It’s the start of the Premier League season this weekend and Manchester’s Blues are at home to Bournemouth. My programme articles today include a Memory Match between the clubs. If you get chance to see that I hope you enjoy it. If you want more on Bournemouth and City there are several articles on this site that mention them. The following links to a few mentioning Bourenemouth: https://gjfootballarchive.com/?s=Bournemouth
Category Archives: Seasons
Top Flight Wimbledon
Wimbledon’s first fixture in English football’s top flight was against Manchester City forty years ago today (23rd August 1986) at Maine Road. The game was goal-less at half time, but by the end City had won 3-1 with goals from Trevor Christie and two from Graham Baker. The Wimbledon scorer was Andy Thorn. The Dons’ lineup for this historic first match was: Beasant, Kay, Winterburn, Galliers, Morris, Thorn (Gage), Wise, Cork, Fashanu, Sanchez, and Hodges. For the record City comprised of: Suckling, May, Wilson, Clements, McCarthy, Redmond, Davies, McNab, Christie, Baker, and Brightwell (Simpson).
Although goalkeeper Perry Suckling made his debut in this City-Wimbledon fixture, he very nearly didn’t make it to Maine Road. On the day of his arrival he travelled to Old Trafford claiming he’d been given directions there instead of Maine Road! A United official had to direct him back to Manchester. Suckling later became more famous as the goalkeeper who conceded 9 goals while playing for Crystal Palace at Anfield. No doubt a few Wimbledon fans remember that match!
You can read more on that season for MCFC here:
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City Programme Articles 2026-27
I’m delighted to say that I’ll be writing a feature in this year’s Manchester City match programme again. It’s a continuation of last year’s popular tracker feature Five Fifteen Fifty. This year the series will track the following season’s game by game – 2021-22, 2011-12 and 1976-77. All three were title challenging seasons and all three were entertaining in their own ways with twists and turns. I was a season ticket holder at the Etihad for the two most recent seasons and a regular in the Platt Lane Stand (occasionally the North Stand) as a boy in 1976-77. It’s going to be wonderful talking about some of my boyhood heroes and some of our Etihad heroes too.
I hope everybody enjoys the feature. As well as tracking those seasons there’ll also be a memory match involving ‘today’s’ opposition and, where possible, one of those three tracker seasons.
If you are lucky enough to get to see the programme I hope you enjoy it.
David White Scores Twice v Liverpool: A Rare Victory
35 years ago today (21 August 1991) a Wednesday night meeting with Liverpool ended in a 2-1 victory for Manchester City. You can see highlights of the game – a rare victory over Liverpool back then – and relive the days of night matches on the Kippax/at Maine Rd. David White scored both City’s goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI62DKjsCmo
GOLDEN GOALS: 1974 Rodney Marsh Overhead Goal V QPR
Many goals over the years are described as the greatest ever. Sometimes these become a talking point for a few days, sometimes for a few years but unless they happen to occur in a major trophy winning game goals tend to lose their significance as time moves on. This is especially true for games prior to the 1990s when television coverage was limited to, at best, a handful of top flight games.
This is part of a feature on ‘GOLDEN GOALS’. The idea is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear. My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them. If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.
The one being featured is Rodney Marsh’s overhead kick from the Manchester City-QPR Division One game of September 1974.
This article is available for subscribers to the website. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Sven’s First Manchester Derby Was A Great Win
On this day (19 August) in 2007 Sven’s Manchester City defeated Fergie’s United 1-0 in Sven’s first derby since joining City that summer. His City career ended with him having a 100% win record in the derby. Here’s a video of Geovanni’s goal:
GOLDEN GOALS – 1996 Georgiou Kinkladze Goal V Southampton
One of the best goals of Maine Road’s final couple of decades saw the brilliant Georgiou Kinkladze at his best. Kinkladze was a major star – some would say Manchester City’s biggest during the mid 1990s – and livened up many dull days for City fans. This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars but, thanks to television and the game’s appearance on Match of the Day, many neutrals recognised the quality of this Golden Goal.
The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear. My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them. If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.
This article, covering Kinkladze’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Quinn Header v Coventry
On this day (17 August) in 1991 Manchester City’s season started with a 1-0 victory at Coventry. City wore their traditional away colours of maroon too! You can see Niall Quinn’s headed goal and the celebrations by City fans here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5haQrZKx9uY
GOLDEN GOALS – 1934 Eric Brook V Stoke City
It has virtually slipped out of living memory but this goal is possibly the greatest ever scored at Maine Road. It is also the goal that was viewed by the largest paying audience of all time at the old stadium.
The goalscorer Eric Brook remains one of City’s biggest stars and he was idolised by thousands of Mancunians throughout his career. This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars at the time but it has to be stressed that it was also highly significant in the Blues’ quest to re-establish themselves as a major force.
The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear. My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them. If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.
This article, covering Brook’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Latest Finish
15 August 2020 was the latest date a football season had ended for Manchester City. Sadly, the Blues were defeated 3-1 in the Champions League quarter final v Olympique Lyonnais. There are some highlights here if you want to see them:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-lyon-match-highlights-63733124
Gary James' Football Archive 