1998-99 – Page 2 – Gary James' Football Archive

The 1990s: 1999 The Fightback

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the opening months of 1999-2000 season. City had been promoted the previous May and the last few months of 1999 saw the Club continue its resurrection. The article is almost 4,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this period and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.

Here’s the 4900 word article on that season:

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

The 1990s: 1998-1999 The Fightback

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1998-99 season – yes, that season! It saw the Blues reach their all-time low before an incredible fight back. It’s City’s one and only season at that level. The article is almost 8,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.

Here’s the 4900 word article on that season:

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

Subscribe to get access – Annual

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

The 1990s: A Stadium Move?

Here’s a 1990s reminder of how things can change. This cutting is from November 1998 – a time when Manchester City fans were still dismayed at how the club had ended up in the third tier of English football for the first time. Remember 6 years earlier City were challenging for a top four finish in the Premier League (ultimately finishing 5th for the second season). Despite being in their lowest ever position the fans were asked about the possibility of moving to a new 48,000 capacity stadium.

Overwhelmingly they said yes and, well, the rest is history. Without this commitment would any of the modern day success have happened?

Starting Tomorrow: The 1990s

A new series of articles starts tomorrow on Manchester City in the 1990s. There will be a seasonal journey through a truly important decade when Manchester City began the decade hoping to challenge for the Premier League. People often forget how things changed that decade. A giant of a club at the start of the decade and one that the whole football world recognised as being part of English football’s aristocracy. By the end of the decade it was the loyalty of fans that most recognised the club for.

Those that claim City has ‘no history’ may learn something about a decade that is often highlighted for its failings but which actually had some wonderful, incredible, positive moments too. This series of features will show how that decade actually went and will hopefully help to explain why the narrative of ‘third tier club that got lucky’ is so wrong! For the entire month of March there will be features to make every Blue proud, while also recognising the true nature of football – some times it’s great being a fan and sometimes it’s awful. That’s football!

Re-live the highs and lows of the 1990s decade from tomorrow onwards.

If you’d like to read everything in this series then please subscribe. Details below:

Manchester City in the 1990s

Following on from the series of articles and features on the 1970s and 1980s over the last few months a new series on Manchester City in the 1990s will be starting in March. As with the 1970s & 1980s there will be different content posted each day from indepth articles on each of the seasons through to on this day reminders of games, players and more.

Some of the material will be available for subscribers only and some will be free for anyone to read. If you’d like to know how to subscribe and read all the incredible content on here then see:

Feel free to send in ideas or areas that you’d like me to discuss on 1990s Manchester City. I’m always open to adapting stories or content based on feedback. Thanks for reading.

Maine Road 100 – Day 55

Day 55 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game is a follow on from one from a few days ago. I posted a 1994 plan of what might have been in terms of Maine Road’s development and here’s more on that plan.

This image is of how the entire stadium was supposed to look. To explain the colour image looks towards the stadium from above the Kippax car park. The North Stand is on the right and the Platt Lane on the left. The black and white image is from the other side of the ground, looking towards the Kippax from the Main Stand.

1990s Maine Rd redevelopment plans as seen in Farewell To Maine Road

You can see from the black and white image that the plan was to replicate the general look of the new Kippax (being planned at this stage – this was January 1994 and the old Kippax was still standing) around the ground. The North Stand was to have a second tier added and hospitality boxes between the levels, like the new Kippax. The Platt Lane was to have a second tier added above the two lines of existing hospitality boxes.

The Main Stand would have part of the seating chopped away and a new second tier added.

To facilitate all of this some houses were to be bought and demolished on the streets immediately behind the North Stand and the Kippax/Platt Lane corner.

The new Kippax was the first phase of the development but Manchester’s bids for the Olympics changed thinking. Couple that with relegation in 1996 and the wholesale redevelopment of Maine Road was postponed after the Kippax opened and then dropped completely.

As mentioned previously, Lee’s plans would have seen the new Kippax followed by a phased development of each of the other three stands. These images might give an indication of how it would have progressed.

This 1971 aerial image shows the proximity of the housing on Thornton Road (bottom left, near number 6) and behind the North Stand (number 10). They were planned to be demolished in Lee’s 1994 plan.

Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road

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:

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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Maine Road 100 – Day 49

For day 49 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted this plan of what might have been. These were developed in January 1994 shortly after Francis Lee became chairman.

The Kippax needed to be replaced and the plans by former chairman Peter Swales and his supporting directors had been to bolt plastic seats on to the lower part of the original Kippax terracing with a reprofiled second tier behind. Lee ripped up those plans and within days had created a plan which would see the entire ground extended, not simply the building of a new Kippax.

The new Kippax was the first phase of that development but Manchester’s bids for the Olympics changed thinking. Couple that with relegation in 1996 and the wholesale redevelopment of Maine Road was postponed and then dropped completely.

Lee’s plans would have seen the new Kippax followed by a phased development of each of the other three stands. I haven’t got chance to work through every step here but these images might give an indication of how it would have progressed.

Here’s an aerial photo of the ground in 1995 with the Kippax nearing completion:

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:

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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Maine Road 100 – Day 47

For day 47 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted this photo from 1954. Lots changed at the stadium but a few things to look out for…

The original Main Stand roof has an advert where the architect Charles Swain had envisaged the club’s name (who says commercialisation of football is a new thing?).
The original floodlights can be seen (or at least one in the Platt lane corner). These were switched on for the first time in 1953
The Players’ tunnel is still its original size before the seating in the directors box was brought forward above the tunnel.

Here’s an aerial photo of Maine Road from 1971 to help with understanding of what’s what and to compare. So this was only taken 17 years after the main image but so much changed. The main image was taken from the old Scoreboard End (somewhere close to number 10 but obviously from the old terracing) looking towards the Platt Lane. The old floodlight was behind number 4 and you can see the second set of lights there in the image below. The Maine Stand roof had obviously changed between these images.

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:

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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Maine Road 100 – Day 46

It’s 1941 and there are air raids across Manchester… For day 46 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted this map. What does it signify? Well, the map shows Maine Road as it looked between 1931 and 1934, before the main part of the Platt Lane Stand was built (and after the corner was erected). But that’s not why I’ve posted it. I’ve posted it because of those pen circles that appear on it.

This is actually a Manchester City Council plan of buildings hit by bombs in the area immediately east of the Maine Road stadium. As you can see a house in Thornton Road was hit but none of the Maine Road stadium itself was hit in those January 1941 raids on Manchester. The stadium had a lucky escape but sadly many residents and Mancunians did not.

Here’s an aerial photo of Maine Road from 1971 to give a feel for the site. The Platt Lane corner is number 3 and Thornton Road is the street that backs on to Maine Road near number 6.

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:

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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Maine Road 100 – Day 45

It’s a kind of magic! For day 45 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game I’ve posted these images of Queen & the Rolling Stones at Maine Road. These images are the copyright of Garry Lippett who attended the Queen concert in July 1986.

Garry loaned his photos to me to be used in features about the concert and I’m eternally grateful. It’s quite often the fan photos that capture moments like these. In the days before mobile phones these type of photos are rare and the person taking the image has no idea how good or bad the image may be until it’s developed. Thankfully Garry managed to capture both acts on stage. Status Quo are on the left image and Queen on the right.

Status Quo (left) & Queen 1986 concert at Maine Road. Copyright Garry Lippett

Here’s an aerial photo of Maine Road from 1971. The Queen stage was placed in front of the Platt Lane Stand (numbers 3 to 5). If you look carefully at Garry Lippett’s images you can see the advertising boards at the front of the Platt Lane roof.

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:

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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