Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Score 1-1, Attendance 52,424 Maine Road
City’s penultimate match of the season turned out to be one of the most controversial derby matches of all time. Both clubs were languishing at the foot of the table, and a derby victory would more or less guarantee the victor’s survival.
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On this day (9 May) in 1898 the first ever Newton Heath and Salford match programme was produced however all is not what it seems. This was actually a mock up of what a Manchester football programme could look like and was used to officially register the new publication. Everything in this issue was mocked up based on an Everton-Liverpool style programme. The company behind the Manchester programme was Merseyside based.
When the programme properly began the following football season it carried the details of not only Newton Heath and Salford but also Broughton Rangers and Manchester City.
One interesting image the original mock up contained was this scene from an Everton Liverpool game which it described as the finest picture of football ever published (hyperbole, hey?).
On this day (27 April) in 1974 Manchester United hosted Manchester City at Old Trafford for a high profile derby match. A lot has been said about the game over the years with lots of myths and twisting of stories but if you want to know the true story of the day take a look at this:
A few months back I started writing a series of articles on football in the Manchester region for the Manchester Confidential website. If you’ve missed the and are interested here are links to them:
Oldham:
https://confidentials.com/manchester/oldhams-green-shoots
Rochdale:
https://confidentials.com/manchester/dale-drop?id=641c3189d2891
City:
United:
There will be a new article each month.
The FA Cup helped establish Manchester’s footballing identity – more on that in a minute. On this day in 1948 Manchester United appeared at Wembley for the first time to win the FA Cup. Manchester’s 1st FAC success came in 1904 (City). Before 1948 the Blues had appeared in 3 Wembley finals. Utd’s 1948 success meant 2 FA Cups each.
More on 1904 here:
United beat Blackpool 4-2 in the 1948 final wearing blue.
The closest Manchester City and Manchester United have got to playing each other in a Wembley FA Cup final were FA Cup semi finals in 1926 and 2011. I wasn’t around in 1926 but I definitely was in 2011. So a couple of years ago I made this special audio recording talking about the years building up to the semi and the day itself.
Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final is a special 1 hour audio recording looks at the game and the years between the 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. I’ve produced videos/talks like this highlighting key points in Manchester City’s footballing history which subscribers can watch.
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Match Stats for the 2011 FA Cup Semi-final
City 1-0 United (HT 0-0)
Yaya Toure 52
City: 25 Hart 04 Kompany (yellow card), 05 Zabaleta (yellow card), 13 Kolarov, 19 Lescott, 11 Johnson (Wright-Phillips 79), 18 Barry, 21 Silva (Vieira 86), 34 De Jong (yellow card), 42 Y Toure, 45 Balotelli (yellow card). Substitutes 12 Taylor, 38 Boyata, 07 Milner, 08 Wright-Phillips, 24 Vieira, 10 Dzeko, 27 Jo
United: 01 Van der Sar, 03 Evra, 05 Ferdinand, 15 Vidic, 22 O’Shea (Fabio Da Silva 84), 13 Park Ji-Sung, 16 Carrick, 17 Nani, 18 Scholes (red card), 25 Valencia (Hernandez 65), 09 Berbatov (Anderson 74). Substitutes 29 Kuszczak, 12 Smalling, 20 Fabio Da Silva, 08 Anderson, 28 Gibson, 07 Owen, 14 Hernandez
Referee: Dean
Attendance: 86,549
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DonateOn this day (17 April) in 1888 the first meeting of the Football League was held in Manchester. The following report names the clubs accepted and the others who wanted to join the League. It has often been written in Manchester United related books that Newton Heath applied to join the League in 1888 but didn’t receive enough votes to be accepted. That is completely untrue as no one actually had to apply nor was a vote taken. Clubs were asked and some tried to push to get included but Newton Heath were neither asked nor were they pushing for acceptance either. Nor were Ardwick or Manchester Asoociation who, to be frank would’ve been the most famous Manchester club at this time.
Bolton Wanderers were the only team from present day Greater Manchester to be asked/selected for the first League season.
The plaque is positioned on the corner of Mosley Street and Market Street/Piccadilly in Manchester.
On this day (April 7) in 1992 a Keith Curle penalty, in front of an Old Trafford crowd of 46,781, helped Manchester City to a 1-1 draw in a controversial Manchester derby. The game was viewed as being highly significant in the title race as only four days earlier the Blues had beaten title-hopefuls Leeds 4-0 at Maine Road. Here’s the story of that game including quotes from an interview I performed with Neil Pointon, who gives his views on a controversial incident that was pivotal to this derby…
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In terms of football the two cities of Manchester and Liverpool were extremely close for decades but in business and everyday life they have been rivals (bitter at times) for over 150 years. People will talk about all sorts of factors with the main one discussed being about the trade issues Manchester faced because Liverpool basically controlled Manchester’s access to the sea. I don’t want to go on too much about it all but I do want to show these sections from American newspapers which give an indication of what the situation was from another nation’s point of view.
It’s interesting to note that at least one of these articles shows that Manchester tried to ensure the whole of England benefitted from the city’s growing prosperity, suggesting that previously Liverpool only benefitted from this kind of trade.
There are lots of articles on my site about Manchester’s teams and those from Liverpool. Here are details of articles than are tagged ‘Liverpool’:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/liverpool/
Here are articles tagged ‘Everton’:
On this day (27 March) in 1926 the first FA Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Manchester United ended 3-0 to the Blues. The match was played at Bramall Lane. The Blues were managerless for this game – Assistant Chairman Albert Alexander senior took on most of the manager’s duties between November and April. Subscribers can read more about that game below:
Gary James' Football Archive 