On this day (17 January) in 1925 Manchester City’s Frank Roberts scored four as Liverpool were defeated 5-0 in Division One.
Roberts’ feat was remarkable because he was playing as centre-forward (a position he seemingly was not keen on playing) due to regular centre-forward Tommy Browell being struck down with influenza.
He normally played as City’s inside-right, his preferred position.
It was Roberts’ first outing as centre-forward that season and it was the first time he’d ever scored four in a game. It made him the League’s top scorer with 24 goals so far that season.
City’s opening goal had been scored by legendary, amateur footballer Max Woosnam in the opening minute. Sadly, accurate time keeping was not a feature of football then (some would argue that some referees still don’t have accurate time keeping but that’s for another day) and so we don’t know how few seconds this was actually netted in. Some reports say straight from the kick-off.
The Liverpool Echo talked of the game starting in a gale which worked against the Liverpool club (some local newspapers still make excuses for their teams). The Athletic News makes no such comment preferring, instead, to talk of City’s ‘lightening like movements’ and their approach being ‘the way to win’.
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Here’s a story I’ve told often but I still see it incorrectly reported on occasion. It’s the tale of the 1980s game when Middlesbrough played Manchester City at Maine Road wearing Manchester United’s shirts. It’s the anniversary (17 January) of that game today, so here is the story, a match report and some video clips of that game…
It was January 1981 and Middlesbrough travelled to Maine Road for what was nothing more than a mid table top flight clash. John Bond’s City had faced Liverpool in a controversial League Cup semi final first leg 3 days earlier – don’t get me started on that one! You can read about and listen to John Bond comment on it (from my interview with him back in the 1990s) elsewhere on this site.
The City-Middlesbrough game wasn’t scheduled to be on TV or anything. Remember this was a time when games would only be filmed if they were to be shown as highlights on TV that night or the following day and the news of what games would be on the telly would often be kept secret until shortly before kick off, or sometimes announced at the end of one of the lunchtime football shows on BBC or ITV, depending on which channel had the TV rights for Saturday night games that year. In 1980-81 ITV had the rights to Saturday night football and in Granadaland our programme was called Match Night, presented by Elton Welsby.
That night Granada TV planned on showing the Bolton home game as their match but a waterlogged pitch at Burnden Park meant that game was called off, so a quick decision was made to move the Granada cameras to Maine Road and film the City game instead. I remember arriving at Maine Road with my Dad and being surprised at seeing the Granada TV trucks outside the Main Stand. In those days spotting the TV trucks outside the ground brought a bit of excitement because it also meant you’d have the unusual experience of seeing a game, or at least highlights of it, again. I was 13 at the time, and this was always a big bonus.
Of course, I wasn’t the only person surprised by the TV switch to Maine Road as Middlesbrough were also caught out by it. Back in 1980-81 shirt sponsorship was still a bit of a thorny issue in football and clubs were allowed to wear sponsors names on their shirts but not in games televised. Middlesbrough arrived at Maine Road with shirts wearing their sponsor’s name and this meant the filming of the game was now in jeopardy.
City hadn’t yet struck a deal for shirt sponsorship – that was to come later in the year when Saab became the club’s first sponsor – which meant the club did not need as many shirt variations as Middlesbrough. Whether this had any bearing on what happened next isn’t clear but, instead of wearing City’s second strip, Middlesbrough asked Manchester United if they could borrow their shirts instead. Someone sent for a full set of United home shirts from Old Trafford and Middlesbrough played in United’s unsponsored red instead of their own shirts.
The game was filmed and broadcast that night – Granadaland viewers had the choice of the game or the end of the Parkinson show/start of a Burt Reynolds film.
The game ended in a 3-2 City win with goals from Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Kevin Reeves. Middlesbrough’s Hodgson became the first man to score wearing a United first team shirt at Maine Road that season. In fact, Hodgsonnand McAndrew were the ONLY men to score at Maine Road that season in a first team game wearing United’s colours!
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?
You can read a report of the game here:
Here’s some film of the match too:
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100 years ago today (16 January) the previous Saturday’s game between Manchester City & Sunderland was reported on. The game had ended in a 3-2 City win at Roker Park. The weather was poor, affecting the attendance and, as this report shows, preventing the reporter from being able to report properly on the game.
I know I’ve written plenty about Colin Bell over the years but, to be frank, you can never read or write enough about Bell. So for today’s subscriber article here’s a 1,900 word piece (plus videos of the Ballet On Ice game and his first return game v Derby in April 1976 – yes that’s right!) on the legendary Manchester City and Bury footballer. Enjoy!
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Manchester football historian Gary James assesses what City’s 2011 FA Cup success means from a historical perspective. This was written in April 2011 and is published here to provide consideration of how that point in history was viewed at the time. It has not been altered to reflect later views.
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On a day when there’s a controversial refereeing decision in a Manchester Derby here’s a reminder that today is the anniversary (14 January 1981) of a notorious refereeing error in a Manchester City Liverpool League Cup semi-final. You can read about that elsewhere on the site. the anniversary though has given me the impetus to post this 9,000+ word article on the 1980-81 season. This was a remarkable season and you can read it below:
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On this day (13 January) in 1987 Peter Barnes re-signed for Manchester City from Manchester United and made his first appearance at home to Liverpool four days later.
You can still purchase copies of my acclaimed biography of Peter Barnes. Every copy bought direct from me will be signed by me. You can order here:
On this day (13 January) in 2009 Garry Cook and others met with AC Milan supposedly about the possible purchase of goalkeeper Dida but in truth the Manchester City men wanted to talk about Kaká. Here is the story of that day with exclusive quotes from interviews I have performed with some of those there.
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If you would like to read this 1200 word article and would like to support my research & 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 (12 January) in 1974 Denis Law and Rodney Marsh provided the goals as Manchester City defeated Leicester City 2-0 in a thrilling game at Maine Road.
City were in blistering form for this game and absolutely tore in to Leicester. Only the brilliance of England ‘keeper Peter Shilton kept the score down as the report shows.
I was six years old and sat in the ‘old’ Platt Lane Stand with my dad that day. Were you also 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?
Film of the game here:
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Read more of this website when you subscribe today. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month (access everything posted since 1 October 2022) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Sign up for annual above and monthly here.
On this day (11 January) in 1977 Joe Royle ensured Manchester City progressed to face Newcastle United in the FA Cup by scoring the only goal of the Third Round replay at West Bromwich Albion. The first game had ended in a 1-1 draw at Maine Road. You can read more about the 1976-77 season here:
Gary James' Football Archive 