Category Archives: Kits

The 1960s: Denis Law Signs

Today’s article on the 1960s is free for anyone to read and tells the story of Manchester City signing Denis Law back on 15 March 1960. There’s also film here of his debut and a great colour film of City and Law that season (see below). City manager Les McDowall had been after signing Denis Law for many, many months before he finally signed the Scottish striker for a British record fee of £55,000 the day before the transfer deadline on 15 March 1960.  It had been a tense negotiation.  Law himself had expected to join Arsenal to link up with his Scottish colleague Tommy Docherty, however, Huddersfield were adamant that they could not sell Law for anything less than £55,000.  

Ken Barnes welcomes Denis Law to Maine Road, 1960

It all came to a head at Leeds Road where Arsenal had sent coach Ron Greenwood to negotiate a good deal.  At the same time City, represented by Les McDowall and Chairman Alan Douglas, were keen to sign the 20 year old Scotsman.  The Gunners had only given Greenwood power to offer £25,000 plus David Herd, making a total of £50,000, whereas McDowall and Douglas were able to discuss the pros and cons of offering more.  The discussions and negotiations went on while Law himself was playing Table Tennis in the games room.  When the young player was summoned he quickly realised that his move to Arsenal was off and, after less than ten minutes, he agreed to join the Blues at a cost that was said to be three times his weight in gold.

Denis Law’s Manchester City debut 1960

Law made his debut a memorable one by scoring in the 4-3 defeat at Leeds on 19th March 1960.  You can view Law’s first goal for City here:

I think the commentary was added some time after and that the commentary was done in a studio over the top. The commentator (is it Stuart Hall?) mentions City’s kit as being old gold and black but colour film of kit from that season shows City wearing yellow and maroon – as can be seen in this wonderful film from that same year which includes Tottenham v City from about 5 minutes in:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-saturday-fever-1961-online

Eleven days after Law’s debut he scored again as City defeated West Ham 3-1. He made one other appearance, away at Chelsea, before the player became the subject of his first controversy at the Club.  Law was selected to play for Scotland at Hampden Park on 9th April – the date of the vital home game with West Bromwich Albion – and the City management took the view that playing for your country was more important than playing for your club.  This angered many supporters, who realised that a Law-less City would struggle and that relegation was still a strong possibility.  The Blues were only two points above the relegation zone.

The controversy heightened when other clubs took a different view and refused to release players.  The City Board then felt justified in asking the League for a postponement, but the League refused.  In the programme for the game, the Board outlined their views and explained how the circumstance had occurred.  The article ended by stressing that the situation of club V Country cannot be allowed to continue.  

As expected, without Law the Blues were defeated 1-0.

You can find out more on Manchester City in the 1959-60 season by reading the following article on the season. This is available to subscribers.

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Manchester’s Emblems

Merry Christmas. If you’re bored and wondering what to do (I know… unlikely), here’s an article for subscribers. Today I’m focusing on Manchester emblems and, in particular, those used by Manchester City over the years. City’s current badge has been worn on shirts since summer 2016 after first being revealed at Christmas 2015, but its roots go back decades with City developing a round badge by the 1930s. 

Here for subscribers is a 1500 word piece on the development of badges at City and United. Enjoy!

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Manchester City’s Red and Black

On this day (5 October) in 1968 Manchester City wore Red & Black stripes for the first time. Malcolm Allison had suggested adopting AC Milan’s colours and City first wore them for their meeting at Everton on October 5th 1968. The game ended in a 2-0 defeat and the result brought a lot of complaints from fans about the use of the colours.  However, due to a colour clash with Leicester, the new colours were worn in the 1969 FA Cup final. The club won that trophy and the kit soon entered City folklore as an important kit.

City chose to wear the new style for all the successful major finals that followed during Joe Mercer & Malcolm Allison’s time, including the club’s first European trophy in 1970.  At one point Allison suggested making red and black the first choice kit.

There were however plenty of complaints about City adopting the colours. Take a look at an earlier post I made on those complaints here:

Complaints About MCFC Kits!

Wearing Alternative Kits At Home

There’s a lot of furore this week about Manchester City’s decision to wear their new Oasis inspired kit instead of their home kit for their Champions League game with Inter Milan. Lots are talking about tradition, heritage and the like, so I thought I’d add a few words here that might have been overlooked or forgotten. So here goes…

Firstly, my position is clear that I’ve always been keen to see City wear home colours/blue for every fixture possible (whether home, away or at a neutral venue) but I’m a pragmatist and know that’s no longer likely. History and tradition does mean something but of course, when it comes to football, traditions change frequently. People may think City have only ever worn a particular colour at home or that the traditional away colours are red & black but these things are not true. Times change.

When it comes to wearing alternative kits at home it has been done more often than perhaps people realise. In fact the only decade when it hasn’t happened appears to be the 2010s – I say appeared because I haven’t got evidence of every home game in the 1890s and 1900s!

These last few days have caused some to recall the Middlesbrough game when David James went up front and the two Tottenham games at Maine Road in 80s/90s when the referee felt the kits were too close and City ended up changing. But there have been many other occasions. In fact it’s well over 100 years since City first chose to wear away colours/alternative strips at home when they didn’t need to!

The image above of Neil Young comes from the 1971 ECWC semi-final v Chelsea. Notice that Young is wearing City’s away colours.

Often when there was a clash of colours in a cup game City would wear their away strip. Games in the 1920s right through to 1970s saw the Blues don maroon, red/black and even scarlet at times at Maine Road.

Here’s another image from that Chelsea semi final:

1971 ECWC v Chelsea. Francis Lee. Photo by Alan Jubb

To the right you can see the North Stand under construction, as you can in the Young image.

Other games in living memory (not necessarily mine, but living memory for many older blues) include:

January 1971 – City v Wigan in FA Cup (red & black)

September 1970 – City v Bologna in Anglo-Italian Cup (red & black)

January 1968 – City v Reading in FA Cup (all maroon)

March 1966 – City v Everton in FA Cup (all maroon)

March 1966 – City v Leicester in FA Cup (all maroon)

March 1956 – City v Everton in FA Cup (maroon shirts, white shorts)

In earlier decades City often chose to wear an away shirt for cup ties where there was a clash. Prior to 1921 the FA rule was that home teams would have to change if there was a clash.

In March 1924 City chose to wear a kit they described as ‘Lucky scarlet’ for a FA Cup tie with Cardiff at Maine Road. So for well over 100 years City have often chosen to wear alternative kits at home instead of traditional blue when they didn’t need to.

Personally, I’d still prefer City to always wear blue no matter where they play, but that’s never going to happen anyway.

Incidentally, if you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One
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The New Badge & Pep’s Arrival

On this day (3 July) in 2016 the new Manchester City badge was officially launched at the Cityzens Weekend. It was also the formal official welcome for new manager Pep Guardiola. There was a surreal moment for me when I was asked to go on stage to be interviewed about the new badge.

I had been consulted by the club on the history of all of City’s badges, emblems and similar for about a year or so, and had performed a series of talks to fans throughout the consultation period.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/img_2377.mov

This was the most detailed badge consultation had ever performed with fans at any club – sadly too many clubs impose a badge without listening to fans. Doing the talks as part of the consultation helped bring out the stories of each emblem and why it was significant – or not! Understanding why, for example, the red rose was introduced in 1972 following the takeover of the club by Joe Smith & Co. or how the 3 emblazoned lines had always been a part of City’s badge (apart from 1972 and the Swales years that followed) helped some determine what elements mattered most to them.

You can find out more about City’s badge history here:

Manchester’s Emblems

In 2016 I was the warm up act for Pep so it’s a wonder anybody listened. It was a great, positive day for the club and for all of us there. The years since Pep’s arrival have been truly outstanding. We all had hope on this day in 2016 but who’d have thought it would have been as great as it has been?

Bernard’s Manchester City Global PR Push!

Today (20 June) in 1992 while English football was gearing up to the first season of the newly established Premier League, Manchester City’s Club Secretary Bernard Halford claimed to have an army containing some of the world’s biggest music stars promoting the club. I’m not entirely convinced this was the truth but Bernard seemed to believe it according to this report.

It makes interesting reading – especially the bit about Mick Jagger, Axl Rose and others asking for a City shirt in their quest to promote Manchester’s Blues.

Over the years I interviewed Bernard quite a bit and I do remember him telling me how he’d given Freddie Mercury a City shirt after the legendary Queen concert at Maine Road. This article suggests the same happened with others. I’ve posted previously the David Cassidy image of him in a City shirt at his 1970s Maine Road concert.

I’d love to see a music hall of fame somewhere with an exhibit ‘City shirts worn by rock legends’ – who knows? Maybe they all used to meet up for City chat after Top of the Pops finished?

Status Quo (left) & Queen 1986 concert at Maine Road. Copyright Garry Lippett

The 1970s: Where Do You Get Your Shirts Dyed?

Here’s an interesting article from today (18 February) in 1974 which tells the story of FH Drabble & Sons, Tansley, Matlock. Who? Well look at these wonderful shirts from the 1974 League Cup final – They were that colourful because of Drabble! So who was Drabble & Sons? Read on…

This was an important company in the production of football shirts and they dyed shirts for Manchester City, Wolves and many international teams. In essence, if you had an Umbro shirt (or another British manufacturer prior to the late 1970s) then there’s a good chance it was dyed at their works.

I’ve been interested in football kit production for many, many years and spent some great time about twenty years ago with Umbro people going through collections and spotting unique work etc. There are a lot of people interested in kits today and, rightly so, they define great eras and often show football clubs at their best. Think of a great team and no doubt you’ll remember the style of kit worn.

One area that is often overlooked though is the actual process of kit manufacture, especially the dyeing. This is odd seeing as it’s so often the colour, especially for teams wearing unique or rare colours (I see MCFC as one of these – other clubs have copied City’s blue but for MCFC this colour or a shade of it goes back to their days as Ardwick when they wore ‘quartered’ shirts of pale blue and white), that is the brand or identity as far as many of us are concerned. 

Ah well, I could go on for hours, but have a read of this. Sadly, Drabble’s dye works was derelicht by the 2000s. Maybe polyester football shirts/overseas production put an end to their operation. Did you work at Drabbles? Any memories of their football related dyeing?

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 1,700 word article is on the 1973-74 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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The 1970s: Umbro’s John Humphreys

On this day (17 February) in 1979 the Manchester Evening News carried the news that Umbro & Manchester City director John Humphreys had died. His death was a major loss to both organisations. I wrote this about John in my 1997 history of the club Manchester The Greatest City:

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and now into February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January & February offered something to enjoy and I’ll continue this series for a little while yet. Thanks for all the positive comments about it.

Subscribers can access everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 5,700 word article is on the 1978-79 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

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Subscribe to get access – Annual

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

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The 1970s: Denis Law Header

Here’s film of Denis Law scoring a header 50 years ago today (19 January 1974) for Manchester City at Birmingham City. Wearing red & black stripes City drew this game 1-1 but it’s worth seeing the goal for that kit and to recognise Law’s final season in League football.

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Guest Blog: Match Worn Shirts

For the second time I’ve asked Mark McCarthy to write a guest blog on his football shirt collection and, specifically, I’ve asked him to tell us about his new book. This book is the second book he has written on his collection. It is packed with lots of great images and stories. Mark tells all below:

It was never my intention to do this follow up book to 101 Manchester City Match Worn Shirts which was released in 2021, but as a passionate City match shirt collector it’s a pleasure to be able to share another part of my collection and some stories regarding the shirts and the seasons’ memories that they may bring.

My collection has grown considerably over the past few years, as has the hobby in general. You only have to scroll through the many social media channels to see the number of accounts now dedicated to collecting not only match worn shirts but football shirts in general. I can’t speak for other collectors, but I can safely say they may well agree with me when I do say the feeling never get’s old of adding a new shirt or unearthing a real holy grail of a shirt into collection. This was the case for me during the first lockdown when after many years of trying to trace the unusual yellow away shirt that was only ever worn once by City at Arsenal on 14 October 1989 (with just one set of shirts produced it has become a real holy grail of City shirts for any collection) I tracked one down. The kit was hastily given away by then City director Freddie Pye, following our 4-0 defeat, with Chairman Peter Swales demanding that the kit was never to been seen again. Well it was actually seen numerous times across Manchester’s Saturday and Sunday leagues when it was used by local team MMS who were managed at the time by Liam Hall.

The kit was used well into the 1990s before the side broke up, a lot of players got to keep the shirts but the majority have long been since sold on. A few have surfaced more recently but were quickly snapped up by a dealer who then sold them for huge profits. After many online requests for the shirt, convinced that there will be one still out there I was put onto a fellow blue called Billy Bell, who had found one just stored in a bag of old City shirts, just waiting to be discovered. A deal was quickly arranged with Billy, who in fairness could have sold the shirt on for much high profits but, as a man of his word, he kept to our deal which I’ll be forever grateful. A courier was quickly arranged to be sent to collect the shirt which I’m thrilled to have in the collection as there certainly aren’t too many, if anymore out there.

Manchester City have played, and still do to this day, a huge part of my life. As many football fans will tell you, our clubs were our first real love, the ones we can forgive no matter what they throw our way. City have certainly tested that unconditional love over the 40 years I have supported the club, although the past 15 years or so have been pretty incredible to say the least.

In February 2023 I was kindly invited by the club to take part in the 2023/24 season kit launch where I spent the day in and around the first team while featuring in the official home fans and players photo shoot along with the likes of Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and former City goalkeeper Alex Williams. I also spent time with our current kit manufacturers Puma talking about kit designs and ideas while showing them a collection of match shirts we have worn over the years. The day was topped off when I was introduced to legendary Oasis singer Noal Gallagher who was filming a piece using my shirts, another honour for me and I was delighted to be able to present him with a copy of my first book. For the record Noel’s favourite City shirt is the 86-88 black & red chess board chequered style. A big thank you to Paul Mulholland and City for making a brilliant day of memories to be treasured.

With just over 600 shirts now in the collection I hope the book will spark some memories of days gone by, some you may want to forget and some you will never forget.

You can order a copy direct from Mark which can include a signed dedicated message of choice which will make a perfect birthday or Christmas gift for any blue. EMAIL MARK:  mmmac@hotmail.co.uk

Mark’s earlier blog can be read here:

Collecting Shirts – Mark McCarthy Guest Blog

You can also listen to a conversation between Noel Gallagher and Gary James from May 2021 here:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part one