Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Seventy years ago today (24 October 1956) the first Manchester Derby in the Charity Shield (now Community Shield) took place. Charity is much in evidence, as the Reds are allowed to replace ‘keeper Wood with their reserve David Gaskell when injury strikes. Attendance: 30,495; City 0 United 1.
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.
Yesterday I asked if anybody recognised this player, captured in a bronze statue I stumbled across the other week. The statue is at Vicenza and is, of course, the great Italian international Paolo Rossi.
Here’s a statue I stumbled across the other week. Anyone recognise the player? Answer tomorrow.
Everton, so often a bogey team back then for Manchester City, were defeated 2-0 on this day (2 October) in 2005. This was the first Sunday morning kick off in the Premier League and the match commenced at 11.15 with some fans making a point of the early start by wearing pyjamas. It was also Stephen Ireland’s first full Premiership game. Before the match he admitted to being “very nervous” and post-match he commented that the rest of the team had supported him: “That helped me ease my nerves and settle in as one of them.” You can see highlights and read more about the game below:
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On this day (1 September) in 1958 a really distasteful moment in League football saw Manchester United prevented from taking a special place that had been awarded to them in the European Cup. It was the Football League that effectively banned United from competing. THe background is that UEFA had offered United a place in the European Cup as a mark of sympathy following the Munich Air Crash – fans of all clubs supported the move – and the FA had approved the decision but then discussions within the League proved problematic, leading to the Football League banning the move.
This cutting even quotes an unnamed official who basically said the European Cup is for champions and United ‘are not the English champions.’ It was all a mess and distasteful.
To understand the full story/impact of the Munich Air Disaster and how it affected all of Manchester then have a read of this:
It looks like the 1894 group at Manchester City’s are hoping fans will re-adopt the 1930s classic song Who Said City Couldn’t Play? It’s City’s earliest recorded chant (there were earlier ones but this is the first we’ve found sound/film recordings of). Here’s a sound recording from the 1930s:
The tune used is the bit from Knees Up Mother Brown that goes: “Oh my, what a rotten song,
What a rotten song,
What a rotten song,
Oh my, what a rotten song,
And what a rotten singer too-oo-oo!”
If anyone at City wants to get the music played then dig out an instrumental version of that section of the song and get it played prematch. Just like the Viking chant it would be great to get it used in club material.
Yesterday I asked if you can name that ground. This image is from the early 1930s. Can you name the ground? The answer is not as straightforward as it should be and proves why historians and others researching football’s history need to properly analyse their material. According to the newspaper this came from the ground is Everton’s Goodison Park photographed in 1933 (keep reading!):
BUT it is clearly not Goodison Park and is actually Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux ground. Like Goodison there were well known stands such as the multispan roof on the right.
The message here is don’t believe everything you read in the papers whether a modern story or one that’s 90 years old! The newspaper that got this wrong was the Daily Express.
If you’d like to look at previous posts showing old grounds then do a search on the phrase Historic Name That Ground in the search box below. Here’s a link to one of the old articles:
In previous close seasons I’ve often run a ‘historic name that ground’ series of posts where I’ve shown an old image of a football ground. Today I’ve decided to do a one off name that ground. This image is from the early 1930s. Can you name the ground? Answer tomorrow.
If you’d like to look at previous posts showing old grounds then do a search on the phrase Historic Name That Ground in the search box below. Here’s a link to one of the old articles:
It’s unusual for any club let alone City to be in a position where the manager leaves in an organised and dignified manner. Today we say goodbye to Pep. It will be emotional but there’s a strong foundation here for the next person.
Here’s a small feature from Shoot magazine on the premiere of the film Escape To Victory. Two former Manchester City players had roles on the Allies team. They were Mike Summerbee and Kaziu Deyna.
