On this day (19 October) in 1996 goals from Paul Dickov and Nigel Clough helped Manchester City to a 2-1 win over Norwich City. Clough’s was the last of 4 League goals he scored for the Blues. This image is of Dickov and Clough celebrating Clough’s goal.
Category Archives: Seasons
Another Attendance Record
On this day (18 October) in 2003 Manchester City scored 6 goals at their new home, the City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad Stadium), for the first time. It was also the 6th consecutive record attendance for the new ground. There was also a sending off for Shaun Wright-Phillips. It was an odd day in some ways but you can read more below:
Although the game was 1-1 at half-time, City defeated Bolton 6-2 at the City of Manchester stadium. The 6th was scored by Claudio Reyna in the 84th minute.The Bolton victory was notable from a stadium perspective as it also marked the sixth consecutive highest record breaking attendance for the venue. Due to seating reconfigurations taking place throughout the early part of the season, a new record crowd for the stadium was set for the first five League games.
The first competitive game (TNS, UEFA Cup) saw 34,103 – capacity had been restricted to about 35,000 due to safety legislation – followed by a record in every one of the following five League games staged – 46,287 (Portsmouth), 46,436 (Arsenal), 46,687 (Villa), 46,842 (Spurs) & 47,101 (Bolton). Each of those matches was watched by a capacity attendance. Over the following months further changes, such as reducing the size of the Directors’ Box, increased capacity further and the record crowd was broken again when Leeds United came on 22nd December (47,126) and then Liverpool (47,201) six days later. Ultimately, the Chelsea game on 28th February became the season’s best with an attendance of 47,304.
Leeds City Auction
On this day (17 October) 1919 defender Thomas Lamph was bought in an auction of Leeds City players by Manchester City. Leeds City had collapsed due to financial issues. A little over 6 years after joining City Lamph died in Leeds at the age of 33.
Chelsea Vanquished
On this day (16 October) in 2004 eventual champions Chelsea were defeated 1-0 by Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad). City were the only side to beat the champions during 2004-5 and managed to draw the return fixture 0-0. You can read more on the October game below:
By the time Chelsea arrived in Manchester on 16th October the Blues were 12th on 8 points, while the visitors were second, behind Arsenal, on 20 points. Chelsea were also one of only two sides unbeaten in the League and were, without doubt, favourites to win this match. Keegan optimistically told fans pre-match: “It is still 11 against 11 on the day and we are more than capable of beating the top sides.”
The manager’s views proved correct as City defeated the eventual champions 1-0 with an 11th minute penalty from Nicolas Anelka. It was the first time Jose Mourinho had suffered a defeat at Chelsea and was only the second time his side had conceded a goal during 2004-05. It was also City’s first home victory over the London club in the Premier League. Sadly, Jihai Sun suffered cruciate ligament damage and was to miss the rest of the season.
The Jihai Sun injury was not the only one affecting Keegan’s side during the first half of the season and, as the Blues had one of the smallest squads in the Premier League, the manager found himself with few players to choose from at times.
Floodlights
On this day (14 October) in 1953 the first game under floodlights at Maine Road took place, Manchester City 6 Hearts 3. Here’s an article about that period and City’s first floodlighting system, including a photo from the actual game and another report.
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A Manchester City Death in 2002
On this day (13 October) in 2002 Fifties goalscoring star Billy McAdams died. During his Manchester City career he made 134 first team appearances and scored 65 goals. He had joined City on 6 December 1953 and on 2 January 1954 McAdams, signed from Distillery, made his debut. It was a memorable one as he scored an equaliser in the 49th minute against Sunderland at Maine Road. The game was played in poor, foggy conditions but City won.
A week after the Sunderland game, McAdams scored a hat-trick in City’s 5-2 Cup win at Bradford. He followed that with an equaliser in the 56th League derby match at Old Trafford. His arrival and goalscoring streak was viewed as refreshing that season..
I’ll be writing a little bit more on McAdams in my article in the Manchester City match programme v Brighton next week.
A Complete PDF Of My 1st Book To Download
Back in 1989 my first book was published and subscribers to this site (both annual and monthly) can now download a PDF of that entire book. The original book cost £6.95 when it came out; you can subscribe at £3 per month and get the PDF free here then cancel the subscription if you like). Ignoring yearbooks, this was only the 6th book (and two of those were more like pamphlets published in the 1930s & 40s) ever published specifically on Manchester City Football Club.
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The book was published in April 1989 and I talk a little bit about it here:
The 200th Post – Joe Mercer
and here:
A Writing Flashback!
I do not have the original layouts and so I’ve scanned my only surviving copy of the book and put the pages together on a PDF. The pages appear in the order they did in the original but, obviously, as I’ve just placed images of the pages on a word document it’s not as it all appeared. Nevertheless, for those who have never seen it you can now.
There were all sorts of issues with the original publication. My co-author had died and the book was delayed by a year. It was originally due out when I was 20 in 1988. As Keith, my co-author, had died mistakes were made. Keith was also a key figure at the publisher and, without his expertise, the quality of the images and other areas was not as great as it should have been. Even the title was incorrectly published (I’d agreed a different title). Ah well… I got enough of a bug to have started writing my second book within about a month of this coming out.
If you’d like to download the book then you do need to be a subscriber to this site. Subscribers pay £20 a year (works out about £1.67 a month) or £3 a month at a time (cancel anytime). For that annual subscribers now get the entire From Maine Men To Banana Citizens plus my 2010 edition of Manchester A Football History AND all articles/interviews posted so far. These include audio interviews I did with John Bond, Malcolm Allison and George Graham in the 1990s. Monthly subscribers get all content posted since 1st October 2022. All subscribers get access to all new material posted during their subscription too.
Perry Suckling
On this day (12 October) in 1965 1980s Manchester City ‘keeper Perry Suckling was born in Hackney. Here’s a brief profile of him:
Perry Suckling
Bought for £50,000 plus the popular David Phillips, England youth international Perry Suckling was anticipated to be City’s first choice for several years when he arrived from Coventry City in May 1986. It didn’t work out that way however and by the end of December 1987 he was on loan at Chelsea. A permanent move to Crystal Palace followed in January 1988 – City received £100,000 – and after 39 League appearances that was it.
Spells for West Ham, Brentford, Watford and Doncaster followed.
Appearances: League: 39 FAC: 1 League Cup: 3
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You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
Ricky Holden to Oldham
Today (11 October) in 1993 winger Ricky Holden rejoined Oldham Athletic after 14 months with Manchester City.
Woo Gordon Davies
On this day (10 October) in 1985 Chelsea forward Gordon Davies joined Manchester City (the team he supported; his hero was Colin Bell). Davies made 3 Welsh international appearances while at City. There was a chant connected with him which was, err, well, typical 1980s. It was based on the ‘Woo Gary Davies, woo Gary Davies, woo Gary Davies on the ra-di-o’ jingle used by Radio One DJ Gary Davies (of course). The chant (I’m sure you can guess) went ‘Woo Gordon Davies, woo Gordon Davies, woo Gordon Davies in the ar-e-a’ (meaning penalty area of course!). Those were the days, hey?
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Enjoying this website? Fancy supporting my research into Manchester football history? Why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides each annual subscriber with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
Gary James' Football Archive 