Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
The new series on the 1940s continues today with this 2,300 word article on the 1949-50 season. Enjoy!
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The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1948-49 season. This article can be read by subscribing below.
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The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1947-48 season. This 1000 word subscriber article can be read by subscribing below.
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On this day (20 April) in 1946 Manchester City defeated the Football League North league leaders Sheffield United 3-2 at Bramall Lane. The City scorers were Lew Woodroffe, Jimmy Constantine and George Smith. The image shows the results from that day.
A crowd recorded as 40,000 watched this match. Although this game was played in peacetime the regional war leagues were still being played, with the Football League returning the following season.
There was FA Cup action though and you can read about that in the following feature on the 1945-46 season.
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The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this article on the 1940-41 season. The season ended with Manchester United sharing Maine Road after bomb damage to United’s ground. The image shows sites where bombs damaged property close to Maine Road on that same night.
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The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s starts today with this 1,400 word article on the 1939-40 season. The season started as any other but then world events intervened!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
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When high-flying Newcastle arrived at Maine Road on this day (9 April) in 1994 many expected the Geordies to embarrass Manchester City, particularly as the Blues were struggling at the other end of the table, but a determined performance brought City the points and the plaudits.
Maine Road’s second largest crowd of the season felt a little apprehensive in the opening period – especially when Newcastle’s £700,000 purchase Scot Sellars netted in the 19th minute. The worry didn’t last however, and as the match progressed Brian Horton’s Blues began to excel. After 33 minutes Paul Walsh scored a deserved equaliser, and then 3 minutes into the second half defender David Brightwell scored the winner. This was the unlikely hero’s first goal for the club and pre-match bookmakers Ladbrookes had offered odds of 66-1 for him to score. Immediately after netting he was mobbed by Paul Walsh, Peter Beagrie, and David Rocastle.
For the rest of the match City appeared confident and were certainly good value for money, matching Newcastle throughout. An ecstatic crowd gave the Blues a tremendous ovation at the whistle with the talents of Beagrie, Walsh, and Rosler gaining particular praise. Afterwards Kevin Keegan gave the Blues further praise – something he repeated two years later in an equally thrilling 3-3 draw between a Geordie side six points clear at the top, and a City side slipping towards relegation.
The season ended with Newcastle in third place, and City in 16th position – 3 points above the relegation zone.
Stats: Premier League 9th April 1994.
City 2 Newcastle United 1
Scorers – City: Walsh, Brightwell (D)
Newcastle: Sellers
City: Dibble, Hill, Brightwell D., McMahon, Curle, Vonk, Rocastle, Karl (Lomas), Rosler, Walsh, Beagrie
Attendance: 33,774
Subscribers to this website can read all about the 1993-94 season below. It was such an important (and at times complicated season) that this article on that season is over 9,000 words long. It’s like a book in itself! It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? It contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time. In particular this one contains quotes from Peter Swales and Francis Lee which they discussed with me personally.
Here’s the 9000+ word article on that season:
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On this day (3 April) in 1965 Manchester City defeated Plymouth 2-1 thanks to goals from Alan Oakes and Trevor Ogden. Mike Trebilcock scored for Plymouth. Tony Book played for Plymouth that day while Malcolm Allison was their manager. The following summer Allison would arrive as number two to Joe Mercer and the year after that Tony Book would become a Blue too. Incredible success followed of course!
The 1964-65 season was remarkable and, perhaps, demonstrated how bonkers things were at Maine Road before Mercer and Allison arrived. This was the season when a City director held meetings, hoping to merge City and United! If you’d like to read the following 2350 word article on that season, 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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On this day (30 March) in 1956 Manchester City defeated Sunderland 3-0 before 40,394 at Roker Park. The City scorers were Joe Hayes and Don Revie (pictured with Ken Barnes and Johnny Williamson) plus an own goal. You can read more on this season below…
Here for subscribers is a 3,900 word article on the 1955-56 season when City won the FA Cup final (nowadays known as the Trautmann Final) and Bert Trautmann was FWA Footballer of the Year (presented in the days before the final). Enjoy!
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On this day (27 March) in 1926 the first all-Manchester FA Cup semi final occurred. You can see film of that game here and subscribers can read about the match below. Here’s the film from Bramall Lane:
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/51947/
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