Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
A reminder that subscribers to my site can download lots of my writing, including all of Manchester A Football History and a PDF of my entire first book. It was published back in 1989 and sold out within 6 months of publication. Here are more details:
The book was published in April 1989 and I talk a little bit about it here:
The 200th Post – Joe Mercer
and here:
A Writing Flashback!
The latest City in the 1990s flashback feature is about the women’s Manchester derby. This weekend marks the latest Manchester derby in the Women’s Super League and it will be played at the Etihad Stadium (City currently hold the record attendance for a women’s club game in Manchester – you can find details of that elsewhere on the website). There’s a long history of competition between teams representing the women of Manchester City and Manchester United.
City’s team has been in existence continually since November 1988 when Donna Haynes and Heidi Ward both scored two goals in their first game (v Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park).
I was at the City Ladies (as they were then known) first game and I was also at their first league derby in September 1990 when City defeated United 4-3. It was a fantastic day, watched by around 150 people.
City’s goals came from Rhoda Taylor (8 min), Rachel O’Shaughnessy (43 mins), Jenny Newton (50 mins) and Lesley Peters. City’s manager Neil Mather told me as part of my research for the Manchester City Women book: ‘United were the top side, you know, and beating them was so good for morale. The men’s team were a good side in the early 90s when City Ladies carried on developing, you know. This was the Howard Kendall era, and City had top five finishes. City were one of the top five or six teams in the country at the time, so it was fabulous for women’s football to have Man City, you know.’
Helen Hempenstall played for City that day and she described her memory of the day for my book: I remember when we played United (30/9/90) and Neil (Helen’s boyfriend, now husband) and all his mates came to watch us. There were a lot of people there that day. United had a decent team then. It was always a difficult game against United. They had a right-winger… We never got on. Every time we played each other we were at each other all the way through the game. Me and Carol Woodall were having a go at her. The referee told Lesley Wright “Tell both your full backs to shut their mouths otherwise they’ll both be off!” We just didn’t get along and before every game I thought I’ll get in their first. ‘I’m having her.’ Neil Mather still talks about it.
‘I think Lesley Wright kept the team together. She kept it all tight at the back. I played at the back with her and I learnt a lot from her. Because I was next to her I knew how important she was. If I missed something she always got it. She always encouraged me and kept shouting ‘different class, different class’. You learn from the people around you and I listened to her. Before every game she came to speak to me. She’d put her arm around me and reassure me. She’d tell me not to worry about anything. Most of the time travelling to away games I’d go with Lesley in the car. We used to have a laugh. I remember one day we were travelling to an away game some distance away and we stopped for petrol and all got out. I lit up a fag and everyone else jumped back in the car screaming! I didn’t even think! When we got to the ground they all told Neil Mather and I think he worried that he could’ve lost half his team. At another game I was sat in the middle and as we got out the person before me slammed the door back. It hit my head and I had a big lump for the game.’
Lesley Wright was one of several women who had first played for the pioneering Manchester Corinthians team. I’ve been researching their remarkable story for years and this summer (2024) my work will be published. It will tell the story of the Corinthians from its formation in 1949 through to its final days forty years later. For more information on that club and the book see:
The story of the first women’s League derby and of the first 30 years or so of City Women’s existence can be read in my book on the club. It’s called Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is basically the women telling their stories of playing for the club and how they got into football, plus statistics covering the journey from friendlies in 1988-89 through to competition and the modern day successes.
You can buy the book via this link (every copy is signed by me):
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s continues today with a reminder of the day in 1988 when City travelled to Swindon on New Year’s Eve. I’ll give the result lower down but first here’s highlights of the game. The commentary is from Piccadilly Radio’s Brian Clarke:
That game was played on 31 December 1988 and ended in a 2-1 City win with goals from Brian Gayle and Jason Beckford. If you want to know more of the 1988-89 season for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read the following 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Continuing the series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s. Here’s a reminder from the City match programme in December 1988 of the return of an old favourite – Granada TV’s Kick Off! The programme was essential viewing for football fans in Granadaland and the programme’s return was something many fans wanted. The show had ended in 1983 (it was all tied in with TV rights for games etc.).
The host when the show was at its peak was Gerald Sinstadt and Elton Welsby (above) joined him as a young co-host eventually. When the show returned in January 1989 Elton was the main host and former City boss John Bond was also to appear on the show (later this season he angered City fans with his view that the Blues young players were not ready to get promoted and that led to him receiving some abuse from travelling fans at Bradford on the final day of the 1988-89 season).
If you’d like to know more about what John Bond said and how things went for City throughout 1988-89 (or indeed any season) then why not subscribe to this site? Subscribers can read a 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season below. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s continues today with a reminder of the day in 1988 manager Mel Machin warned the City team to be careful of Shrewsbury. See the newspaper article. The Blues were due to play them the day after this article (published on Friday 16 December 1988) was published. Anybody remember the score? I was in the Kippax that day and you can watch what happened here (look out for future Blue Carl Griffiths!):
That game was played on 17 December 1988. If you want to know more of the 1988-89 season for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read the following 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the 1980s with an on this day (12 December) from 1988… On this day Manchester City Ladies (now Women) played their first ever home game. We often focus on the first game of any kind (featured recently – a victory at Boundary Park) but rarely discuss the first home game played by the women’s team. So here goes… It was a 1-1 draw with Oldham Athletic at the Platt Lane Complex. City’s scorer was Heidi Ward and the team was managed by Neil Mather. The squad for this match was:
Michelle Flynn, Donna Davies, Kate Themen, M Hewlett, M Braddock, Paula Hinchcliffe, Tonia Slack, Michelle Mather, Louisa Felton, Donna Haynes, A Marsland, Debbie Darbyshire, Rowena Foxwell, Lisa Burnett, Heidi Ward, C Morgson, Helen Clark, J Walsh (Record of who started/subs not kept). Some of the women are on this photo,
The match report is of that game with the City equaliser described like this: ‘[City in the 2nd half] began pressing for a goal which came from H. Ward, a good drive into the bottom left hand corner of the Oldham net.’
There were other chances for City with Louisa Felton and Heidi Ward coming close to giving City a 2-1 lead but it wasn’t to be.
You can find out more on the City women’s team by following the tags or doing searches below.
Continuing the series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s. Here’s a photographic reminder of a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Bradford City at Maine Road on this day (10 December) in 1988. The game saw two goals each from youngsters Ian Brightwell and Paul Moulden. David White played his part to set up several key chances (and goals) too!
If you’d like to know more about City in 1988-89 or indeed any season then why not subscribe to this site? Subscribers can read a 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season below. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s continues today with a reminder of the day Brian Horton damaged the Maine Road away team dressing room door. Future City boss Horton was then the manager of Oxford United. This article from this day (3 December) in 1988 explains how he was unhappy following his team’s dramatic 2-1 defeat the previous Saturday. City had been losing 1-0 with only a few minutes to go and then two dramatic late goals gave the Blues the victory. You can watch highlights here:
I think we can all understand Horton’s frustration. As part of his anger Horton left the door hanging on just one hinge! Rumours had suggested the Blues would make him pay for the damage but Peter Swales, the City chairman, said that there’d be no charge afterall.
It’s all a story about nothing really but is a nice reminder that in the days before social media these things still happened, they were just reported differently. Now this would be a major incident with apologies demanded and who knows what but back then it’s simply filling a space in the Manchester Evening News.
If you want to know more of the 1988-89 season for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read the following 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Today (27 November) is the 35th anniversary of the first game played by Manchester City Ladies (now Women). This was against Oldham Athletic Ladies at Boundary Park. This photo is the earliest press team photo of the club.
These are pioneering City players and many dedicated considerable time to the club for years. The first ever game ended in a 4-1 City victory with Donna Haynes scoring 2 (including the historic 1st goal). Heidi Ward also scored 2 that day. I was there watching this historic first game and I included some brief details in my first book, published in 1989.
This match report was in an Oldham newspaper & was reproduced in my 2019 Manchester City Women An Oral History book (see https://gjfootballarchive.com/shop/ for details of it).
The club was founded via City In The Community (CITC) with Neil Mather playing the lead role as manager of the club. His drive and the determination of the women involved ensured this club had a life. At the time the wider Manchester City club (in particular CITC) did something that few other clubs were doing. The achievements back then and the years of dedication by the women involved ensured this club lived for years.
When the club was relaunched as Manchester City Women some national newspapers and others in the media suggested this was a new club without a history. That was damaging and hurtful to all those involved back in 1988 and the years that followed. If anything the history of Manchester City Ladies before it became City Women was similar to the majority of women’s clubs. It had gone through the trials and tribulations most face and was kept going by a dedicated band of players and supporters. Unlike Everton and Liverpool (and many others) City did not take over an existing club, they created one back in 1988 when the others had zero interest. So today’s anniversary is important in recognising the wonderful work of these women (and of the men like Neil Mather, Godfrey Williams, Ian Lees and others who were involved over the decades) and of Manchester City itself.
The club gets criticised often for a lack of history but this is all rubbish spouted by rivals. City have delivered in men’s football longer than many rivals and they’ve delivered in women’s football longer than. many rivals too.
Later today I’ll be posting a detailed 2,200 word article on the club’s first game back in 1988.
Happy anniversary.
A new daily series of articles for subscribers started earlier this month 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 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!
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.
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 the last on the 1980s as we tell the story of the 1989-90 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
