Today (18 December) in 2004 Joey Barton scored in the 52nd minute to give Manchester City a 1-0 win at Bolton. You can watch the goal here:
Category Archives: Seasons
90 Years Ago Today – John Bond
On this day (17 December) in 1932 John Bond was born. Back in November 1995 I interviewed the former Manchester City manager. At the time I was researching my in-depth history of the club called Manchester The Greatest City (later updated as Manchester The City Years).
I met John at his home and spent a good few hours with him chatting about the Blues and his career. I loved doing this interview and was always grateful for the time he gave me. He was quite frank, open and honest – which delighted me because he was a great talker. He was also happy for me to quote everything he said in the interview. I did end up quoting him extensively in the book (and in others I’ve produced) but none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public.
Now, you can hear the opening 17 minutes of the interview (the rest will follow over the next few days). Here he talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed interview for the City documentary in 1980-81); the signing of Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Gerry Gow. As I said earlier, he is quite frank in his comments and that may surprise a few.
This audio recording of the first 17 minutes of the interview is available to subscribers of my blog whether annual or, for the first time, monthly. If you want to hear it then please subscribe below. If subscribers enjoy this piece then please let me know and I’ll post other audio recordings in the future.
Of course as this interview was recorded on my old cassette recorder the quality isn’t the best but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the exclusive nature of this.
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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year; here) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (below). Annual subscribers access everything posted since December 2020.
Subscribe to get access
If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. An annual subscription (£20 per year; above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022.
The second part of the interview will be available tomorrow.
I’ve also posted an obituary I wrote to John here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/02/12/johnny-bond-johnny-bond-johnny-bond/
The Top and Bottom of History
While we look forward to the return of domestic football it’s worth remembering that before the pause for the World Cup there had already been records broken by Manchester City, such as the incredible goalscoring start to the season by Erling Haaland; results like the Manchester Derby 6-3 victory and Rico Lewis becoming the youngest player to score in his first Champions League start. In mid-August there was a flurry of excitement across social media and elsewhere when City were top of the Premier League and United were bottom. People asked when was the last time that had happened.
It turned out that the two clubs had last been in those positions way back in November 1929 and it seemed to surprise some that it was so long ago. The truth is that no matter how poor United or City may have been in past seasons, it has been extremely rare for either club to occupy the bottom spot over the decades. It has been even rarer for the other ‘Manchester’ club to be top at the same time.
So for this 1400 word subscriber article I’m going to talk about when one team has been top and the other bottom and then I’ll take a look at 1929 and the years that followed to highlight how the two Manchester clubs fared. Enjoy….
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Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Subscribe above for £20 a year and get access to everything posted on the site since launching in December 2020. Subscribe here for £3 a month for access to everything since 1st October 2022. Whichever subscription you take out you will get access to everything for the full length of your subscription. Why not do £3 for a month to see what you think?
City Come From Behind To Win 3-1
Today (16 December) in 2001 Manchester City went a goal behind at home to Bradford City before Lucien Mettomo headed a equaliser. Goals from Kevin Horlock and Shaun Wright-Phillips helped the Blues achieve a 3-1 victory before 30,749. You can see the goals here (for those seat counters out there: notice that the empty spaces are surrounding the relatively small number of Bradford fans. The away section held approximately 3,000 at this point, plus segregation):
There are a variety of articles on here about this era, Maine Road and the players. Some are free to read and others are for subscribers. Do a few searches and see what you like. Here’s a search on ‘Bradford’ mentions:
Trautmann’s Back
On this day (15 December) back in 1956 was Bert Trautmann’s first League game after his devastating injury in the 1956 FAC final. It was also filmed by the BBC and ended in a 3-2 victory by Wolves. It wasn’t a great Trautmann performance sadly and the general perception is that he was rushed back too soon. Here’s a match report of the game:
Lots of articles about Bert Trautmann appear on my website. Some are freely available while others are for subscribers only. Take a look at them via the following link and if you’re interested in any that are only available to subscribers then please subscribe. Thanks.
The Story of 1974-75
Here’s a review of the 1974-75 season as experienced by Manchester City. That year Manchester City finished 8th with an average attendance of 32,898 (fifth highest in the top flight). The following explains how Denis Law played on into the 1974-75 season, even scoring in one game (this is often ignored by those who incorrectly claim Law retired after the 1974 Manchester derby – he did not and played club football in 1974-75 for City!).
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This 1500 word article is available to subscribers. It costs £3 per month (below) or £20 a year (here) to subscribe. Annual subscribers get access to all material (including PDFs of 2 books out of print and audio interviews etc.) posted since December 2020 and monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022.
Subscribe to get access
This 1500 word article is available to subscribers. It costs £3 per month (here) or £20 a year (above) to subscribe. Why not subscribe for a month and see what you think? Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022.
Pardoe’s Derby Injury!
Glyn Pardoe came close to having his leg amputated on this day (12 December) in 1970 following a foul by George Best in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. I interviewed Pardoe about his career in 2004 and here for subscribers are his views of the tackle and subsequent injury, together with a few contemporary articles from 1970. It became one of the most controversial derby moments of all time and arguments raged for years on whether it had been a deliberate act or not. You can be the judge by reading Pardoe’s views and the contemporary media.
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You can read more about the game itself here:
A Derby Hat-trick
A Derby Hat-trick
On this day (12 December) in 1970 a hat-trick from Francis Lee (this was City’s last hat-trick in a derby until Haaland and Foden in 2022!), together with a goal from Mike Doyle, gave Manchester City a comfortable 4-1 victory over Manchester United before an Old Trafford crowd of 52,636. That victory meant City had won 5 and only dropped 4 points in 8 consecutive League derby meetings with the Reds. There was also a devastating injury to Glyn Pardoe (more on that in another post!). Here is the background, report and verdict of that game…
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Annual subscribers pay £20 per year to access all material posted since December 2020 and all articles throughout the life of their subscription. Monthly subscribers pay £3 per month (see below).
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Monthly subscribers pay £3 per month to access all material posted since 1st October 2022 and all articles throughout the life of their subscription. Annual subscribers pay £20 per year (see above).
Record Greater Manchester Club Attendance
I’m delighted to say that I was at the Etihad Stadium today when a record crowd for a women’s club game in Greater Manchester was set when 44,259 watched City draw 1-1 with United. This includes all home games by Greater Manchester’s clubs; WFA Cup finals played in the area and games played by Dick, Kerr Ladies and other prominent women’s clubs over the last 140 years or so. For those wondering the top four highest club attendances are:
- 44,259 City v United, Etihad, December 2022
- 31,213 City V United, Etihad, September 2019
- 31,000 (occasionally reported as 35,000) Dick, Kerr Ladies v Bath Ladies, Old Trafford, January 1921
- 30,196 United V Aston Villa, Old Trafford, December 2022
You can read about the first competitive women’s Manchester Derby, which occurred in 1990, here:
Wembley Bound
On this day (11 December) in 1985 a 2-0 victory (3-2 on aggregate) by Billy McNeill’s Manchester City over Brian Horton’s Hull sent the Blues to Wembley for the inaugural Full Members’ Cup Final. City’s scorers at Maine Road were David Phillips and Jim Melrose before the largest crowd (by any club) of the entire tournament, excluding the final, of 10,180. Here’s a contemporary report by Patrick Barclay of the game:
You can read more on the Full Members Cup and what it was all about here:
Gary James' Football Archive 