Category Archives: Manchester City

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.

David White Scores Twice v Liverpool: A Rare Victory

35 years ago today (21 August 1991) a Wednesday night meeting with Liverpool ended in a 2-1 victory for Manchester City. You can see highlights of the game – a rare victory over Liverpool back then – and relive the days of night matches on the Kippax/at Maine Rd. David White scored both City’s goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI62DKjsCmo

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

GOLDEN GOALS: 1974 Rodney Marsh Overhead Goal V QPR

Many goals over the years are described as the greatest ever.  Sometimes these become a talking point for a few days, sometimes for a few years but unless they happen to occur in a major trophy winning game goals tend to lose their significance as time moves on.  This is especially true for games prior to the 1990s when television coverage was limited to, at best, a handful of top flight games.

This is part of a feature on ‘GOLDEN GOALS’. The idea is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear.  My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them.  If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.

The one being featured is Rodney Marsh’s overhead kick from the Manchester City-QPR Division One game of September 1974.

This article is available for subscribers to the website. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.      

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Sven’s First Manchester Derby Was A Great Win

On this day (19 August) in 2007 Sven’s Manchester City defeated Fergie’s United 1-0 in Sven’s first derby since joining City that summer. His City career ended with him having a 100% win record in the derby. Here’s a video of Geovanni’s goal:

GOLDEN GOALS – 1996 Georgiou Kinkladze Goal V Southampton

One of the best goals of Maine Road’s final couple of decades saw the brilliant Georgiou Kinkladze at his best.  Kinkladze was a major star – some would say Manchester City’s biggest during the mid 1990s – and livened up many dull days for City fans.  This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars but, thanks to television and the game’s appearance on Match of the Day, many neutrals recognised the quality of this Golden Goal.

The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear.  My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them.  If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.

This article, covering Kinkladze’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.     

 

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Manchester 1840-1919 (Part Three)

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 second chapter of the book (another 5,000 word section). This focuses mainly on the early to mid 1800s and talks of the development of Manchester and the sporting growth occurring at that time, including forms of football as well as cricket and horse racing etc..

Subscribing costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or you could sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year. Every subscriber gets access to everything posted on the site.

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Quinn Header v Coventry

On this day (17 August) in 1991 Manchester City’s season started with a 1-0 victory at Coventry. City wore their traditional away colours of maroon too! You can see Niall Quinn’s headed goal and the celebrations by City fans here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5haQrZKx9uY

GOLDEN GOALS – 1934 Eric Brook V Stoke City

It has virtually slipped out of living memory but this goal is possibly the greatest ever scored at Maine Road.  It is also the goal that was viewed by the largest paying audience of all time at the old stadium.

The goalscorer Eric Brook remains one of City’s biggest stars and he was idolised by thousands of Mancunians throughout his career.  This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars at the time but it has to be stressed that it was also highly significant in the Blues’ quest to re-establish themselves as a major force.

The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear.  My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them.  If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.

This article, covering Brook’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.      

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

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Latest Finish

15 August 2020 was the latest date a football season had ended for Manchester City. Sadly, the Blues were defeated 3-1 in the Champions League quarter final v Olympique Lyonnais. There are some highlights here if you want to see them:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-lyon-match-highlights-63733124