The 19 February 2020 saw Manchester City defeat West Ham 2-0 at the Etihad. The game had been scheduled to be played ten days earlier but had been postponed due to the weather and this was the first time City had played in 16 days. Details and highlights below:
Goals from Rodri (30 mins) and De Bruyne (62). The win came shortly after UEFA had banned City (later overturned of course) from European competition and their were several banners and chants directed at this unfair decision. After the match Pep Guardiola was asked about UEFA and Manchester City: ‘We are professionals on the pitch, what happens off it we cannot do much. We talked about what we have to do until the end of the season, especially for the people who love this club. We will play our game the best as possible. We have a lot of interesting things to play for… I love this club. I like to be here. This is my club and I will be here, no matter.
‘We appeal. When someone believes they are right they have to fight. The club has to fight and I trust the club 100% what they have done and they have explained to me. This situation is not finished and we will wait. But until it is resolved you have to play and play, and that is what is going to happen.’
Prior to this weekend’s game with Spurs, Manchester City have had players from 41 different nations score for the Blues in the Premier League. Can you remember them all? The following 1200 word article tells the story…
Subscribe to get access
Read this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year or £3 per month (see below). Annual subscribers access everything posted to the site including interviews, talks, books and hundreds of articles plus everything posted during your subscription.
Monthly subscribers (£3, cancel anytime) get access to everything posted to the site since 1 October 2022 plus everything posted during your subscription.
It’s Manchester City v Arsenal on Friday. The first FA Cup tie between these clubs came in 1904 and was part of Manchester’s first major trophy winning campaign. The two sides met at Arsenal in the second round of the competition. Back then City were a top flight team while Woolwich Arsenal were in the Second Division and some reports talked of the Gunners being envious of Manchester City and their status (how often do modern interpretations of a club’s status forget the game’s full history hey?). Arsenal had defeated Fulham 1-0 in the previous round.
The Blues defeated the Gunners 2-0 with goals from Sandy Turnbull and Frank Booth, prompting the Manchester Evening News to print a cartoon of Billy Meredith leapfrogging over the Gunners while Tom Maley, dressed in kilt, watches.
Outside-left Frank Booth, one of the scorers, had joined City in April 1902 making his first appearance for the Club in a friendly with Celtic on 1 September 1902. That friendly appearance brought a little bad luck to the player as fairly early on in the match he accidentally collided with Celtic’s Right-back Hugh Watson causing him to leave the field for twenty minutes or so. When he returned however he seemed more determined than ever to prove what he was capable of and, when a chance came his way, he scored what was described as a “very fine” goal to give City a 1-0 victory.
Throughout Booth’s career prior to the Arsenal game he had been rather unlucky with injuries and, at times, must have seriously considered concentrating on a life outside of the sport. He was a hatter by trade, coming from the local hatting areas surrounding the towns of Hyde and Denton, and had only completed his apprenticeship in 1903. Nevertheless a career in football had to be more appealing than life in one of the large hatting factories of east Manchester.
Here’s a brief cutting mentioning the game. Note also the difficulties being experienced by Second Division Manchester United (again, how often do modern day commentators on the game’s history forget the full history?).
After the tie with Arsenal at Plumstead, George Robey, a very famous Music Hall comedian with a love of football, took the City team to visit the capital’s top Music Halls. Such light relief was needed in the City camp as the realisation was now dawning that the Blues might seriously be contenders for the League and Cup double that at this point in history had only been achieved by Preston (1889) and Aston Villa (1897).
For a side (indeed a city) whose only national success so far had been to win the Second Division, this must have felt like an impossible dream but, as the season progressed it became increasingly possible.
Since 1932 the sides have met in the competition on 17/2/1971 at Maine Road (a 2-1 Arsenal win); the 2017 semi-final (2-1 aet for Arsenal); and again in the 2020 semi played on 18 July 2020 (a 2-0 Arsenal win).
On this day (21 January) in 2020 Sergio Aguero scored his sixth goal in three games as Manchester City defeated Sheffield United 1-0 at Bramall Lane. You can watch highlights of the game below.
Aguero had come on as substitute to score the only goal. The goal was described as a ‘tap in’ from a Kevin de Bruyne cross towards the end of the second half, but the goalkeeper was close at hand. It had been a tight game but the win meant City means could strengthen their place in second place. The Blues had 51 points but were 13 behind leaders Liverpool.
Were you at this match? If you were why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?
Subscribe to get access
If you have enjoyed this free post and would like to support my research and writing then please subscribe. Annual subscribers (£20 per year, sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site including PDFs of 2 of my out of print books and archived content like my exclusive audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.
If you have enjoyed this free post and would like to support my research and writing then please subscribe. Monthly subscribers (£3 per month, cancel anytime and sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site since 1 October 2022. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.
On this day (28 September) in 2019 Manchester City defeated Everton 3-1 before 39,222 at Goodison Park. The City scorers were Jesus, Mahrez and Sterling and you can see highlights of the game below:
While you’re here why not subscribe to my website. It costs £20 per year (works out about £1.67 a month) and for that every subscriber gets access to a PDF of both Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men to Banana Citizens (both out of print) plus the hundreds of articles, interviews and videos already posted and a guaranteed 4 new exclusive articles per month (usually a lot more than that!). I am not employed to do any research and so subscribers help fund detailed research into football’s history. Thanks for supporting my work if you do already subscribe or buy my books.
This day (15 August) in 2020 was the latest date a football season had ended for Manchester City. Sadly, the Blues were defeated 3-1 in the Champions League quarter final v Olympique Lyonnais. There are some highlights here if you want to see them:
On this day (7 August) in 2020 Raheem Sterling scored his 100th goal for Manchester City. Not only that but this was City’s latest victory (2-1 v Real Madrid, Champions League) in a football season. The season had been halted and then restarted due to Covid. You can see highlights of the game here:
While searching through my articles earlier this week I spotted a piece I wrote in 2019-20 on Manchester City’s support. Back then I became somewhat frustrated with a series of articles criticising City’s support. There were a number of ridiculous comments by some and so I wrote a piece challenging some of these views.
I’m not certain all the points are still valid (though City fans have received some significant abuse since 2020 too!) but readers can be the judge of that. Anyway, here’s the article for those who missed it back then:
Lots of people talk incorrectly of Manchester City’s support and so for today’s subscriber feature I’ve decided to focus on the growth in City’s average attendance from the club’s first season in the League through to recent years, alongside other crowd related statistics. Hopefully, this will help to answer any questions raised on the loyalty of City’s support (but somehow I doubt it!).
If you would like to subscribe and read this and all my other content posted to this site (over 400 articles/sound recordings/interviews including the entire Manchester A Football History) then please use the button below. It costs £20 a year (that’s about £1.67 a month) and you have access to everything for as long as you are a subscriber (you can even subscribe for a month at a time at £3, access everything and then cancel your subscription if you like!).
Here’s the article for subscribers…
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content and everything else on the site, when you subscribe today.
This season has seen Manchester City players win several prominent player of the year awards with Kevin De Bruyne winning the PFA player of the year award; Phil Foden the PFA young player of the year and Lauren Hemp won the women’s PFA young player of the year award. There was also Ruben Dias won the FWA footballer of the year award and the Premier League player of the year award.
This is an incredible array of awards. The following subscriber post details all the Manchester City winners of these awards since their formation:
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Gary James' Football Archive 