The 1950s: Film of a FA Cup Tie in 1952

Here’s film of a FA Cup tie between Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers from this day (12 January) in 1952: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/52898/ The game ended in a 2-2 draw at Maine Road before 54,497. The City scorers were Jimmy Meadows and Don Revie (penalty).

The series on the 1950s includes some free articles and some subscriber only features. If you’d like to know more on this period then why not subscriber and enjoy the following article on the 1951-52 season.

This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.

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60 Years Ago Today: Manchester City 3 Rotherham Utd 1

On this day (12 January) in 1966 Manchester City defeated Rotherham 3-1 with goals from Mike Doyle (2) and Johnny Crossan (a penalty). Subscribers can read a contemporary match report of that important game in City’s quest to earn promotion from the second tier. What also made the day special was that City ended the day level on points with the Second Division leaders Huddersfield Town.

Here for subscribers is a contemporary match report of City v Rotherham:

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The 1910s: 1912-1913 Mangnall Walks Out On United 

The new series of features on Manchester City in the 1910s continues today with a 2800 word article on the 1912-13 season – A season which saw United’s most successful manager (at the time) walk out on the Reds to become City’s manager (he believed that City, with the larger pulling power, was a more ambitious club). If you’re a subscriber you can read all about that and the rest of the season below. If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

More on the 1910s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Record Etihad Score: City 10 Exeter City 1

It’s been an enjoyable day at the Etihad today (10 January 2026). Manchester City established a new record score at the Etihad Stadium and an incredible nine different players scored City’s goals (2 goals judged to be own goals it seems). The FA Cup game ended 10-1 which is not quite City’s highest score in the FA Cup but it is a record home score for the Etihad.

For many of us it brought back memories of another 10-1 – back in 1987 when we beat Huddersfield Town 10-1 in the League. That day City had three hat trick heroes – Tony Adcock, Paul Stewart and David White (I bumped into David pre-match today. It must have been a good omen) – whereas today had so many scorers.

The scorers were:

Manchester City

  • M. Alleyne (12′)
  • Rodri (24′)
  • J. Doyle-Hayes (42′ og)
  • J. Fitzwater (45’+2 og)
  • R. Lewis (49′, 90’+1)
  • A. Semenyo (54′)
  • T. Reijnders (71′)
  • N. O’Reilly (79′)
  • R. McAidoo (86′)

Exeter City

  • G. Birch (90′)

Interestingly the goal scoring pattern was similar to 1987 – 4-0 at half time, City take a 9-0 lead, opposition make it 9-1 and then City score a tenth.

The 1910s: 1911-1912  Goalkeeping Changes 

The new series of features on Manchester City in the 1910s continues today with a 1000 word article on the 1911-12 season. If you’re a subscriber you can read this below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

More on the 1910s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

The 1910s: 1910-1911 Ground Work

The new series of features on Manchester City in the 1910s continues today with a 1500 word article on the 1910-11 season. If you’re a subscriber you can read this below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

More on the 1910s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

60 Years Ago Today: Portsmouth’s Free Seats for Women

On this day (8 January) 1966 Portsmouth welcomed Manchester City to Fratton Park. Subscribers can read a contemporary match report below of that important game in City’s quest to earn promotion from the second tier (Joe Mercer was not happy!). What also made the day special was that Portsmouth chose that day to introduce a policy of free tickets for women (to accompany their men according to this cutting in my collection!). I’m not certain how long their policy lasted but it’s worth noting that many clubs had previously had a policy of half price tickets for women (City had been doing that from the 1890s).

Here for subscribers is a contemporary match report of Portsmouth v City (you can find out why Joe Mercer was angry too!):

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or you can sign up for a year at the discounted rate of £20 per year. Subscribers get access to everything posted to this site, including PDFs of Manchester A Football History and my first MCFC book too.

Manchester City V Brighton – The Story And Film Of The First Ever Meeting

Tonight (7 January 2026) Manchester City and Brighton meet in the Premier League. The first game between the two clubs came over 100 years ago in 1924. This game was a newsworthy FA Cup tie due to the return of a legend to the City team. In fact it was so newsworthy that a movie company sent their camera (you’ll see from the footage it never moved!) to Brighton’s Goldstone Ground to capture the return of a true Blue hero.

Here’s film of that game, though sadly we don’t see Meredith or the goal. City are the dark shirted team (actually the club’s ‘Lucky Scarlet’!):

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-football-the-cup-action-from-the-third-round-of-the-fa-cup-653-1

Subscribers can also read an article about that day here:

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The 1910s: 1909-1910 Division Two Champions

The new series of features on Manchester City in the 1910s starts today with an article on the 1909-10 season when the Blues returned to the First Division as champions after a one season absence. If you’re a subscriber you can read this below.

If you’re not a subscriber then why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?

More on the 1910s soon. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Starting Tomorrow: MCFC in the 1910s

Starting tomorrow a new series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1910s. Most decades in the history of the club are already featured on this site but the seasonal review of the 1910s is not complete. Over the next week or so every season of that decade will be covered here. The 1910s is a decade that’s often overlooked but it did include title challenges; record attendances; and much more. It was also a decade that saw war lead to the suspension of the Football League BUT – and this is important – football did continue with crowds gathering at games across Manchester (and the nation) throughout the war.

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