Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
City 1 Stoke City 0
FA Cup 6th round
3rd March 1934
Goalscorer: Brook
City Team: Swift, Barnett, Dale, Busby, Cowan, Bray, Toseland, Marshall, Tilson, Herd, Brook
Attendance: 84,569
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On 21 February 1934 Manchester City defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Maine Road in a fifth round FA Cup replay. A remarkable Wednesday afternoon crowd of 68,614 enjoyed the match. Four days earlier Hillsborough’s record attendance of 72,841 had witnessed a 2-2 draw. Subscribers to this blog can read the story of that game, including photographs below:
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On this day in 1913: Frank Swift was born. Here for subscribers is a detailed article I wrote on Swift a few years back: Swift, Frank Victor (1913-1958), footballer and journalist was born in Blackpool, Lancashire on 26 December 1913, the second son of five children. From his earliest memories, he was always obsessed with the game of football, playing at every opportunity with his brothers, one of whom, Fred, became first team goalkeeper for a variety of clubs, most notably Blackpool, Oldham Athletic and Bolton Wanderers.
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It has virtually slipped out of living memory but this goal is possibly the greatest ever scored at Maine Road. It is also the goal that was viewed by the largest paying audience of all time at the old stadium.
The goalscorer Eric Brook remains one of City’s biggest stars and he was idolised by thousands of Mancunians throughout his career. This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars at the time but it has to be stressed that it was also highly significant in the Blues’ quest to re-establish themselves as a major force.
The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear. My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them. If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.
This article, covering Brook’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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In January this year the Newcastle Chronicle published a story that intrigued me. It talked of the history of fans wearing football scarves and suggested that a Newcastle fan in 1932 was the first to be photographed wearing a football scarf. The article explained that previously it had been claimed that an Arsenal supporter at a 1934 FA Cup tie had been the first filmed/photographed wearing a traditional bar scarf. This set me off looking into the history of football scarves and of fans showing their colours.
So, here for subscribers to my site is a 1400 word article on showing your colours, focusing on the stories associated with Manchester City…
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On this day (May 1st) in 1934 Manchester City, who had won the FA Cup for the second time in their history, took part in an incredible home coming parade.
Deservedly Manchester took time out to celebrate and what seemed like the whole of Manchester lined the city’s streets. The authoritative Pathe News claimed there were over a million on the streets. The film company was not known for exaggeration and if that figure is accurate – and their footage suggests it is – then this remains the largest homecoming in Mancunian football history (It was claimed in 1999 that 700,000 people had welcomed Manchester United’s treble winning team through the streets).
Various speeches were made into a microphone set up on the Town Hall steps (the BBC were broadcasting this live on radio), and the players and officials were given a civic reception. Mancunians enjoyed the success and wanted more.
In Albert Square Mancunians sang their celebratory songs including “Who Said City Couldn’t Play” – the earliest known recording of a City specific song:
Who Said City Couldn’t Play,
City Couldn’t Play, City Couldn’t Play,
Who Said City Couldn’t Play,
City Couldn’t Play football?
You can hear a recording of the song and read more about it here:
Who Said City Couldn’t Play?
The 1933-4 League programme still had two games left for the Blues. On 2nd May – the day after the parade – City suffered a 3-2 defeat at Liverpool, and then on 5th May City demolished Wolves 4-0 at Maine Road. Before the game City staff, assisted by a couple of police officers, carried the trophy around the ground on some kind of wooden board. The fans were delighted.
During a week of FA Cup celebrations an illuminated bus journeyed around the city covered in City’s colours. On the front above the bus number, ‘City 2 1’, was the Manchester coat of arms. On the side the message ‘Welcome to the victors’ proudly illuminated next to a picture of the FA Cup and a drawing of Sam Cowan.
You can see film of this illuminated ‘Victory Bus’, preserved by the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University, here (the bus can be seen after 5 mins 38 seconds but other scenes connected with the homecoming can be viewed after about 3 minutes):
https://www.nwfa.mmu.ac.uk/viewVideo.php?token=2495agw5666w7h114804aP5nxZYm4638b49Hq2dw
You can view Pathe’s coverage of the homecoming here (the commentary is a bit cringeworthy but listen out for comment about a million people on the streets; the scenes certainly suggest there was too):
This has been a taster of the material on this site. Subscribers have access to over 500 articles and posts, with many more scheduled over the coming weeks. Posted already for subscribers are exclusive audio interviews I have performed with Malcolm Allison, John Bond and George Graham (more to follow); the entire Manchester A Football History book (now out of print) and various other long read articles. It costs £20 a year (that’s about £1.67 a month) or £3 per month if you want to sign up a month at a time. Whichever subscription is taken out subscribers get full access to everything posted for as long as they are subscribers. You can subscriber here:
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Manchester City had reached their second consecutive FA Cup final in 1934. They were to face Portsmouth at Wembley on April 28 1934.
Here for subscribers is a long read on City’s preparations for the final and the game itself:
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On this day (17th February) in 1934 a remarkable crowd, with thousands travelling from Manchester, watched a thrilling FA Cup tie between Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City. Subscribers to this blog can read the story of that game, including photographs.
If you would like to read this piece and all the other in-depth articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe below. 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. Each subscriber gets full access to the 500+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.
City were keen to improve on their 1932-3 League position of 16th in Division One and managed to open the season with only 3 defeats in the first 15 matches. The best result of this period was a 4-1 victory over Sunderland at the start of November.
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Over the years several Manchester City fans have asked me about an old City song that I’ve played at various talks and events I’ve staged. The song, ‘Who Said City Couldn’t Play’, was based on a popular tune of the period and was sung by fans in the 1930s, possibly even the 1920s.
Here for subscribers is more information on the song and a recording of fans singing it back in the 1930s…
If you would like to access everything on this site then please subscribe. I’m not employed by anyone and do not take advertising on this site, so every subscription directly helps my research and writing. 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. Why not sign up for a month, see what’s here and then cancel if you don’t think it’s appropriate for you? Each subscriber gets full access to the 300+ articles posted so far. The entire Manchester A Football History is already live, so subscribers get all of that too!
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