The first time Manchester City earned three points for a win came on this day (29 August) in 1981 when City defeated West Brom 2-1. The new points system had been introduced for that season (it’s not that City had gone a decade without a win or anything!). The idea was that 3 points would encourage teams (especially away teams) to play for a win instead of a draw. The old system gave two points for a win and some teams, including several 1970s title winners, went out looking for draws away from home it was felt.
Category Archives: 1981-82
The 1970s: Attendance Facts Not Fiction
It seems that some have a view that the giant clubs remain giant clubs forever and that there are some clubs who have only recently become prominent. Others believe that teams that were giants decades before some of today’s major trophy winners were never actually that prominent. I could spend hours challenging those who hold these views and pointing out that teams such as Everton, Newcastle & City won major trophies before many of these clubs and were perceived as giants years earlier too (decades before in some cases!), but it doesn’t feel like they’d listen. Ah well! Instead as part of my series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s I’d like to post a few attendance details that may interest some.
The following are a list of the top seven best supported top flight clubs for the ten seasons prior to City’s relegation in 1983. The Manchester clubs are in bold and the numbers in brackets show each club’s league position that season. In addition if any of the clubs won the European Cup, UEFA Cup, ECWC, FA Cup or League Cup that is also listed in brackets.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1973-74
42712 MUFC (21st); 42332 Liverpool (2nd & FA Cup winners); 38666 Leeds (1st); 33048 Birmingham (19th); 32861 Newcastle (15th); 30756 MCFC (14th).
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1974-75
45966 LFC (2nd); 40021 Everton (4th); 34822 Leeds (9th); 34614 Newcastle (15th); 32898 MCFC (8th); 30854 Birmingham (17th); 29872 West Ham (13th & FA Cup winners). Both Manchester United (48387) and Sunderland (29931) were in Division Two but had an average higher than some of those in the top seven top tier averages.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1975-76
54750 MUFC (3rd); 41623 Liverpool (1st & UEFA Cup winners); 38874 Aston Villa (16th); 34280 MCFC (8th & LC winners); 33060 Newcastle (15th); 31511 Leeds (5th); 28350 Derby (4th). Sunderland in Division Two had an average of 31250.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1976-77
53710 MUFC (6th & FA Cup winners); 47221 Liverpool (1st & European Cup winners); 40058 MCFC (2nd); 37903 Aston Villa (4th & LC winners); 33599 Newcastle (5th); 32743 Sunderland (20th), 32671 Arsenal (8th).
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1977-78
51860 MUFC (10th); 45546 Liverpool (2nd & European Cup winners); 41687 MCFC (4th); 39513 Everton (3rd); 35464 Aston Villa (8th); 35446 Arsenal (5th); 32501 Nottm Forest (1st & LC winners). Tottenham were in Division Two with an average of 33417.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1978-79
46430 MUFC (9th); 46407 Liverpool (1st); 36371 Arsenal (7th & FA Cup winners); 36203 MCFC (15th); 35456 Everton (4th); 34902 Tottenham (11th); 32838 Aston Villa (8th).
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1979-80
51608 MUFC (2nd); 44586 Liverpool (1st); 35272 MCFC (17th); 33596 Arsenal (4th); 32018 Tottenham (14th); 29794 Crystal Palace (13th); 28711 Everton (19th).
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1980-81
45071 MUFC (8th); 37547 Liverpool (5th & LC winners); 34117 Aston Villa (1st); 33587 MCFC (12th); 32480 Arsenal (3rd); 30724 Tottenham (10th & FA Cup winners); 26477 Sunderland (17th). West Ham were in Division Two with an average of 27140.
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1981-82
44571 MUFC (3rd); 35100 Tottenham (4th & FA Cup winners); 35061 Liverpool (1st & LC winners); 34063 MCFC (10th); 26780 Aston Villa (11th & European Cup winners); 26585 West Ham (9th); 25589 Arsenal (5th).
AVERAGE ATTENDANCES – Top Tier 1982-83
41552 MUFC (3rd & FA Cup winners); 34758 Liverpool (1st & LC winners); 30581 Tottenham (4th); 26789 MCFC (20th); 24153 Arsenal (10th); 23748 Aston Villa (6th); 22822 West Ham (8th). Second Division Newcastle attracted an average of 24166.
For those wondering Manchester City did drop a little in terms of position in the attendance chart during their Second Division days but they were still the 6th best supported club (of all clubs) in 1983-84 and 8th best in 1984-85. Back in Division One in 1985-86 the Blues were once again the 4th best supported team in the entire League.
This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 1,600 word article is on the 1974-75 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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The 1980s: Wolves Beaten Again
Following on from yesterday here’s another 1980s Christmas visit to Maine Road by Wolverhampton Wanderers and just like yesterday’s reminder, this game also ended in a Manchester City win. This was one year and one day after yesterday’s match and was played on 28 December 1981. This programme cover is not quite as Christmassy as yesterday’s but the Blues did make an attempt at highlighting the festive season.
The previous season’s FA Cup finalists had signed Trevor Francis at the start of the season and he scored, as did Asa Hartford (on the cover of the programme), to help the Blues to a 2-1 victory.
You can read more on Trevor Francis and the 1981-82 season elsewhere on this site. There are lots of articles, many free including an interview I did with Trevor a few years back. Follow the link for more:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/trevor-francis/
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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The 1980s: Corrigan Bottled as Liverpool Lose 3-1 to MCFC
Here’s another 1980s themed story. On this day (26 December) in 1981 Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield but it was a day marred when City keeper Joe Corrigan was felled by a bottle thrown at him. Here are highlights of the game plus a brief audio clip of John Bond talking about the LFC reaction that day.
In 1995 I interviewed former City boss John Bond at his home. The interview lasted about two hours and here’s a brief snippet from that interview where he talks about that win over 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:
Here are a couple of cuttings from the day.
The 1980s: A Tueart Header v the Champions
Today’s feature in the series covering Manchester City in the 1980s is a reminder of the day when Dennis Tueart headed home to give City a home victory over champions Aston Villa. The game was played on this day (5 December) in 1981 and had lots of angles to it. One of which was the return of former City boss Ron Saunders. You can watch the highlights here:
If you want to find out more on this period then why not subscribe. As well as lots of other features, subscribers can read a 2,500 word feature on the 1981-82 season for the Blues below. Enjoy!
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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1982-83 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
The 1980s: 1981-1982 Plans For A Change
A new daily series of articles for subscribers started yesterday covering the 1980s. This is a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. Today’s article is a 2,500 word feature on the 1981-82 season. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Subscribe to get access – Annual
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1982-83 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
John Bond Becomes MCFC Manager
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.
This audio recording of the first 17 minutes of the interview is available to subscribers of my blog whether annual or monthly. If you want to hear it then please subscribe below.
Of course as this interview was recorded on my old cassette recorder the quality isn’t the best but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the exclusive nature of this.
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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. A monthly subscription is £3 a month (cancel anytime) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022. Why not join up for a month and see what you think?
The other parts of the interview are available here:
I’ve also posted an obituary I wrote to John here:
Tommy Booth Move
On this day (4 October) in 1981 Longserving Manchester City defender Tommy Booth moved to Preston North End. Tommy had made his City debut against Huddersfield Town (a) on 2 September 1968 in the League Cup with his League debut coming against Arsenal (h) on 9 October 1968. Joe Mercer once described the former Middleton Boys player as the ‘best footballing centre-half since Stan Cullis’ and Joe would know.
The image is of Tommy Booth scoring V Gornik in Copenhagen in 1971.
Another £1m MCFC Player
On this day (4 September) in 1981 Manchester City signed Trevor Francis from Nottingham Forest. The transfer meant that the Blues were the first English side to sign three separate £1m or £1m+ players. Peter Swales often boasted of this point (and did so in an interview I did with him years later). The earlier £1m/£1m+ men were Steve Daley and Kevin Reeves.
I’ve interviewed John Bond, Trevor Francis and Peter Swales specifically about this transfer over the years. Subscribers can listen to my Bond interview (see below for details) and a written version of my Trevor Francis interview is available too here (this is free to read):
Here’s the John Bond interview:
The story of Trevor Francis’ debut against Stoke is here:
Here’s an article quoting Mike Doyle, who by this time was a Stoke player, about Francis:
Three Pointer
The first time Manchester City earned three points for a win came on this day (29 August) in 1981 when City defeated West Brom 2-1. The new points system had been introduced for that season (it’s not that City had gone a decade without a win or anything!). The idea was that 3 points would encourage teams (especially away teams) to play for a win instead of a draw. The old system gave two points for a win and some teams, including several 1970s title winners, went out looking for draws away from home it was felt.
Gary James' Football Archive 