Category Archives: Manchester City

Steph Houghton

I’ve just heard the news that Steph Houghton will be retiring from professional football at the end of this current season (2023-24). It’s a major loss to football. Steph has been a wonderful ambassador for football and has been the perfect role model for many, many years.

I was fortunate enough to interview her about 5 years ago when I was researching and writing my history of Manchester City’s women’s team. That day she was wonderful and her love of the game was contagious. I’ve interviewed a lot of footballers over the years and, considering Steph was Manchester City and England captain at the time, she had no airs or graces or tried to act in a particular way. She seemed genuine and I was impressed.

Her arrival at City was hugely significant for the Club and in my interviews with her colleagues and City’s management it was clear that her commitment to the City cause back in 2014 was so important. It helped convince others of how special City’s plans were and over the years that followed her commitment was rewarded with significant success.

I could go on for some time about Steph’s significance and maybe later in the season I’ll post more, but for the time being let’s celebrate every minute she plays over these final weeks. Let’s also ensure the youngest fans get to see her play while they can. In future decades they’ll remember and be able to say they saw her play.

While you’re here why not find out more on earlier generations of women’s footballers:

Manchester Corinthians’ Latest

The 1990s: 1999 The Fightback

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the opening months of 1999-2000 season. City had been promoted the previous May and the last few months of 1999 saw the Club continue its resurrection. The article is almost 4,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this period and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.

Here’s the 4900 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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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:

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The 1990s: 1998-1999 The Fightback

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1998-99 season – yes, that season! It saw the Blues reach their all-time low before an incredible fight back. It’s City’s one and only season at that level. The article is almost 8,000 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 4900 word article on that season:

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

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.

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Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

Subscribe

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:

How To Subscribe

The 1990s: 1997-1998 A New Low

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1997-98 season. The article is almost 9,500 words long – there’s so much to say! Some people write entire football club histories that are shorter than that. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.

Here’s the 9500 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 below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

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Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

Subscribe

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:

How To Subscribe

The 1990s: Manchester City v Manchester United

Yesterday (23 March 2024) saw another Manchester City victory over United in the WSL Manchester derby. It’s always impressive seeing the Blues win and this City team has been in existence since 1988. The history of women’s football in Manchester does not always get the attention it deserves and many of us have been determined to change that for years (this year I’ll be publishing the Authorised History of the Manchester Corinthians after years of research – see below). So hopefully the following will be of interest. It includes a few quotes from those involved in previous decades and I’ve included it as part of my series on the 1990s as the first City-Utd women’s league derby took place in 1990.

While the perception will always exist that Manchester United’s women’s team has always been City’s rivals and vice versa, for both clubs the real rivals have varied over the years. Derby matches have been played against Manchester Belle Vue and other prominent local clubs. There were even derbies in the 1940s when Manchester Ladies and Manchester Corinthians played each other.


However, any game between City and United takes on extra significance. United fans established a Manchester United Ladies team in the 1970s with close ties to the men’s club. This eventually was closed down by the men’s club before re-emerging in 2018 as a WSL 2 club. In September 2019 the first WSL Manchester derby between City and United occurred at the Etihad following United’s move into the top flight. This was a truly special day for both clubs and for those of us present.

The first competitive derby between City and United was actually in September 1990 in the North West Women’s Regional Football League Second Division when Neil Mather was City’s manager: “I was nervous for weeks on end, and it was coming and coming and coming. I thought ‘we’ve got to beat United in the first competitive Derby.’ Being a big blue it was like ‘whatever we do we’ve got to beat them.’ We were 4-1 up with about five minutes to go and then had a five minute collapse where I thought we’re going to blow this. At one point it had looked like we were going to get five or six and annihilate them and then we nearly lost it! Thank God we hung on for a 4-3 win, but I’ll never forget that game. We had a girl called Jenny Newton who was a manic City fan and scored and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. When she scored her eyes were bulging and it meant the world and a lot of our girls were City fans. It meant the world to beat them.”

Lesley Wright: “The first time we played United in a competitive game there was about 150 there. They were a really strong team. Better than us at the time and they’d been established a lot longer.”

Rita Howard: “Despite being a United fan I loved playing as City Ladies against United. I absolutely loved it. Even though I’m a United fan I never contemplated joining them because the support from City, even when it waned a little, was far superior to anything United got. At best they’d get a kit and then it was ‘on your way.’ I know our closeness to City came from that beginning with Neil. His enthusiasm got us the kit, the tracksuits, the minibus…. All sorts of things. I know that wasn’t happening at United and at that time I don’t think any club connected in any way to a Football League side were as close as we were then. I think we got a lot more recognition from the beginning and that has carried on to today. Look at what City have done.”

Jane Morley: “I’m a season ticket holder at Manchester United but I was a manager at City Ladies. One day I’d been with City at a tournament and then went straight to Old Trafford for a men’s game. I was sat there when the bloke next to me – who I didn’t know – said ‘what you doing with that on!’ I realised I still had my City jacket on. I had to explain to him that I managed City Ladies.”

Bev Harrop was a Manchester United fan playing for City: “I had a United shirt underneath my City shirt! (laughs) Most of the time.  Not later on, I grew out of it eventually, but at first, I did.”

Jane Morley: “It angers me when people say that Manchester United now have their first women’s team. As with City when the relaunch happened that implies the stuff we did for the club years before doesn’t count. I played for United in the 70s and 80s before a few of us broke away to set up FC Redstar. We left United because we wanted to test ourselves. We had some great players and wanted to progress but those who ran United wanted to stay in a Manchester League and not join the North West League. So we broke away in 1985 and formed FC Redstar.

“Many of the teams we know today as WSL clubs are actually men’s clubs that have taken over established women’s clubs. Teams like Leasowe Pacific became Everton. I have to bite my lip sometimes when some clubs claim they created a women’s team… no, you took and rebranded a team. There were quite a few big teams around the time City Ladies started such as Broadoak with Tracey Wheeldon.” 

These snippets are from my book on Manchester City’s women’s team. Copies (signed by me) can be ordered here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/shop/

For more on the book on the Manchester Corinthians (who started in 1949) see:

Manchester Corinthians’ Latest

If you’d like to read more on women’s football in Manchester then take a look at: 

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/womens-football-2

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The 1990s: 1996 Georgiou Kinkladze Goal V Southampton

Continuing the series on Manchester City in the 1990s with a feature today on one of the best goals of Maine Road’s final couple of decades. This saw the brilliant Georgiou Kinkladze at his best. The goal was scored at Maine Road in March 1996. Kinkladze was a major star – some would say Manchester City’s biggest during the mid 1990s – and livened up many dull days for City fans.  This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars but, thanks to television and the game’s appearance on Match of the Day, many neutrals recognised the quality of this Golden Goal.

This article, covering Kinkladze’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.     

 

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The 1990s: 1996-1997 Further Managerial Changes

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1996-97 season. If you don’t know what happened then brace yourself! The article is almost 4,900 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time, including Phil Neal who talks about Steve Coppell’s shock resignation.

Here’s the 4900 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 below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.

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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.

Subscribe

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:

How To Subscribe

The 1990s: The First Women’s Manchester League Derby

The latest City in the 1990s flashback feature is about the women’s Manchester derby. This weekend marks the latest Manchester derby in the Women’s Super League and it will be played at the Etihad Stadium (City currently hold the record attendance for a women’s club game in Manchester – you can find details of that elsewhere on the website). There’s a long history of competition between teams representing the women of Manchester City and Manchester United.

City’s team has been in existence continually since November 1988 when Donna Haynes and Heidi Ward both scored two goals in their first game (v Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park).

I was at the City Ladies (as they were then known) first game and I was also at their first league derby in September 1990 when City defeated United 4-3. It was a fantastic day, watched by around 150 people.

City’s goals came from Rhoda Taylor (8 min), Rachel O’Shaughnessy (43 mins), Jenny Newton (50 mins) and Lesley Peters. City’s manager Neil Mather told me as part of my research for the Manchester City Women book: ‘United were the top side, you know, and beating them was so good for morale. The men’s team were a good side in the early 90s when City Ladies carried on developing, you know. This was the Howard Kendall era, and City had top five finishes. City were one of the top five or six teams in the country at the time, so it was fabulous for women’s football to have Man City, you know.’

Helen Hempenstall played for City that day and she described her memory of the day for my book: I remember when we played United (30/9/90) and Neil (Helen’s boyfriend, now husband) and all his mates came to watch us. There were a lot of people there that day. United had a decent team then. It was always a difficult game against United. They had a right-winger… We never got on. Every time we played each other we were at each other all the way through the game. Me and Carol Woodall were having a go at her. The referee told Lesley Wright “Tell both your full backs to shut their mouths otherwise they’ll both be off!” We just didn’t get along and before every game I thought I’ll get in their first. ‘I’m having her.’ Neil Mather still talks about it.

‘I think Lesley Wright kept the team together. She kept it all tight at the back. I played at the back with her and I learnt a lot from her. Because I was next to her I knew how important she was. If I missed something she always got it. She always encouraged me and kept shouting ‘different class, different class’. You learn from the people around you and I listened to her. Before every game she came to speak to me. She’d put her arm around me and reassure me. She’d tell me not to worry about anything. Most of the time travelling to away games I’d go with Lesley in the car. We used to have a laugh. I remember one day we were travelling to an away game some distance away and we stopped for petrol and all got out. I lit up a fag and everyone else jumped back in the car screaming! I didn’t even think! When we got to the ground they all told Neil Mather and I think he worried that he could’ve lost half his team. At another game I was sat in the middle and as we got out the person before me slammed the door back. It hit my head and I had a big lump for the game.’

Lesley Wright was one of several women who had first played for the pioneering Manchester Corinthians team. I’ve been researching their remarkable story for years and this summer (2024) my work will be published. It will tell the story of the Corinthians from its formation in 1949 through to its final days forty years later. For more information on that club and the book see:

Manchester Corinthians’ Latest

The story of the first women’s League derby and of the first 30 years or so of City Women’s existence can be read in my book on the club. It’s called Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is basically the women telling their stories of playing for the club and how they got into football, plus statistics covering the journey from friendlies in 1988-89 through to competition and the modern day successes.

You can buy the book via this link (every copy is signed by me):

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The 1990s: The Derby at Maine Road AND Old Trafford

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with a reminder of the Manchester Derby played on this day (20 March) in 1993. The match ended in a 1-1 draw (City were leading 1-0 before Cantona equalised). Here’s City scorer Niall Quinn’s view of the game:

The game was the first derby at Maine Road in the Premier League that had been established that season and United would go on to win the title, so this draw was viewed as a significant result for City at the time. The attendance was 37,136 which was an absolute sellout. The new Umbro Stand (Platt Lane) had opened that month.

There were issues about ticket touts and capacity, leading to MUFC showing the match at Old Trafford too. 10,000 were reported to have watch the game there. Here are some cuttings about that.

Here’s a 3,200 word article on that full season from a Manchester City perspective:

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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.

Subscribe

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:

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The 1990s: Loyal Support?

A slight diversion here. The cutting above is from March 1995 and was published in a Liverpool newspaper about attendances at Anfield and Goodison. It’s not worth getting into the local support rivalry that clearly existed on Merseyside then (and probably still does today) but it is worth showing this cutting as it demonstrates that the biggest clubs haven’t always had full stadia.

People assume the 1990s was a decade of full houses but that’s not always the case. The 1994-95 season is an interesting one because there was building work at many stadia as a result of the move to all seater grounds. Manchester City averaged 22,725 which may not sound to great but the season started with City’s capacity down to less than 20,000 for several games. The capacity increased in stages, ultimately reaching about 28,000 that season but this was the first complete season of Franny Lee’s chairmanship and demand was huge.

You can read more on 1994-95 season below. This article is almost 5,000 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 5000 word article on that season:

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

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.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

Subscribe

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:

How To Subscribe