I’m delighted to say that my latest biographical piece for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been published. It’s on the life of Tommy Docherty, the former Preston & Scotland footballer and manager with a whole host of clubs including Manchester United of course. Details of all the people featured by the dictionary this year can be viewed here:
I’ve written several articles for the dictionary in recent years, including biographical pieces on footballers Jimmy Armfield, Ray Wilkins and Frank Swift. It’s a prestigious publication, recording the achievements of the nation’s most important figures. Anyone included within the book has achieved something remarkable, or perceived as an iconic figure in some way.
Hopefully, in the future I’ll be able to contribute biographical pieces on other important figures. Various panels decide who is to be included but I would be interested to know who you think should be covered in future editions. The important aspect to remember is that these figures must now be deceased and have contributed something remarkable or iconic. Those who died in 2021 or the years that have followed will be eligible to be considered for future editions. Sadly, I won’t decide but I have previously been asked my thoughts and have provided names.
On 16 April 2011 Manchester City faced Manchester United in the FA Cup semi final. A few years back I produced Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final and as we build up to another FA Cup semi final weekend involving both Manchester clubs it’s well worth reminding ourselves of this time.
This special 1 hour audio recording looks at the game and the years between City’s 1976 League Cup success and the FA Cup glory of 2011. The 2011 semi-final was a crucial step in City’s journey since the 2008 takeover and I felt it was vital to do a special marking this.
So what’s in this special recording? Well, I’ve included exclusive material from interviews and recordings I’ve done over the years with Garry Cook, Brian Marwood, Roberto Mancini, Peter Barnes and Peter Swales. Why Swales? Well, have a listen and you’ll hear why. Basically though I’m trying to set the tone for why the 2011 FA Cup semi final victory and overcoming Manchester United was so significant.
On Mancini… I include a few words from him recorded in 2011 and at one point he talks about the view that was then being expressed that City were ‘trying’ to buy success (now they say City ‘have’ bought success!). His words are a reminder that City have been having that particular criticism thrown at them for over a decade! Oh well, I wonder how long those criticisms were laid at other clubs who had seen major investment which propelled them forward?
Anyway, get yourself a brew and be prepared to be transported back in time. Here’s the recording:
If you enjoy the recording then please let me know, comment or subscribe to the site. If it’s of interest then, over the coming months and years, I’ll produce others like this highlighting key points in Manchester City – and Manchester’s – footballing history. It costs £20 a year to subscribe (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe (you can always try it for a month). It’s worth bearing in mind that the 2010 Manchester A Football History cost £24.95 and all subscribers will be able to access all of that for as long as they are a subscriber (plus all the other stuff of course). You can subscribe below.
The series of features covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with this reminder of the days when the creation of a Super League was leaked to the press. The Super League eventually became the Premier League and the key clubs behind the move were Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United. Much of the coverage from this period in 1991 focused on these clubs wanting to exert greater control on football’s finances, i.e. to carve up the game’s riches for the biggest clubs of the era. These cuttings are all from the start of April 1991.
Back then the Football League had four divisions and voting rights were equal for all clubs in the top two divisions (the ‘full members’ of the League, hence the Full Members Cup). The bottom two divisions were classed as associate members and they still had voting rights which many in the top division objected to. They felt the clubs outside the top flight should not control the League’s finances and direction.
It wasn’t the first time the establishment of a Super League had been discussed (usually it involved the idea of bringing leading Scottish clubs into a British league system) but it does appear to be the first time the leading clubs in the top division wanted to limit the influence of the others.
You can see from these articles who the leading architects were and how fans reacted. This piece quotes Frank Horrocks from the MCFC Supporters Club. Many of his concerns have proved to be true in the 30+ years that have followed:
All these years on there have been multiple attempts by certain clubs to limit the opportunities for others and create an environment where they can prosper without necessarily investing. Many of the financial issues between the rich and the rest in football that people talk of today were created as a result of the greed of several clubs in the early 1990s.
For Manchester City the 1990-91 season saw a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 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.
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:
Yesterday (23 March 2024) saw another Manchester City victory over United in the WSL Manchester derby. It’s always impressive seeing the Blues win and this City team has been in existence since 1988. The history of women’s football in Manchester does not always get the attention it deserves and many of us have been determined to change that for years (this year I’ll be publishing the Authorised History of the Manchester Corinthians after years of research – see below). So hopefully the following will be of interest. It includes a few quotes from those involved in previous decades and I’ve included it as part of my series on the 1990s as the first City-Utd women’s league derby took place in 1990.
While the perception will always exist that Manchester United’s women’s team has always been City’s rivals and vice versa, for both clubs the real rivals have varied over the years. Derby matches have been played against Manchester Belle Vue and other prominent local clubs. There were even derbies in the 1940s when Manchester Ladies and Manchester Corinthians played each other.
However, any game between City and United takes on extra significance. United fans established a Manchester United Ladies team in the 1970s with close ties to the men’s club. This eventually was closed down by the men’s club before re-emerging in 2018 as a WSL 2 club. In September 2019 the first WSL Manchester derby between City and United occurred at the Etihad following United’s move into the top flight. This was a truly special day for both clubs and for those of us present.
The first competitive derby between City and United was actually in September 1990 in the North West Women’s Regional Football League Second Division when Neil Mather was City’s manager: “I was nervous for weeks on end, and it was coming and coming and coming. I thought ‘we’ve got to beat United in the first competitive Derby.’ Being a big blue it was like ‘whatever we do we’ve got to beat them.’ We were 4-1 up with about five minutes to go and then had a five minute collapse where I thought we’re going to blow this. At one point it had looked like we were going to get five or six and annihilate them and then we nearly lost it! Thank God we hung on for a 4-3 win, but I’ll never forget that game. We had a girl called Jenny Newton who was a manic City fan and scored and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. When she scored her eyes were bulging and it meant the world and a lot of our girls were City fans. It meant the world to beat them.”
Lesley Wright: “The first time we played United in a competitive game there was about 150 there. They were a really strong team. Better than us at the time and they’d been established a lot longer.”
Rita Howard: “Despite being a United fan I loved playing as City Ladies against United. I absolutely loved it. Even though I’m a United fan I never contemplated joining them because the support from City, even when it waned a little, was far superior to anything United got. At best they’d get a kit and then it was ‘on your way.’ I know our closeness to City came from that beginning with Neil. His enthusiasm got us the kit, the tracksuits, the minibus…. All sorts of things. I know that wasn’t happening at United and at that time I don’t think any club connected in any way to a Football League side were as close as we were then. I think we got a lot more recognition from the beginning and that has carried on to today. Look at what City have done.”
Jane Morley: “I’m a season ticket holder at Manchester United but I was a manager at City Ladies. One day I’d been with City at a tournament and then went straight to Old Trafford for a men’s game. I was sat there when the bloke next to me – who I didn’t know – said ‘what you doing with that on!’ I realised I still had my City jacket on. I had to explain to him that I managed City Ladies.”
Bev Harrop was a Manchester United fan playing for City: “I had a United shirt underneath my City shirt! (laughs) Most of the time. Not later on, I grew out of it eventually, but at first, I did.”
Jane Morley: “It angers me when people say that Manchester United now have their first women’s team. As with City when the relaunch happened that implies the stuff we did for the club years before doesn’t count. I played for United in the 70s and 80s before a few of us broke away to set up FC Redstar. We left United because we wanted to test ourselves. We had some great players and wanted to progress but those who ran United wanted to stay in a Manchester League and not join the North West League. So we broke away in 1985 and formed FC Redstar.
“Many of the teams we know today as WSL clubs are actually men’s clubs that have taken over established women’s clubs. Teams like Leasowe Pacific became Everton. I have to bite my lip sometimes when some clubs claim they created a women’s team… no, you took and rebranded a team. There were quite a few big teams around the time City Ladies started such as Broadoak with Tracey Wheeldon.”
These snippets are from my book on Manchester City’s women’s team. Copies (signed by me) can be ordered here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/shop/
For more on the book on the Manchester Corinthians (who started in 1949) see:
If you would like to read all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Each subscriber gets full access to the 500+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.
The latest City in the 1990s flashback feature is about the women’s Manchester derby. This weekend marks the latest Manchester derby in the Women’s Super League and it will be played at the Etihad Stadium (City currently hold the record attendance for a women’s club game in Manchester – you can find details of that elsewhere on the website). There’s a long history of competition between teams representing the women of Manchester City and Manchester United.
City’s team has been in existence continually since November 1988 when Donna Haynes and Heidi Ward both scored two goals in their first game (v Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park).
I was at the City Ladies (as they were then known) first game and I was also at their first league derby in September 1990 when City defeated United 4-3. It was a fantastic day, watched by around 150 people.
City’s goals came from Rhoda Taylor (8 min), Rachel O’Shaughnessy (43 mins), Jenny Newton (50 mins) and Lesley Peters. City’s manager Neil Mather told me as part of my research for the Manchester City Women book: ‘United were the top side, you know, and beating them was so good for morale. The men’s team were a good side in the early 90s when City Ladies carried on developing, you know. This was the Howard Kendall era, and City had top five finishes. City were one of the top five or six teams in the country at the time, so it was fabulous for women’s football to have Man City, you know.’
Helen Hempenstall played for City that day and she described her memory of the day for my book: I remember when we played United (30/9/90) and Neil (Helen’s boyfriend, now husband) and all his mates came to watch us. There were a lot of people there that day. United had a decent team then. It was always a difficult game against United. They had a right-winger… We never got on. Every time we played each other we were at each other all the way through the game. Me and Carol Woodall were having a go at her. The referee told Lesley Wright “Tell both your full backs to shut their mouths otherwise they’ll both be off!” We just didn’t get along and before every game I thought I’ll get in their first. ‘I’m having her.’ Neil Mather still talks about it.
‘I think Lesley Wright kept the team together. She kept it all tight at the back. I played at the back with her and I learnt a lot from her. Because I was next to her I knew how important she was. If I missed something she always got it. She always encouraged me and kept shouting ‘different class, different class’. You learn from the people around you and I listened to her. Before every game she came to speak to me. She’d put her arm around me and reassure me. She’d tell me not to worry about anything. Most of the time travelling to away games I’d go with Lesley in the car. We used to have a laugh. I remember one day we were travelling to an away game some distance away and we stopped for petrol and all got out. I lit up a fag and everyone else jumped back in the car screaming! I didn’t even think! When we got to the ground they all told Neil Mather and I think he worried that he could’ve lost half his team. At another game I was sat in the middle and as we got out the person before me slammed the door back. It hit my head and I had a big lump for the game.’
Lesley Wright was one of several women who had first played for the pioneering Manchester Corinthians team. I’ve been researching their remarkable story for years and this summer (2024) my work will be published. It will tell the story of the Corinthians from its formation in 1949 through to its final days forty years later. For more information on that club and the book see:
The story of the first women’s League derby and of the first 30 years or so of City Women’s existence can be read in my book on the club. It’s called Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is basically the women telling their stories of playing for the club and how they got into football, plus statistics covering the journey from friendlies in 1988-89 through to competition and the modern day successes.
You can buy the book via this link (every copy is signed by me):
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with a reminder of the Manchester Derby played on this day (20 March) in 1993. The match ended in a 1-1 draw (City were leading 1-0 before Cantona equalised). Here’s City scorer Niall Quinn’s view of the game:
The game was the first derby at Maine Road in the Premier League that had been established that season and United would go on to win the title, so this draw was viewed as a significant result for City at the time. The attendance was 37,136 which was an absolute sellout. The new Umbro Stand (Platt Lane) had opened that month.
There were issues about ticket touts and capacity, leading to MUFC showing the match at Old Trafford too. 10,000 were reported to have watch the game there. Here are some cuttings about that.
Here’s a 3,200 word article on that full season from a Manchester City perspective:
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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 below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
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:
On this day (14 March) in 1990 the Manchester Evening News featured Bob Scott’s plans for Manchester’s 1996 Olympic Bid (remember this was not the first bid by the city either – there was an attempted bid for the 1992 Games). These articles make interesting reading now. Note also the involvement of Rick Parry – a man well known in football circles then and now (he later was one of the key figures behind football’s league restructuring).
I’ve included this as part of my feature on Manchester City in the 1990s as ultimately these Olympic bids led to the building of the City of Manchester Stadium (present day Etihad). Back in 1990 though the preferred site for a new stadium was in Trafford and Manchester City had held discussions even then on moving to the new stadium even though it would have meant City moving out of the City of Manchester.
Notice how the footballing activities were to be shared between City, United, Everton and Liverpool. Also, the velodrome is mentioned as the Tameside Velodrome but it is of course the one build near the present day Etihad.
This feature is part of my series on Manchester City in the 1990s and you can read about the opening months of 1990 below. 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? The following 1,300 word article on the end of the 1989-90 season is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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.
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.
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with the 1993-94 season. 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? As with all these 1990s subscriber features 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:
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.
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.
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:
In December 2021 I staged a talk at Hebden Bridge on the FA ban of women’s football. The night was sponsored and supported by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared Ltd. It was a wonderful night and lots of attendees asked about the future and what they could do to help promote the stories of the women who played at a time when the FA tried to kill female participation in the sport. Well, after that night a lot has happened to recognise the Manchester Corinthians.
As part of my longstanding project into female participation and involvement in football in Manchester I have been researching and writing Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. The book will be of a similar scope to my Manchester City Women: An Oral History on City’s women’s team.
Margaret Shepherd and Margaret Whitworth with me prior to the Hebden Bridge event
A lot has been written on the Corinthians (see the section on women’s football on this site for a few examples) but not nearly enough, plus there are some inaccuracies out there that need to be corrected (even now there are some that keep on being repeated). Basically, this team possessed a talented group of players who toured Europe and South America promoting football, female endeavour and Manchester.
I talked quite a bit about Corinthians at Hebden Bridge and we were fortunate to have three Corinthians as guests that night. Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd and Lesley Wright between them covered every season of the club’s life from the 1950s through to its demise. Since that night I’ve also tracked down a player from the club’s very first season of 1948-49 who, together with detailed archival research, has helped me piece together for the first time several people who were instrumental in the birth of the club. Again, this is not something that has appeared in any of the articles or films connected with the club in recent years. This will be explained properly for the first time in my book.
I’m still trying to track down other Corinthians to include in the book. To date I’ve identified over 230 players. See:
After the Hebden Bridge night it was clear that we needed to recognise the Corinthian players further. On that night I mentioned my idea of having a plaque erected for the Corinthians in a significant/related location in Manchester. Several members of the audience thought this was a wonderful idea and asked if they could support the wider promotion of the Corinthians – one more or less suggested we should march on Downing Street to persuade them to do something about it!
In 2019 I’d written articles for a variety of publications suggesting the same and urging the FA and others to recognise the Corinthians. In the Manchester City men’s match programme as well I highlighted my desire to get a plaque erected about their achievements.
The talk at Hebden Bridge
Via Manchester Council I was put in contact with the Friends of Fog Lane Park and we ultimately set up a successful appeal in their name. The FA made a significant donation which funded the plaque and our fundraising efforts raised enough to allow the Friends to commission 2 murals and other tributes to the Corinthians as well.
Those present at Hebden Bridge in December 2021 helped raise the profile and that event was significant in highlighting the incredible achievements of its female footballers. Now, the authorised history of the Corinthians will tell the story of the club from its birth right through to the blue plaque appeal. It will use the voices of the women who represented Manchester and England in a positive manner and who won trophies in South America & Europe and who toured North Africa. They won a significant European competition before either Manchester men’s team yet their achievements were not recognised by the city until the blue plaque appeal started.
I am immensely proud of how this has all happened. The event at Hebden Bridge was free to attend and was made possible by the support of a locally based business, Cansquared (Geoff Matthews – who co-hosted the evening). We felt it was vital we made this free to attend to spread the word.
If anyone runs a key Manchester venue and would like a Corinthians celebration event then please get in touch. The more we can do to promote their story the better.
Thanks for reading this. If you would like to find out more about the Corinthians then follow the tabs on this site or use the search function. If you’d like to know more about the FA Ban then you can download for free an article I’ve recently co-written here:
Copies of my book on Manchester City Women are still available. This tells the history of City Women via the voices of the women (and some men) involved. The book has been heralded as a model for oral histories by the Oral History Society.
Here’s a link you can follow to order a signed copy of the City Women book:
Watch this space for more on the Corinthians and women’s football over the coming months. Thanks – now use the tabs and search to learn more on women’s football in Manchester. Ta!
The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with this brief flashback to today (19 February) in 1973. There wasn’t a first team game that day but the Liverpool Echo did publish this article about their local club’s frustrations at facing Manchester City. This followed a 1-1 draw at Maine Road (Tommy Booth had scored shortly before half time; Liverpool equalised in second half).
The two clubs had met three times in 2 weeks with Malcolm Allison’s Blues defeating Bill Shankly’s Liverpool 2-0 in the middle meeting and both other games ended in a draw. It’s a long time ago now but modern football tends to forget that for much of the 1970s City and Liverpool were considered major rivals, more so than LFC-MUFC for many years. In fact Shankly had already said in the late 1960s that he considered City to be Liverpool’s main rivals – it was probably all about who he saw as the greatest team LFC faced in terms of quality, but there were many seasons, including 1972-73 (through to the end of the decade except 1977-78 & 1979-80), where the Anfield crowd for the game with City was greater than it was for a game with United. In 1973-74 it was an incredible 10,000 higher for City than United and at other times around 6,000.
Ah well! Football perceptions change over time but that’s why it’s important to do the research and find contemporary material. Memories fade and change.
1,700 word article on the entire 1972-73 season – a season of major change which saw one man who didn’t want to be manager told to take the manager’s job or you’ll be leaving yourself! Oh City! You can read this below. This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 1,700 word article is on the 1972-73 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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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 below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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Gary James' Football Archive 