Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (24 October) in 1956…
Attendance: 30,495; City 0 United 1 (first Charity Shield match between the sides)
The Champions beat the Cup holders under floodlights with a goal from local lad Dennis Violet. United are the better side while City seem a little pedestrian. Charity is much in evidence, however, as the Reds are allowed to replace ‘keeper Wood with their reserve David Gaskell when injury strikes.
Tonight Manchester City take on Paris Saint Germain in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final. The Blues won the first leg 2-1 and are hopeful of reaching their first Champions League final. It would not of course be their first two-legged semi-final win in Europe – that came way back in 1970.
You can read about that 1970 ECWC semi-final here:
Manchester United were the first of the region’s sides to compete in European competition and they reached a European Cup semi-final in 1956-57. They’d played their earlier rounds at Maine Road, where they’d attracted significant attendances (including their current record home European crowd) but they moved the semi-final to Old Trafford. Here for subscribers is the story of that campaign:
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