On this day (24 February) in 1899 the great Jimmy Ross signed for Manchester City. Ross was one of football’s leading names and earliest heroes when he played for the famous Preston side that won the League and Cup double of 1889. He had scored an incredible eight goals when Preston beat Hyde 26-0 in the record breaking F.A. Cup tie of 15th October 1887 – a game in which the referee is reputed to have lost his watch and allowed play to last two hours! (you can read about that game here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/02/22/hyde-v-preston-a-record-breaking-day/ ).
In addition, he was the Football League’s top scorer in 1890 (24 goals), and was quite a character.
He signed for Manchester City from Burnley for a reported £50 after previously captaining Liverpool to promotion. He had also played for the Football League.
At City he was influential from the start. He netted an incredible seven goals in the final nine games of the 1898-99 season (his first nine games at City too!) brought the Division Two title for the first time – this was the first national success of either of Manchester’s professional clubs.
Years later the legendary Billy Meredith, looking back on his City days, remembered Ross with great affection: “I must confess that Ross will always be my favourite hero. He was good at everything he put his hand to and what he didn’t know about football wasn’t worth knowing. At billiards and card games he was an expert. Though he must have been thirty-four at least when he joined us, he was able to win seventy yards handicaps with ease and did so. He could talk like a lawyer and on and off the pitch his comic sayings had us in stitches.”
Today many of the heroes of football’s earliest years as a professional sport are forgotten and in Manchester’s case people often talk about Meredith as if he was the first and only hero in the city. But Jimmy Ross was a major figure and he was absolutely essential in City’s early development. Without him they may not have achieved that first Second Division title success. He helped develop Meredith into a star and should never be forgotten.
The leading sports newspaper of the day, the Athletic News, often praised Ross. When the club was making its first steps in the top flight the newspaper talked of City’s right sided players and stressed the importance of Ross and of course Meredith: “For real brilliance the right wing took the biscuit….In fact, there are few, if any, better men at outside right (Meredith). His partner, the veteran Ross, of whom it is predicted every season that he has had his day, is in reality taking a second lease of footballing life, despite the paucity of head-covering, and as a wing the two will cause some trouble”.
At one point a newspaper article claimed that Meredith was absolutely brilliant when he was being well served by Ross but when the going got tough, Meredith disappeared. It seems that at this stage in the Welshman’s career he needed the experienced Jimmy Ross more than Ross needed him. One article claimed that Meredith: “doesn’t like donkey-work and if his partner is off, Meredith is off too.”
By the end of the 1901-02 season it looked as if Ross and Meredith, despite Ross’ age, would go on forever. Sadly, tragedy struck in 1902. Ross died on 12th June that year after an illness described as “an acute skin disease and a raging fever.”
Ross’ last appearance was appropriately against Preston North End in the First Round of the F.A. Cup in January 1902. Ross died of an infectious skin condition. City helped his mother, whom he was looking after at the time of his death, financially. They also arranged the funeral.
Ross helped Meredith develop and over time the legend of Meredith grew, while Ross’ name has slowly faded. This is a major shame as Ross’ influence on Preston, Liverpool and City’s development is immense. Ross helped City establish their name at a time when Meredith was not quite the finished article. So many players have been described as legends in the decades that have followed. Many of them become forgotten over time, but it is important that once in a while we pause and remember those players.
Today let’s think about Jimmy Ross and remember him as one of the men who made Manchester City.
Why not now read about the game when Ross played for Preston against Hyde? It already appears on my blog here:
Sorry to hear the news about John Motson, who has died. I’ve several Motty anecdotes that I’ll always cherish. I wrote to him over 30 years ago about Joe Mercer not really expecting a reply but he phoned me up at 10.30pm to share his memories. Wonderful stuff though it did initially worry me that someone was phoning from a number I didn’t recognise at that time. I answered the phone thinking that there could be some sort of family emergency only to hear the voice on the other end say: ‘Is that Gary James? This is John Motson. How are you doing old boy?’
Another time there was also a surreal moment when I drove him to his 1st visit to the COM Stadium (now Etihad of course). I’d asked him to do some voice over work for the new MCFC museum – I was project managing the development as a freelance consultant. Throughout the 20 mins journey he bombarded me with statistical questions before I managed to divert his attention on to a few of his anecdotes. I’d never been questioned so much on long lost players and records. That journey even made it into Motty’s book….
A page from Motty’s Year. John Motson’s book.
Though he didn’t reveal how he’d kept me on my toes throughout the journey and our meeting that day!
The recordings we were due to do that day were delayed considerably as I’d invited City’s Secretary Bernard Halford over for lunch. Bernard and Motty were great friends and they spent several hours talking about various people and clubs. It was a wonderful insight into how their minds worked.
When we did get around to do the recording John had a few questions about the scripts I’d written. There was one bit that he told me off about! I’d written about the 1981 FA Cup final when Tommy Hutchison scored both for City and against City. My words said something like: ‘Then tragedy struck as Hutchison diverted the ball into his own net.’ Motty looked at me and said: ‘Now then Gary. It wasn’t a tragedy.’ I replied something like: ‘It was to City. It cost us the game and everything that followed.’
‘Yes, but Gary that’s not a tragedy. Heysel’s a tragedy. Conceding a goal is a misfortune.’ Motty was of course absolutely right and while football is full of hyperbole ever since that day I’ve always tried to focus on the specific meaning of words like that. An own goal or defeat is a misfortune.
Thanks Motty for your help that day and on the other occasions over the decades we’ve chatted etc.
On this day (23 February) in 1935 Manchester City established a new Football League record crowd of 79,491. Here’s the story of that day and cuttings. Enjoy!
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It’s RB Leipzig v Manchester City tonight (22 February 2023) in the Champions League. The first time these two sides met competitively came on 15 September 2021 at the Etihad Stadium in the competition’s group stage (Group A). It was Pep Guardiola’s 300th game as manager and City achieved a 6-3 victory which meant that the Blues became the quickest English team to achieve 50 wins in the Champions League. Nice work!
Nathan Ake opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 16th minute, becoming the tenth different City player to score that season. The lead was increased twelve minutes later when Nordi Mukiele scored what was described by the BBC as a ‘calamitous own goal… The France defender got his angles horribly wrong as his attempted header back to his keeper following Kevin de Bruyne’s delivery ended up in the net.’
Nkunku scored for Leipzig three minutes before half time but City restored their two goal lead by half time with Riyad Mahrez netting a penalty (45+2) awarded after Lukas Klostermann handled.
Leipzig’s Nkunku headed home his second to reduce the deficit six minutes after the restart, but City hit back five minutes later as Jack Grealish scored with a delightful finish on his Champions League debut. Afterwards he commented about the whole experience: ‘I loved it. I’ve been waiting a while. The past few weeks, I couldn’t wait for this game. It’s a great night.’
Talking about the goal Grealish said: ‘The ball came to me and when I’m in that position, running into the area I’d back myself one on one against anyone to have a go and it paid off. I had a few in the first half that were blocked.’
Former Paris St-Germain player Nkunku scored again (73rd minute) to complete his hat-trick, but Joao Cancelo added a stunning 25 yard effort for City two minutes later. The former City player Angelino was dismissed for a second bookable offence four minutes later and then substitute Gabriel Jesus tapped in at the far post to make it six for City with only five minutes of normal time remaining.
The match ended 6-3 but in truth City’s victory was much more convincing than the three conceded goals suggest. Grealish loved the whole experience of his first Champions League match: ‘It was one of those games. It had absolutely everything. In the end we’re delighted to get the win against a good team full of energy and young players… I’m delighted to come away with the three points – and the goal and assist… I went to check the result from the other game [Club Bruges 1-1 PSG] and it shows anything can happen in the Champions League. It’s why it’s such a wonderful competition.’
Leipzig’s hat-trick scorer Christopher Nkunku was not as positive as Grealish however: ‘Every mistake was punished. We made a lot of individual errors. I scored three goals but every time they scored again right away. We needed to show more concentration. We knew the quality Manchester City have.’
For City boss Pep Guardiola there was disappointment that three goals had been conceded and he admitted: ‘Leipzig never give up. They have a special way to attack. They play all or nothing. You never have the feeling it’s over. We scored a few minutes after they scored… and it helped us a lot. They have a young team, so aggressive, so strong. A fantastic team. Leipzig give a good message to football. The quality of the players was better today and that’s why we won.’
I was reminded earlier about the sit down protest against chairman Peter Swales by Manchester City fans in September 1993. Back then we used to protest a lot against Swales – in fact some of my recent research has shown that the earliest Swales Out demonstration I’ve found so far took place in 1979. They intensified over the years with 1993 being the peak. In September 1993 City’s hopes of replacing Swales as chairman increased with the news that Francis Lee was prepared to mount a takeover.
I’ll write more on this whole period soon but for the moment I wanted to highlight that one of the protests that took place during 1993-94 was a sit down protest on the Kippax. Emma Tamara Taylor took the photo of the protest and she kindly allowed me to use it alongside other great Maine Road images she’d taken in my book Farewell To Maine Road. Emma, of course, retains copyright for her photo and it cannot be reproduced without her permission.
The photo was dated 11 September 1993 and I do remember well that this was a number of protests we staged though at the moment I can’t remember if this was against all-seater stadia or Peter Swales (I’ll go through my research notes over the coming weeks and will check it all out). There was also the candlelight protest on the Kippax too. The idea of these protests was that fans wanted to show their displeasure. Unfortunately protests on 11 September 1993 seemed to have passed the media by as this brief report shows:
Here’s a preview article from the Mirror which highlighted the role of the man who became known as the ‘Blue Vicar’, Jim Burns.
More on the protests, Swales out and so on in a few weeks time. Watch this space!
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The idea of this website is to find a place for my 35 years + research into Manchester City and football across the region. By February 2023 over 800 posts (articles, interviews, talks, videos & 2 books) have been made that can be accessed by subscribers. Annual subscribers access everything posted; everything to be posted during your subscription and support my ongoing research into Manchester City and Manchester football. I am immensely grateful for that support. It costs £20 per year (about 5p a day) or there’s also a £3 per month option – see below. Thanks
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Today (22 February) in 1997 forward Chris Greenacre made his debut for Manchester City when he came on as substitute for Paul Dickov in the 3-0 victory over Swindon Town. The game also saw the first City goal of Kevin Horlock’s career. You can see that and other highlights here:
City’s scorers were Horlock, Uwe Rosler and Nicky Summerbee.
In February I performed an online talk on the latest research into the origins of City, focusing on the period prior to 1887 when the club was based in the West Gorton and Gorton areas. This was extremely well received and can be viewed by subscribers here:
For this article I’ve decided to go through some of the details of City’s birth and highlight some of the key themes from that talk.
Often it is assumed that there’s nothing else to learn about the history or origins of a football club but, with deep research and determination, we can uncover material and stories long forgotten. The origins of City, like most clubs, are often difficult to trace and I’m aware of some football clubs that present stories as if they are facts without the evidence to back them up. Fortunately, the current leaders of City have always been keen to ensure the club’s history is remembered and recorded correctly. Mistakes and assumptions have been made over the decades but, thanks to the efforts of several people, the club has a desire to record its history correctly.
I’ve spent decades researching the origins of our club – Back in 1986 I started to search for match reports from our earliest known season as St Mark’s in 1880.
Some of Gary James’ microfilm copying requests at libraries during the 1980s
However, there are still many gaps in our knowledge. New material has been found in recent years. As a slight diversion it’s worth talking about a frustrating day’s research I had which ultimately turned out to be hugely beneficial.
About four years ago while researching for the book The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919, I travelled to an archive to search through physical copies of a newspaper. It had been a long stressful journey and there were many issues obtaining the material I needed. With about thirty minutes to go before the archive closed they brought out a newspaper binder I needed to research but it was wrapped in plastic. The archivist said: ‘I don’t think I can let you look at this as it’s so badly damaged.’
I explained about travelling some distance; what I was doing; how important this material was and so on. The ‘paper had never been microfilmed or digitised and so the only option of reviewing this 100-year-old newspaper was to see this physical copy. The archivist inspected the newspaper and clearly took pity on me saying: ‘Go on then, you can look at it for the next half hour. After that it’s going back in storage and may not come out ever again.’
Frantically, I searched through the paper before spotting the treasure I’d been hoping for – a series of articles on early football figures talking about team’s origins in the 1880s. I spotted one on a Newton Heath (Manchester United) figure who spelt out that their first colours were red & white (not green & gold) and named the person who had introduced football there then, a few issues later, I found the real gold and that was an interview with Walter Chew. Chew has, for over a century, been described by some as the father of Manchester City. In this feature he formally named the club’s first ground ‘Farmer’s Field’ which backed entirely an assumption I’d made and wrote about in the mid 1990s which went against common thinking at the time. That was satisfying but then the article added an angle I had never expected. Walter claimed his brother William and his friends founded the St Mark’s football team while Walter founded another team, Belle Vue Rangers, which is also one of the roots of our club.
For decades we have assumed that the W Chew listed in the first St Mark’s match reports was Walter Chew because of his years of service to the club and Manchester football. Occasionally, both Walter and William played in the same St Mark’s team and when that occurred Wm Chew was sometimes written, but when only one brother played then he was listed as W Chew. This is an area of research that is still ongoing but if Walter’s own views are correct then it makes absolute sense that the W Chew in the earliest known game was William not Walter. Walter was only 16 at the time (his obituary in 1948 reveals he was 84 at the time of his death, which means he was 16 in November 1880 when the earliest recorded game took place – though of course there may have been earlier games!), while all the other players were 17-20 in that first team. William was 19.
Two years after St Mark’s earliest known game 17-year-old Walter bought a ball and set up Belle Vue Rangers with other local lads from the West Gorton area.
Walter’s claim that his brother William and friends created the St Mark’s team is sensible. We’ve always known that some of the boys who played cricket for St Mark’s set up the football team and one of those was 19-year-old engineering student William Sumner. I’ve written about William often over the years and have stated previously that I believe he may well have been the one with football expertise due to his schooling and experiences as a boy.
Sumner was the first captain and was lodging within the St Mark’s parish from 1879, while studying at Owens College (Manchester University). I believe he organised some football coaching sessions which occurred during 1880. The earliest known actual game of football came in November 1880 when St Mark’s played the Baptist Church from Macclesfield. There were 12 players on each team and almost every member of the St Mark’s team has been found in a St Mark’s cricket match report too. The cricket team, incidentally, first played in the 1860s and I’ve traced a match report from 1867.
Sumner was clearly a talented footballer and despite an injury which limited his playing involvement with the club, he joined the more significant (at the time) Manchester AFC andIn later years Sumner also played for Manchester FC. It has often been stated that he played for them in a FA Cup tie against Stoke in November 1883, however ongoing research (January 2023) suggests that was another player ‘A. Sumner’.
Genealogist Glen Midgley has researched William Sumner’s life extensively and he discovered that Sumner was born on 21 December 1860 in the Barton area. He died when he was only in his forties.
19-year-old Sumner seems the most likely person to have introduced football to St Mark’s. William Chew was also 19 and it’s possible the two men discussed the sport while playing for the cricket team, but we’ll never know for certain. As with so many football clubs it seems unlikely that the specific person who introduced football to St Mark’s will ever be conclusively identified. Perhaps that’s how it should be because the club succeeded because of many, many individuals.
There isn’t enough space here to go into everything we know but it is important to list a few key facts from those early years:
St. Mark’s Church was consecrated in 1865.
First rector was Irishman Arthur Connell and he played a leading ‘community’ role. He set up a savings bank, library, school, ragged school, soup kitchens and much more.
Arthur Connell
St Mark’s had a very active social scene and by the mid 1870s St. Mark’s Cricket Club existed (ongoing research shows it began in 1860s, shortly after church opened; reports have been found from 1867).
In November 1880 the earliest reported association football match was played by St. Mark’s BUT contemporary reports do not claim this to be the first. As the opposition were a team from Macclesfield it seems likely that earlier games against teams closer to West Gorton would have been staged. There were certainly clubs playing football within a few miles of St Mark’s.
The earliest reported St Mark’s rugby game was also played that same week.
The 12 players who appeared in the earliest known football game were: Charles Beastow; William Sumner, Frederick Hopkinson, W Chew (previously assumed to be Walter but probably elder brother William), Henry Heggs, William Downing, Richard Hopkinson, Edward Kitchen, ‘A MacDonald’, John Pilkington, John Beastow & James Collinge.
‘A MacDonald’ is unclear possibly Alexander McDonald (16, a cooper living in Ancoats), but more likely to be Archibald MacDonald (20, an iron moulder).
The first known goalscorer was James Collinge.
One of the umpires/referees was William Hardy, another member of the St Mark’s parish.
The first ground was Farmer’s Field off Thomas Street (1880-81).
In 1881-82 the club moved to Kirkmanshulme Cricket Club. That season also saw Walter Chew, together with a cousin, establish his own team ‘Belle Vue Rangers’. They also bought the first ball used by Belle Vue Rangers – it burst playing v Hurst!
St Mark’s become known as West Gorton by January 1883. They played at Queens Road (now Gorton Park and the only former ground of Manchester City that it is still possible to play a football game on).
West Gorton had playing issues and struggled to field a team at times.
Walter Chew and Edward Kitchen linked both the Belle Vue and West Gorton clubs and a merger between Belle Vue and West Gorton, re-established West Gorton AFC for 1883-84 season.
In 1884 the club split into two with Gorton AFC established, playing at Pink Bank Lane.
Around 1884-85 the earliest known photograph (below; rediscovered by Frank Borson in early 2000s) of Gorton AFC was taken.
Between 1885-87 Gorton AFC played at the Bull’s Head Hotel, Reddish Lane.
In 1887 a move to a new ground (Hyde Road) led to the club re-establishing itself as Ardwick AFC. The club also paid its first professional there.
Ardwick win the Manchester Cup in 1891 & 1892 and join the Football League in 1892.
In 1894 financial issues lead to the collapse of Ardwick (former Gorton player Lawrence Furniss (below image) paid off the club’s debts) and as the club was dying a new one was established called Manchester City Football Club with the aim of representing the whole of Manchester.
The move to Hyde Road in 1887 meant that the club was actually geographically closer to its St Mark’s roots than they had been for several years. Ardwick may have been a separate borough but in walking distance St Mark’s was only a short distance away.
The origins of our club, like many others, have been misunderstood or incorrectly reported over the years and there are many areas of ongoing research that will fill the gaps over the coming years. It takes time and effort to research at the level needed. When I first started researching there were some stories that had been passed down for years that have since been challenged and corrected but there are many other areas to reflect on. There are many other areas where further research is still needed.
For years I’ve worked with a variety of people on the origins of City (one of the key elements of my PhD research was on the origins of football in Manchester and my research into this continues). In the 2010s MCFC set up a research group called Project Blue which I willingly helped and explained the myths that exist and what we still don’t know. The following slide was part of a lengthy presentation I performed on 14 December 2011 on that where I explained how we got where we were at the time and those who had worked together on uncovering the club’s early history.
One of my slides presented to the history research group Project Blue on research into Manchester City’s origins on 14 December 2011
I was always grateful to Dennis Chapman, John Maddocks and Ray Goble who welcomed me into their ‘club’ of research and others, such as Dave Masey who, like me, was a member of the Association of Football Statisticians. Dave continues to help my research. Thanks to these guys and others when I was starting out I have tried to ensure I help and support others researching. The more we research and share, the greater our collective knowledge.
There is still much to be done and sadly lots we will never know.
Whatever research is uncovered over the coming years one thing is clear and that is the history and origins of Manchester City are wrapped up in community initiatives and a desire by some to use football as a positive, community building enterprise. People like William Sumner, Walter & William Chew, Lawrence Furniss and Joshua Parlby (who was the driving force behind the new club Manchester City in 1894) should always be remembered for their part in the formative years of football in our city.
I’ll be talking about Joshua Parlby on 1 March at 6pm and anyone can join this online talk for free (so long as you register in advance). Details here:
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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.
My second Manchester Confidential article was posted last week. This one is about Manchester City and European success, looking forward to this week’s Champions League tie with Leipzig and remembering City’s first European trophy success:
Each month I’ll be focusing on a different club from the region and will write a piece combining the team’s modern day situation with a historical angle. My first feature was about Manchester United. I do intend covering the League clubs of Greater Manchester, plus some of our other prominent sides, over the coming months. I hope you enjoy them. Thanks.
On 21 February 1934 Manchester City defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Maine Road in a fifth round FA Cup replay. A remarkable Wednesday afternoon crowd of 68,614 enjoyed the match. Four days earlier Hillsborough’s record attendance of 72,841 had witnessed a 2-2 draw. Subscribers to this blog can read the story of that game, including photographs below:
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Today (20 February) in 1926 Manchester City recorded an amazing victory. It was a fifth round FA Cup tie with Crystal Palace to Maine Road. The Blues, without a manager since November, were being managed by committee with director Albert Alexander senior making the final decisions. It’s an incredible thought that a director without ever being known as a player, could make these decisions but Alexander was a knowledgeable football man and had been with the club since formation in 1894.
By half-time the score was 7-0 to the Blues, but Palace would not give up and quickly pulled back four goals. City were knocked out of their period of complacency and soon found their goalscoring touch again. By the end it was 11-4 and, according to a number of spectators present on the day, Manchester fans rushed on at the final whistle and carried off the Palace ‘keeper shoulder high. Apparently he had played extremely well and, somehow, managed to keep the score down, although one cannot help wondering if he’d have been given such a reception had the scores been reversed.
Frank Roberts was the City star for this particular game, scoring a remarkable five, while Tommy Browell also earned a few plaudits with his hat-trick. With no management and such a miserable time in the League, no one could believe how City had been able to deliver such strong cup performances. Here’s film of the game:
Gary James' Football Archive 