Continuing the series of articles covering the 1980s. Today’s is an on this day (6 December) from 1980. It’s a photo of tenacious Gerry Gow scoring for Manchester City against Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town at Maine Road.
City were losing 1-0 and then in the 76th minute a scramble in the visitors penalty area saw Phil Boyer (centre of this photo) battling for the ball close to future City ‘keeper Paul Cooper. In the end it’s Gerry Gow, on the right being challenged by John Wark, who digs out the ball and sends it goalwards to make it 1-1.
This was a season of classic games against Ipswich, who were chasing a potential treble trophy success. You can read about the others if you’re a subscriber. Subscribers can read the following ten thousand word long read on the 1980-81 season. Enjoy!
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Continuing the series of articles covering the 1980s. Today’s is an on this day (1 December) from 1980. It’s a newspaper story about former boss Malcolm Allison and his comments about Manchester City. Allison claimed he was responsible for the form of City AFTER they’d sacked him. Joe Corrigan was angry by the comments and so was John Bond, but Bond did admit that Allison was 90% responsible for Bond’s achievements at West Ham as a player. Have a read of the piece but if you want to know more about the trials and tribulations of this period then why not subscriber and read the following ten thousand word long read on the 1980-81 season. Enjoy!
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Continuing the series of articles covering the 1980s. Today’s is an on this day (29 November) from 1980 when Kevin Reeves scored a City goal after only 13 seconds. The game was away at Crystal Palace and City were wearing their away kit of red and black stripes.
The game ended in a 3-2 City win with Gerry Gow netting the other two goals for City. You can watch the highlights here:
If you’d like to know more about that season then why not subscriber and read the following ten thousand word long read on the 1980-81 season. Enjoy!
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This weekend marks the latest in the series of games between one of the Manchester clubs and a Liverpool team. Today (25 November 2023) treble winners City face second placed Liverpool at the Etihad. Tomorrow it’s 6th placed United v 19th placed Everton (who have been docked points for Financial Fair Play breach). Understandably, much will be made of the Manchester-Liverpool rivalry and it is true that the two cities have been rivals for over 150 years (it certainly predates the building of the Ship Canal!) BUT the football clubs have not always been rivals. In fact Utd and Liverpool have been close over the decades at times while the on-the-pitch rivalry between City and Liverpool was extremely strong in the late 60s and 70s.
The strength of the two conurbations’ footballing rivalries came during the late 1960s but intensified in the late 70s. Prior to this one-off seasons may have seen grudge matches or significant games between clubs from the cities but nothing more than that. In fact for many, many years Manchester United and Liverpool, for example, were extremely close. They once put forward a suggestion to the Football League that all home teams should wear red and away teams white – the rest of football soon got wise to the plan!
There was also the time when United and Liverpool ‘fixed’ a game of football. It’s a long story (amazingly United’s solicitor was part of the ‘neutral’ investigating committee!) and can be read here:
The rivalry between the footballing clubs developed in the 60s and there were many significant games between all the clubs in the two cities with several prominent matches (there were significant grudge matches between Everton and City for example in the 60s and at one point Liverpool’s Bill Shankly told the media that City were Liverpool’s biggest rival!).
Back in 1995 I interviewed former Manchester City boss John Bond at his home. The interview lasted about two hours and here’s a brief snippet from that interview where Bond talks about beating Liverpool on Boxing Day 1981.
The Blues won 3-1 (Bond, Hartford & Reeves) then two days later (Bond says it’s the next day in this clip but it was 28th December) City defeated Wolves 2-1 at Maine Rd. John discusses a brilliant goal from Trevor Francis. City went top of the League after the Wolves victory.
Stick with the clip because it ends with Bond’s views on how Liverpool used to react to wins and defeats. I’d best not comment – have a listen:
I’ve covered one particularly bitter moment in the City-Liverpool rivalry from the 80s that concerns John Bond here:
I hope this weekend’s games between go well and it’d be great if one of Manchester’s Blues could score four goals as Fred Howard did on his debut against Liverpool – see:
A new daily series of articles for subscribers starts today covering the 1980s. This will be a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. Today’s article is a ten thousand word long read on the 1980-81 season. Enjoy!
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On this day (17 October) in 1980 John Bond officially became the Manchester City manager. Back in November 1995 I interviewed the former Manchester City manager. At the time I was researching my in-depth history of the club called Manchester The Greatest City (later updated as Manchester The City Years).
I met John at his home and spent a good few hours with him chatting about the Blues and his career. I loved doing this interview and was always grateful for the time he gave me. He was quite frank, open and honest – which delighted me because he was a great talker. He was also happy for me to quote everything he said in the interview. I did end up quoting him extensively in the book (and in others I’ve produced) but none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public.
You can hear the interview I did that day. In this first section he talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed job interview for the City documentary in 1980-81); the signing of Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Gerry Gow. As I said earlier, he is quite frank in his comments and that may surprise a few.
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Yesterday (6 September 2023) I posted a story highlighting the transfer of Steve Daley to Manchester City in 1979. Today I’d like to expand on that by posting here an interview I did with Steve where we discuss that transfer, City fans and the spending City were doing at the time we did the interview. It was a great time to interview Steve and I enjoyed it immensely, helping fill in some gaps.
This interview is available to subscribers below.
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It’s Day 98 of my Maine Road 100 countdown to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game. I hope you’ve enjoyed these. Today it’s about the players who have scored most goals in individual games at Maine Road. Any ideas who may be heading the list and how many goals they may have scored in a single game at Maine Road?
The following are the players who have scored most in a single game for each of the domestic competitions at Maine Road:
League: 5 goals – scored by Tommy Browell v Burnley 24/10/25 & George Smith v Newport 14/6/47
FA Cup: 5 goals – scored by Frank Roberts v Crystal Palace 20/2/26
League Cup: 4 goals – scored by Dennis Tueart v Notts County 29/10/80. You can see stuff on this here:
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For Day 93 in my series of free articles counting down the 100 days to the centenary of Maine Road’s first game I want to do a bit of an attendance feature. Maybe this will put a few myths to bed!
The Blues have, generation after generation, been one of the English game’s top attractions and Maine Road was an incredible and poweful venue over the years. The Etihad has seen City establish new record average attendances but no English club venue can match what Maine Road achieved in terms of record crowds and it still, all these years on, holds the record for the highest crowd on an English club ground and the record attendance for an English League game – a record City set in 1935 which is currently held by a game featuring United and Arsenal at Maine Road.
The record attendance on a club ground was first set by City in 1924 – 99 years ago! – and was eclipsed by a figure of 84,569 in 1934 – almost 90 years ago. City know how to establish and keep records for decades!
Like all – and I do mean all – English clubs there have been some average attendance lows at Maine Road over the years, but when the entire history of Manchester City at the old stadium is reviewed and the club’s average figures are compared with the national average it is clear that the Blues have consistently been one of football’s most attractive draws. Take a look at the following:
Since the beginning of the Football League in 1888 only nine sides have topped the table for average attendances. In chronological order of their first appearance at the top of the average table they are: Everton (1888-9), Villa (1898-99), Newcastle (1904-05), Chelsea (1907-08), Tottenham (1909-10), City (1910-11), Liverpool (1922-23), Arsenal (1929-30), & Manchester United (1956-57). City were not based at Maine Road back in 1910 (which makes that even more remarkable) and they were the best supported club again before moving to Maine Road. The first time Maine Road attracted the highest national average was in 1925-26 – which means that City are the ONLY team to have topped the attendance charts at two different venues!
Regularly amongst the best supported sides throughout the inter war period, City’s average exceeded 37,000 for the first time in 1927-28 when the club established a record average crowd for the Second Division. This was also the entire League’s highest.
In 1947-48 City’s average crowd exceeded 42,000 for the first time. Prior to that season only Chelsea (1919-20 & 1946-7), Arsenal (1934-5, 1936-7,1937-8, & 1946-7) , Newcastle (1946-7), Liverpool (1946-7), United (1946-7), and Wolves (1946-7) had exceeded that figure.
From 1975 to relegation in 1983 City were always one of the top 4 best supported sides. Yes, even in a relegation season they were better than all but 3 teams and those 3 teams all finished in the top 4 (one won the League, one the FA Cup and the other finished 4th after winning the FA Cup in the previous two seasons).
Since the 1980s whenever City have played outside of the top division, they have tended to be the best supported side in that division.
In general many people believe success increases support, and while that is undoubtedly true to some extent, for City at Maine Road it was often periods of adversity that proved the loyalty of the Club’s fans. For example, in 1925-26 when City were the best supported side in Division One and had established a new record average, the Blues were actually relegated. This coupled with significant poverty and hardship in Manchester at the time should have reduced support but loyalty increased! In my book “Manchester A Football History” I explore the relationship between attendances and Manchester’s major sides and it is fair to say that City fans can feel immensely proud of their loyalty throughout the history of the game. Something that cannot be said by all of the League’s biggest names.
In fact, it is worth highlighting that City have never been the worst supported side in their division at Maine Road (or anywhere else for that matter!) but, of today’s perceived giants, Arsenal (1912-13 – average = 9,100) and Manchester United (1930-31 – average = 11,685) have. City’s worst average at Maine Road came in the desperate 1964-65 season and was 14,753 (half the average of 1960-61 and a 3rd of City’s 1957-8 figure). However it is significant that for every League season the club’s average has always been above the divisional average and, apart from 17 seasons, has always been in the top 11 nationally. Again, few of today’s giants can say that – United’s 20th Century low stands at 4,650 and Chelsea averaged 15,731 as recently as 1988-89.
For fans average attendances are often used as an indicator of size of club and so a number of people over the years have tried to produce a definitive ‘all-time’ attendance table. A few years ago analysis by a member of the Association of Football Statisticians (It wasn’t my research – though I was a life member of this organisation) claimed that if stadium capacity was not an issue for any club City would be the fourth biggest side in terms of attendance. That analysis compared postwar attendance detail with performance on the pitch.
Figures can be manipulated in many different ways, but City fans should feel proud that the Blues have many attendance firsts that can never be matched by today’s perceived biggest clubs.
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Post 85 of my Maine Road 100 countdown is a FA Cup reminder of a day that I know I loved as a kid. It was the day (24 January) in 1981 when John Bond’s Manchester City defeated his former club Norwich 6-0 in the FA Cup fourth round tie. I was sat in that uncovered bit between the Main Stand and the North Stand (it was cheaper but if it rained it was somewhat unpleasant, especially when the rain blew off the Main Stand roof on to us!).
This 1971 image shows the area I was sat in (number 2) that day:
Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road
Subscribers can read a report and watch highlights of the game here:
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Gary James' Football Archive 