Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Today (4 November) in 2023 Manchester City defeated Bournemouth 6-1 and established a club record 21 successive home victories. The win put City top of the Premier League and you can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-6-1-bournemouth-premier-league-extended-highlights-63834732
The City scorers were Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva (2; photographed), Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden, and Nathan Ake.
It wouldn’t get the same focus today but back on 3 November 1937 Manchester City’s first Charity Shield (nowadays Community Shield) win was heralded as a major achievement. The 2-0 success over Sunderland meant that City had at some point in their existence won every major honour available to them. This meant League, FA Cup and also the Second Division (often quoted in club histories, not just City’s, as a major success back then), as well as the Shield.
City’s scorers in the 2-0 win were Alec Herd and Peter Doherty.
You can read more on this period for Manchester City with this 1,800 word subscriber article on the 1937-38 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
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On this day (2 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Villareal with goals from Yaya Toure (2) and Mario Balotelli (penalty; photograph) You can watch highlights below:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2011/november/villarreal-v-city-60-sec-highlights
It’s part of the football circus these days that occasional defeats are greeted as devastating occurences. Social media goes into meltdown; shock jock style radio stations begin to predict the end of eras and even the BBC seems to take a ‘your all doomed’ approach if you lose a game. After City’s narrow defeat at Villa last week the BBC’s website stated: ‘In the context of the title race, there are concerning signs for City’ and elsewhere on the BBC there were fans quoted complaining about the weaknesses in the team. So, to take a more reasoned view I decided to take a look at the 2020-21 season when similar reporting occurred of City’s games. Back then pundits like the former Arsenal player Martin Keown were highly critical of City. After five games of the 2020-21 season City were 12th and Keown said: ‘there’s certainly some rebuilding to be done. We will see how good Pep really is now; he’s got to rebuild the team.’
Those Keown comments are similar to some being aired at the moment about City being rebuilt etc. Pep proved back then (I wonder if he chatted to Keown about his comments in 2020?) how good he was.
Back in 2020-21 City lost to Tottenham in their eighth League game. That put Spurs top and some began predicting the London club may manage to actually win the league. Similarly, some predicted that City were too unpredictable to lift the title. The statistic often quoted that weekend was that City’s points total of 12 from eight games was the club’s lowest at that stage since 2008-09. Very similar style comments to this season when the BBC quoted (after the Villa defeat): ‘City have lost three of their opening nine games in the Premier League this season (W5 D1), with the Cityzens last suffering more defeats at this stage of a league campaign in 2008-09 (four).‘
As a direct comparison it’s worth noting that City are two points behind where they were five years ago, and in both seasons faced criticism. Remarkably City ended up winning the Premier League in 2020-21 by 12 points and the early season leaders Spurs finished seventh. Some pundits and journalists would later rewrite history and go on to talk as if the 2020-21 title race had been a foregone conclusion with City ‘dominating football’ like no other team had ever done before (it was ‘bad’ for football, blah, blah blah). They talked negatively about other teams not standing a chance etc. but that is so wrong.
So, what am I going on about. Well, if 2020-21 shows us anything it is that no league title is decided so early in the season. Nor does a defeat mean all is lost. City are currently two points behind where they were in that remarkable 2020-21 season, when they won the title by 12 points. Imagine if that happened again? I know it’s doubtful and Arsenal are certainly a better team than they were back then and Spurs were too. But football’s unpredictable and anything is possible.
For those wondering here are 2020-21’s results at this stage followed by a table with this season’s:
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Points |
| 21/09/2020 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 3-1 | 3 |
| 27/09/2020 | Leicester City | H | 2-5 | 0 |
| 03/10/2020 | Leeds United | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 17/10/2020 | Arsenal | H | 1-0 | 3 |
| 24/10/2020 | West Ham United | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 31/10/2020 | Sheffield United | A | 1-0 | 3 |
| 08/11/2020 | Liverpool | H | 1-1 | 1 |
| 21/11/2020 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 0-2 | 3 |
| 28/11/2020 | Burnley | H | 5-0 | 3 |
| Total | 18 |
Here’s this season’s results:
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Points |
| 16/08/2025 | Wolves | A | 4-0 | 3 |
| 23/08/2025 | Spurs | H | 0-2 | 0 |
| 31/08/2025 | Brighton | A | 1-2 | 0 |
| 14/09/2025 | Utd | H | 3-0 | 3 |
| 21/09/2025 | Arsenal | A | 1-1 | 1 |
| 27/09/2025 | Burnley | H | 5-1 | 3 |
| 05/10/2025 | Brentford | A | 1-0 | 3 |
| 18/10/2025 | Everton | H | 2-0 | 3 |
| 26/10/2025 | Aston Villa | A | 0-1 | 0 |
| Total | 16 |
This article from January 1964 is a reminder of a time when domestic competition took priority over European competition. Back then the Football League was able to tell its clubs to move a European Cup quarter final if it clashed with a League Cup game in the same city. The matter was brought to a head when United, due to play a European tie at Old Trafford, were told to move that game as City were planning on playing a League Cup semi final on the same night. It’s unlikely a similar decision would be made today of course.
You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1963-64 season below. If you’d like to read this 1700 word article, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.
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David White signed professional forms for Manchester City on this day (30 October) in 1985. You can find several articles that mention David throughout this website. Start looking here:
It’s Swansea v Manchester City tonight in the League Cup and so Here’s a few historical facts and stats about games between the two clubs.
Game One: The first competitive meeting between the two teams came in Division Two on 25 September 1926. The Blues had been relegated the previous May and the historic first meeting with Swansea Town (Swansea was not a city at this point) ended in a 3-1 City victory at Maine Road, before 24,314 fans. George Hicks, Tommy Johnson & Frank Roberts netted for the Blues.
The return game also ended in a 3-1 win on 12 February 1927. Hicks and Johnson both scored again, with Johnson netting twice. A Swansea crowd of 20,345 watched on.
The first top flight game between the sides didn’t come until 21 November 1981 (following Swansea’s promotion) and saw two each from Kevin Reeves and Dennis Tueart (the first a penalty 4 minutes before half time) help City to a 4-0 win.
The first Premier League meeting came on 15 August 2011 – another 4-0 City win. This time Dzeko, Aguero (2) and David Silva each scored at the Etihad before 46,802. Film of that game here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2011/august/city-v-swansea-60-seconds
Incredibly the first FA Cup meeting didn’t come until 16 March 2019 and this saw City win 3-2 at Swansea (OG from Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Bernardo Silva & Sergio Aguero). City had been losing 2-0 (a penalty from Matt Grimes in 20th minute and Bersant Celina netted the other in 29th minute) up until Silva’s 69th minute goal. The action from this game can be viewed here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2019/march/swansea-v-city-highlights-extended
The first League Cup tie was a 2-1 City win at Swansea in 2016:
https://bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/History/Matches/Match.aspx?id=5300
The highest scoring game between the teams came in August 1927 when City beat Swansea Town 7-4 in Division Two. 34,316 watched a hat trick from Tommy Johnson and other goals from Peter Bell, Charlie Broadhurst, George Hicks and Frank Roberts.
Here’s hoping tonight’s game brings as much entertainment as that one did.
While you’re here, it’s worth taking a look at something else already posted on http://www.GJFootballArchive.com. It’s a profile of Tommy Hutchison who was a cult hero at MCFC and also spent time with Swansea City:
THE STARTING ELEVEN – Tommy Hutchison
Here’s the Official Programme cover and Manchester City comments (below), published on 27 October 1900 for City’s game with Derby at Hyde Road. Back then the programme was a shared one with Second Division Newton Heath (later United) and a couple of rugby clubs. the comments below on City’s performances and preview of the Derby game are interesting. The 3-0 game it opens with was City’s 3-0 Division One defeat at Sunderland. The Monday game it mentions was a 2-0 victory over Newton Heath in the Lancashire Cup.
The ‘Doctor’ mentioned lower down was City half back William ‘Doc’ Holmes. The preview suggested this would be a tough game for City, though the return of Jimmy Ross was welcomed. Ross, a former Preston Invincible, was a key member of the side and he’d been sidelined for the previous six League games.
The match with Derby ended in a 2-0 victory with both goals scored by Fred Williams. If you’d like to find out more on this season for Manchester City then why not read the following 1200+ word article telling the story of 1900-01? Why not subscribe and read this and all the other content on here? You can even try it for a month at a time if that works best?
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Last Saturday (25 October 2025) I was fortunate to be invited to the England v Brazil women’s international as a guest of the FA. My seat was in the Royal Box at the Etihad (City of Manchester Stadium as it was named on the night due to sponsorship reasons). On social media someone commented that the Royal Box was a bit of a stretch in terms of its name but the truth is that the Directors Box (as it’s more commonly known) has housed members of the British royal family, including the late Queen Elizabeth II. In fact it was originally named the Royal Box for the Commonwealth Games in 2002. Back then I remember suggesting it should retain the name and now, maybe, the original name should return?
Other royals, including the former King of Spain, have sat there for Manchester City games and other events, so the name would be quite apt. Funnily enough, the Etihad’s ‘Royal Box’ isn’t the first part of a City ground to be given that name. It’s not even the second but the third! Both Maine Road and before that Hyde Road, had visits from senior members of the British Royal Family and on each occasion the Directors Box was spruced up and renamed the Royal Box for the game. Here’s the current King’s great grandad at Hyde Road’s Royal Box in 1920:
So, City, how about renaming the Directors Box the Royal Box again?
The following subscriber article talks about all of that, but in essence the current King’s dad, grandad and great grandad have all attended City matches at one of City’s home grounds. You can read about those visits here:
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On this day (26 October 1929) Manchester City thrashed Liverpool 6-1 at Anfield with goals from Eric Brook 2, Tommy Johnson 2 and Tommy Tait 2. This match at Anfield was watched by 37,009. You can find out more on the 1929-30 season below in this piece for subscribers (see below). I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?
Here’s the article:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 a month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at £20 per year. Subscribers have access to the 1000s of articles, features, interviews etc. posted so far and all those posted during your subscription.
As well as subscriber pieces this series on the 1930s includes some free articles.
Gary James' Football Archive 