Category Archives: 1909-10

Manchester City’s European Tours

These days pre-season tours are an expected part of a football club’s activities but that’s not always been the case. Pre-1939 it was highly unusual for English teams to travel for friendlies before a season, but some clubs did enjoy post-season tours. The idea was that a trip to mainland Europe was a reward for first team players after an arduous season. Here for subscribers to my site is a brief overview of some of Manchester City’s European tour firsts.

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If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book, my first book on MCFC and audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc. then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.

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The 1910s: 1909-1910 Division Two Champions

The new series of features on Manchester City in the 1910s starts today with an article on the 1909-10 season when the Blues returned to the First Division as champions after a one season absence. If you’re a subscriber you can read this below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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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?

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More on the 1910s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Starting Tomorrow: MCFC in the 1910s

Starting tomorrow a new series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1910s. Most decades in the history of the club are already featured on this site but the seasonal review of the 1910s is not complete. Over the next week or so every season of that decade will be covered here. The 1910s is a decade that’s often overlooked but it did include title challenges; record attendances; and much more. It was also a decade that saw war lead to the suspension of the Football League BUT – and this is important – football did continue with crowds gathering at games across Manchester (and the nation) throughout the war.

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Training 1910 Style

Here’s a great cutting showing Manchester City players in February 1910 training. How things change! Subscribers can read more on the 1909-10 season (when the Blues returned to the First Division as champions after a one season absence) below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe to get access

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?

Subscribe

Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Manchester City’s European Tours

These days pre-season tours are an expected part of a football club’s activities but that’s not always been the case. Pre-1939 it was highly unusual for English teams to travel for friendlies before a season, but some clubs did enjoy post-season tours. The idea was that a trip to mainland Europe was a reward for first team players after an arduous season. Here for subscribers to my site is a brief overview of some of Manchester City’s European tour firsts.

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book, my first book on MCFC and audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc. then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.

Subscribe

Orient v Manchester City

Today marks the latest game between City and Orient. They first met in 1909 when Orient won 3-2 on 18 September. The first FA Cup tie between the clubs came on 10 January 1920 when City defeated Orient 4-1 with goals from Ernie Goodwin (2), Horace Barnes and Billy ‘Spud’ Murphy (see report). The most recent match between the teams came on 7 May 1966 when a Second Division game ended 2-2 (City scorers were Colin Bell and an own goal from Sorrell).

City had guaranteed promotion three days earlier at Rotherham.

The 1900s: 1909-1910 Division Two Champions

Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s an article on the 1909-10 season when the Blues returned to the First Division as champions after a one season absence. If you’re a subscriber you can read this below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

Subscribe to get access

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?

Subscribe

More on the 1900s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1900s: Manchester City

A new series of features starts tomorrow. This series provides a season by season account of Manchester City FC in the early 1900s. 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 Manchester found its first major success or wondered about the scandal that rocked the club, here’s your chance to find out. This series covers 1900-1910.

Watch this space tomorrow for details.

Match programme for 29 September 1900. Manchester City v Stoke

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.

Royal Reactions (part one)

I’m sure we’ve all been watching some of the television coverage following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. With so much air time to fill we’ve often had angles put forward and debated for a few minutes or hours on TV and radio. So I thought it was time I put one (or two – part two will go into detail about royal visits to Manchester City) of my own on my website. Here goes… Someone asked me the other day about how Manchester City reacted in terms of performance in the days/weeks/months after a monarch’s death. So, if you’ve been desperate to find out, or are more likely to think ‘go on then, I’ll stick with it a bit longer’, here’s the answer:

Since Manchester City was established in the 19th Century there have been two British Queens and now five Kings. Detailed below are a few snippets from each of their reigns which may or may not be of interest. I’ll start with Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria was on the throne throughout the birth of League football until her death in January 1901. These were the years when professional football developed and Victoria died only 9 years after the club had joined the League as Ardwick.

Major Trophies Won: No major trophies were won by City during Victoria’s reign but they did win the Second Division title in 1899 – the first national success of either Manchester club. The last complete season of her life saw City compete in the top flight for the first time. the first game after her death was a 2-1 defeat at Stoke.

King Edward VII was on the throne from January 1901 through to May 1910. He died in the close season as City were about to go on tour to Germany and Denmark. During Edward’s life City won the FA Cup in 1904 (Manchester’s first major trophy) and were runners up in the League that season.

King George V was the first monarch to visit a Manchester City game when he attended a 1920 League game between City and Liverpool at Hyde Road. During his reign City won the FA Cup in 1934 and George was present for that final. City had also appeared in two other finals and had finished 2nd in the League in 1920. He died in January 1936 and the following weekend’s FA Cup games went ahead as scheduled. Over 65,000 watched City defeat Luton 2-1 at Maine Road.

King Edward VIII was only on the throne for about nine months and abdicated in December 1936. City had finished ninth in the only season completed during his reign but the 1936-37 was to be a spectacular one, though the part of the season before his abdication was not so great for the Blues.

King George VI became King on the abdication of his brother and City were to go on an incredible run shortly afterwards. A couple of defeats came within a fortnight of him taking on the role but other than those City were undefeated for the rest of the season. An incredible run of 22 games unbeaten brought City the League title in 1937.

As the Duke of York George had attended the 1933 FA Cup final and had also attended a game at Maine Road that year too. George died in February 1952. The following weekend’s games were not postponed and City drew a goalless match with Blackpool.

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952 and during her reign City have found major success time and time again. Within 3 years of her becoming Queen she attended Wembley to watch City face Newcastle in the 1955 FAC final. Newcastle won that (their last major domestic trophy) but the year after she was at Wembley again to see City beat Birmingham in the Trautmann Final. Since then City have found major glory in the League and in Europe. Their trophy haul under Elizabeth includes:

1 European Cup Winners’ Cup

7 League titles

4 FA Cups

8 League Cups

City have won 1 trophy approximately every 3.5 years of her reign. When she died games were postponed the following weekend.

King Charles III – Of course it’s too early to say what success arrives during his reign.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this slightly odd football article. There’ll be a second part published next week. Watch this space. While you’re here why not explore the rest of the website. Thanks