For those lucky enough to get the match programme for today’s game at the Etihad my programme feature focuses on Tony Book and Denis Law. It’s not extensive as I’m sure they’ll also be featured elsewhere, but I wanted to make sure I made mention of them in my piece too.
City v Chelsea has been an important fixture over the decades with European semi finals played between the sides over fifty years ago for example. Many of these are featured on this website, so why not have a search around. Here’s a link to all articles tagged Chelsea on here:
Here are a couple of interesting photos of Johnny Crossan’s goal in the game I mentioned earlier today (24 January 1966; City defeated Blackpool 3-1 in the FA Cup). The number 2 is Blackpool’s Jimmy Armfield who does remarkably well to get up so high during the time inbetween these two photos being taken, even though he’s not able to stop the goal. I’ve not yet found film of the game but Crossan’s goal looks somewhat impressive. Here are the two images in sequence:
First of two shots of Johnny Crossan Scoring v Blackpool 24/1/1966 Jimmy Armfield is Blackpool number two. Second of two shots of Johnny Crossan Scoring v Blackpool 24/1/1966 Jimmy Armfield is Blackpool number two.
1965-66 was an important season in MCFC history and you can read more on it in the following 4100 word article. This (plus all other articles on the site) is available to subscribers (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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On this day (24 January) in 1966 52,661 watched at Maine Road as Manchester City defeated Blackpool 3-1 in the FA Cup with goals from Mike Doyle, Mike Summerbee and Johnny Crossan (the photo is of course of Mike Summerbee with Colin Bell and Francis Lee in October 1967). 1965-66 was an important season in MCFC history and you can read more on it in the following 4100 word article. This (plus all other articles on the site) is available to subscribers (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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As part of the series on Manchester City in the 1960s I’m taking a look today at an Irish player who joined the club in January 1965 and went on to captain the team, Johnny Crossan. Here goes…
Johnny Crossan was born in Derry on 29th November 1938 and first came to the notice of English clubs when he was a youth. Crossan: “I had apparently been doing quite well as a youngster. I had got into the Derry team when only aged 14 and Joe Mercer came over to have a look round and weigh up likely prospects. Later, I learned he wanted to sign me for his club, which was then Sheffield United, and a fee of around £5,000 was discussed. I never did find out what went wrong. Perhaps Derry wanted more money.”
He moved on to Coleraine a little later, and then another proposed move to England collapsed when problems over a possible transfer to Bristol City resulted in a ‘life’ ban. Crossan then moved to the continent, signing for Sparta Rotterdam, and then Standard Liege. At Liege he played in the European Cup. By October 1962 the English ban was lifted and he was transferred to Sunderland for £27,000.
At Roker Park he managed to score 39 goals in 82 appearances, before George Poyser brought him to Maine Road as a last desperate act to save his own job.
Johnny Crossan signs with City boss George Poyser, January 1965
Crossan made his debut in a 2-0 defeat at Derby County on 30 January 1965.
Although the Irishman did little to impress City’s support during Spring 1965, over time he did prove to be an excellent signing.
When Mercer took over from Poyser he was delighted to find Crossan was already at the club. He was determined to award him the captaincy and always admitted that Crossan was one of the main reasons City achieved success: “We received tremendous help from one little fellow in the dressing room – Johnny Crossan. In those early days this whimsical Irishman was a wonderful dressing room influence as we tried to mould players we hardly knew into a fighting unit.”
The promotion season was Crossan’s best at Maine Road and clearly demonstrated his playing ability, humour, and captaincy skills. He seemed to be destined to play a major part in City’s future when tragedy struck. At the age of 28 he was involved in a car crash close to Roker Park prior to the 1966-7 season. He missed the opening game of the season and, despite managing to regain his place, his City career was nearing its end. Foolishly he tried to disguise an injured knee and as a result gave the impression he just wasn’t trying. In actual fact he was probably trying more than most, but he was simply unable to cope. He also suffered from a grumbling appendix.
In August 1967 he was transferred to Middlesbrough for £32,000 – proving that he was still a player with much to offer. At Middlesbrough he made a total of 56 appearances and scored 8 goals, but suffered with insomnia and was forced to endure several hospital visits.
Once his footballing career was over Crossan returned to Derry, and in later years played an active role in training local youngsters.
In total Crossan made 24 international appearances for Northern Ireland (ten while with City), and proved to be a very popular player within the dressing room and, for most of his City career, on the terraces. Without Crossan Mercer and Allison would have found it more difficult to lift the Blues out of the Second Division, and the transformation in City’s fortunes may have taken a while longer.
Johnny Crossan
Born: Derry, 29th November 1938
Debut v Derby County (away) 30/1/1965
City Appearances:
FL: 94 apps. 24 goals.
FAC: 14 apps. 2 goals.
FLC: 2 apps. 2 goals.
TOTAL: 110 apps. 28 goals.
Middlesbrough Appearances:
FL: 54+2 apps. 7 goals.
FAC: 5 apps. 1 goal.
FLC: 2 apps.
TOTAL: 61+2 apps. 8 goals.
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Today’s article on the 1960s is free for anyone to read and tells the story of Manchester City signing Denis Law back on 15 March 1960. There’s also film here of his debut and a great colour film of City and Law that season (see below). City manager Les McDowall had been after signing Denis Law for many, many months before he finally signed the Scottish striker for a British record fee of £55,000 the day before the transfer deadline on 15 March 1960. It had been a tense negotiation. Law himself had expected to join Arsenal to link up with his Scottish colleague Tommy Docherty, however, Huddersfield were adamant that they could not sell Law for anything less than £55,000.
Ken Barnes welcomes Denis Law to Maine Road, 1960
It all came to a head at Leeds Road where Arsenal had sent coach Ron Greenwood to negotiate a good deal. At the same time City, represented by Les McDowall and Chairman Alan Douglas, were keen to sign the 20 year old Scotsman. The Gunners had only given Greenwood power to offer £25,000 plus David Herd, making a total of £50,000, whereas McDowall and Douglas were able to discuss the pros and cons of offering more. The discussions and negotiations went on while Law himself was playing Table Tennis in the games room. When the young player was summoned he quickly realised that his move to Arsenal was off and, after less than ten minutes, he agreed to join the Blues at a cost that was said to be three times his weight in gold.
Denis Law’s Manchester City debut 1960
Law made his debut a memorable one by scoring in the 4-3 defeat at Leeds on 19th March 1960. You can view Law’s first goal for City here:
I think the commentary was added some time after and that the commentary was done in a studio over the top. The commentator (is it Stuart Hall?) mentions City’s kit as being old gold and black but colour film of kit from that season shows City wearing yellow and maroon – as can be seen in this wonderful film from that same year which includes Tottenham v City from about 5 minutes in:
Eleven days after Law’s debut he scored again as City defeated West Ham 3-1. He made one other appearance, away at Chelsea, before the player became the subject of his first controversy at the Club. Law was selected to play for Scotland at Hampden Park on 9th April – the date of the vital home game with West Bromwich Albion – and the City management took the view that playing for your country was more important than playing for your club. This angered many supporters, who realised that a Law-less City would struggle and that relegation was still a strong possibility. The Blues were only two points above the relegation zone.
The controversy heightened when other clubs took a different view and refused to release players. The City Board then felt justified in asking the League for a postponement, but the League refused. In the programme for the game, the Board outlined their views and explained how the circumstance had occurred. The article ended by stressing that the situation of club V Country cannot be allowed to continue.
As expected, without Law the Blues were defeated 1-0.
You can find out more on Manchester City in the 1959-60 season by reading the following article on the season. This is available to subscribers.
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If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough arrived at Maine Road on this day (21st January) in 1976 for the second leg of the League Cup Semi final 1-0 up after a tense first leg match. The majority of the first leg had been played out in midfield with Alan Oakes, Asa Hartford and the emerging Paul Power putting up a good fight on City’s behalf. Boro had found it difficult to break through City’s powerful defence until David Armstrong gave them the lead in the 66th minute. Despite the advantage Middlesbrough’s Evening Gazette predicted a difficult return game.
At Maine Road a youthful City side destroyed Boro. As early as the 5th minute 19 year old Peter Barnes – now working for GMR – crossed the ball to 20 year old Ged Keegan, who headed home his first senior goal. Six minutes later Keegan laid the ball off for Oakes to fire a left foot shot past ‘keeper Jim Platt. A minute into the 2nd half Barnes made it 3-1 on aggregate. Shortly before the end Joe Royle made it 4-1 and maintained his record of scoring in every round.
You can watch highlights here:
Stats: League Cup semi-final 2nd leg. 21st January 1976.
While you’re here why not subscribe and read a 5,320 word article on the entire 1975-76 season – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. You can read this below.
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Continuing the series of features on the 1960s, here’s a wonderful film from the Manchester derby played at Maine Road on this day (21 January) in 1967:
The game ended in a 1-1 draw before almost 63,000 at City’s old stadium. You can read more on the 1966-67 season (a 3200 word article; plus all other articles on the site) if you 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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Continuing the series of features on the 1960s… On this day (20 January) in 1962 Manchester City defeated Arsenal 3-2 with two goals from Neil Young (and an own goal) at Maine Road. Were you there?
The photo above is of course Neil Young the following decade at Maine Road.
If you’d like to know more on this season, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1961-62 season. If you’d like to read this 1600 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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Today a small group of Manchester Corinthians have been welcomed as guests of Manchester City to their WSL game with Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium. It was a great gesture by the club and followed the staging of a reunion of the Corinthians held at the stadium last month.
The group included a 90 year old former player and others in their 70s and 80s. All of them inevitably appear in my book, Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History (see below for details). Some of them also feature in this wonderfully produced video, filmed at the Corinthians reunion last month. For details of the video and to watch it see:
If you’ve issues watching the video there (youtube may ask you to sign in) you can also watch it here (click on the ‘Watch on Youtube’, bottom left if your link doesn’t work):
I’d like to say my heartfelt thanks to Manchester City for their help and for inviting the Corinthians. I’s also like to thank all at Imprint Films for doing the video. In the spirit of Percy Ashley himself, they have funded the production of this video themselves and have the desire to see the Corinthians story spread widely. This is, of course, something I totally believe in myself. We need to spread this story and let the entire world know about the Corinthians.
Please share the video and, while you’re at it, spread the news about the book too. Both are self funded and we need help to spread the word.
Over the coming weeks and months. I’ll be talking at some events about them. There will also be articles and, hopefully, further book reviews. I know a certain online retailer is suggesting it takes months to receive the book but if you do want to order it I can sign copies and get them sent out same day.
The book consists of 356 pages. It is illustrated throughout and you can order it below for £25 (including UK postage and packaging).
If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.
You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
This will make you feel old! The first City-Wimbledon fixture shown on Match of the Day was the 3-0 City victory on 19th January 1985. This was only the second fixture between the two sides and goals from Smith, Baker and Phillips made this a comfortable Second Division win. Highlights here:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Gary James' Football Archive 