Starting tomorrow I’ll be posting a series of articles on Manchester City in the 1950s. It will be similar to the series I’ve posted on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s etc. The series will start with a subscriber article on the 1949-50 season – a season that saw Bert Trautmann make his City debut.
Category Archives: Seasons
United’s Bank Street and City’s Etihad Then and Now
I’m not certain how many match going fans realise how close the site of Manchester City’s is to the site of Manchester United’s old Bank Street ground. The Reds moved back in 1910 to Old Trafford and the site is now the home of the BMX indoor centre. You can see the old ground on the right of the old map below (c.1910), while City’s current Etihad Stadium can be seen in the middle of the newer map. A few other things to look out for:
- Rowsley Street still exists (this is the road that cars turn on to just before the main access road which heads towards the main entrance of the Etihad.
- Philips Park, the river, the railway, canal and main roads remain.
- Part of the Electricity works complex still survives, near the Velodrome. As does part of the gas works, north west of the Etihad.
- Present day Alan Turing Way is a slightly modified Mill Street/Grey Mare Lane. Forge Lane is now within the car parking area, east of the stadium, but the Forge Lane bridge over the canal still exists between the Co-op Live arena and the car parks (to the east of Joe Mercer Way’s more modern bridge).
Move the arrows in the photo to compare maps.
The 1980s: Adcock’s ‘arf Hour v Plymouth
With Manchester City and Plymouth meeting this weekend it’s worth remembering this past encounter between the two teams. They met on 10 November 1987 – only three days after City had thrashed Huddersfield 10-1 in the League. The meeting with Plymouth was in the Full Members’ Cup – then sponsored by the unforgettable Simod Sports Shoes. Manchester’s football focus had been on Mel Machin’s goalscorerd and, once again, City entertained.
Plymouth suffered a 6-2 defeat only three days after the Huddersfield massacre. Again the press picked up on City’s exploits and for once the rather irrelevant Simod Cup dominated the back page headlines. The Star concentrated on the role played by Tony Adcock who had scored his second hat-trick in three days. Under the headline “Adcock’s ‘Arf Hour” reporter Kevin Francis concentrated on the news that the £80,000 signing from Colchester was only in the side because of injury to Imre Varadi, and suggested that Machin would have a difficult selection problem once Varadi returned to fitness. Machin, who also had the prolific Paul Moulden recovering from injury, looked forward to the time when he would actually be faced with the problem of selecting two of the four decent strikers he had on his books!
Interestingly, City’s first goalscorer against Plymouth, Andy Hinchcliffe, was being watched by Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish. Already the Blues were aware that almost all the wealthiest British clubs of the period were keen on City’s headline grabbing young players. Only four months later Rangers manager Graeme Souness arrived at Maine Road to watch the game against Swindon. He paid to sit in the North Stand, and watched the exploits of Paul Stewart while covering half his face with a scarf to hide his identity! It didn’t work. A Sunday People reporter spotted the Rangers manager and his assistant, Walter Smith, and forced the pair to leave before they attracted further attention.
For a while the interest in the achievements of City’s young players was high and this meeting with Plymouth certainly gained more headlines for them. The goalscorers that night for City were: Andy Hinchcliffe, Paul Lake, Paul Stewart and Tony Adcock (3).
Subscribers can find out more about the 1987-88 season by reading my 4,000 word feature on it below. Enjoy!
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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1988-89 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
Haaland Five v Luton
On this day (27 February) in 2024 Erling Haaland scored five against Luton Town in the FA Cup. On a night when memories of Denis Law scoring six in the FA Cup against Luton (and then getting them all wiped from the records as the game was abandoned) it was a wonderful performance, coming in Manchester City’s 6-2 victory.
When asked about the goals afterwards City manager Pep Guardiola discussed both Haaland’s scoring and the influence of Kevin De Bruyne too: ‘Erling is on fire and Kevin… the connection was perfect… Kevin needs players like Erling and Erling needs players like Kevin. Erling needs a guy with the vision, the quality, the generosity. Kevin is the less selfish player in front of goal. Kevin needs the movement from Erling. We know how aggressive they are.’
By this time De Bruyne had made nine assists in his previous five FA Cup games for De Bruyne. Surprisingly, one more than he managed in his first 23 appearances for City in the competition but he’d been waiting for a player like Haaland to come along for some time. De Bruyne was making similar moves and passes but the end product had not been there consistently prior to Haaland’s arrival.
Talking of De Bruyne, Haaland commented: ‘Kevin De Bruyne is massive. He is doing what he is best at. It’s a pleasure playing with him. We know what we both want from each other. It clicks well. He is a smart player and I like to play with him.’
Haaland became the 3rd Manchester City player to score 5 in a men’s FA Cup (and it still stands) game. Earlier players who achieved this feat are Frank Roberts & Bobby Marshall. Here’s Roberts’ game (there’s film of that match in 1926 via the link):
Of course Haaland had scored five before:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/?p=8883
For Haaland there were a few records/points to note:
- He became the first player to score five or more in the FA Cup (1st round onwards) since Duane Darby scored 6 for Hull v Whitby in 1996-97.
- He was the first to score five or more for a top-flight club in the FA Cup since George Best scored 6 for United v Northampton in 1970.
- This was the second time Haaland has scored five goals in a game in his senior career, previously doing so for City against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in March 2023.
- Since his debut for City in July 2022, Haaland had scored 79 goals in 83 games in all comps, 30 more than any other Premier League player in the that time (Salah 49) after that Luton game.
- He became the first to score five against Luton for City since Denis Law in 1961 when Law scored 6 but all were wiped from the records as the game was abandoned. See:
Tottenham v Manchester City
Tonight’s it’s Tottenham v City. The two teams first met in a FA Cup tie in January 1909 with the first League game coming at White Hart Lane on 27 December 1910. City’s first scorer in a League match with Spurs was John Smith, who netted in that first League game (a 1-1 draw). Smith played in only 18 League games (scoring 6) for City.
There are plenty of articles on my website concerning games between City and Tottenham, and here’s a link to the heatwave game played on 27 September 1913:
Here’s a link to all other features tagged Tottenham:
The 1960s: Carlisle 1 Manchester City 2
On this day (26 February) in 1966 Manchester City won away at Carlisle United, watched by 13,510, in Division Two. City won 2-1 with goals from Glyn Pardoe (photographed here at the launch of Manchester The City Years in 2012 with Janice Monk and Steve Mackenzie) and Mike Summerbee. Subscribers can read more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season below. This was an important season in City’s development.
If you’d like to read this 4100 word article, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.
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Colin Bell
To mark the anniversary of Colin Bell’s birth (26 February 1946) it’s well worth reminding ourselves of something he viewed as one of his greatest successes. It may surprise some fans… When I interviewed Colin quite a few years ago we talked about his many successes and triumphs as a player. He was as humble as ever. Then he told me something which surprised me a little and that was about Manchester City’s 1977-78 Central League title.
City’s reserve team played in the Central League back then and, due to his devastating injury, Colin played reserve games throughout that season as he pushed for full fitness. He started 22 of these games and scored five goals.
When I interviewed Colin he told me he was as pleased with this Central League success as he was with all his other medals. To him that season saw a return to competitive football and it was irrelevant whether it was a reserve league or the Football League. It mattered enormously.
Most posts on Colin won’t talk about the 1977-78 Central League title but, as he was so keen to ensure he mentioned it to me all those years ago, I feel it’s appropriate to give it a little focus.
His first Central League appearance of the 1977-78 season attracted almost 5,000 as many of us were determined to be there when he returned to action. For the record that game was v Huddersfield on 17th September 1977, attendance 4,921.
Colin was a wonderful player and man. Those of us who saw him play know what a great player he was; those of us who were privileged to meet him met a truly humble & wonderful human being. He was the King of our Kippax but was truly a legend of football at Bury, City and England. His name will always be remembered.
This image of my ledger for 1977-78 shows Colin in City’s Central League match records.
More on that season here of course:
Bobby Johnstone Double
On this day (25 February) in 1956 Bobby Johnstone scored twice as Manchester City defeated Preston 3-0. Joe Hayes scored the other goal.
I’m contemplating writing a series of features on the 1950s as this decade is beginning to slip from living memory. We’ve lost almost all the players who played during that decade for City and maybe it’s time to post some of the interviews I did with the likes of Fagan, Barnes, Clarke, Little? What do you think? I’m always keen to hear from readers/subscribers to the site.
Denis Law’s Anniversary
On this day (24 February) in 1940 Denis Law was born. Law who passed away in January, achieved major success in a glittering career for Huddersfield, Manchester City and Manchester United. He would have been 85 years old today.
There are plenty of articles mentioning Law on this site, here are those tagged with his name:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/denis-law/page/2/
Manchester City’s Record League Crowd
On this day (23 February) in 1935 Manchester City established a new Football League record crowd of 79,491. Here’s the story of that day and cuttings. Enjoy!
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Gary James' Football Archive 