Category Archives: Seasons

The 1970s: Series Starts Now!

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s starts today with the story of the opening months of 1970. By the end of April the Blues would have two major trophies on the shelf, including the club’s first European trophy (won before so many of today’s perceived European giants). This series of articles and features will run throughout January 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 January 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? The following 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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The 1980s: New Year’s Eve at Swindon

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!

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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

City v Southampton on New York TV

On this day (30 December) in 1978 if you just happened to be in New York you could watch Manchester City v Southampton in the All Star Soccer programme (or should that be program?) while you waited for Steve Austin, the six million dollar man later that day.

The game actually took place on 9 December, so there’s a good chance you’d have known the result. I won’t spoil it though as you can see highlights of the game here (5m 33secs in to this review of 1978-79):

The 1980s: White Double

Continuing this series of features covering the 1980s for Manchester City… Today it’s back to this day (30 December) in 1989 and Manchester City v Millwall. That day David White scored twice as the Blues won 2-0 at Maine Road in the top flight. Today that first goal would probably get debated at length when VAR eventually brings a decision but back then we just celebrated and enjoyed the moment.

You can watch the goals from this game below. It’s great to see the second goal involves Paul Lake and White seemed determined it would go in no matter what. Enjoy!

If you want to know more about the entire 1989-90 season then become a subscriber and read the following 8,000 word article on that season. Enjoy!

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Today’s feature was one of many on the 1980s. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Join the Hamper Club

Today’s 1980s flashback is a brief reminder from the Manchester City match programme for this day (29 December) in 1984 when City defeated Wolves 4-0 (yes, another day of beating Wolves at Christmas) at Maine Road.

The goalscorers were Graham Baker, David Phillips, Gordon Smith and Clive Wilson but today’s reminder isn’t really about the game it’s about this programme advert for the MCFC Hamper Club. That’s right City’s Development Association used to have a hamper club whereby you could save all year and receive an hamper full of items you might just need over Christmas, like a tin of ham or real fruit jellies!

Did you join City’s hamper club? My family used to get one from Park Hampers, not City sadly! Now, back to the football…

You can find out more on this season and the rest of this important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club by subscribing. The following subscriber article is a 2,600 word feature on the 1984-85 season. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1985-86 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

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/

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The 1980s: City 4 Wolves 0

Here’s a nice Christmassy Manchester City match programme cover from today (27 December) in 1980. This was for City’s game with Wolves. Some of the players look happy others seem to have a fixed stare as if to say ‘do we really need to hold this banner?’

That day City defeated Wolves 4-0 with goals from Tommy Hutchison (2 goals; holding the banner above the ‘a’ in Christmas), Bobby McDonald (3rd player from right) and Kevin Reeves (4th player from right).

You can find out more on the 1980s, John Bond (including a fairly frank audio interview I did with him years ago) and City elsewhere on this website. Subscribers get access to a lot of extra content. To subscribe see the following:

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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: VAR would love this!

Happy Boxing Day! Continuing this series of features covering the 1980s for Manchester City… Today it’s back to this day (26 December) in 1989 and Manchester City. v Norwich. Watch these video highlights for two disallowed goals and an effort from Clive Allen. VAR officials and TV companies would love these two disallowed goals now. They’d be replaying them over and over again before deciding whether the goals should stand or not. See what you think.

Manchester City won the match at Maine Road 1-0.

If you want to know more about that weekend and the entire 1989-90 season then become a subscriber and read the following 8,000 word article on that season. Enjoy!

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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.

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Today’s feature was the last on the 1980s. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

Fancy Christmas Day in an Armchair at United v City?

It’s Christmas Day 1902 and these were the ticket prices for the big Manchester Derby match played at Clayton (the present day BMX site next to the velodrome). The game ended in a 1-1 draw. It’s so strange to think today that many of us would have headed off to a ground on this special day in years gone by. Notice the seats that you could have at United – arm chairs! That’s right. It’s Christmas Day so I’ll hold off making any funny comments but imagine if Old Trafford advertised ‘arm chairs’.

Merry Christmas to all. I hope it’s a safe, comfortable and enjoyable day for you all wherever you are.