Category Archives: Seasons

True Blues – Joshua Parlby

Continuing the weekly series of ‘True Blue’ figures associated with the early years of Manchester City, here’s an article on Joshua Parlby who was the visionary who was the main figure behind the creation of Manchester City. He was also a former Stoke footballer and committeeman. As an appetizer for my forthcoming talk (1 March – see below). You can find out why this man was such an important figure in Manchester City history below:

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There will be another ‘True Blue’ featured next Monday. Use the tag ‘True Blues’ to find other profiles in this series. If you want to join my free online talk concerning Parlby and City see:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/joshua-parlby-the-launch-of-manchester-city-tickets-537769542177

The full series of True Blue profiles will feature:

Lawrence Furniss, John Allison, Joshua Parlby, Walter Chew, William Sumner, Tom Maley, St Mark’s community leaders, Billy Meredith, John Chapman, William Beastow and James Moores.

Dunne, Samaras and Barton

No, not a firm of solicitors but the goalscorers when Manchester City defeated Charlton Athletic 3-2 on this day (12 February) in 2006. Some described Barton’s 62nd minute goal as his greatest ever goal. You can judge for yourself… Highlights of the game here:

Biggins, Gayle and Morley

Back in 1989 the 11 February saw goals from Wayne Biggins (2), Brian Gayle and Trevor Morley to give Manchester City a 4-0 Division Two win at home to Ipswich Town.

Allison’s Dismal Derby

On this day (10th February) in 1979…

Attendance: 46,151; City 0 United 3

Malcolm Allison’s bold prediction of how great City’s victory will be is ridiculed as the Blues are heavily defeated by a Steve Coppell inspired United.  City are a well-beaten side while United win at a canter with Andy Ritchie comfortably netting the third twenty minutes from time.

50th Anniversary Derby

On this day (10 February) in 2008 a highly emotional Manchester derby paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash. After a minute’s silence was impeccably observed the game ended in a City win.

Here’s the BBC report of the game:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7223971.stm

Today in 2003: Goater’s 9 Second Old Trafford Goal

On this day (9 February) in 2003 Shaun Goater went down in history for a remarkable appearance as substitute. The Goat came on and scored for City a mere 9 seconds after coming on to the field. The story of this game was written up a couple of years ago for an update of my 1991 book The Pride Of Manchester (co-written with Steve Cawley). Sadly, that book was never updated, though Steve and I put considerable effort into creating all the content. 

Here, exclusively for subscribers, is the story of that game as drafted to appear in the updated but aborted Pride Of Manchester.  

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History Talk Video: The Origins of MCFC

Here’s my presentation on the origins of Manchester City FC, focusing on St Mark’s & the club’s development prior to its re-birth as Ardwick AFC for you to enjoy. It lasts about 1 hour and was recorded on 1 February 2023. There are lots of myths out there, but I focused on the facts and my latest research. 

Discover the role William Chew (that’s right William!) played in the birth of the club and the story of Belle Vue Rangers, an often overlooked part of Manchester City history.

The presentation is all about the origins prior to 1887. This talk is now available to subscribers (see below for details of how to subscribe).

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The next free history talk will take place on 1 March at 6pm. Subscribers can now book tickets to that via this link:

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Goalkeeper Dowd Scores; Colin Bell’s Bury Scoring Debut

On this day (8th February) in 1964 Manchester City and Bury drew 1-1. It hardly sounds a remarkable game but it was for two reasons – this was Colin Bell’s Bury debut (and he scored!) AND City’s goalkeeper Harry Dowd scored the Blues equaliser.

This was City’s first point of 1964. The Blues were losing 1-0 to a debut goal from Bury youngster and future Blue Colin Bell at Maine Road when Dowd suffered a broken finger in the 54th minute.  He was unable to continue in nets but stayed on the field and reverted to centre-forward – a role he’d often played as a youngster.  

Scottish forward Matt Gray replaced Dowd in nets and the game continued with the regular ‘keeper keen to impress in attack:  “I was restless enough to give it all I’d got.  I felt just like a colt on its feet for the first time, pushing and shoving my way through and going for the every ball – many of which I hadn’t a hope of getting.  But the moment of glory wasn’t far away, and it seemed the fans were loving every minute of the action.”

“I got the chance to slip the ball to Derek Kevan, his shot hit the bar, and as it bounced down I went lunging in to turn home the equaliser.  The newspapers said some very kind things the next day.”

With Dowd’s efforts up front and a fine performance in goal from Gray the Blues secured the point.  Gray had managed to keep a clean sheet, although Dowd’s amazing exploits prevented him from receiving the kind of credit that other emergency City ‘keepers Doyle, McDonald, Gleghorn, Quinn and Walker would over the decades that followed. 

This game was probably Dowd’s highlight of the season as later on, he found himself dropped with Bert Trautmann returning to the side for three games before even he gave way to Alan Ogley for the final five matches of the season..  At one point Dowd asked for a transfer, but he remained at Maine Road, playing a significant part in the successes that followed under manager Joe Mercer. 

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Free Online Presentation on Joshua Parlby and the Launch of MCFC – Register Now

On Wednesday 1 March at 6pm (UK time) come and join me for one hour of discussion on Joshua Parlby and the launch of Manchester City FC in 1894. I will talk about Parlby, his background, the launch of City and the development of the club which was established with the aim of creating a club to represent the whole of Manchester. Sign up to listen to this free event where I will explain how Ardwick died, City was created and the steps Parlby took to get City into the League. I’ll be explaining how significant this was and who the key players were, plus pointing out the role Queen Victoria played in it. There are some myths out there about the club’s birth as MCFC so come and listen to the facts. This hour will include the opportunity to ask questions as I’m keen to hear your thoughts on these formative years for the club.

The event will be live on Zoom on 1/3/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably earlier that day). THIS WILL BE EMAILED OUT SEPARATELY AND NOT VIA THE EVENTBRITE WEBSITE.

The plan is to present the facts and history of the birth of the club and its development as Manchester City during the 1890s. Dispelling myths and revealing the latest research and evidence of what actually happened.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions about this critical period for football development in Manchester. Subscribers to my site can register now and this will be opened up to non subscribers after 15 February if any places remain.

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Subscribers can register for this event now. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to subscribe. Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted to this site (books, audio & written interviews, history talks etc.) since 1 October 2022

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You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:

Video of my online talk on history of MCFC Support/Match Day at Maine Road

The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.

You can see posts about other History Talks here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/history-talks/

MCFC Score 4 At Anfield

On this day (7th February) in 2021 League leaders Manchester City managed a 4-1 victory over reigning Champions Liverpool. It was the Blues’ greatest win at Anfield for over 80 years.

The Blues have struggled to win at Anfield over the last 40 years (I don’t need to go through the stats, City fans get bombarded with them every time there’s a game at Anfield! So the 2021 resounding victory over Liverpool was significant. City ended up winning the League by 12 points with Manchester United second.

In 1937 the Blues managed a 5-0 victory on Good Friday (and three days later won 5-1 at Maine Road). That season the Blues went on to win the League, as they did in 2021 of course.

As the above advert shows, it cost 3 shillings for a return train fare to Anfield that day (sadly no fans were allowed in 2021).

Here’s how the MCFC match programme remembered the 1937 victory:

I love that advert – so appropriate!

Here are the League results and table following that historic win at Anfield. It’s interesting to see which clubs are no longer members of football’s top division and which of today’s giants are missing.

Here are a few snippets from a Liverpool based newspaper telling the story of that day:

Here’s a few stats from the victory over Liverpool in 2021:

  • Sterling became the third player to score 100 or more goals under Guardiola, after Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (211) and City’s Sergio Aguero (120).
  • Of all players to score at least 10 goals within the top five European leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) this season, only Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (20 years 2021 days) is younger than Phil Foden (20 years 255 days). Now where have we heard of Haaland?
  • Since netting his first goal of the season on 15 December 2020, Ilkay Gundogan had scored at least three more Premier League goals than any other player (nine).
  • At 20 years and 255 days Phil Foden is the youngest player to score and assist in a Premier League game at Anfield.
  • Oleksandr Zinchenko made his 50th Premier League appearance on that day.

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If you would like to read the blog’s other in-depth, longer articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe below. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month (sign up here) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.

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