Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
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.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. 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. Annual subscribers 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).
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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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On 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…
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (about £1.67 a month) and you get full access to all posts, audio interviews, history talks, the entire Manchester A Football History book and a PDF of my first book (From Maine Men to Banana Citizens), plus everything posted throughout your subscription. There’s also a monthly option (see below).
It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) if you want to sign up a month at a time. You’ll get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 plus everything posted throughout your subscription. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?
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:
On this day in 1939 Old Trafford was packed like never before (or numbers wise since!) when Grimsby faced Wolves in the FA Cup semi final. It was the record crowd for the venue – I’m sure many people would expect United to have attracted the venue’s record crowd but that’s not true.
You can find out more and watch film from the game here:
gjfootballarchive.com/2021/03/25/old-traffords-record-crowd-wolves-v-grimsby/
Continuing the weekly series of ‘True Blue’ figures associated with the early years of Manchester City, here’s an article on Billy Meredith who was the captain and goalscorer for Manchester’s first major trophy success. You can find out why this man was such an important figure in Manchester City history below:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Annual subscribers can access all the articles, talks, books and interviews posted since December 2020 for an annual subscription of £20 (works out about £1.67 per month). There’s also a monthly subscription (see below).
Monthly subscribers can access all the articles, talks, books and interviews posted since 1 October 2022 for a monthly subscription of £3 (cancel any time).
There will be another ‘True Blue’ featured next Monday. Use the tag ‘True Blues’ to find other profiles in this series.
This week Manchester United play Real Betis in the Europa League. This immediately brings to mind the stories of the former England international winger Peter Barnes. Barnes, or El Rubio as he was known in Spain (it means the blond one).
Peter’s time at both clubs is covered in my authorised biography of him. There are some touching moments and some great stories too. The book was started before the Covid pandemic and then was delayed because of Covid. Despite the delays it was great to write this biography and Peter’s a wonderful person who has an interesting story. I’m sure fans of every club Peter was involved with and neutrals will enjoy reading the book.
You can buy the book below.
This 372 page, colour paperback book is £16.95 (including UK postage).
United Kingdom
The Peter Barnes Authorised Biography – UNITED KINGDOM
Order today for £16.95 (incl UK Postage and Packaging).
£16.95
To order please use the button above (UK postage included; outside UK contact me for 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.
Here are the contents pages:
This long awaited authorised biography, written by Gary James with the memories and stories of Peter’s career throughout, tells the story of Peter’s life from his childhood in Manchester and Wrexham through to the modern day. With particular focus on his footballing career with Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Leeds United, Real Betis, Coventry City, Manchester United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and, of course, England.
If you run a book shop and would like to know more about the book please email: accounts@manchesterfootball.org
The ISBN is 978-1-9168852-0-2.
You can listen to Peter in conversation with myself about the book here:
Thanks,
Gary James
Gary James' Football Archive 