On this day (April 11) in 2012 Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City lay eight points behind Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United and possessed an inferior goal difference (two goals) after the same number of games. There were only six games left to play and, as far as the wider public was concerned, it was only a matter of time before United won the title. But things began to change on this day in 2012 when City faced West Bromwich Albion.
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On this day (19 November) in 2011 League leaders Manchester City defeated Newcastle 3-1 with goals from Mario Balotelli (penalty 41 minutes; photographed), Micah Richards (44th minute) & Sergio Aguero (penalty 72 minutes). Newcastle’s goal came from Dan Gosling in the 88th minute. You can watch highlights below:
On this day (5 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Neil Warnock’s Queen’s Park Rangers 3-2 with goals from Edin Dzeko, David Silva and Yaya Toure. The game is often overlooked in the history of games between the two clubs mainly due to the fact that the second game of the season between these teams was such an important occasion. But this match also had its twists and turns, with the three points of course proving vital at the season’s end. People inevitably focus on the final day, title winning matches but in a season where a title is decided on goal difference then every game and goal is important.
QPR opened the scoring in the 28th minute (a header from Jay Bothroyd) with man of the match Edin Dzeko equalising two minutes before half time. David Silva (photographed) made it 2-1 seven minutes into the second half but Heidar Helguson equalised in the 69th minute. The game was won with a 74th minute headed effort from Yaya Toure.
After the match manager Roberto Mancini rightly commented: ‘It was important we beat QPR. I knew that we could have a problem. The win was very important because we’ve played 6 very, very hard games and we’ve won, it was important because of the international break.’
On this day (2 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Villareal with goals from Yaya Toure (2) and Mario Balotelli (penalty; photograph) You can watch highlights below:
It’s Swansea v Manchester City tonight in the League Cup and so Here’s a few historical facts and stats about games between the two clubs.
Game One: The first competitive meeting between the two teams came in Division Two on 25 September 1926. The Blues had been relegated the previous May and the historic first meeting with Swansea Town (Swansea was not a city at this point) ended in a 3-1 City victory at Maine Road, before 24,314 fans. George Hicks, Tommy Johnson & Frank Roberts netted for the Blues.
The return game also ended in a 3-1 win on 12 February 1927. Hicks and Johnson both scored again, with Johnson netting twice. A Swansea crowd of 20,345 watched on.
The first top flight game between the sides didn’t come until 21 November 1981 (following Swansea’s promotion) and saw two each from Kevin Reeves and Dennis Tueart (the first a penalty 4 minutes before half time) help City to a 4-0 win.
The first Premier League meeting came on 15 August 2011 – another 4-0 City win. This time Dzeko, Aguero (2) and David Silva each scored at the Etihad before 46,802. Film of that game here:
Incredibly the first FA Cup meeting didn’t come until 16 March 2019 and this saw City win 3-2 at Swansea (OG from Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Bernardo Silva & Sergio Aguero). City had been losing 2-0 (a penalty from Matt Grimes in 20th minute and Bersant Celina netted the other in 29th minute) up until Silva’s 69th minute goal. The action from this game can be viewed here:
The highest scoring game between the teams came in August 1927 when City beat Swansea Town 7-4 in Division Two. 34,316 watched a hat trick from Tommy Johnson and other goals from Peter Bell, Charlie Broadhurst, George Hicks and Frank Roberts.
Here’s hoping tonight’s game brings as much entertainment as that one did.
While you’re here, it’s worth taking a look at something else already posted on http://www.GJFootballArchive.com. It’s a profile of Tommy Hutchison who was a cult hero at MCFC and also spent time with Swansea City:
On this day (1 October) in 2011 Manchester City faced Blackburn in the Premier at Ewood Park. Here’s a few words I wrote on that game a few years ago:
At Blackburn on 1st October the home side tried to stifle Mancini’s men for some time. In fact City sat back and took stock of the situation throughout the first half as a negative Blackburn team seemed happy to kill the game at every opportunity. In the second half, as often the case during the opening months of the season, the Blues had total control and ten minutes after the interval Johnson made it 1-0.
Balotelli sent Nasri’s cross home three minutes later, before Nasri added a third and Savić headed City’s fourth. City fans, who had sung Roberto Mancini’s name at various points before and during the match, were in full voice at the end while the Blackburn supporters chanted for the dismissal of their boss Steve Kean. Post match Mancini’s assistant David Platt faced the press: ‘It was the result we were looking for to put Bayern Munich to bed.’
City had lost 2-0 at Munich in their previous game. Here are highlights of the Blackburn match:
Appropriately Saturday saw some further tributes to Ricky Hatton at the Etihad with a couple of banners, plus the Hatton silhouette on the blue moon video pre match (seeing that was quite emotional). These have prompted me to dig out this main image from October in 2011 when I went with City Academy players & staff, Tony Faulkner, Patrick Vieira and Brian Marwood to Ricky’s gym in Hyde. That year I had been performing a series of ‘history’ sessions with City’s Academy and this day with Ricky was a day when Ricky & I were to do an interview about what it’s like being a supporter.
The whole day was wonderful and it was a somewhat surreal experience to do a presentation/talk on the history of MCFC support and then follow that up with an interview with Ricky in the boxing ring itself at Ricky’s gym. It was great for the Academy players to be in the presence of such an iconic sportsman and Ricky was on good form that day. He talked openly and honestly about being a Blue and, as a fellow lad from Hattersley, it was good to share similar experiences about going to Maine Road as kids, catching the 211 bus then the 53 from Belle Vue to the ground.
Ricky spent considerably more time with the Academy players than planned and was welcoming throughout. He demonstrated some of his training techniques and got us all to pose for this photo (I can’t remember quite what we were supposed to be doing but it seemed appropriate and funny at the time).
I’m a few years older than Ricky and it feels so sad when someone dies when still a young man. I remember seeing Ricky as a boy at his dad’s pub the New Inn (my first regular pub when I was a teenager). I used to go there with another City fan, Paul Alexander, who has also passed away in recent years.
The tributes to Ricky are well deserved and he was such an iconic figure, not just in Hattersley, Hyde or Manchester but around the globe.
On this day (23 October) in 2011 Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City defeated Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United 6-1 in the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford. The City goals came from Mario Balotelli 22, 60; Sergio Aguero 69; Edin Dzeko 90, 90+3; and David Silva 90+1. United’s was scored by Darren Fletcher 81.
The City win equalled the record score in a Manchester derby – also set by City and also in a League derby at Old Trafford (in a season City also got relegated!). You can read about that one here:
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City v Newcastle is one of the most enduring fixtures in English football. There have been cup finals, title deciders, dramatic games, shared heroes and so much more. The two clubs first met in the League in October 1893 (Ardwick/MCFC’s 2nd season in the League) and City’s record is:
Competition
Played
Won
Drawn
Lost
League
174
71
38
65
FA Cup
12
4
2
6
League Cup
6
3
1
2
European
0
0
0
0
Other
0
0
0
0
There have been lots of significant games in the League, FA Cup and League Cup. A League Cup final in 1976 saw them meet at Wembley when Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart both scoring for the Blues.
Most Blues of my age and above will remember where they were when our King returned to action on Boxing Day 1977. Here’s an interview I did with him a few years back when we talked about that special day:
There was a really odd thing a while back where a Newcastle paper claimed that their local team had first worn bar scarves at games. A few simple searches soon proved there were much earlier bar scarfs:
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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