Category Archives: Seasons

Lowest Crowd

On this day (8 December) in 1998 the infamous Auto Windscreen Shield tie between Manchester City and Mansfield Town took place. It’s okay we can talk about this now that City are treble winners!

It was a competition City did not want to be in and it was a fact known across City’s supporter base. They also knew that a weakened team would be played and, to be frank, we were mostly full of apathy for the competition. The League was the only competition that mattered that season.

For the record future Blue Lee Peacock scored twice for Mansfield – a 53 minute penalty and another three minutes later – before Danny Allsopp scored City’s consolation in the 74th minute. If you want to relive that game (why would you?) here’s a match report from a Mansfield based newspaper:

Three Penalty Barnes

On this day (7 December) in 1957 Ken Barnes (pictured here with Don Revie and Johnny Williamson) became only the third person to successfully convert three penalties in a Division One/top flight game, as Manchester City defeated Everton 6-2.  Albert Dunlop, who later became a City scout working for Barnes, was the Everton ‘keeper that day and Barnes remembers facing Dunlop for each attempt: “I stuck one to the left, one to the right and he was so confused by the time the third award arrived that I could have back-heeled it in!”

United Trying To Sell Best

On this day (7 December) in 1972 Manchester United secretary Les Olive, acting on behalf of the club, sent a letter to all First and Second Division clubs informing them that the Reds would like to receive offers for George Best. The letter shown here is the one sent to Manchester City.

Peter Doherty Leaves Manchester City

On this day (6 December) in 1945 the legendary Manchester City forward Peter Doherty (described as the greatest Irish footballer of all time into the 1970s) was transferred to Derby County. A few years back I wrote this profile of him.

Subscribers to my site can read the article below:

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Manchester City 2 Fulham 0

On this day (5 December) in 2020 in front of an official crowd of zero (these were the days when no fans were allowed to attend due to Covid) Raheem Sterling (5th minute) and Kevin De Bruyne (penalty after Sterling had been brought down) gave City a 2-0 victory at home to Fulham. You can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-2-0-fulham-extended-highlights-63742795

John Burridge

On this day (3 December) in 1951 cult goalkeeping hero John Burridge was born.  43 years and 147 days later he appeared for Manchester City’s first team and became the oldest player to appear in the Premier League. You can read more about the 1994-95 season here:

Manchester City Season – 1994-95

City’s history via players

I’m always keen to find links between today’s Manchester City and the key players of the past and so a while back I set myself the task of trying to find connections from the club’s first competitive game in 1890 through to the Premier League successes of today. The idea was to see how few players I could find to form a chain through the decades. 

I did this in 2021 and today (December 2024) the same number of players still link that first year of competitive football 134 years ago with today. For those wondering how many players I’ve used to link the beginning to today: the answer is 16. But who are they and can you do better?

Subscribers can read the players and the result of my efforts below:

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The First Top Flight Manchester Derby

On this day (1 December) in 1906 the first Manchester derby in Division One was played at City’s Hyde Road ground. This photo shows the crowd management scenes for what was described as Manchester’s biggest football day at the time. There had been derbies between City and Newton Heath in the Second Division, before City were promoted in 1899. There was no opportunity for the Blues and the Heathens to meet in the top flight. In 1902 financial difficulties at Newton Heath meant that club was being wound up. A new club called Manchester United was established in 1902 (as with (like Ardwick’s final days and the new club Manchester City, it’s more complicated than simply a name change) and they played in Division Two, until they earned promotion in 1906.

City won this derby 3-0 with goals from George Stewart (2) and Billy Lot Jones.

Crowd scenes on 1 December 1906 at Hyde Road. The first Manchester Derby in Division One (top flight)

If you want to know more about this season then here’s a 3900 word article telling the story of 1906-07 when the FA ban continued to affect Manchester’s Blues (you can read about that elsewhere on this site). This story continues to be one of skullduggery (by other teams too!) and powerful figures seeking to limit opposition.

All of this sound familiar? Well, get a brew and start reading below if you’re a subscriber. Maybe read the 1903-04, 1904-05 & 1905-06 features first?

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

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More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?

Goalless v Wimbledon

Manager Peter Reid (pictured) opened his Manchester City programme notes for the Wimbledon game on this day (30 November) in 1991 with a realistic view of City’s season to date:  “We are nearly halfway through the season and I think it’s fair to say we’ve given it a right good go so far.  The League table doesn’t lie and we are in the last 16 in the Rumbelows League Cup.  You can’t argue with that.  But you won’t hear any talk of championships or winning trophies from anyone at Maine Road.”

The previous game had seen the Blues draw 2-2 at Luton and consolidate their position in the table.  City were actually third, 6 points behind leaders Leeds United, but the Luton game had started badly with the Blues giving away a sloppy goal. The gritty nature of Reid’s side shone through and a header from captain Curle and a strike from Quinn ensured the point.  Sadly, late on Steve Redmond was sent off for a second bookable offence.   

Unfortunately the Wimbledon game ended goalless at Maine Road and City started to lose their way a little in the title race, but at least they were still in with a shout.   

Result

30 Nov 1991 Wimbledon (H) 0-0, Attendance 22,429

if you’d like to know more on the 1991-92 season when the Blues finished 5th for the second season running, have a read of this 2,100 word article on that season:

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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.

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

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:

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Manager of the Month

On this day (29 November) in 1995 Manchester City manager Alan Ball won the manager of the month award. These were the days when our initial suspicion about his management approach was looking out of place. His team were starting to get some decent results and then… well, it was soon back to the mess that was Alan Ball’s time as manager of Manchester City. If you’d like to read about that season (and let’s face it, it’s always good to remember days that were awful to appreciate how things are today) then see below.

Alan Ball in August 1996

This article is almost 5,500 words long. 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 5500 word article on that season:

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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 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.

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If you want to know more on the 1990s for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

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