Category Archives: Seasons

Champions of the World

On this day (22 December) last year Manchester City became the first English club to hold the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup at the same time, following their 4-0 victory over Fluminense in the FIFA Club World Cup. It was an extraordinary achievement.

Julian Alvarez opened the scoring after 40 seconds, when he chested in from close range after Nathan Ake’s long-range strike hit the post.

In the 27th minute Nino turned Phil Foden’s cross into the back of his own net to make it 2-0.

In the second half Foden darted through the middle to send home a cross from Alvarez. Alvarez made it 4-0 with his second in the 88th minute.

Afterwards manager Pep Guardiola reflected: ‘It was an incredible year. Today we closed the chapter. We won everything we could. Now time to try again.’

Highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-v-fluminense-fifa-club-world-cup-five-minute-highlights-63838943

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.

Choose an amount

£2.50
£5.00
£7.50

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

Roy Cheetham

Roy Cheetham was born in Manchester on this day Manchester born (21 December) in 1939. He joined Manchester City from school in 1956 and went on to become a loyal clubman over a 12 year Maine Road career. In total he made 138 (plus five as sub) League and cup appearances, but he also made a staggering 218 Reserves games for the Blues.  Sadly, Roy passed away on 8 December 2019. I met up with him at City’s stadium shortly before Christmas 2004 for an interview. Here for subscribers is that interview. He talks about his City career, moving to Detroit to play in the American soccer league of the time and more:

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (for access to everything posted since December 2020 including PDFs of 2 out of print books and audio interviews with George Graham, John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc.) or £3 per month (everything since 1 October 2022). Subscribe here for annual and below for monthly. Why not try it for a month and support my research & writing?

Subscribe

Hyde Road Action Photo

Here’s an action image I found while researching about thirteen years ago of Manchester City v Preston North End played at Hyde Rd on 20 December 1913. That day a crowd of about 20,000 watched as the two sides drew 1-1 with Tommy Browell scoring for Manchester’s Blues.

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.

Choose an amount

£2.50
£5.00
£7.50

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

50 Years Ago Today: Tony Henry

Tony Henry signed professional forms for Manchester City on this day (20 December) in 1974. You can find several articles that mention Tony throughout this website. Start looking here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/tony-henry/

A Convincing Manchester City Win

On this day (19 December) in 2021 Manchester City (the Premier League leaders) defeated Newcastle 4-0 at St James’ Park. City were on a run of seven consecutive league wins but this was not the easy, walkover the score suggests.

Ruben Dias scored an early goal with the second coming from Joao Cancelo – an incredible strike. In the second-half, a Riyad Mahrez volley made it 3-0 and the fourth came from Raheem Sterling.

Here are the highlights:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/newcastle-united-0-4-manchester-city-extended-highlights-63775519

How To Subscribe

Season’s Greetings 1982

Here’s a nice Christmassy themed programme cover from today (18 December) in 1982. If you’re wondering City’s sponsor was SAAB and this was the first season of shirt sponsorship at Maine Road.

The day’s opponents were Brighton and the game ended 1-1 (Kevin Bond scoring for the Blues). Bond is the player on the far left of this photo. Notice Joe Corrigan (far right)… I get the impression he’s muttering ‘what is the game coming to? Cars on the pitch… there’ll be referees sat in a room miles away awarding a penalty after a perfectly good save is judged to be a foul, by someone sat watching a telly next!’

If you want to know more about this period then why not subscribe? As well as all the other benefits you could read the following 3,500 word feature on the 1982-83 season. Enjoy (well, if you know the outcome of this season you can enjoy this memory refresh while reflecting on the modern day successes of the Blues!).

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

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.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

Subscribe

If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

How To Subscribe

Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1983-84 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The first League Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Manchester United

Today (17 December) in 1969 a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford was enough to send Manchester City to their first League Cup final. Manchester’s two top flight clubs met in their first ever League Cup tie between them during the 1969-70 season. That was the first season when all 92 League clubs entered the competition.

Here, for subscribers, is the background to each of the 1969-70 semi-final legs and a report on each game with lineups, attendance details etc.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Subscribing gives access to all the articles posted so far, including a PDF of the book Manchester A Football History

Subscribe

Manchester City 2 Crystal Palace 2

On this day (16 December) in 2024 Manchester City’s last competitive game before appearing in the Club World Cup ended in a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace. City’s scorers were Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis and you can see highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/city-crystal-palace-extended-highlights-63838348

The First League Manchester Derby

With the latest League Manchester Derby occurring this weekend it seems appropriate to remember the first ever Manchester derby played in the Football League. The match between Manchester City and Newton Heath was played at City’s Hyde Road ground today in November 1894. You can read the story of the game (with all the stats, background etc.) here:

The First Manchester Derby In The League – 1894

Red Star Belgrade 2 Manchester City 3

On this day (13 December) in 2023 goals from Micah Hamilton (a debut goal!), Oscar Bobb (his first for City) and Kalvin Phillips brought City a 3-2 victory at Belgrade. You can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/match-highlights-red-star-2-3-man-city-63838096