Category Archives: Alexander Family

A European Replay for City

In September 2021 I was in Copenhagen and, as always when I’m in a city with a football ground, I popped over to the Parken Stadium. Most fans will remember that City drew 2-2 there with FC København in February 2009. Nedum Onuoha and Stephen Ireland scored in the UEFA Cup round of 32 first leg and in the return Craig Bellamy scored twice to give the Blues a 2-1 win on the night (4-3 on aggregate). That year we progressed to the quarter finals.

However, Copenhagen’s stadium played a much earlier role in City’s European story and, as today (31 March) is the anniversary of that game, I’m publishing this article looking back at the day when the Blues played a European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final replay there. 

This 1500 word article is available for subscribers…

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1969 FA Cup Semi – Everton v Manchester City

On 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!

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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.

Manchester’s First Major Trophy Success

It’s the return of the FA Cup tonight with Manchester United facing Everton. It’s always worth reminding ourselves of the significance of the FA Cup to Manchester and the story of Manchester’s first major trophy success. The captain and goalscorer of the first triumph by Manchester in 1904 was the great Billy Meredith. In 2021 following the purchase of the oldest surviving FA Cup by Sheikh Mansour (to loan to the National Football Museum) I helped Manchester City with the story of the cup and its significance to Manchester. They’ve produced a video telling the story and it can be viewed here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchesters-first-trophy-1904-fa-cup-documentary-63745781

For more on the significance of this FA Cup trophy check out the category 1903-04 in the drop down list below.

On This Day: Manchester’s First Major Trophy Success

On this day in 1904 (23 April) Manchester found its first major trophy success. The captain and goalscorer was the great Billy Meredith. Last year, following the purchase of the oldest surviving FA Cup by Sheikh Mansour (to loan to the National Football Museum) I helped Manchester City with the story of the cup and its significance to Manchester. They’ve produced a video telling the story and it can be viewed here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchesters-first-trophy-1904-fa-cup-documentary-63745781

For more on the significance of this FA Cup trophy check out the category 1903-04 in the drop down list below.

IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES – Bobby Kennedy (Interviewed in April 2005)

Defender Bobby Kennedy proved to be a popular player after joining the Blues in 1961.  He went on to make 251 (plus 3 as sub) appearances for City over a seven year period and was a key member of City’s mid sixties side.  In April 2005 Gary James caught up with him at the stadium.

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Decisive Derbies – The First All-Manchester Semi-Final 1926

It was a typical season of highs and lows when City and United met in the first all-Manchester FA Cup semi-final, played on this date (27th March) in 1926.  Here I’ve delved into the archives to see what happened at Bramall Lane in 1926. Subscribers can read this article below:

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Decisive Derbies – 23 January 1926 MUFC v MCFC

Score United 1 City 6, Attendance 48,657 Old Trafford

Inconsistency had dogged the Blues throughout the season and had already left them in a perilous state in the bottom half of the table.  They had only collected 18 points from 26 matches, while United had collected 28 from 24 games.  What made matters worse for City was the fact that they had been without a manager since the departure of David Ashworth in November.  Instead of appointing a new man, the Board decided to do the job themselves with chairman Albert Alexander snr taking the leading role.

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Manchester City November 1914

This is a squad photo of Manchester City, who then led the League and Central League, from November 1914. There are many, many things to say about this image and the people featured but sadly I don’t have time today. A couple of brief points though – look out for Albert Alexander senior (City director) in bow tie crouching and Pat McGuire (3rd player from left on back row) who was sadly killed in WW1. There are a few men on here who were also significant at MUFC including Ernest Mangnall (manager) and Leslie Knighton (assistant manager).

Manchester City’s Chairmen and Life Presidents

For the benefit of subscribers to my website I decided to compile for the first time ever a full list of Manchester City’s chairmen since the club’s earliest known game in 1880 through to this season:

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Eric Alexander, former Manchester City Chairman Interview (from 2015)

Eric Alexander was a wonderful man who had lived and breathed football, in particular Manchester City and the Lancashire FA for his entire life (he was also a key member of the Isle of Man TT for decades). Sadly Eric passed away in 2019. I met up with Eric often over the years, once travelling across to the Isle of Man where he gave me a personal tour of the island and told me some fascinating tales (maybe I should post some of those sometime?)

Every Manchester City fan should know about Eric and his family – who were key figures at City from formation as MCFC in 1894 through to Eric’s death. So, here’s an interview I did with Eric in 2015, shortly after he celebrated his 82nd birthday in July that year.

If you would like to read the full article and other pieces like this then please subscribe below. 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. Each subscriber gets full access to the 100+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.

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