Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (26 January) in 1946 a comfortable 3-1 victory for Manchester City over Bradford Park Avenue in the fourth round of the FA Cup seemed certain to put the Blues through to the fifth round. Goals from George Smith 2 and Alec Herd. However, this first season of FA Cup football after the war saw games played on a home and away basis and the Blues had to face Bradford again a few days later.
You can read about that day below.
Back in the late 1960s there was a popular Manchester City chairman whose family had been involved with the club since the very beginning of the club. That was Albert Alexander. Here’s a profile I wrote in 2012 on him. It’s about 900 words long and is free to read. Enjoy!
Albert Alexander was the second generation of the Alexander family to play a prominent role in the development and history of Manchester City. His father, also Albert, had been involved with the Club from the 1890s and had held various positions including vice-chairman, and even manager for a spell in 1925-26.
Like his father, the younger Albert dedicated his life to the Blues. Inevitably, he spent most of his boyhood watching the Club develop and, as he grew, he became more involved with behind the scenes work at the Club’s first home Hyde Road. He was a member of the Ground Committee which performed crucial activities such as stewarding and ground maintenance.
Alexander also managed the Club’s A team and provided support in whatever way necessary to ensure the Blues succeeded. He was more than happy to work through the ranks and take on any duty necessary. His son Eric, who was Chairman in the early 1970s, remembers that his father had suffered during the First World War but that didn’t stop him from putting his energies into the Blues: “He was a very good footballer and cricketer but he was gassed in the Great War and had to give it up. It affected him throughout his life, although it’s fair to say he recovered enough to fulfil a happy normal life apart from playing of course.
“He took up golf, but his love for football was such that he started the ‘A’ team at City. He started it in 1921 and ran it through until 1963. He enjoyed working with the youngsters and developing them. He gained an awful lot of satisfaction from that, particularly when players like Matt Busby developed their skills and style as part of the ‘A’ team.”
Ultimately, after many years of loyal service Alexander became a City director. This came after the Blues became aware that Manchester United were hoping he would join their board. It is highly likely Alexander would have turned the Reds down, and it was appropriate that he became a director at Maine Road. It was an honour he deserved for years of dedication to the City cause.
While director he felt the passion all fans feel for the Blues and he also felt the pain and worries during the Club’s struggles in the early Sixties. He wanted better and, in 1965 as fans demonstrated following City’s lowest attended League game, he came out to face them and talk with them about his hopes and ambitions for the Club. He apologised for City’s appalling decline. It says much about his courage and the respect fans had for him that they dispersed. It is doubtful whether any other director would have been respected in this manner at such a low point.
Understandably, Alexander who was City’s Chairman by this point wanted to see his side successful and later that summer he appointed Joe Mercer as manager. It was a brave decision as Mercer had been out of work for a year and had suffered a stroke at Aston Villa. Other names, such as former City hero Peter Doherty and Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, had been expected to be appointed by the media, so this move could easily have been seen negatively.
Alexander guided City through the successful years of the Mercer-Allison period and was probably the first Chairman to be hugely popular with fans. Everyone seemed to love ‘Little Albert’ as Mercer dubbed him.
Many of City’s achievements during these years were dedicated to Alexander by Mercer, while journalist Bill Fryer commented in 1970: “He is highly revered in the game and by the public, and I have no doubt good deals have been done for City out of Albert’s friendships because in reality the whole of football is a ‘club’.”
Sadly, despite the Chairman’s popularity, his final years saw him suffer at the hands of the 1970 takeover battle. Alexander found out about the takeover when he received a knock on his door at breakfast one day. It was a complete shock to him.
The takeover destroyed much that was good about City at this point, including the Mercer-Allison partnership. However, it is rarely mentioned how the takeover affected Alexander, the man who had guided City with distinction through some dark days when no one else wanted to know. He had taken the Club from the lowest point it had experienced since joining the League, to a position of strength with trophies galore. Those bidding for control wanted the glory, Alexander’s motives were somewhat different – like all true fans he wanted City no matter what.
Alexander stood down as Chairman and was made Life President – an honour first given to Lawrence Furniss seven decades earlier, proving the significance of this recognition. Unfortunately, Alexander’s health was deteriorating by this point and he passed away soon after.
Manchester City owes a great deal to the dedication of Albert Alexander and the other members of his family. The Alexanders helped guide the Blues from the 1890s through to the reign of Peter Swales, and in some ways on via the continuing involvement of Eric Alexander (still a regular attendee until his death in 2019). Their contribution should never be forgotten.
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateRead more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year to subscribe (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time. Annual subscribers get full access for as long as you subscribe (you can always try it for a month). It’s worth bearing in mind that the 2010 Manchester A Football History cost £24.95 and all subscribers will be able to access all of that for as long as they are a subscriber (plus all the other stuff of course).
It costs £3 a month to subscribe a month at a time. Why not give it a try! Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 for as long as you subscribe.
Back in September 1945 the news that Peter Doherty, a major hero to Manchester City fans (and even regarded as the greatest ever into the 60s and 70s by some fans), was greeted with some dissatisfaction amongst fans. So much so that this member of the armed forces based in Italy decided he’d write to the Manchester Evening News.
You can read more on the 1945-46 season below. This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
Continuing the series on Manchester City in the 1940s here’s an article I wrote back in 2013 about George Smith, a City star of the 1940s, who passed away that year. This is free to read and well worth taking the time to read it too. George’s story was a remarkable one.
In July 2013 City lost one of the club’s stars from the 1940s, the popular goalscorer George Smith. Smith, who was 92, had a remarkable life and career. He joined the Blues in 1938 from Salford Adelphi and quickly proved his value in City’s A team as an inside-forward. He seemed to be getting close to a first team call up but then war broke out and naturally the world changed considerably for all, especially young, fit, agile men.
Inevitably he joined the armed forces but before he left Manchester he did manage to make two first team appearances in the war league. Both games were score draws with Stockport (the first ended 6-6 on 2nd December 1939!). Then active service took over and Smith went on to serve in Africa. There was nothing unusual about young men serving overseas, however Smith’s life changed significantly when he was under attack from the air. A bullet entered his right arm above his elbow, travelled down his arm, past his elbow and came out again after travelling a good six or so inches through his arm. Smith was in a great deal of pain, but the most shocking aspect in many ways was that the plane that fired at him was actually from the South African Air Force, Britain’s allies. This meant that Smith was on the receiving end of what years later would be described as ‘friendly fire’.
Smith was lucky the bullet had only entered his arm, but he was desperately unlucky to have been fired at by servicemen fighting on the same side. He spent some time recovering in Africa before being able to return to England.
Why the South African Air Force chose to shoot at him remained a mystery and was not investigated. In fact the whole incident was hushed up and George was encouraged not to talk about the specific events. When he eventually returned to Manchester few knew the truth of what happened and, as with so many injured men, it wasn’t a subject openly discussed. Even when the war was over the City football guide for 1945 simply stated: “Smith was one of the first casualties when he suffered a permanent injury to his hand sustained in manoeuvres somewhere in South Africa.”
The permanent injury affected George for the rest of his life. Ever since that terrible incident seventy years ago, George’s hand and fingers were permanently rigid in a clasping fashion, while his arm had two large indentations where the bullet entered and exited his flesh. In addition, the path of the bullet down his arm was still clear throughout his remaining years.
Despite the injury, George determined to return to football, but even then he experienced difficulties with the City management and football authorities. Initially, it was felt his injury may have prevented him from playing. Clearly, his arm would present some difficulties, but as a forward it was his feet and head that provided the main aspect of his play, not his arm, but the City management insisted on George performing a number of trials. He passed them all and on 26th August 1944 he celebrated his return to the first team with a hat-trick against Tranmere in the opening match of the new wartime season. This was his first appearance in since 25thApril 1942.
By the end of the war George was a key member of City’s side, although he continued to remain self-conscious about his arm. Usually he would cover it up with the sleeve of his shirt, a sock, a glove, or he would bandage it up. For team photos and the like the arm was usually hidden either behind his back or carefully positioned behind another player.
Some supporters and reporters thought his arm had been amputated, while others wanted to ask him but wouldn’t. Understandably, George wanted his football to do all the talking and when City faced United on 6th April 1946 he netted all four goals as the Blues trounced the Reds 4-1. The match, attended by over 62,000, does not form part of competitive football statistics due to the fact that wartime games are not viewed as of the same stature as regular League matches, however for every one attending or playing that day this was a full blooded Manchester derby of the highest order. It should always be remembered and, for George, scoring four goals – three in seven minutes – made him the undisputed star. When I interviewed him in 2003 he remembered: “I wasn’t much of a drinker… I never went wild or anything… but beating United in that manner and by scoring four goals was a wonderful moment. I enjoyed the day and enjoyed most of the games against them during this period. It was nice for the landlords to put one over the tenants.”
The following season saw the return of League football and George was a key factor behind City’s promotion: “The season ended in June and on the last day Roy Clarke made his debut and I scored all five goals when we beat Newport County. It was another great day and I was given the match ball. I’ve still got it because something like that is special, but it didn’t matter so much that I scored five. It was good that we won. I ended the season as top scorer but promotion was the main aim.”
George continued to perform exceptionally well for the Blues over the following seasons. At one point he was on the verge of an England cap, and it is known that he had been mentioned by officials at the FA, however it seems his arm injury may have proved a factor. In the end, to the amazement of most Mancunians, George was not selected for his national side.
In October 1951 he moved on to Chesterfield (scoring 97 in 250 League appearances), and later was player-manager at Mossley and Hyde United. He also managed Prestwich Heys.
George continued to live in the Prestwich area and watch City in his later life, though ill health did affect his final years. He loved his time at the club and for fans who remember seeing George play do so with great affection. Now he has passed away it is important supporters remember the difficulties he had to overcome before making his name as a star in City’s immediate post-war period.
You can read more on the 1945-46 season, when George was a City star below.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1945-46 season. This feature includes comments from George Smith (photographed against United a few years later), who I interviewed in 2003.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
It is a decade that is often overlooked from a footballing perspective and so I’m hoping to rectify that to some extent with a new series of features on the 1940s! I’m going to focus on Manchester City in the 1940s with daily articles over the next few weeks, but there will be other teams featured at points. You can read each of these by subscribing – see below for details.
As we’re in a period of International football, I thought it would be worth remembering that there were four full internationals played at Maine Road.
Each of these took place during a six year spell in the 1940s.
FULL INTERNATIONALS AT MAINE ROAD
| Date | Type of game | Against | Score | Scorers | Crowd | Team |
| 16 October 1943 | War Interna-tional | Scotland | W 8-0 | Lawton (4), Hagan (2), Carter, Matthews | 60,000 | Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Britton, Cullis, Mercer, Matthews, Carter, Lawton, Hagan, Compton |
| 24/4/46 | Burnden Park Disaster Fund Match | Scotland | D 2-2 | Welsh (2) | 70,000 | Swift, Walton, Hardwick, Wright, Leuty, Mitchell, Matthews, Welsh, Lewis, Fielding, Mannion |
| 13/11/46 | Home International | Wales | W 3-0 | Mannion (2), Lawton | 59,121 | Swift, Scott, Hardwick, Wright, Franklin, Johnston, Finney, Carter, Lawton, Mannion, Langton |
| 16/11/49 | Home International/ World Cup qualifiers | N. Ireland | W 9-2 | Rowley (4), Froggatt, Pearson (2), Mortensen (2) | 69,762 | Streten, Mozley, Aston, Watson, Franklin, Wright, Finney, Mortensen, Rowley, Pearson, Froggatt |
In addition to these matches various other representative matches have been played at Maine Road. These include the following inter-league games, under-21 fixtures and B Team games.
You can read more on the 8-0 victory over Scotland in 1943 here:
For day 42 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted a then and now style feature on Maine Road from the air.
The angles are not quite the same but I hope the following gives you enough of a feel to recognise the differences between Maine Road c.1946 and Maine Road about a year or so ago.
There are a few obvious consistencies between the two photos – mostly the old terraced streets which predated the building of the stadium. Maine Road itself is on the right and Kippax Street is the street that heads towards the terracing (from the bottom/Claremont Road) in the older image. In the newer image it leads into part of the new housing estate. Note the centre spot/circle in the new image. It appears further north than in the older image but that’s mostly the angle (having said that I’m not entirely convinced it’s in exactly the right spot – I’ve not yet compared actual plans but I guess the architects and planners did).
It’s nice to see that the old directors car park (top right) is now a school playground/facility. This seems appropriate as the players often used that car park as a training area during the week. It’s nice to see some continuity. A passageway, known as ‘Pink Passage’ for many years, existed between the directors car park and the external wall of the Platt Lane Stand – you can just about see it on the old photo going from the back of Thornton Road around the Platt Lane to Maine Road.
Notice how the Kippax/Popular Side terracing in the old photo is narrower the closer it gets to Thornton Road (top)… In a previous post I’ve talked about how they had to square off this terracing when they put a roof on in 1957 and how residents objected because they lost the Granada TV signal! See:
Here’s another aerial photo of Maine Road. This is 1971. Notice the away section of the Kippax built on stilts (to left of number 8). The directors car park is the space behind the Platt Lane (numbers 4 & 5) with the Pink Passage between the two walls of the car park and the Platt Lane Stand. Kippax Street itself (the street not the stand) is just visible on the far right (to the right of number 9 on the edge of the photo).
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateIt’s day 33 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. Today – Notice anything odd about this image? Look at the Main Stand roof….
This photo was taken shortly after World War Two at a time when the adverts and notices on the Main Stand roof had been blacked out to avoid being picked up by enemy bombers during the war.
We all know about Old Trafford being bombed and while the Maine Road stadium did not suffer major damage houses on Thornton Road and other streets around the ground were bombed during the war.
The semi-circular gable on the roof of the stand carried adverts for much of its existence, though initial plans had been to have the club’s name proudly displayed there. I’ve yet to find an image showing any MCFC wording painted on to it but I do believe it did have this early in the stadium’s life, before adverts took over.
This photo shows the gable from the back/air:
This 1971 view shows the second Main Stand roof (actually just the middle section was replaced) and the original gable would have appeared where number 1 is.
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (30 January) in 1946 the second leg of the fourth round FA Cup tie with Bradford Park Avenue occurred. The competition largely followed the style of the War Cup with rounds played on a two legged basis. In the third round City had defeated Barrow 8-4 on aggregate, and had managed to defeat Bradford 3-1 at Park Avenue in the first leg. The two goal margin was believed to be enough for the Blues and the match programme included the line: unless something extraordinary happens this afternoon City should be in the hat for the fifth round draw.
Something extraordinary did happen as Bradford cancelled out the Blues’ lead with goals in the 21st and 23rd minutes. Cardwell had regained the aggregate lead in the 36th minute but the second half saw Bradford in blistering form. They made it 4-4 on aggregate three minutes after the break and then netted three times in nine minutes to make it 6-1 on the night. The Blues pulled a goal back after 78 minutes but Bradford came back again netting a penalty five minutes from time and their eighth in the 87th minute.
The Blues had endured their record home defeat in the FA Cup. Logically there was no reason why it should happen on that day. The weather wasn’t great and Cardwell was injured during the match, but City’s team should have been more than capable of at least holding back Bradford.
Future England boss Ron Greenwood had played in both games.
Gary James' Football Archive 