I’ve posted this before but it’s always worth another look. It is believed the memorial card seen here was printed to mark Manchester United’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City on December 28 1912. Cards like these were popular at most high profile games and in Manchester there was a significant industry behind football funeral cards.
They seem a bit macabre today in our half-half friendship version of professional football but back then cards were used to highlight games frequently. I’ve written and talked a lot on this over the years.
Here for subscribers I’d like to provide an overview of the industry, how it existed, what activities were carried out and provide a potted history of the funeral card business. This is about 3,500 words, so get yourself a brew and settle down to read…
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I’ve researched a lot on the history of Manchester’s prominent clubs and so I know how the history of those teams has often been incorrectly reported. So, I’m just going to post this and make no further comment today. This is an article from October 1912 which talks of Manchester City as Manchester’s oldest football club. You can find out all about the history of Manchester’s clubs in my academic book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’ if you’re interested.
Continuing the series on Manchester City in the 1920s here’s a free to read 1300 word article on 1920s City (and 1900s United) manager Ernest Mangnall. Enjoy!
Although JAMES ERNEST MANGNALL is usually remembered as the first man to bring Manchester United trophy success – with a side containing the key members of City’s 1904 FA Cup triumph – he actually spent more years managing the Blues and saw City as the bigger club with more potential.
People tend to focus on his successes at United but his commitment to the Blue cause and determination to move City to the best stadium in English football, are perhaps the most interesting aspects of his life. His United successes are clearly significant moments in Manchester football, however City fans prefer to remember his Blue achievements.
He joined City in 1912 but the most interesting aspect of his arrival is the way it was carried out. Mangnall had been United’s leader since 1903 and had achieved so much that no one could ever have expected him to move. As well as the trophy successes (promotion, two League titles and the FA Cup) he was also credited with being instrumental in United’s move from Clayton (where the Velodrome’s BMX track is today, close to the Etihad Stadium) to Old Trafford.
City were still regarded as the region’s number one club despite the problems they had faced in the period 1905-1912, and they stunned the football world when they lured Mangnall away from the Reds. Never before had a manager left a major club for its biggest rivals after so much success, but what made the story more of a sensation was the fact Mangnall had agreed to become City manager while still in office at Old Trafford, and that he had watched the Blues’ opening game at Notts County when he was supposed to be with United at Arsenal. He actually remained in charge of United for the Manchester derby of 7th September 1912 at Old Trafford.
Occasionally United historians dispute that Mangnall was officially their manager on the day of the derby but leading newspapers of the period, most notably the Umpire and the Daily Dispatch, are perfectly clear that he was officially in charge. City won the Old Trafford match 1-0 despite being down to ten men for most of the game. Mangnall, according to one report, was delighted with the City win despite, officially at least, still being a Red. “United speeded their manager rejoicing with two points to his new club” read one article.
The following Monday Mangnall moved into his Hyde Road office, and within a few weeks his side were looking like Championship contenders: “Manchester City stand out boldly as the only first class team in the two divisions of the League, the Southern and the Scottish Leagues, with the highest possible points to their credit. The Citizens of Manchester have earned every point in September. Other clubs have remained undefeated, but they have not annexed the maximum marks. Nine years have passed since Manchester City commenced a campaign in this stimulating style.”
The title didn’t arrive, however Mangnall did develop a decent-looking side by the time of the First World War – they missed the 1914-15 title by three points. City were also proving a highly popular side to watch, so much so that the ground could hardly cope. A notorious cup match with Sunderland in February 1913 had to be abandoned due to overcrowding. Incredibly – and this is difficult to appreciate today – the team manager was also responsible for the management of the ground at this time, and so Mangnall was held responsible for all matters concerning safety and crowd control as well as picking the team and buying the players. A reporter named Veteran accused Mangnall of spending too much time with the team and said: “I am rather surprised at Mr. Mangnall being caught napping, but it may be that he has been away with the team and had had little to do with the home management.”
During the hostilities Mangnall kept the Club alive and brought some trophy success in the wartime tournaments that replaced the League.
After the war, Mangnall’s side became very popular and he had to focus on ground issues as well as team matters. With the Blues filling the 40,000 capacity on a regular basis, Mangnall regular had to face the press, the FA, the Football League, Manchester City Council, and the police to explain why chaotic scenes were being experienced game after game in the streets around the ground.
In 1920 fire destroyed the Main Stand and exacerbated the problems Mangnall faced. He approached his former club United about using Old Trafford, the ground he had been primarily responsible for, but they met his request with exorbitant terms that were ridiculed in the press. Perhaps they still felt a little aggrieved about his departure almost a decade earlier?
Mangnall’s view was that City had to move from Hyde Road. Its forty thousand capacity was far too small, and the manager worked with club officials, most notably another former City manager Lawrence Furniss, to plan the development of a new ground. One with potential.
At the same time as the ground debates, Mangnall guided the Blues to second place in the League and their popularity increased further.
By the start of 1921-22 far too many people were missing out on watching Manchester’s favourite team. That season he created plans for an “English Hampden” on the Moss Side/Rusholme border.
In 1923 City moved to the 85,000 capacity Maine Road, and in Mangnall’s final season (1923-24) he almost managed to guide the Blues to the FA Cup Final. With the 49 year old Billy Meredith back in Mangnall’s side, City were defeated by Newcastle. That run was important as it perhaps demonstrated the reason why Mangnall had been determined to join the Blues back in 1912 for his City side attracted a few magnificent attendances including over 76,000 for a cup tie with Cardiff. At the time this was the largest crowd for any footballing fixture played in Manchester including three FA Cup finals (1893, 1911 replay & 1915). Mangnall knew all about City’s popularity and he must have felt a great deal of satisfaction at seeing such a large crowd in the stadium he had pushed for.
The following May his contract was not renewed, although It seems likely he chose to step down feeling that there was little more he could achieve at Maine Road. After leaving the Blues he became a director of his home town team, Bolton, and was a significant figure within the PFA. He died of a cerebral embolism in 1932 at St. Annes.
In addition to his roles at Burnley – his first club as secretary, United, City, and Bolton, he was also recorded as the man responsible for founding the Central League and the Football Managers’ Association.
Modern day football rarely remembers men like Mangnall, however his place in the history of Manchester must always remain a significant one. He restored pride and passion to the Blues and was the key figure in City’s move to Maine Road. That move enabled City to rediscover their ambition, drive, and natural position as one of England’s elite.
Football historians tend to focus on Mangnall’s United career but that does the man a great disservice. He may have won trophies at Old Trafford but his entire career was packed with achievements.
Mangnall should always be remembered as the catalyst for City’s regeneration during a difficult period. The fact that he walked out on United to take on the City challenge adds an angle that Blues love. Mangnall was a great Blue.
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I’ve included this in some of my books over the years and I think it’s a great crowd shot which leads to the odd question too. Take a close look at it. This is from 1912-13 season and shows a section of the crowd in the Main Stand paddock. There are definitely men, women and children in there, but is there also one of the earliest non-white faces to be seen at a home City game too? It’s difficult to tell but look at the complexion of the man above the word ‘archive’… We’ll never know sadly.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Way back in 1911 Manchester City signed a player from Forfar Athletic with the name Valentine. He was born in May 1889, not 14 February as maybe some would expect. He joined City on 5 July 1911 but only made 22 first team appearances in defence before signing for Oldham Athletic on 31 May 1913 (£50 transfer fee). Sadly he only managed one League appearance at Oldham.
A year later he was on his way to Leeds City. War ultimately limited his opportunities and he later played for Southend in 1921 before joining Abertillery in July 1922.
When he signed for City he was expected to be a significant member of the team but it didn’t quite work out like that. His debut was against Oldham on 7 October 1911 and he did play in a goalless Manchester derby. I first wrote about him in The Pride of Manchester, the history of the Manchester derby I co-wrote with Steve Cawley.
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.
On this day (30 October) in 1916 the death of Manchester City defender Pat McGuire was reported in the Manchester Evening News (image) and the Athletic News. McGuire’s story is a tragic one as he was killed in battle but his wife had previously been told of his death several months earlier. Understandably there was a lot of confusion on the battle field but imagine being told your husband had been killed and then a short while later told he’s alive and then only a few weeks after that being told for the second time that he has been killed.
The report in the Athletic News read:
‘It was with very deep regret that news was received at Grimsby on Saturday of the death in action in France of Lance-Corporal P. M’Guire [sic], of the Manchester Regiment, the brilliant young full-back of the Manchester City club, who played for Grimsby Town throughout last season. Last winter he played better football than at any period of his career, and Grimsby regarded him as the best defender who had worn their livery for a decade. He was clear-headed, resourceful, and a master of defensive tactics. Now he has given his life in the greatest of all causes. That something had befallen him had been feared for three weeks past, as Mr. Hickson did not receive any acknowledgement of the letters and parcels of comfort which he and his wife make a practice of dispatching regularly to the “boys” at the front. On Saturday came the sad official news that M’Guire was no more.‘
McGuire joined City from Hurst on 18 Aug 1912 and made his debut v Chelsea (a) 1.3.1913
Former City historian John Maddocks wrote this about him:
Pat McGuire was a full-back who was used mainly as an understudy to the regular backs in the years immediately before WW1, Bill Henry and Eli Fletcher, and as these two were consistent players Pat rarely got a look in. He joined the armed forces for the duration and guested for Grimsby Town, making 31 appearances and scoring six goals. Sadly he was killed in action in October 1916.
Appearances: 15 in the League (plus at least 85 in the reserves)
The story is an incredible one and the following website tells it much better than I can here:
Rare action images from Hyde Road taken on this day (October 12) in 1912 as Manchester City were defeated 1-0 at home to Newcastle before a capacity 40,000 crowd.
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.
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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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.
The links between the blue and the red half of Manchester are many, although there are some who will quickly deny the others mere existence. Fortunately, there are others who will embrace those historic, and often welcome links between the two bitter rivals, history being more important than the colour of a football shirt.
The links, as I said, are many, but if only three were to be listed, it is arguable that these would be, in no particular order, Sir Matt Busby, Billy Meredith and Denis Law for self-explanatory reasons. There is, however, one man who should nudge all three of those legendary figures out of the way, a man from the distant past, but one whose place in the history of both City and United is assured, but sadly, often forgotten. His name? John Ernest Mangnall.
Born in Bolton in January 1866, Mangnall also stakes a claim in the history of his local club, and that of near neighbours Burnley, a proud Lancastrian, but it is in Cottonopolis that he comes to the fore and more so during his time with Manchester United.
But for the meantime, let’s push Ernest Mangnall’s footballing credentials to the side [his given first name being lost in the mists of time] and look at the man from a much different sporting angle.
It might be said that football, a game that he played with the same enthusiasm that he carried forward into his managerial positions, was not even his first love, as he was more than a keen cyclist, being a member of various clubs, entering races and most notably cycling between John O’Groats and Lands End, at a time when bicycles were certainly not built for comfort.
Having cut his managerial teeth with Burnley, although he had helped steer Bolton along the way from the boardroom, as a director, he found is way to the dull, dreary surroundings of Clayton in 1903, with many possibly correct in thinking he was a glutton for punishment, as United were little more than a struggling side and had been rescued from what could easily have been oblivion by J.H. Davies. They had also recently changed their name from Newton Heath to Manchester United.
Appointed in place of James West, who had resigned as secretary, Mangnall embraced the role of the man not simply answered the mail and carried out other menial tasks, but took on the running of the club as a whole. Purchasing postage stamps of players made little difference.
Slowly Mangnall began to blend a team together and following a handful of near but not quite near enough finishes, he guided United out of the Second Division and into the top flight at the end of the 1905-06 season where, thanks to his now neighbours City finding themselves in a spot of bother, he ‘stole’ Burgess, Meredith, Bannister and Sandy Turnbull from his rivals and with the likes of Charlie Roberts and Dick Duckworth already at United, he had a more than capable team at his finger tips, creating a team that gave Manchester United their first domestic trophies with the League championship in 1908 and the FA Cup in 1909. The former was also won in 1911, plus success in the FA Charity Shield in 1908 and 1911.
Not only was he instrumental in building a strong United team on the field, he was more than involved in dragging the club away from its slum like home at Clayton and moving to pastures new at Old Trafford.
But all good things come to an end at some point or other and having perhaps achieved as much as he could at Old Trafford, Mangnall made the surprise move across town and joined neighbours City in August 1912. What the club and manager hoped to achieve failed to materialise, but as he had done with United, he played a major part in City’s move to Maine Road.
So, that is the career of Ernest Mangnall in a nutshell, but if you want to learn more about that man then his biography is available now from Empire Publications, 229 Ayres Road, Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 0NL UK Tel: 0161 872 3319 or 1 Newton Street, Manchester M1 1HW – telephone 0161 872 3319.
As something of a postscript.
I created ‘The Manchester United Graves Society’ a couple of years or so back, whereby I am trying to locate the burial places [or cremation details] of as many former players and officials as possible and to date have found over 500. One of the early finds was John Ernest Mangnall, who died at Lytham St Annes in January 1932, and is buried in the Lytham Park Cemetery.
Upon obtaining a photograph of his grave, I was saddened to find that the headstone was broken and the grave in general was in need of some TLC. So, enquiries were made with the cemetery as regards to any red tape that would cause problems in restoring the grave to its former glory and thankfully there were none. To be honest, they were more than delighted that someone wanted to carry out restoration work on the grave.
Funds were raised, a stone mason contacted and the work was carried out. Photos of before and after are shown here.
Should anyone want to visit the grave, it can be found at – A – 512 C/E. Go in the main gate and head up to your right.
On this day (18th January) in 1913 Manchester City’s Fred Howard scored four goals on his debut against Liverpool at Hyde Road. I love the description of Howard in one report of this game: ‘Howard, a hefty individual who apparently does not believe in allowing the full backs free kicks, had pounced on the ball’. I think we’ve all seen a few ‘hefty individuals’ who did not ‘believe in allowing the full backs free kicks’ over the years!
A report also warns that Howard: ‘would do well to remember that he will not always be served as he was on this occasion. Nor will he have a much easier task’. I’m pretty sure Howard did not expect to score four goals in every game.
Howard, from Walkden, ended his City career after scoring 43 goals in 90 first team competitive games. Note in this article (below) the use of the nickname Citizens to describe the Blues. Maybe one day I’ll do a piece on club nicknames but I do know that many fans didn’t feel the word Citizens (or Cityzens as it is usually written these days at the club) had much to do with the club when City re-adopted it a few years back. It was certainly used a lot when talking of the club from 1894 through to perhaps the inter-war period.
Three of Howard’s goals came in a 13 minute spell as the Blues won 4-1. It was regarded as the greatest debut feat by any player at the time. Even now, over a century later, it’s hard to think of any player having a better debut.
Over the years plenty have talked of players scoring hat-tricks on debuts around the globe but how often do you hear of a player scoring four in the top flight of a major League against a team that is regarded as one of your main rivals? After this game Liverpool had dropped to 13th in the First Division, while City were fifth.
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