Category Archives: Manchester City

True Blues – William Beastow and James Moores

Concluding the weekly series of ‘True Blue’ figures associated with the early years of Manchester City, here’s an article on William Beastow and James Moores, two men influential during the development of footballing activities in the 1870s-1890s. Most people don’t tend to talk about these guys but they are possibly the two most important church figures directly involved with the development of the football club. You can find out more below:

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That was the tenth consecutive weekly ‘True Blues’ feature. Use the tag ‘True Blues’ to find the other profiles in this series. If there’s interest I’ll write some other True Blue profiles later in the year. You can nominate the names that you’d like featured by emailing me at Gary@GJFootballArchive.com or by adding a comment in the comments area below. Thanks.

The full series of True Blue profiles featured:

Lawrence Furniss, John Allison, Joshua Parlby, Walter Chew, William Sumner, Tom Maley, St Mark’s community leaders, Billy Meredith, John Chapman, William Beastow and James Moores.

100 Years Ago Today: Hyde Road’s Last City Victory!

100 years ago today (April 2 1923) Manchester City won a first team game at Hyde Road for the last time. They defeated Sunderland 1-0 with a goal from Horace Barnes after about thirty minutes. The above is a report of that goal (I love the way these things used to be described – ‘the linesmen drew the attention of the referee…’).

It was a controversial game which angered City’s Hyde Road fans, as this section of the report shows:

Also worth bearing in mind that this was the 3rd game in four days – what would today’s managers make of that! Even in the 1980s I remember games being played on Good Friday, Easter Saturday and Easter Monday.

In the other games City had lost 2-0 at Sunderland (March 30) and beaten Chelsea 3-0 (March 31)at Hyde Road.

The gate receipts at Sunderland on Good Friday we’re said to be quite substantial from a 35,000 crowd. So substantial that the Roger Park offices were broken into that night BUT, fortunately for Sunderland, the takings had already been taken from the ground (presumably by staff not fans!).

After this last win at Hyde Rd two further top flight games were played there – a 1-1 with Nottingham Forest and a 0-0 with Newcastle United. Neither of which attracted particularly significant crowds and there was no great ‘Farewell To Hyde Road’ commemoration (if I’d have been around I’d have tried to write a book on the old place). Maybe fans felt the move still wouldn’t happen as Maine Road was some way off completion?

Interesting note:  Maine Road’s last victory was against Sunderland on 21/4/2003 and again there were two further home games to come after it!

Swindon Town 0 Manchester City 2

On this day (1 April) in 2000 Manchester City won 2-0 at Swindon Town. The game was watched by 12,397 and the goals came from the now dependable (there had been concern amongst fans earlier in his City career) Shaun Goater – his 27th of the campaign – and Mark Kennedy.

Manager Joe Royle was delighted, although concerned by City’s first half performance: ‘I am delighted with the victory and I thought we fully deserved the points. It wasn’t the best game in the first half, but Shaun Goater did well for the first goal, and we always looked comfortable after the half-time interval and more dangerous after we changed things around.’

The game had not been a good one for 25-year-old midfielder Tony Grant who had made his first start since January. He was replaced by Ian Bishop early in the second half and from that point on the game came alive. Despite the result the Swindon directors were pleased with the match. The Wiltshire club had allowed City fans to occupy both ends of their tiny ground, and it was reported that over half of the 12,397 crowd were supporting the Blues. At £17 per ticket it was calculated the additional gate money was worth over £100,000 to the relegation bound club.

In the table, City had a game in hand over most clubs, and now lay third on 72 points. The near invincible Charlton (87 points) still headed the League while Barnsley (74 points) were second. Ipswich were fourth – one point behind City after the same number of matches – while Birmingham were fifth on 69 points.

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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The First Noel and More

In the build up to MCFC’s ChampionsLeague final the other year I interviewed musician Noel Gallagher about his support for City. Here are the first 15 minutes of that interview.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-first-15-minutes.mp3 

If you enjoyed that you can listen to part two and the other sections via the following links. Subscribers to my site get access to hundreds of articles, recordings (such as my earlier interviews with Malcolm Allison & John Bond). There’s also lots of free content on the site. If you enjoy this and would like to support my research, the site etc. then why not donate a couple of pounds to pay the website’s bills and help fund detailed research into football’s history. You can do that lower down this page. Thanks.

Now, here’s part two:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part two

Part three:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part three

Part four:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part four

Part five:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part five

If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.

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Manchester-Liverpool Rivalry

In terms of football the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool were extremely close for decades but in business and everyday life they have been rivals (bitter at times) for over 150 years. People will talk about all sorts of factors with the main one discussed being about the trade issues Manchester faced because Liverpool basically controlled Manchester’s access to the sea. I don’t want to go on too much about it all but I do want to show these sections from American newspapers which give an indication of what the situation was from another nation’s point of view.

It’s interesting to note that at least one of these articles shows that Manchester tried to ensure the whole of England benefitted from the city’s growing prosperity, suggesting that previously Liverpool only benefitted from this kind of trade.

Crittenden Record, July 04, 1907
Americus Times, April 14, 1903,
The Morning News, July 23, 1894

There are lots of articles on my site about Manchester’s teams and those from Liverpool. Here are details of articles than are tagged ‘Liverpool’:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/liverpool/

Here are articles tagged ‘Everton’:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/everton/

32nd and 33rd League Goals of the Season

Today (30 March) in 1929 legendary goalscorer Tommy Johnson netted twice as Manchester City defeated Burnley 4-1 at Maine Road (other scorers were Brook and Marshall). These were Johnson’s 32nd and 33rd League goals of his record breaking season when he netted 38 League goals. I wonder if he’ll still hold the record for most City League goals in a season by the end of this current season.

Billy Meredith’s Last Game: 1924 FA Cup Semi

On this day (29 March) in 1924 Manchester City faced Newcastle United in the FA Cup semi-final. Not only that but the game was to be the last competitive game played by City’s legendary winger Billy Meredith. Meredith’s Manchester career began in 1894 when he joined City.

Here for subscribers is the story of that game, plus a contemporary match report and film of Meredith’s last game. Enjoy!

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Trautmann’s Last

On this day (28 March) in 1964 legendary Bert Trautmann played his last competitive first team game for Manchester City. At the time he was the Blues’ record appearance holder with a total of 545 first team appearances. Sadly his final game ended in a 2-0 League defeat at Preston and the great man was beaten with a penalty scored by former Manchester United forward Alex Dawson. Brian Godfrey was the last player to score against Trautmann while he was a City first team player.

Interestingly the Guardian match report of the game mentions Trautmann a couple of times. Once when he accidentally kicked an opposition player and the other time it said that ‘Trautmann wears well and delighted the crowd with several fine saves.’ The Preston fans must have given him the kind of respect he deserved.

True Blues – John Chapman

Continuing the weekly series of ‘True Blue’ figures associated with the early years of Manchester City, here’s an article on the City chairman John Chapman who died in office. You can find out why this man was such an important figure in Manchester City history below:

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There will be another ‘True Blue’ featured next Monday. Use the tag ‘True Blues’ to find other profiles in this series.