Category Archives: 1933-34

A Million on the Streets of Manchester

On this day (May 1) 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. Over a million people were on the streets to welcome back the club. You can see film of that below:

That commentary is a bit cringeworthy but listen out for comment about a million people on the streets; the scenes certainly suggest there was too.

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

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:

Subscribe to get access

Subscriptions cost £20 a year or £3 a month

Subscribe

Frank Swift’s Birth

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.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It’s £20 for an annual subscription or £3 per month (cancel anytime, see below).

Subscribe
How To Subscribe

Manchester City’s All-Time Best FA Cup Winning Eleven

So far I’ve told you about Bert Trautmann, Tony Book, Glyn Pardoe, Vincent Kompany, İlkay Gündoğan, David Silva and Billy Meredith in my all-time best Manchester City FA Cup final winning team and today it’s the time for another couple of names.

I was asked to select an all-time City eleven and had two rules – they had to actually play in a winning final (so, unused substitutes were not allowed) and they could not be a member of the current playing squad. I also tried to focus on the fact that this eleven would also be facing an all time Manchester United eleven. Therefore victories over United in key games were always in the back of my mind.

The next two players selected are (and the first one will be no surprise but the second may be!):

Colin Bell (1966-1979)

The King and first name on this team sheet. 1969 FA Cup winner whose courage, stamina, speed, skill, enthusiasm and strength all combined to make him one of the game’s biggest legends. Bobby Charlton called him: ‘One of my great heroes… He was an outstanding player.’ Who would argue with that?

There are lots of articles on Colin Bell on this site. You can read some here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/colin-bell/

Fred Tilson (1928-1938)

This England international’s best performances often came in the Cup, scoring more goals (22) in the competition than any other City player. In 1934 he netted 9 goals in 8 games, including two at Wembley, meaning he edges Francis Lee for selection. This centre-forward was a key contributor when City won the 1937 League Championship too.

You can read more about 1934 here:

The 1934 FA Cup Final

More on the all-time Manchester City FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow. It was a tough selection and over the next few days I’ll post the rest of the starting eleven.

You can read about the significance of 2011 in this feature here:

2011 – What It Meant Historically

More on the all-time FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow.

Maine Road 100 – Day 69

Post 69 in the 100 Maine Rd countdown is this image from a game played on 5 March 1934. It shows Eric Brook scoring what some believed was the greatest goal ever netted at Maine Road (see post 68 for a later contender). What else makes this image special is that it’s from the 84,569 game v Stoke when City attracted a record English crowd on a club ground that still stands today.

Subscribers can read more on why this day, game and image is so special here:

GOLDEN GOALS – 1934 Eric Brook V Stoke City

Manchester City Hall of Fame: Eric Brook’s significant game

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

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

Subscribe

68,614 Afternoon Attendance

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:

Subscribe to get access

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. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month (see below). Annual subscribers get full access to the articles, books, interviews and talks posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming year.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read this piece and all the other in-depth articles then please subscribe. It costs £3 a month (cancel anytime). Monthly subscribers get full access to the articles, books, interviews and talks posted since 1 October 2022 and all posted during your subscription.

Subscribe

Frank Swift

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.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It’s £20 for an annual subscription or £3 per month (cancel anytime, see below).

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It’s £3 per month (cancel anytime) or £20 for an annual subscription (above).

Subscribe

GOLDEN GOALS – 1934 Eric Brook V Stoke City

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.      

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

Subscribe

Showing Your Colours

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…

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It only costs £20 a year and throughout your membership you get full access to everything published on the site, including the entire Manchester A Football History book and my first book From Maine Men To Banana Citizens to download. You can also sign up a month at a time for £3 per month. My commitment is to publish at least 4 new lengthy articles per month but in practice I’ve posted a lot more than that. Why not sign up for a month and give it a try?

Subscribe

A Million on the Streets of Manchester

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:

Subscribe to get access

Subscriptions cost £20 a year or £3 a month

Subscribe