Category Archives: Manchester City

Crowd Trouble Causes Switch

On this day (4 January) in 1975 Manchester City played ‘away’ at Maine Road against Newcastle United in the FA Cup.  The tie should have been played at Newcastle but the FA ordered that the match be played at Maine Road following crowd disorder at St. James’ Park the previous season.  City lost the match 2-0.

Were you at this match? If so why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?

You can read a 1500 article on the 1974-75 season here:

The Story of 1974-75

Abandoned Match

Today (3 January) in 1994: After 39 minutes Manchester City’s game with Ipswich Town was abandoned with the Blues winning 2-0.  The scorers were Vonk and Ingebrigtsen – his only League goal for the Blues was expunged from the records as a result!

The referee David Elleray angered the City players, especially Tony Coton, by abandoning the tie due to a waterlogged pitch.  The pitch had been appalling at the kick-off and perhaps the game should not have commenced.  Naturally, it was a big disappointment at the time.

I was at this abandoned game in the ‘new’ Platt Lane Stand. Were you also at Maine Road that day? If so why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?

You can read more on the 1993-94 season here:

Manchester City Season – 1993-94

Glossop Beat City!

On this day (2 January) in 1899 there was a great deal of celebration in Glossop after they defeated their local rivals and fellow promotion challengers Manchester City 2-0 at Hyde Road with the Glossop Chronicle reporting:  ‘There was evidently a determination to give the Mancunians a great surprise.’

Here’s a contemporary report of the game from the perspective of a Manchester based newspaper:

Here’s another article discussing the game. Note the use of ‘Mancunians’ to describe City, particularly interesting as it comes in a piece discussing Newton Heath (who were usually nicknamed the Heathens).

Fagan’s First

Happy New Year! On this day (1 January) in 1947 future Liverpool manager Joe Fagan made his debut as a Manchester City player in the 4-0 victory over Fulham, watched by 49,449.

The goalscorers were Andy Black (2) and Alec Herd (2)

The 4-0 victory sent City to the top of the Second Division (2nd tier) table in style.  The Blues were playing as champions and, more importantly, looked like a typical First Division club.  Here’s a contemporary report of the game:

The only problem was the weather.  Postponements dragged the season through to mid-June, by which time City started to drop a few points but it hardly mattered.  The Blues won the title with 62 points – four more than second placed Burnley. 

You can read more on the 1946-47 season here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/manchester-city/seasons/1946-47/

Rosler Double

On this day (31 December) in 1994 Uwe Rosler netted twice to help Manchester City to a 2-2 draw at Maine Road. However, the Blues had been 2-0 up at one stage and the general feeling around Maine Road was that this was a couple of points lost, rather than a point gained. Here’s a couple of contemporary reports of the game:

You can read more on the 1994-95 season here:

Manchester City Season – 1994-95

Sorry About This On This Day

On this day (30 December) in 1996 Frank Clark became the Manchester City manager. I don’t really want to say anything else about that! There’s more on Frank Clark elsewhere on the site, such as:

Manchester City Season – 1996-97

Capacity Crowd Watch City And Burnley

On this day (29 December) in 2001 a Paulo Wanchope hat trick helped Manchester City to a 5-1 victory over Burnley.  The game, watched by a capacity crowd of 34,350 (this included lots of temporary seating to increase the capacity of Maine Road during its final seasons), came during the Division One Championship winning season. The Blues were of course managed by Kevin Keegan. Here’s a contemporary report of the game:

2-2 v LFC

Today (28 December) in 2003 47,201 witnessed Robbie Fowler’s 90th minute equaliser as Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City drew 2-2 with Liverpool at their present day stadium. Nicolas Anelka had scored the first for City that day. This was the first season at the new stadium for the Blues. Here’s a contemporary feature written by Sam Wallace on Robbie Fowler. Written following the Liverpool draw:

You can read other features on the 2003-04 season here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/manchester-city/seasons/2003-04/

City 14 Tranmere 5

On this day (27 December) in 1938 Manchester City defeated Tranmere 5-2 before 43,894 in Division Two.  The previous day City had annihilated the same side 9-3 at Prenton Park. Back then clubs often played each other in successive fixtures over the Christmas (and Easter) holidays.

Corrigan Bottled as Liverpool Lose 3-1 to MCFC

On this day (26 December) in 1981 Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield but it was a day marred when City keeper Joe Corrigan was felled by a bottle thrown at him. Here’s highlights of the game plus a brief audio clip of John Bond talking about the LFC reaction that day.

In 1995 I interviewed former City boss John Bond at his home. The interview lasted about two hours and here’s a brief snippet from that interview where he talks about that win over Liverpool on Boxing Day 1981.

The Blues won 3-1 (Bond, Hartford & Reeves) then two days later (Bond says it’s the next day in this clip but it was 28th December) City defeated Wolves 2-1 at Maine Rd. John discusses a brilliant goal from Trevor Francis. City went top of the League after the Wolves victory.

Stick with the clip because it ends with Bond’s views on how Liverpool used to react to wins and defeats. I’d best not comment – have a listen:

Here are a couple of cuttings from the day.