The series of features on Manchester City in the 1890s continues today with a 1800 word article on Ardwick’s first season in the Football League, 1892-93
Ever wondered how MCFC came into being and what happened to Ardwick AFC? Well, now’s your chance to find out. This series covers the final years of Ardwick and the birth of Manchester City.
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A new series of features starts tomorrow. This series provides a season by season account of Ardwick AFC and Manchester City FC in the 1890s. Some are 2000+ word articles, others are a bit less, but each adds to the story of how the club evolved. So, if you’ve ever wondered how MCFC came into being and what happened to Ardwick AFC, here’s your chance to find out. This series covers the final years of Ardwick, the birth of Manchester City and Manchester’s first national title.
On this day (3 September) in 1892 Ardwick AFC (a significant part of Manchester City’s roots) played their first League game. They defeated Bootle 7-0. This contemporary newspaper article talks of the game. Notice the mention of an ‘ordinary’ game with Nottingham Forest – what that means is a friendly in today’s language. Back then the regular games were friendlies, so they were considered ‘ordinary’, and League or FA Cup competition was considered the rarity. That all changed over time!
Notice at the bottom of this cutting the mention of Broughton Rangers. They were a prominent rugby team, later became Belle Vue Rangers, and the ground that is opening here is Wheater’s Field. Their home before the Cliff.
Today (17 May) in 1892 at the Queens Hotel in Sunderland the Football League accepted two aspiring Manchester clubs into its competitions. Newton Heath applied and were accepted into the First Division and Ardwick applied and were accepted into the new Second Division of the League. Ardwick did not apply to join the top flight and it is believed the two Manchester clubs had an agreement not to go up against each other as in other votes two clubs from the same city had occasionally taken votes from each other. Had they gone head to head it may well have been that either one or no Manchester club would have gained admittance to the League.
Tomorrow Manchester City face Arsenal in the League and there’s the possibility that national goalscoring records could be broken once again. A few weeks back I calculated that if Erling Haaland maintained a goal a game ratio in the remaining League fixtures for Manchester City he would better Tommy Johnson’s 38 goal tally by a goal. Since then Haaland, who is already City’s seasonal record scorer in all competitions, has indeed kept up that ratio – in fact he has surpassed it – and has now broken another barrier: 30 League goals in a season.
To celebrate this I’ve put together a feature comparing every player who has scored 30 goals or more for City, plus those Premier League goalscorers whose achievements could be bettered by Haaland this season. Here goes….
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This article is available for subscribers. It costs £20 a year (here) to access this and everything else on the site, including books, videos and 100s of articles.
As promised, here for subscribers is my presentation on Joshua Parlby and the launch of Manchester City FC. It lasts about 58 minutes and was recorded on 1 March 2023. There are lots of myths out there, but I focused on the facts and my latest research.
The presentation is all about the visionary who promoted a new club to represent Manchester, Manchester City and about the steps taken in 1894. This talk is now only available to subscribers (see below for details of how to subscribe).
Subscribers can also see the previous history talk on St Mark’s and City’s development in the Gorton area during the 1870s and 1880s below.
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Annual subscribers get access to everything posted since December 2020 (interviews, history talks, articles, PDFs of books etc.) and everything to be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 a year (about 5p a day).
Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything to be posted during your subscription. It costs £3 a month (cancel any time).
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.
Here’s my presentation on Joshua Parlby and the launch of Manchester City FC. It lasts about 58 minutes and was recorded on 1 March 2023. There are lots of myths out there, but I focused on the facts and my latest research.
The presentation is all about the visionary who promoted a new club to represent Manchester, Manchester City and about the steps taken in 1894. This talk was free to download until this morning (9 March). Now it is available to subscribers (see below for details of how to subscribe).
Subscribers can also see the previous history talk on St Mark’s and City’s development in the Gorton area during the 1870s and 1880s below.
Subscribe to get access – Annual
Annual subscribers get access to everything posted since December 2020 (interviews, history talks, articles, PDFs of books etc.) and everything to be posted during your subscription. It costs £20 a year (about 5p a day).
Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything to be posted during your subscription. It costs £3 a month (cancel any time).
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.
This Wednesday (1 March at 6pm UK time) my talk on Joshua Parlby and the launch of Manchester City FC in 1894 will take place. It’ll last about 1 hour and is free to attend but places must be reserved in advance. It will follow a similar format to previous talks I’ve done on the origins of MCFC but this one will specifically focus on the launch of City in 1894. I’ll talk about Parlby, his background and the development of MCFC which was established with the aim of creating a club to represent the whole of Manchester.
Sign up to listen to this free event where I will explain how Ardwick died, City was created and the steps Parlby took to get City into the League. I’ll be explaining how significant this was and who the key players were, plus pointing out the role Queen Victoria played in it. There are some myths out there about the club’s birth as MCFC so come and listen to the facts. This hour will include the opportunity to ask questions as I’m keen to hear your thoughts on these formative years for the club.
The event will be live on Zoom on 1/3/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably earlier that day). THIS WILL BE EMAILED OUT SEPARATELY AND NOT VIA THE EVENTBRITE WEBSITE.
The plan is to present the facts and history of the birth of the club and its development as Manchester City during the 1890s. Dispelling myths and revealing the latest research and evidence of what actually happened.
There will be an opportunity to ask questions about this critical period for football development in Manchester. Everyone can register now.
On Wednesday 1 March at 6pm (UK time) come and join me for one hour of discussion on Joshua Parlby and the launch of Manchester City FC in 1894. I will talk about Parlby, his background, the launch of City and the development of the club which was established with the aim of creating a club to represent the whole of Manchester. Sign up to listen to this free event where I will explain how Ardwick died, City was created and the steps Parlby took to get City into the League. I’ll be explaining how significant this was and who the key players were, plus pointing out the role Queen Victoria played in it. There are some myths out there about the club’s birth as MCFC so come and listen to the facts. This hour will include the opportunity to ask questions as I’m keen to hear your thoughts on these formative years for the club.
The event will be live on Zoom on 1/3/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably earlier that day). THIS WILL BE EMAILED OUT SEPARATELY AND NOT VIA THE EVENTBRITE WEBSITE.
The plan is to present the facts and history of the birth of the club and its development as Manchester City during the 1890s. Dispelling myths and revealing the latest research and evidence of what actually happened.
There will be an opportunity to ask questions about this critical period for football development in Manchester. Everyone can register now.
Continuing the weekly series of ‘True Blue’ figures associated with the early years of Manchester City, here’s an article on Joshua Parlby who was the visionary who was the main figure behind the creation of Manchester City. He was also a former Stoke footballer and committeeman. As an appetizer for my forthcoming talk (1 March – see below). You can find out why this man was such an important figure in Manchester City history below:
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Annual subscribers can access all the articles, talks, books and interviews posted since December 2020 for an annual subscription of £20 (works out about £1.67 per month). There’s also a monthly subscription (see below).
Monthly subscribers can access all the articles, talks, books and interviews posted since 1 October 2022 for a monthly subscription of £3 (cancel any time).
There will be another ‘True Blue’ featured next Monday. Use the tag ‘True Blues’ to find other profiles in this series. If you want to join my free online talk concerning Parlby and City see:
The full series of True Blue profiles will feature:
Lawrence Furniss, John Allison, Joshua Parlby, Walter Chew, William Sumner, Tom Maley, St Mark’s community leaders, Billy Meredith, John Chapman, William Beastow and James Moores.
Gary James' Football Archive 