On this day (7 December) in 1972 Manchester United secretary Les Olive, acting on behalf of the club, sent a letter to all First and Second Division clubs informing them that the Reds would like to receive offers for George Best. The letter shown here is the one sent to Manchester City.
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On this day (6 December) in 1945 the legendary Manchester City forward Peter Doherty (described as the greatest Irish footballer of all time into the 1970s) was transferred to Derby County. A few years back I wrote this profile of him.
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On this day in 1921 the FA banned women from playing football on FA affiliated grounds. A century later, in December 2021, I staged a talk at Hebden Bridge on this ban. The night was sponsored and supported by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared Ltd. It was a wonderful night and lots of attendees asked about the future and what they could do to help promote the stories of the women who played at a time when the FA tried to kill female participation in the sport. Well, after that night a lot has happened to recognise the Manchester Corinthians.
As part of my longstanding project into female participation and involvement in football in Manchester I have been researching and writing Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. This hardback book will be out soon (it’s at the printers).
Margaret Shepherd and Margaret Whitworth with me prior to the Hebden Bridge event
A lot has been written on the Corinthians (see the section on women’s football on this site for a few examples) but not nearly enough, plus there are some inaccuracies out there that the book will correct (even now there are some that keep on being repeated – including both the start and end points for the Corinthians!). Basically, this team possessed a talented group of players who toured Europe and South America promoting football, female endeavour and Manchester.
I talked quite a bit about Corinthians at Hebden Bridge that night in 2021 and we were fortunate to have four Corinthians as guests that night. Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd, Lesley Wright and Gail Redston between them covered around 42 seasons of activity at the club.
I’ve been tracking down the names of other Corinthians to include in the book. It is now being printed with over 350 names. Earlier this year I had found 230 names, so a lot has been achieved. See:
The Hebden Bridge night was significant.That night I mentioned my idea of having a plaque erected for the Corinthians in a significant/related location in Manchester. Several members of the audience thought this was a wonderful idea and asked if they could support the wider promotion of the Corinthians – one more or less suggested we should march on Downing Street to persuade them to do something about it!
In 2019 I’d written articles for a variety of publications suggesting the same and urging the FA and others to recognise the Corinthians. In the Manchester City men’s match programme as well I highlighted my desire to get a plaque erected about their achievements.
The talk at Hebden Bridge
Via Manchester Council I was put in contact with the Friends of Fog Lane Park and we ultimately set up a successful appeal in their name. The FA made a significant donation which funded the plaque and our fundraising efforts raised enough to allow the Friends to commission 2 murals and other tributes to the Corinthians as well.
Those present at Hebden Bridge in December 2021 helped raise the profile and that event was significant in highlighting the incredible achievements of its female footballers. Now, the authorised history of the Corinthians will tell the story of the club from its birth right through to the blue plaque appeal. It will use the voices of the women who represented Manchester and England in a positive manner and who won trophies in South America & Europe and who toured North Africa. They won a significant European competition before either Manchester men’s team yet their achievements were not recognised by the city until the blue plaque appeal started.
I am immensely proud of how this has all happened. The event at Hebden Bridge was free to attend and was made possible by the support of a locally based business, Cansquared (Geoff Matthews – who co-hosted the evening). We felt it was vital we made this free to attend to spread the word.
If anyone runs a bookshop, library or key Manchester venue and would like a Corinthians event then please get in touch. I’d be happy to promote the club and the book of course. The more we can do to promote their story the better.
Thanks for reading this. If you would like to find out more about the Corinthians then follow the tabs on this site or use the search function. If you’d like to know more about the FA Ban then you can download for free an article I co-wrote here:
A few copies of my book on Manchester City Women are still available. This tells the history of City Women via the voices of the women (and some men) involved. The book has been heralded as a model for oral histories by the Oral History Society.
Here’s a link you can follow to order a signed copy of the City Women book:
On this day (5 December) in 2020 in front of an official crowd of zero (these were the days when no fans were allowed to attend due to Covid) Raheem Sterling (5th minute) and Kevin De Bruyne (penalty after Sterling had been brought down) gave City a 2-0 victory at home to Fulham. You can watch highlights here:
On this day (3 December) in 1951 cult goalkeeping hero John Burridge was born. 43 years and 147 days later he appeared for Manchester City’s first team and became the oldest player to appear in the Premier League. You can read more about the 1994-95 season here:
I’m always keen to find links between today’s Manchester City and the key players of the past and so a while back I set myself the task of trying to find connections from the club’s first competitive game in 1890 through to the Premier League successes of today. The idea was to see how few players I could find to form a chain through the decades.
I did this in 2021 and today (December 2024) the same number of players still link that first year of competitive football 134 years ago with today. For those wondering how many players I’ve used to link the beginning to today: the answer is 16. But who are they and can you do better?
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On this day (1 December) in 1906 the first Manchester derby in Division One was played at City’s Hyde Road ground. This photo shows the crowd management scenes for what was described as Manchester’s biggest football day at the time. There had been derbies between City and Newton Heath in the Second Division, before City were promoted in 1899. There was no opportunity for the Blues and the Heathens to meet in the top flight. In 1902 financial difficulties at Newton Heath meant that club was being wound up. A new club called Manchester United was established in 1902 (as with (like Ardwick’s final days and the new club Manchester City, it’s more complicated than simply a name change) and they played in Division Two, until they earned promotion in 1906.
City won this derby 3-0 with goals from George Stewart (2) and Billy Lot Jones.
Crowd scenes on 1 December 1906 at Hyde Road. The first Manchester Derby in Division One (top flight)
If you want to know more about this season then here’s a 3900 word article telling the story of 1906-07 when the FA ban continued to affect Manchester’s Blues (you can read about that elsewhere on this site). This story continues to be one of skullduggery (by other teams too!) and powerful figures seeking to limit opposition.
All of this sound familiar? Well, get a brew and start reading below if you’re a subscriber. Maybe read the 1903-04, 1904-05 & 1905-06 features first?
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?
It’s the latest Liverpool-City game on Sunday and, obviously, because they’re at home, top of the League and City have had a bad run recently, this really is a game when Liverpool should win. Of course, football can throw up shock results so fingers crossed! There are lots of articles on my site about games between these two, so why not have a look at these as preparation for the game? Here are a few links:
There are plenty of other mentions of Liverpool on this site so why not use the tabs or do a search.
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.
Manager Peter Reid (pictured) opened his Manchester City programme notes for the Wimbledon game on this day (30 November) in 1991 with a realistic view of City’s season to date: “We are nearly halfway through the season and I think it’s fair to say we’ve given it a right good go so far. The League table doesn’t lie and we are in the last 16 in the Rumbelows League Cup. You can’t argue with that. But you won’t hear any talk of championships or winning trophies from anyone at Maine Road.”
The previous game had seen the Blues draw 2-2 at Luton and consolidate their position in the table. City were actually third, 6 points behind leaders Leeds United, but the Luton game had started badly with the Blues giving away a sloppy goal. The gritty nature of Reid’s side shone through and a header from captain Curle and a strike from Quinn ensured the point. Sadly, late on Steve Redmond was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Unfortunately the Wimbledon game ended goalless at Maine Road and City started to lose their way a little in the title race, but at least they were still in with a shout.
Result
30 Nov 1991 Wimbledon (H) 0-0, Attendance 22,429
if you’d like to know more on the 1991-92 season when the Blues finished 5th for the second season running, have a read of this 2,100 word article on that season:
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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 (29 November) in 1995 Manchester City manager Alan Ball won the manager of the month award. These were the days when our initial suspicion about his management approach was looking out of place. His team were starting to get some decent results and then… well, it was soon back to the mess that was Alan Ball’s time as manager of Manchester City. If you’d like to read about that season (and let’s face it, it’s always good to remember days that were awful to appreciate how things are today) then see below.
Alan Ball in August 1996
This article is almost 5,500 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 5500 word article on that season:
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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 or £20 a year 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.
If you want to know more on the 1990s for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
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.
Gary James' Football Archive 