Category Archives: 1894-95

History Video: Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC

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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History Talk Video: Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC

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).

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

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).

Subscribe

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.

Choose an amount

£2.50
£5.00
£7.50

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

Politics & Sportswashing

Lots said these days about using football as a means of ‘sportswashing’. The basic idea being that politicians and state leaders use football to sell a better image of themselves. The suggestion often made in the media is that this is a recent phenomenon but of course, like so many other things in life, it’s far from new. In fact, as far as football goes there are plenty of examples of politicians or businessmen pushing a particular idea to fans of certain clubs. As Manchester City are often highlighted today by those who are critical of the club’s owners, I thought it would be worth posting this image of a postcard created to promote a Manchester City director’s Conservative campaign.

Chapman was the first chairman for City back in 1894 and years later he died in office during his second spell as City’s chair. As part of his political campaigns he often linked the club’s successes to help present a positive image of success to potential voters. City’s captain Billy Meredith even campaigned for him at times.

City chairman John Chapman used City’s success as part of his political campaign.

Chapman was a decent guy it seems and both his political career and City chairmanship seemed on the whole to be positive for the people of Ardwick, though of course there were critics.

Regardless of how he was viewed it is clear that he did use City’s successes as part of his political campaigns. Nowadays someone would call this sportswashing no doubt, but it does show how people have used their sporting connections to further other ambitions. There’s nothing new in football!

My True Blue profile of Chapman will appear on 27 March 2023. You can read other True Blue profiles of City’s earliest figures by using the True Blue tab below. Thanks.

Last Chance: Free Online Presentation This Wednesday on Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC – Register Now

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.

Register on Eventbrite

You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:

Video of my online talk on history of MCFC Support/Match Day at Maine Road

The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.

You can see posts about other History Talks here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/history-talks/

Manchester’s Female Football Fans-100 Years Ago

This week 100 years ago in Cumbria (as it’s now known) a local newspaper talked of the support both Manchester City & United received from women. This article suggested it was a new phenomenon but I’ve lots of evidence of female support at Manchester’s clubs goes back many decades before 1923. In fact City we’re issuing specially discounted season tickets to women from formation as MCFC in 1894.

Incidentally the Corinthians it mentions at the end of the piece is the famous male amateur team of the era, not the famous women’s team of the 40s to 80s.

Free Online Presentation on Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC 1 March – 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.

Register on Eventbrite

You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:

Video of my online talk on history of MCFC Support/Match Day at Maine Road

The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.

You can see posts about other History Talks here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/history-talks/

True Blues – Joshua Parlby

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).

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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).

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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:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/joshua-parlby-the-launch-of-manchester-city-tickets-537769542177

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.

Free Online Presentation on Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC – 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. Subscribers to my site can register now and this will be opened up to non subscribers after 15 February if any places remain.

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Subscribers can register for this event now. It costs £20 per year of £3 per month (see below) to subscribe. Annual subscribers get access to everything posted to this site (books, audio & written interviews, history talks etc.) since it was created in December 2020

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Subscribers can register for this event now. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to subscribe. Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted to this site (books, audio & written interviews, history talks etc.) since 1 October 2022

Subscribe

You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:

Video of my online talk on history of MCFC Support/Match Day at Maine Road

The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.

You can see posts about other History Talks here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/history-talks/

Pre-match Activities

In recent years many night games played across football have seen light shows. Manchester City have established a few of these at the Etihad Stadium too. The spectacle has proved popular, particularly with young supporters who are perhaps experiencing a night match for the first time. For today’s subscriber piece I have written a 2000 word article on the history of pre-match entertainment at Manchester City. There are mentions of the St Joseph’s Industrial School and Beswick Prize Bands, various DJs, athletic challenges, Norman Wisdom, Frank Sidebottom & more. Enjoy:

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (less than 6p a day) to access everything posted since the site went live in December 2020 (books, interviews, videos, history talks etc.) and throughout your period of subscription. Or you can subscribe a month at a time for £3 (cancel anytime; see below)

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Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Monthly subscribers have access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 (books, interviews, videos, history talks etc.) and throughout your period of subscription. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime)

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The Second Manchester Derby In The League – 1894-95

DERBY: 2

DATE 5th January 1895

DIVISION Two

VENUE Clayton

ATTENDANCE 12,000

NEWTON HEATH 4 (Clarkin 2, Donaldson, Smith)

MANCHESTER CITY 1 (Sharples)

Newton Heath: William DOUGLAS, John McCARTNEY, Fred ERENTZ, Harry STONES, James McNAUGHT, William STEWART, John CLARKIN, Robert DONALDSON, James DOW, Richard SMITH, James PETERS. Manager: Alf Albut

Manchester City: Charlie WILLIAMS, John WALKER, David ROBSON, Harry SMITH, Robert JONES, John McBRIDE, Billy MEREDITH, Pat FINNERHAN, Sandy ROWAN, William McREDDlE, James SHARPLES. Manager: Joshua Parlby

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See more of this content when you subscribe today.

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See more of this content when you subscribe today.

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