It’s wonderful that England have won, once again, the Women’s Euros. It’s so important for moments like this to be celebrated and recognised for the significant achievement they are. During recent weeks much has been said about the first England women’s international against Scotland back in 1972. That’s great – the history of women’s football in this country goes back a long way – however I am a little disappointed that the role of one significant figure in the development of international football has not really been mentioned. That’s he role of Gladys Aikin, the first chair of the England Women International Committee.
Gladys was the manager of the Manchester Corinthians and she was one of the founding people behind the establishment of the Women’s FA. She was also someone who challenged the FA a ban and in the early 70s she worked with others to establish an England international team. She became the first chair (though she always described herself as Chairman using the convention of the time) of the England Women International Committee and was ultimately responsible for that first England squad (see letter).
I’ll be mentioning Gladys during the Free Corinthians event I’m staging at Hebden Bridge on Saturday 2 August (4pm-6pm) so why not come along and hear more on her and the Corinthians? Follow the link for tickets and details:
On Saturday August 2 between 4pm and 5.30pm I’ll be hosting a special free event at the Hebden Bridge Picture House. I’ll be talking about the Manchester Corinthians; we’ll show a short film about them and then we’ll welcome some of these pioneering women footballers on to the stage to discuss their experiences in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s (when they toured the world playing football in some extraordinary places while also playing a major part in structuring women’s football pre and post the FA ban). There’ll also be the opportunity for an audience Q&A.
I’ll be raising funds for the Hebden Bridge Women’s Walking Football team too via sales of Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History (the book will be available at the discounted price of £20 and £5 from every sale on the day will be given to the walking football team).
The event is free but tickets must be reserved. You can order yours here:
The evening promises to be a great event and follows one held in Hebden Bridge in 2021. Back then we announced the idea of erecting a blue plaque for the Corinthians which received great support from the audience that night. In the four years since we’ve not only managed to get a Blue Plaque and other tributes to them but we’ve also produced the book; staged a reunion and had numerous TV and radio appearances as we’ve tried to highlight the incredible story of these remarkable women.
Book your place at our event on 2 August and hear from the women themselves about their experiences.
The short film we’ll be showing was put together with interviews at the reunion event and was made by Imprint Films. It’s an emotionally wonderful tribute to these amazing footballers.
Margaret Whitworth with the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque
With the Women’s Euros starting today it’s worth looking back to a time decades ago when a women’s team from Manchester, playing as England won a European Cup. Let’s make everyone aware of when England beat Germany in the final of a women’s European tournament in 1957? Here’s the story of when they did…
The match saw the pioneering women’s team, Manchester Corinthians, play as England in the International Ladies Football Association’s European Cup. They won 4-0 in the final of this European championship in 1957, played in Berlin. This game, like so many others when the Corinthians played as England, are not officially recognised as internationals as they predated the Women’s FA and the involvement of UEFA in women’s football, but no one should underestimate the achievements of the Manchester women who took part. At the time they occurred these were full-blooded affairs and I’ve been fortunate to interview many of the women who played as England that day.
You can find out more about the Corinthians and their Germany trip in my new highly acclaimed history of the club:
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.
The history of women’s football in Manchester deserves to be properly recorded. This week I’m presenting at the International Football History conference in Belfast on the teams and communities of women’s footballers that existed in Manchester during the 1950s. People often assume there’s either no women’s football in the city back then or there are one, maybe two teams. My research is identifying that there are many more teams than that and that the community of women playing football in Manchester during the 50s was significantly greater than most believe.
Over the last decade I’ve been interviewing women who played football in Manchester, or for Manchester based teams, during the 1940s to modern years. This includes Maureen Charlton, Dorothy Allcock and Flo Cloake (who played in the 1940s & 50s) and players like Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott (who of course played in more recent times). For me the stories of all are inspiring. Many women from Manchester, or based in Manchester, played prominent roles in football’s development during the 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. Some who played decades ago are still contributing significantly today.
To date I’ve published two books and written many articles, chapters and features for a variety of publications on Manchester’s women’s teams. The latest of these is the book on the Manchester Corinthians. I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there.
For those interested Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages. Getting it into Manchester bookshops, particularly Waterstones, is proving difficult so if there’s anyone reading this who can help please get in touch. We can organise events if that helps?
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far to promote the Corinthians and their stories. But we need to bang the drum for all Manchester’s clubs, so please do all you can to spread the word.
I’ll let everyone know more about the other teams, the presentation at the conference and more later. For now… the Corinthians book is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
My latest article on women’s football has been published. This one looks back to 1957 when a Manchester club (chosen by Bert Trautmann to play) represented England in a European Cup in Germany. The article has been posted by Manchester City. You can access it via this link:
Some of you are aware of my obsession to document and promote the history of women’s football in Manchester over the last decade, but for those uncertain I’d like to post a few links and bits of information here on the remarkable stories of the Manchester Corinthians who, before the men’s teams of City & United, found international success.
Some of the Friends of Fog Lane Park at the last meeting before the Corinthians plaque unveiling
Dorothy Alcock, Manchester Corinthian from formation in 1949
Margaret Whitworth with the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque
Washing in the duck pond, Manchester Corinthians by Artist Gavin Renshaw
Some of the trophies won by the Manchester Corinthians
Over the last decade I’ve been interviewing women who played football in Manchester, or for Manchester based teams, during the 1940s to modern years. This includes Maureen Charlton, Dorothy Allcock and Flo Cloake (who played in the 1940s & 50s) and players like Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott (who of course played in more recent times). For me the stories of all are inspiring but it is those who played for the Corinthians that I’m most keen to promote at the moment. These women played prominent roles in football’s development and some are still contributing significantly today.
In 2021 the blue plaque appeal was launched to recognise the Corinthians and elsewhere on my site you can read about the success of that and the unveiling in 2023. In addition in December 2024 I staged a reunion where over 90 attended (most Corinthians with some in their 90s). You can watch scenes from that here:
I gave a speech explaining why the Corinthians matter that day:
There were some wonderful words from Margaret Shepherd which I am truly grateful for. Margaret has been one of the key figures promoting the club’s endeavours and she certainly inspired me during my research:
We’ve also inspired Imprint Films to put together this 18 minute overview of the Corinthians’ story, including interviews with some of the players:
Of course there is the book too and I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there.
For those interested Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages. Getting it into Manchester bookshops, particularly Waterstones, is proving difficult so if there’s anyone reading this who can help please get in touch. We can organise events if that helps?
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far to promote the Corinthians and their stories. We still need to bang the drum so please do all you can to spread the word on this remarkable team. If you need more info then there’s lots on this website, just search Corinthians. There’s also the book of course….
The book is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there.
My new book, Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History, is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages.
It is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
I’m really pleased with these comments from the William Hill Sports Book of the Year people about my research and book on the Manchester Corinthians:
Thanks to all those involved. Let’s keep spreading the word about the Manchester Corinthians. If you’re interested in reading about the club there are plenty of articles on here, plus here are details about the book:
On this day (5 May) in 1957 the Manchester Corinthians and their sister team the Nomads played out a 3-3 draw at the Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, before a crowd reported as 60,000 by some. This photo shows action from that game with Veronica Bailey on the ball, watched by Mary Bee and under pressure from Barbara Tooth. Two of the three women mentioned have been interviewed for my new book. Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. It is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages.
It is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
A small group of Manchester Corinthians were invited to attend the WSL Manchester Derby today at Old Trafford. They were taken pitchside and also had seats in the Directors Box. Players from the 50s to 90s were there, such as Margaret Whitworth, who participated in major trophy winning successes for the club in Venezuela and France. Others, like Wendy Crossland, had been significant players during the club’s first league successes – back when the Corinthians became champions of the highest league available to them. Here are a few photos from the day, plus images of the match programme article:
You can discover more on the Corinthians’ history (the facts not the fiction!) in my new book. Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. It is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages.
It is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
£25.00
Some photos from when a group of Corinthians visited LFC’s Melwood a few days ago:
Gary James' Football Archive 