Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (19 December) in 2021 Manchester City (the Premier League leaders) defeated Newcastle 4-0 at St James’ Park. City were on a run of seven consecutive league wins but this was not the easy, walkover the score suggests.
Ruben Dias scored an early goal with the second coming from Joao Cancelo – an incredible strike. In the second-half, a Riyad Mahrez volley made it 3-0 and the fourth came from Raheem Sterling.
Here are the highlights:
City v Newcastle is one of the most enduring fixtures in English football. There have been cup finals, title deciders, dramatic games, shared heroes and so much more. The two clubs first met in the League in October 1893 (Ardwick/MCFC’s 2nd season in the League) and City’s record is:
| Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | 174 | 71 | 38 | 65 |
| FA Cup | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| League Cup | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| European | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
There have been lots of significant games in the League, FA Cup and League Cup. A League Cup final in 1976 saw them meet at Wembley when Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart both scoring for the Blues.
Anyone remember being at Maine Road on the day City played away against Newcastle at Maine Road? That was in 1975. See:
101 years ago there was the last meeting at City’s famous old Hyde Road ground:
In 2012 a Newcastle v City game was crucial in the Blues’ title charge:
Elano’s wonder goal in 2007:
In 2021-22 there was a memorable City victory:
Most Blues of my age and above will remember where they were when our King returned to action on Boxing Day 1977. Here’s an interview I did with him a few years back when we talked about that special day:
When I was a teenager there was a second tier meeting that attracted a significant crowd for the period:
My Dad’s generation will remember the 1955 FA Cup final:
During 1956-57 there was a ‘game of the season’ in the FA Cup between the clubs:
My grandad’s generation would’ve remembered Billy Meredith’s last game:
Who remembers the title decider at Newcastle? Details:
There was a really odd thing a while back where a Newcastle paper claimed that their local team had first worn bar scarves at games. A few simple searches soon proved there were much earlier bar scarfs:
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DonateHere are some images from Billy Meredith’s last competitive game on this day (29 March) in 1924. these are great images of the general scene. The match was a FA Cup semi final between Manchester City and Newcastle at Birmingham City.
Subscribers can read more and watch film of Meredith’s last game here:
Another 1970s flashback today with film of the 1976 League Cup final played on this day (28 February) in 1976. I blame Tueart for my bad back as we all tried to replicate his goal at school the following week! Here’s film of the game:
You can read more on this amazing season below.
This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.
Subscribers 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 5,320 word article is on the 1975-76 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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.
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DonateLast week I posted a piece on the 1978-79 season when Malcolm Allison returned midway though, describing himself as City’s Coaching Overlord. It was never an official title but the press loved it. That led to several people commenting on facebook, twitter and in private messages to me about the loss they felt when Malcolm started to move on some of the players fans loved. This included Peter Barnes (who I’ve written an authorised biography of – see elsewhere on my site for details of how tobuy that) and Gary Owen. Both players were loved by fans (and still are). So today’s 1970s flashback follows on from all of that.
It’s a reminder of the day Gary Owen made his Manchester City debut, replacing Alan Oakes. The debut was actually on 20 March 1976 against Wolves. A few years back I interviewed Gary about this first appearances and asked:
Your chance to play eventually came in March 1976. What do you remember about your debut against Wolves?
‘I’d been on the bench for the FA Cup tie with Hartlepool when we beat them 6-0 (3/01/76) but not used, and at Burnley on 13th March. Then Alan Oakes was injured and so the day before the Wolves game I was told I was going to make my debut. That night I could hardly sleep and on the morning of the game I remember having bacon, egg & toast. I had a full fry up! This was before nutritionists and so on and I thought it was the best thing to have. I thought I had to build myself up. I was full of nervous energy as well. I would have loved to have kicked off at 8am because I was ready… I couldn’t wait. I’d had my fry up and I wanted to face Wolves. It couldn’t come quick enough. I remember getting to the ground and walking in, seeing everyone. People were asking for my autograph – only a year before I had the pictures on my bedroom wall and was after the autographs.
‘I got into the changing room. Changed faster than anybody else. Went into the gym and played head tennis. As soon as the opportunity came to get out on the pitch I was out there. I wanted to savour every moment of it and take it all in. Back inside we had the team talk and Tony Book told me what my role was and that but, I have to tell you Gary, once I walked out on to that pitch I had nothing in my mind apart from getting every ball. I wanted the ball all the time and I chased, and pushed for it.’
Here’s a Manchester Evening News follow up piece to his debut, talking about the game and the player:
This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.
Subscribers 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 5,320 word article is on the 1975-76 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateToday (29 January) in 1977 Manchester City faced Newcastle United in the FA Cup 4th round at St James’ Park and the local newspaper in Newcastle published this information for fans about how to get tickets for a potential replay. Back then replays would be played midweek of the following week, often on Tuesdays in case further replays were required.
As you can see from this cutting a replay was scheduled for the following Tuesday (if needed) at 7.30pm. The cheapest tickets available were 70p for Kippax terracing with seats at various prices.
In the end a replay wasn’t needed as City defeated Newcastle 3-1 with goals from Gary Owen, Joe Royle and an own goal from Craig.
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DonateThe series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a 5,320 word article on the entire 1975-76 season – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. 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 5,320 word article is on the 1975-76 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
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.
If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateToday (18 January) in 1975 Manchester City gained revenge over Newcastle for their 3rd round FA Cup defeat (away at Maine Road!) 14 days earlier by thrashing the Geordies 5-1 at Maine Road. The following report gives the story of the game.
City’s scorers were Tueart (3 including 1 penalty), Colin Bell and Geoff Hammond.
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DonateRare action images from Hyde Road taken on this day (October 12) in 1912 as Manchester City were defeated 1-0 at home to Newcastle before a capacity 40,000 crowd.
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DonateCity v Newcastle is one of the most enduring fixtures in English football. There have been cup finals, title deciders, dramatic games, shared heroes and so much more. The two clubs first met in the League in October 1893 (Ardwick/MCFC’s 2nd season in the League) and have since played each other 189 times overall with City winning 76 and Newcastle 72 games.
As tonight is a League Cup tie, the most famous meeting of the teams in that competition came in 1976 at Wembley when Peter Barnes and Dennis Tueart both scored for the Blues.
Anyone at Maine Road on the day City played away against Newcastle at Maine Road? See:
100 years ago there was the last meeting at City’s famous old Hyde Road ground:
In 2012 a Newcastle v City game was crucial in the Blues’ title charge:
Elano’s wonder goal in 2007:
In 2021-22 there was a memorable City victory:
Most Blues of my age and above will remember where they were when our King returned to action on Boxing Day 1977. Here’s an interview I did with him a few years back when we talked about that special day:
When I was a teenager there was a second tier meeting that attracted a significant crowd for the period:
My Dad’s generation will remember the 1955 FA Cup final:
During 1956-57 there was a ‘game of the season’ in the FA Cup between the clubs:
My grandad’s generation would’ve remembered Billy Meredith’s last game:
Who remembers the title decider at Newcastle? Details:
There was a really odd thing a while back where a Newcastle paper claimed that their local team had first worn bar scarves at games. A few simple searches soon proved there were much earlier bar scarfs:
Some of the above are free to read and some are for subscribers only. Follow the link below if you want to find out more about subscribing:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Donate
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