Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
A dramatic added time winner by Gabriel Jesus lifted Premier League champions Manchester City to an incredible 100-point mark on this day (13 May) in 2018. The 1-0 win over Southampton was the perfect end to a perfect season for City. You can see highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2018/may/southampton-v-city-extended-highlights
Manchester City became Premier League champions on this day (12 May) in 2019 when they defeated Brighton 4-1 after going behind. It became a day of great celebration after a nervy opening when Brighton took a 27th minute lead. That goal had meant Liverpool were top of the table in the ‘live’ table on TV and websites. Fortunately 83 seconds later Aguero made it 1-1.
City’s other scorers were Laporte, Mahrez and Gundogan. Highlights can be seen here:
On this day in 2021 Manchester City became Premier League champions. They won the League after nearest rivals Manchester United lost 2-1 at home to Leicester City. One nice quirk of fate was that this was also the anniversary of City’s 1968 League title success.
The 2021 success was the Blues seventh League title with their first coming in 1937. Others have followed since of course!
It was an astonishing season with City already winning the League Cup that season, plus they also reached the Champions League final where they were defeated in Porto by Chelsea. Manchester’s Blues also appeared in the FA Cup semi-final season but sadly lost to Chelsea.
The League and League Cup double meant that City had won six major trophies in three seasons.
City’s trophy success in 2021 meant that domestically counting the League, FA Cup and League Cup only United, Liverpool and Arsenal have won more English major trophies. Similarly, only United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton havd won more League titles than Manchester’s Blues.
2020-21 was an odd season because of Covid (as was 2019-20) and no fans in the stadium (though some clubs, including those on Merseyside, were allowed a limited number of fans in earlier this season), but the football City played was breathtaking.
Apart from a difficult opening period and a few odd results along the way, City delivered week after week (or should that be weekend after midweek after weekend after midweek – it was a busy season!). They thoroughly deserved the title.
So, by the end of the 2020-21 season City had won the following major honours:
European Cup Winners’ Cup (1)
1970
League/Premier League (7)
1937, 1968, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019 & 2021
(runners up: 1904, 1921, 1977, 2013, 2015 & 2020)
FA Cup (6)
1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011 & 2019
(runners up: 1926, 1933, 1955, 1981 & 2013)
League Cup (8)
1970, 1976, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2021
(runners up: 1974)
In 2019 the Blues became the first English men’s team to win a domestic treble. In 2020-21 City achieved a domestic double of the League Cup and the League (a feat they also achieved in 2014 & 2018). Back in 1970 they achieved a European and domestic cup double when they won the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
City’s trophy haul made them the fifth most successful English club of all time based on major domestic and European trophies won (United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are ahead of the Blues). In addition only Liverpool and Blackburn had a greater span between their first English trophy and their most recent.
Since 2020-21 so many other trophies have come of course, including in 2023 when City became the first team ever to win the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup in a calendar year.
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateThe 1990-1 season was Sunderland’s first in the top flight since 1985, although it was far from successful. By the last match, on this day (11 May) in 1991, of the season the Wearsiders needed a win to avoid relegation, while Manchester City were enjoying their best League season since they finished 4th in 1978.
A large away following of around 9,000 filled the Kippax corner terracing and the Platt Lane Stand. In fact this was the last great crowd housed in the old Platt Lane Stand which was demolished a year later, after being designated for away fans only since the mid-80s. The result brought the Wearsiders nothing but disappointment as the Blues won 3-2 thanks to goals from future Sunderland star Niall Quinn (2) and David White.
Little did Quinn and City manager Peter Reid realise that within a few seasons they would be helping to resurrect the fortunes of Sunderland and its passionate supporters. Despite the result in 1991, Reid and Quinn must have been impressed by the positive support given by the Wearsiders.
City ended the season in fifth place behind Arsenal, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, and Leeds, while Quinn was voted City player of the year.
Stats: League Division One. 11th May 1991.
City 3 Sunderland 2
Scorers – City: Quinn 2 White
Sunderland: Gabbiadini, Bennett.
City: Margetson, Hill, Pointon, Heath, Hendry, Redmond, White, Brennan, Quinn, Harper, Clarke (Beckford).
Sunderland: Norman, Owers, Hardyman (Brady), Bennett, Ord, Pascoe, Bracewell, Hawke (Hauser), Davenport, Gabbiadini, Kay.
Attendance: 39,194 (the highest Maine Road crowd since 23/9/1989)
While you’re here why not subscribe and read a series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s (and other decades too)? Here’s an article on the 1990-91 season when a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United: (it’s a 2,700 word article available to subscribers):
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (10 May) in 1947 a solitary goal from Alec Herd (image) against Burnley was enough to give Manchester City promotion. The attendance for this Second Division game was recorded by the media at the time as 67,672 but official records reviewed almost sixty years later showed that City actually recorded the attendance as 69,463 at the time.
Typically, the attendance figures City used to give the media for League games through to the 1960s tended to exclude season tickets. So the Blues’ management would give the figure of tickets or pay on the gate admission for the game but exclude season ticket holders. Back in 1946-47 City had around 1,800 season ticket holders and almost every League attendance back then is understated by that amount.
FA Cup games were the actual attendances as these were always sold game by game.
As this practice of excluding all season ticket holders continued for many, many decades at Maine Road attendance figures for League games are usually understated (they were often understated in the 1970s & 1980s as well but for different reasons and back then Peter Swales, Bernard Halford and the others involved in calculating attendances would deny any discrepancy despite many fans, fanzines and others challenging them often).
For comparison purposes it’s worth looking at the attendances of the Division One champions in 1947 to see how the Blues compared. This attendance against Burnley was almost 17,000 higher than Division One champions Liverpool’s highest crowd that season (52,512 v Wolves in December) and the Merseyside Reds nearest home game to City’s Burnley match was watched by 48,800 and that was Liverpool v Manchester United (May 3). Liverpool did average 45,732 that season, whereas City averaged 39,283 but they were a Second Division club.
The City-Burnley crowd was the Second Division’s record at the time and it was higher than every First Division crowd since the 1937-38 season (The Second Division record is now held by Tottenham v Southampton which had 70,302 in 1949-50).
Film of City v Burnley does exist but it’s in a most unlikely place. It was actually filmed as part of a Mancunian Films drama called Cup Tie Honeymoon. The company was run by a Manchester City fan who made this film, which starred Sandy Powell and Pat Phoenix (under her original name of Pilkington). A football game is crucial to the plot and scenes were filmed at Maine Road and interspersed with real action from the City-Burnley game to add credibility.
Myself and Will McTaggart have shown these scenes in our Boys In Blue film shows which have been staged at the Dancehouse and Cornerhouse in Manchester over the last decade. Maybe I’ll explain more about the film and those talks another day.
You can read more on the 1946-47 season below. This was the first league season after the war and ended with City winning the Second Division title. There were some truly significant – and well attended – games that season and future Liverpool manager Joe Fagan (photograph) made his debut this season too. This subscriber article includes comments from an interview I did with George Smith back in 2003.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
On this day (9 May) in 1987 Manchester City were relegated after a 2-0 defeat at West Ham (see match report). At the end of the game City supporters and West Ham fans climbed over the fences and onto the pitch. Some thought that the two sets of supporters were about to confront each other, but the fans knew differently. The Hammers began chanting “You’ll be back” and both groups swapped scarves and souvenirs on the pitch. It was the kind of moment that should have been widely reported in the media but at the time focus tended to be on hooliganism and confrontation rather than the positives of football support. City had been relegated, but their supporters did not seek revenge. The West Ham fans could have ridiculed, but they didn’t. If only those condemning football fans at the time could have seen the two sets of loyal supporters genuinely appreciating and understanding each other.
The relationship between the fans of the two clubs is not something that is widely discussed or promoted but it is something that has endured. City fans have never forgotten the ‘You’ll be back’ game and in recent years, as others have unfairly mocked both sets of fans, the supporters of both the Blues and the Hammers seem to understand and respect each other. Inevitably, there will always be banter during a game but outside of the match the mutual recognition and respect always seems to win through.
To many West Ham are the City of the South – a proud football club with a great history and heritage, combined with a loyal and passionate fanbase.
You can read more on the 1986-87 season below. This is a 2,500 word feature on the entire season and is available to subscribers.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or £20 a year to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
On this day (8 May) in 1999 a 4-0 victory over York for Manchester City saw ‘keeper Nicky Weaver equal Joe Corrigan’s record of 22 clean sheets in a League season. Corrigan had set the record in 1976-77 and played 42 League games that season. Weaver was to make 45 League appearances in 1998-99.
You can find out more on the 1998-99 season by reading the following 8000 word article? It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 4900 word article on that season:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate of £20 a year to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
On this day (7 May) in 1927 Manchester City went goal crazy and defeated Bradford City 8-0 in their bid for promotion from Division Two. In the end the Blues missed promotion by the narrowest goal average margin ever. City’s stood at 1.7705 while promoted Portsmouth’s was 1.7755. Portsmouth had achieved the better goal average after a 5-1 defeat of Preston, in a game that kicked off fifteen minutes after City’s. At both Maine Road and Fratton Park the fans celebrated with City not realising their failure until the directors were informed via ticker-tape of events on the south coast. Portsmouth’s four goal hero, Willie Haines, left the Fratton Park pitch to celebratory chants of “Farmer’s Boy”.
Amazingly, Bradford’s ‘keeper Leonard Boot – playing the last of only 7 appearances for the club – was acclaimed man of the match after pulling off a string of fine saves. The 8-0 defeat didn’t do Bradford much good as it relegated them to Division Three (North) for the first time.
Here’s film of the FA Cup final from this day (7 May) in 1955 when Manchester City were defeated by Newcastle 3-1 at Wembley. Bobby Johnstone was the City scorer. Enjoy: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/59534/
This series on Manchester City in the 1950s includes free items and items only available to subscribers. If you’d like to find out more on the 1954-55 season then subscribe and read the following 3,400 word article on it. It’s a season when City reached the FA Cup final and Don Revie was FWA Footballer of the Year.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
On this day (6 May) in 1944 the North Regional League (a wartime league) game between Manchester City victory and Bradford (Park Avenue) ended in a 2-1 City victory before 5,000 at Maine Road. The City scorers were Peter Doherty (photograph) and Billy Bootle. Together with Peter Doherty, notable players in the City team that day include: Frank Swift, Billy Walsh, Jack Bray, Les McDowall, Bert Sproston and Jimmy Heale.
This was the last game of the 1943-44 season for City.
You can read more on MCFC in the 1943-44 season below. The story of George Smith is included within this. George was the victim of friendly fire and his story is remarkable.
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
Gary James' Football Archive 