Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this article on the 1941-42 season.
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On this day (13 April) in 1940 Manchester City defeated Tranmere 5-1 in the Western Regional League. This was a first team competition played during wartime. A restricted Maine Road crowd of 3,000 watched goals from City’s Bray, Herd (see image), Currier (2), and Emptage. You can read more on this wartime season below. It’s a 1,400 word article on Manchester City’s 1939-40 season. The season started as any other but then world events intervened!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this article on the 1940-41 season. The season ended with Manchester United sharing Maine Road after bomb damage to United’s ground. The image shows sites where bombs damaged property close to Maine Road on that same night.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s starts today with this 1,400 word article on the 1939-40 season. The season started as any other but then world events intervened!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
It is a decade that is often overlooked from a footballing perspective and so I’m hoping to rectify that to some extent with a new series of features on the 1940s! I’m going to focus on Manchester City in the 1940s with daily articles over the next few weeks, but there will be other teams featured at points. You can read each of these by subscribing – see below for details.
When high-flying Newcastle arrived at Maine Road on this day (9 April) in 1994 many expected the Geordies to embarrass Manchester City, particularly as the Blues were struggling at the other end of the table, but a determined performance brought City the points and the plaudits.
Maine Road’s second largest crowd of the season felt a little apprehensive in the opening period – especially when Newcastle’s £700,000 purchase Scot Sellars netted in the 19th minute. The worry didn’t last however, and as the match progressed Brian Horton’s Blues began to excel. After 33 minutes Paul Walsh scored a deserved equaliser, and then 3 minutes into the second half defender David Brightwell scored the winner. This was the unlikely hero’s first goal for the club and pre-match bookmakers Ladbrookes had offered odds of 66-1 for him to score. Immediately after netting he was mobbed by Paul Walsh, Peter Beagrie, and David Rocastle.
For the rest of the match City appeared confident and were certainly good value for money, matching Newcastle throughout. An ecstatic crowd gave the Blues a tremendous ovation at the whistle with the talents of Beagrie, Walsh, and Rosler gaining particular praise. Afterwards Kevin Keegan gave the Blues further praise – something he repeated two years later in an equally thrilling 3-3 draw between a Geordie side six points clear at the top, and a City side slipping towards relegation.
The season ended with Newcastle in third place, and City in 16th position – 3 points above the relegation zone.
Stats: Premier League 9th April 1994.
City 2 Newcastle United 1
Scorers – City: Walsh, Brightwell (D)
Newcastle: Sellers
City: Dibble, Hill, Brightwell D., McMahon, Curle, Vonk, Rocastle, Karl (Lomas), Rosler, Walsh, Beagrie
Attendance: 33,774
Subscribers to this website can read all about the 1993-94 season below. It was such an important (and at times complicated season) that this article on that season is over 9,000 words long. It’s like a book in itself! It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? It contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time. In particular this one contains quotes from Peter Swales and Francis Lee which they discussed with me personally.
Here’s the 9000+ word article on that season:
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
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On this day (8 April) in 1955 the FA Cup finalists Manchester City defeated West Bromwich Albion 4-0 with goals from Fionan Fagan, Joe Hayes, Bobby Johnstone (photographed) and Billy Spurdle.
This series on Manchester City in the 1950s includes free items and items only available to subscribers. If you’d like to find out more on the 1954-55 season then subscribe and read the following 3,400 word article on it. It’s a season when City reached the FA Cup final and Don Revie was FWA Footballer of the Year.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
Here’s film from this day (7 April) in 1984 when Manchester City won away at Swansea. The score was 2-0 with goals from Steve Kinsey and Derek Parlane. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R8xnhDgbIk
You can read more from this season in the following 2,500 article on the 1983-84. It’s called ‘Fish Supper’ because manager Billy McNeill said City were so skint at the time that they could hardly buy a fish supper! Sadly, the purchases were often funded out of the money City had received for their talented young defender Tommy Caton who joined Arsenal.
Subscribers can read a 2,500 word feature on the 1983-84 season below. Enjoy!
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If you missed the season features on the 1980s then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Here are some highlights of the Manchester City-Nottingham Forest game played on this day (6 April) in 1991 when the Blues won 3-1 with goals from Mark Ward (penalty), Niall Quinn and Steve Redmond (photograph). Future Blue Stuart Pearce scored for Forest. Here’s the clip:
The 1990-91 season had included a shock managerial departure which could have disrupted the club but ultimately the Blues finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 word article on that season:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
On this day (5 April) in 1969 Jimmy Mundy came on as substitute, replacing Tony Book, to make his Manchester City debut. The Manchester born player’s first appearance saw the reigning champions defeated 1-0 at Elland Road. Mundy was spotted playing for Ashland Rovers just before his 18th birthday, and after trials signed for the Blues.
His reserve debut came in December 1967 at left-half against Bolton Wanderers, and he went on City’s tour to the USA the following summer. Unfortunately, Mundy only managed a further two league appearances. After a loan spell at Oldham, Jimmy moved to non-League Bangor City on a free transfer.
You can read more on Manchester City during the 1968-69 season (another trophy winning season!) below. If you’d like to read this 6,000 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.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.
Gary James' Football Archive 