Category Archives: Maine Road

Newcastle v Manchester City: The Story So Far

City v Newcastle is one of the most enduring fixtures in English football. There have been cup finals, title deciders, dramatic games, shared heroes and so much more. The two clubs first met in the League in October 1893 (Ardwick/MCFC’s 2nd season in the League) and have since played each other 189 times overall with City winning 76 and Newcastle 72 games.

As tonight is a League Cup tie, the most famous meeting of the teams in that competition came in 1976 at Wembley when Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart both scored for the Blues.

MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1975-76

Anyone at Maine Road on the day City played away against Newcastle at Maine Road? See:

Maine Road 100 – Day 87

100 years ago there was the last meeting at City’s famous old Hyde Road ground:

Maine Road 100 – Bonus Article!

In 2012 a Newcastle v City game was crucial in the Blues’ title charge:

The Title Race Moves To Newcastle

Elano’s wonder goal in 2007:

On This Day: Elano Wonder Goal

In 2021-22 there was a memorable City victory:

Newcastle 0 Manchester City 4

Most Blues of my age and above will remember where they were when our King returned to action on Boxing Day 1977. Here’s an interview I did with him a few years back when we talked about that special day:

IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES – Colin Bell MBE (interviewed in January 2005)
On This Day in 1977: Colin Bell’s Emotional Return

When I was a teenager there was a second tier meeting that attracted a significant crowd for the period:

Manchester City v Newcastle United 1984

My Dad’s generation will remember the 1955 FA Cup final:

The 1955 FA Cup Final
IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES – 1955 FAC Team (first published May 2005)

During 1956-57 there was a ‘game of the season’ in the FA Cup between the clubs:

Game of the Season 1956-1957: Manchester City V Newcastle United

My grandad’s generation would’ve remembered Billy Meredith’s last game:

Billy Meredith’s Last Game: 1924 FA Cup Semi

Who remembers the title decider at Newcastle? Details:

Manchester City Win The League

There was a really odd thing a while back where a Newcastle paper claimed that their local team had first worn bar scarves at games. A few simple searches soon proved there were much earlier bar scarfs:

Showing Your Colours

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COMPETITION: From Maine Road To The Etihad 100 Years Book

Fancy winning a copy of the new book on Maine Road and the Etihad? The publisher, Reach, has offered to post out a copy of the book to the winner of a competition (Sadly, only UK postal addresses will be allowed). See below for details of how to enter…

The competition is open until Sunday 1st October at 9pm UK time and only one entry per person will be allowed. To enter simply send the answer to the following question, along with your name and location (not your address, just your nearest town/post town), via email to: comp@GJFootballArchive.com

The question is: Who was the architect of Maine Road when it was first built in 1923?

The answer does appear on my website in a variety of locations, so go search for it if you don’t know and then enter the competition. The winner will be selected at random from all the correct entries received on Monday 2nd October and will be informed later that day.

As for the book…

I’m delighted to say I’m one of the co-authors on the new book which focuses on Maine Road and the Etihad stadia (the two most recent permanent homes of Manchester City).

I’ve contributed the Introduction, the story of Maine Road’s first game and the 100 Maine Memories of Maine Road. I tried to make sure the 100 Maine Memories cover both the great and the unusual so, inevitably, Colin Bell is featured but so is the wonky North Stand scoreboard! If you attended Maine Road it will all make sense and if you didn’t it’ll give you a great feel for what life was like at the old place.

Please enter the competition and good luck with it.

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Our Home: From Maine Road To The Etihad 100 Years

I’m delighted to say I’m one of the co-authors on a new book on the stadia of Manchester City. I’ve contributed the Introduction, the story of Maine Road’s first game and the 100 Maine Memories of Maine Road. I tried to make sure the 100 Maine Memories cover both the great and the unusual so, inevitably, Colin Bell is featured but so is the wonky North Stand scoreboard! If you attended Maine Road it will all make sense and if you didn’t it’ll give you a great feel for what life was like at the old place.

Maine Road: The Back of Platt Lane

During my Maine Road 100 series of free articles commemorating the centenary of Manchester City’s former stadium I had hoped to post this image showing players playing head tennis on the directors’ car park with the Platt Lane Stand in the background. I couldn’t find my scan until this week sadly, so here it is now.

As a kid I used to sit in the Platt Lane and sometimes, if we didn’t walk through the corner tunnel, we’d climb those steps up to the back of the stand. You can see elsewhere (follow links below) stories about the old stand explaining how it was expanded, its age and so on, but the relevant bit for me today is the stair case(s). Back in the 70s they used to scare me. Climbing up or down I felt they were rickety and you could see through the gaps. I much preferred going down the tunnel.

Do you have memories of the old Platt Lane? Feel free to post them as comments here. Thanks.

Maine Road 100 – Day 10
Maine Road 100 – Day 7
Maine Road 100 – Day 11

Fenerbahce Blues

On this day (18 September) in 1968 Manchester City’s first European Cup fixture against Fenerbahce ended goalless at Maine Road.  This was the first time two British clubs from the same city had competed in the European Cup. Here’s a match report of the City game:

Francis Lee (left) and Mike Summberbee (right) threaten the Fenerbahce goal in City’s first European Cup tie in 1968.

Subscribers can read a feature about that game here:

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Maine Road interview on Radio Manchester

On Monday I recorded an interview with Mike Sweeney for BBC Radio Manchester about Maine Road and the Etihad. You can listen to it here (I’ve not listened but I’ve been told I’m about 90 minutes in):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0g4bc0m

Maine Road 100 – Day 100: The English Hampden

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of Maine Road’s first game and to commemorate this landmark moment I have been posting a different image or feature on the old stadium each day for the last 100 days. Today is day 100 and is the actual centenary of that historic first game. So guess what I’m covering today? On this day (25 August) in 1923 Manchester City’s Maine Road Stadium staged its first game. Here is film of that landmark day in Manchester’s sporting history…

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-million-spectators-welcome-return-of-football-1923-online

You can also read a 1100 word article about the opening of the stadium and on why the ground was considered to be the ‘English Hampden’ and not the ‘Wembley of the North’ that some have tried to claim in more recent times.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 99

It’s Day 99 of my Maine Road 100 countdown to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. One more day to go! I hope you’ve enjoyed this free series. Today it’s about the oldest and youngest players to have appeared for City at Maine Road. Any ideas who they may be?

Billy Meredith was the oldest to play for City at Maine Road. He was 49 years & 238 days old when he played for City against Preston on 22/3/1924. This was Maine Road’s first season too!

Billy Meredith Returns to MCFC in 1921

Glyn Pardoe was the youngest to play for City at Maine Road. He was 15 years and 314 days old when he made his debut v Birmingham City on 11/4/1961.

Tomorrow will be the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. I hope you have enjoyed my 100 day countdown. If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:

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Maine Road 100 – Day 98

It’s Day 98 of my Maine Road 100 countdown to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. I hope you’ve enjoyed these. Today it’s about the players who have scored most goals in individual games at Maine Road. Any ideas who may be heading the list and how many goals they may have scored in a single game at Maine Road?

The following are the players who have scored most in a single game for each of the domestic competitions at Maine Road:

League: 5 goals – scored by Tommy Browell v Burnley 24/10/25 & George Smith v Newport 14/6/47

FA Cup: 5 goals – scored by Frank Roberts v Crystal Palace 20/2/26

League Cup: 4 goals – scored by Dennis Tueart v Notts County 29/10/80. You can see stuff on this here:

Bond’s First; Tueart Scores 4

You can read about Frank Roberts v Palace here:

Maine Road 100 – Day 91

If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:

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Maine Road 100 – Day 97

It’s Day 97 of my Maine Road 100 countdown (almost there!) to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game and today it’s a simple one on the club that visited Maine Road as an away team the most. Any ideas who that was?

The team that’s played as a away side the most at Maine Road in League games is Arsenal. Of course Manchester United did play home games at Maine Road during the 1940s, but as an away team Arsenal have been the visitors the most. They’ve played City in 56 League games at Maine Road.

The team that’s appeared as an away team against the Blues the most in the FA Cup is Leicester City (6) while Blackpool (7) have been the most frequent Maine Road opponents in the League Cup.

Fans at MCFC v Arsenal and Mossley v Wigan, February 1935

If you have enjoyed this series of articles and posts on Maine Road then why not become a subscriber and access all the other great content. To find out more see:

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