebrated my birthday by watching Manchester City defeat Nottingham Forest 2-1 with goals from Colin Bell and Joe Royle in the 3rd round of the successful League Cup campaign. Pre-match Forest manager Brian Clough told the press: ‘I was praying Manchester City would beat Norwich [in the previous round] because I wanted to play the best. City are one of the most entertaining and talented sides in the First Division at home. We have no serious thoughts of shocking City but we hope to give a good account of ourselves against a side that is potentially one of the best in the land.’ He added:
‘When I last came to Maine Road it was with Leeds United and we lost 2-1. If we keep the score down to 2-1 tonight then I think we’ll show the strides that Nottingham Forest have taken.’
Clough, one of football’s most knowledgeable men, predicted the score accurately with goals from Bell and Royle helping City achieve the 2-1 result. That win put City into the fourth round and set Manchester up for a League Cup derby match for the second successive year.
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If you’ve enjoyed this then why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides the subscriber with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
Gary James' Football Archive 