Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
It’s that day each year (7 October) when we remember that on this day in 1996 the former Manchester United player Steve Coppell arrived as Manchester City manager at Maine Road. A month later he resigned after only 33 days in the job. This contemporary article explains that he was suffering with stress:
So much different from the start of his reign:
Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 1400 word article telling the story of 1902-03 when Celtic legend Tom Maley became City boss.
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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.
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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:
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?
Here’s a nice Christmassy Manchester City match programme cover from today (27 December) in 1980. This was for City’s game with Wolves. Some of the players look happy others seem to have a fixed stare as if to say ‘do we really need to hold this banner?’
That day City defeated Wolves 4-0 with goals from Tommy Hutchison (2 goals; holding the banner above the ‘a’ in Christmas), Bobby McDonald (3rd player from right) and Kevin Reeves (4th player from right).
You can find out more on the 1980s, John Bond (including a fairly frank audio interview I did with him years ago) and City elsewhere on this website. Subscribers get access to a lot of extra content. To subscribe see the following:
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DonateIt’s December 1980 and the City match programme’s letters page contained this letter about new City boss John Bond. Back then many managers would prefer to sit in the directors’ box at games as it would give them a good view and John Bond chose to do that for many games during his opening months as manager (often throughout his actual time at City to be fair). It wasn’t so unusual but this fan wanted to understand why and wrote to the City programme looking for an answer.
It’s actually the sort of question that would seem more appropriate today as few managers ever really spend time in the directors’ box. I certainly wouldn’t expect Pep to sit up there on a regular basis.
Just one of the many things that has changed over the decades. The letter writer claimed that Malcolm Allison never sat in the directors’ box – that’s not true. There are plenty of occasions in the 60s & 70s when Allison sat up there.
You can find out more on the 1980s, John Bond (including a fairly frank audio interview I did with him years ago) and City elsewhere on this website. Subscribers get access to a lot of extra content. To subscribe see the following:
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DonateOn this day (8 November) in 1996 Manchester City manager Steve Coppell resigned after only 33 days in the job. This contemporary article explains that he was suffering with stress:
So much different from the start of his reign:
On this day (17 October) in 1980 John Bond officially became the Manchester City manager. Back in November 1995 I interviewed the former Manchester City manager. At the time I was researching my in-depth history of the club called Manchester The Greatest City (later updated as Manchester The City Years).
I met John at his home and spent a good few hours with him chatting about the Blues and his career. I loved doing this interview and was always grateful for the time he gave me. He was quite frank, open and honest – which delighted me because he was a great talker. He was also happy for me to quote everything he said in the interview. I did end up quoting him extensively in the book (and in others I’ve produced) but none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public.
You can hear the interview I did that day. In this first section he talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed job interview for the City documentary in 1980-81); the signing of Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Gerry Gow. As I said earlier, he is quite frank in his comments and that may surprise a few.
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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. A monthly subscription is £3 a month (cancel anytime) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022. Why not join up for a month and see what you think?
The other parts of the interview are available here:
I’ve also posted an obituary I wrote to John here:
On this day (April 11) in 1974, despite bold statements from new Manchester City Chairman Peter Swales at the time of his appointment, manager Ron Saunders was dismissed after less than five months in the role. In March Saunders’ City had been defeated 2-1 in the League Cup final against Wolves.
Here for subscribers are Peter Swales’ comments (from an interview I did with him shortly before he died) on the dismissal:
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Future Oldham Athletic manager, Manchester City player and manager Joe Royle was born at Norris Green, Liverpool on this day (8 April) in 1949 . During his City career Royle won the League Cup as a player and back to back promotions as a manager. There are quite a few Royle articles on this site such as:
On this day (19 March) in 2005 Stuart Pearce managed Manchester City for the first time following the resignation of Kevin Keegan. The game with Spurs ended in a 2-1 defeat with Reyna scoring for City at White Hart Lane. Pearce’s side went unbeaten for the rest of the season after this match.
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