Category Archives: 1965-66

1966 FAC Quarter Final Replay: Everton V Manchester City

60 years ago today (29 March 1966) 60,349 watched a goalless FA Cup quarter final replay at Goodison Park between Everton and Manchester City. Once again City ‘keeper Harry Dowd was one of the star men but a curious team selection issue cropped up before the game. City striker Neil Young went down with flu on the way to the match. Then Ralph Brand turned down the chance to play as he believed he was not fit enough. Manager Joe Mercer turned to Matt Gray, but he couldn’t play because he didn’t have any boots! City looked for some size 8 boots but couldn’t find any. So Gray couldn’t play. Ultimately, Roy Cheetham managed to get to Goodison Park 15 minutes before kick off and took Young’s place.

Here for subscribers are match reports and details of that day:

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1966 FAC Quarter Final: Manchester City V Everton

60 years ago today (26 March 1966) 63,034 watched a goalless FA Cup quarter final at Maine Road between Everton and Manchester City. It was a day that ultimately brought a lot of attention City’s way and City ‘keeper Harry Dowd was the star man according to some journalists. Here for subscribers are match reports and details of that day:

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1966 FAC Quarter Final MCFC V Everton

60 years ago Manchester City and Everton were due to meet in the following day’s FA Cup quarter final (to be played on 26 March – more on that tomorrow). City were a Second Division team that season and were managed by former Evertonian Joe Mercer. Everton had finished the previous season fourth and had participated in the Fairs Cup during 1965-66. They were managed by Harry Catterick. Their views on their teams and opponents make interesting reading for fans of both City and Everton. Sadly, I don’t know which newspaper this is from. It’s in a scrapbook on the entire 1965-66 season I have.

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Double The Crowd: Crerand’s Bet With Allison

60 years ago this week (March 1966) Manchester City announced that their FA Cup quarter final was a 63,000 sell out. Why is this significant? Because the attendance was larger than any domestic crowd at Old Trafford that season, but why is that significant? Because at the start of the season United’s Pat Crerand bet City assistant manager Malcolm Allison that City would never get more than 30,000 for a game again! I interviewed Malcolm back in 1993 when we talked about this and he also mentioned it in he biography. The story…

Basically, Allison was sat at United’s League championship celebration and became somewhat frustrated by the glorification of United that night. While Joe Mercer took a diplomatic approach, afterall it was United’s celebration dinner, Allison decided to speak out. He told Matt Busby’s son Sandy that his dad had a twenty year start but ‘I’ll pass him in three’ and then Allison claimed he got into a discussion with Crerand about ‘little City’ compared to United. Allison claimed Crerand made a £10 bet with him that City would never again get 30,000+ in Maine Road.

A pause in the action (September 1967 Manchester derby) gives Summerbee Crerand and Dunne an opportunity to debate the action so far (Image: The Pride of Manchester, 1991)

On a Wednesday night in October (27/10/65) City attracted 34,091 for the visit of Norwich in the Second Division. Allison told me he couldn’t remember whether he ever got his £10 but he did laugh a great deal when I told him that United’s attendance the previous Saturday was 32,716 for the top flight visit of Fulham.

Malcolm Allison at the launch of Gary James’ Football With A Smile: The Authorised Biography of Joe Mercer, OBE in December 1993. Note Francis Lee appearing behind Allison.

What was even more remarkable was that the City-Everton FAC tie on 26 March 1966 was watched by 63,034 and that was higher than any domestic crowd at United that season. Allison laughed again when we discussed that briefly. As a comparison, United attracted 58,161 for their League game with Liverpool (lowest home League attendance 23,039 v Aston Villa) and they did get 60,433 for their FAC Cup quarter-final replay with Preston. Plus United managed to better all these attendances with 64,035 for their European Cup quarter-final with Benfica.

I did an earlier interview with Allison that can be listened to here:

Malcolm Allison Audio Interview Part One

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Colin Bell’s City Debut Goal

60 years ago today (19 March 1966) Colin Bell made his debut for Manchester City in a League game with Derby County. The game ended 2-1 with Colin Bell scoring a debut goal (see main photo). Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison often joked about the goal (according to Allison it hit him and went in which Allison claimed caused Mercer to cry out: ‘Oh no, what have we done!’). That was more of a story used years later when Colin had proved his worth time and time again.

Bell signed on 16 March. Here for subscribers are contemporary match reports and also an image of Young’s goal too:

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If you’d like to find out about Colin’s Bury debut (which was against Manchester City), you can read that here:

The 1960s: Colin Bell’s Bury Debut

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Colin Bell Signs

60 years ago today (17 March 1966) newspapers carried the story that Colin Bell had transferred from Bury to Manchester City. He actually signed on 16 March and made his debut on 19 March v Derby (watch this space for a story about that).

If you’d like to find out about Colin’s Bury debut (which was against Manchester City), you can read that here:

The 1960s: Colin Bell’s Bury Debut

Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Leicester v Manchester City FAC Replay

Today (9 March) in 1966 Second Division Manchester City defeated First Division Leicester City 1-0 in a FAC 5th round replay. Gordon Banks was the Leicester ‘keeper and City gained many plaudits from this display. More was to follow as the football world began to notice how City were revitalised under manager Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison. Were you there that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments.

Here for subscribers are some contemporary match reports from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Manchester City v Leicester FAC

Today (5 March) in 1966 two goals from Neil Young helped Second Division Manchester City to a 2-2 draw against First Division Leicester City in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Gordon Banks was the Leicester ‘keeper and City gained many plaudits from this display. More was to follow as the football world began to notice how City were revitalised under manager Joe Mercer and his assistant Malcolm Allison. Were you there that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments.

Here for subscribers are some contemporary match reports and images from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Carlisle 1 Manchester City 2

Today (26 February) in 1966 goals from Mike Summerbee and Glyn Pardoe gave City a 2-1 win at Carlisle. Were you there that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments. Here for subscribers is a contemporary match report from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.

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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.

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Manchester City 1 Coventry City 0

Today (19 February) in 1966 a goal from captain Johnny Crossan brought City a 1-0 win over Jimmy Hill’s Coventry City and prompted City boss Joe Mercer to say that his side were not good enough for promotion. He was joking after some criticism that day and was able to point to the League table which showed City top of the Second Division. Were you at Maine Road that day? If you were please feel free to add your comments. Here for subscribers is a contemporary match report from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.

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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.

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