Getting Ready For Wembley

Looking forward to the first ever all Manchester FA Cup final at Wembley tomorrow. To get in the mood why not watch the highlights of the 2011 FA Cup semi here (follow the link):

Prior to this year’s final, the FA Cup semi finals in 1926 and 2011 were the closest we got to one. 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 from a Manchester City perspective. Many of you have listened to this already but if you haven’t then it tells the story of the 2011 FA Cup semi final and the years between 1976 and that moment in 2011 for City.

I include audio from interviews I did with a variety of people including Khaldoon, Peter Swales, Garry Cook, Brain Marwood and many others.

If you have heard it before then maybe you should listen again to remind yourself of how we all felt and why that game was so significant.

I include a few words from Roberto Mancini 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. If you don’t fancy doing that then there’s also the option to make a welcome donation to keep this site going (see below). I’ve produced videos/talks like this highlighting key points in Manchester City’s footballing history which subscribers can watch too. 


Subscribe to get access – Annual

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).

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

It costs £3 a month to subscribe a month at a time. Why not give it a try! Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 for as long as you subscribe.

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

The All-Manchester FA Cup Final

Well, the Premier League is now over for another year and we know who the Champions are and who has qualified for Europe etc. so it’s time to look forward to the first ever all Manchester FA Cup final. There have been FA Cup finals between two teams from present day Greater Manchester before (the first one being City v Bolton in 1904) but this is the first to involve both Manchester clubs.

Prior to this year’s final, the closest Manchester City and Manchester United have got to playing each other in a Wembley FA Cup final were the 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 from a Manchester City perspective. Many of you have listened to this already but if you haven’t then it tells the story of the 2011 FA Cup semi final and the years between 1976 and that moment in 2011 for City.

I include audio from interviews I did with a variety of people including Khaldoon, Peter Swales, Garry Cook, Brain Marwood and many others.

If you have heard it before then maybe you should listen again to remind yourself of how we all felt and why that game was so significant.

I include a few words from Roberto Mancini 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. If you don’t fancy doing that then there’s also the option to make a welcome donation to keep this site going (see below). I’ve produced videos/talks like this highlighting key points in Manchester City’s footballing history which subscribers can watch too. 


Subscribe to get access – Annual

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).

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

It costs £3 a month to subscribe a month at a time. Why not give it a try! Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 for as long as you subscribe.

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

Reaching A First CL Final

On 4 May 2021 Manchester City reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in their history when they defeated Paris St Germain 2-0 with both goals from Mahrez. The first leg had ended with a 2-1 City win. This meant Manchester became only the second non-capital city to have had two teams reach a European Cup final. Manchester was of course the first British city to have two teams competing in the European Cup in the same season (1968-69).

Manager Pep Guardiola was somewhat pleased to say the least: ‘I’m incredibly proud and my first thoughts are with the players who didn’t play today. They all deserved to play, everyone has made a contribution and now it is time to enjoy it. We have to win the league and we have two or three weeks to prepare for the final.

‘They put a lot of players in the middle and we struggled a lot in the first half to high press and we changed at half-time. We recovered the ball better in the second half and we were much better in the way we played and 4-1 on aggregate against a team that beat Barcelona and Bayern Munich means a lot to us.

‘People believe it’s easy to arrive in the final of the Champions League. Getting to the final now makes sense of what we have done in the past four or five years.’

The game was played in unseasonal snow but the brilliant Riyad Mahrez was able to adapt well, scoring from a move started by goalkeeper Ederson’s 60-yard pass.

There had been a bit of a scare for City when a penalty was awarded to PSG for a handball by Oleksandr Zinchenko but it was correctly overturned. Phew!

Mahrez netted his second of the night just after the hour when he turned in Phil Foden’s cross at the far post to effectively end the tie.

PSG once again lost their discipline (Idrissa Gueye was sent off late in the first leg) and former United man Angel di Maria was shown a red card for a senseless stamp on Fernandinho.

City were in full control and you can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-psg-champions-league-semi-final-second-leg-63755763

That night was remarkable and several records were established:

  • City broke the record for longest winning run by an English club in European Cup history (7)
  • They became the first English side to win 11 games in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign (they are one off equalling Real Madrid’s record of 12 games)

If you have enjoyed this then why not support the website, my research and the recording of Manchester’s football history? You can do this by either subscribing or, if you don’t fancy that, then why not make a donation to keep the site running? See below for details.

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Bad Memories!

Warning! The following 600 word article is the story of Manchester City’s final game of the 1997-98 season. It was against Stoke on 3 May and, well, let’s just say it was a 5-2 easy victory but the consequences were grave for the club. If you have no idea what I’m on about then have a read – or if you want to relive a painful memory then carry on. Fortunately, I’ve made this article available to subscribers only so people won’t just catch site of our misery just by passing! If you can then enjoy looking back and remembering those days!

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

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Annual subscribers get access to everything (all the books, articles, videos, interviews etc.) posted since the site was created in December 2020. Monthly subscribers get access to everything since 1 October 2022. All subscribers access everything posted throughout their subscription. Why not give it a try for a month and see what you think?

The Last Before The Premier

On 2 May 1992 Manchester City defeated Oldham 5-2 in the last League fixture before the birth of the Premier League. The win gave City a fifth place finish (for the second year running), 12 points behind champions Leeds and six points ahead of 6th placed Liverpool. David White scored a hat trick but this had been a disappointing final placing overall as the Blues had been hoping to mount a serious challenge for honours.

The launch of the Premier League and the actions of the following year or so would have major repercussions for City and the Blues would ultimately lose pace with those clubs they had matched or bettered in recent seasons.

Maybe I’ll do a detailed analysis of how football changed one day but for the time being it’s worth remembering that no one team dominated English football at the beginning of the 1990s but by the end of that decade one did and the financial gap meant traditional giants, like City, Leeds, Newcastle, Everton, Villa and others were unlikely to find League success. It also meant that teams like Oldham would be unable to keep pace with the ‘next’ pack and ultimately they became the first Premier League title to be relegated out of the entire League in 2022.

Highlights of the game here:

Restored 2011: The All-Manchester FA Cup Semi Final

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. 

Subscribe to get access – Annual

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).

Subscribe to get access – Monthly

It costs £3 a month to subscribe a month at a time. Why not give it a try! Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 for as long as you subscribe.

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

The Faroe’s First

On this day (24 April) in 2010 Gunnar Nielsen became the first Faroe Islander to play in the Premier League. The goalkeeper came on for the injured Shay Given in the 76th minute and kept a clean sheet as City drew 0-0 at Arsenal, watched by a crowd of 60,086.

You can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2010/april/arsenal-away-full-highlights

White Hot

On this day (23 April) in 1991 a marvellous 5-1 win at Villa Park for Manchester City saw David White become the first City player since the war to score four in an away game. You can watch highlights here:

David White outpacing Comyn & McGrath for his second goal v Aston Villa, 23/4/1991

Remembering 2011

In the build up to the FA Cup semi final this weekend why not have a listen to my special 1 hour audio recording commemorating an earlier important FA Cup semi final?

This audio recording was made to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Manchester City’s FA Cup semi final victory over Manchester United at Wembley (April 16 2011). It looks at 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 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 well over a decade!

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. Subscribers get access to videos of talks I’ve done highlighting key points in Manchester City’s footballing history. 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 to 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 that, together with my first book published in 1989 are free to download for all annual subscribers. You can subscribe below. If you don’t fancy subscribing but do want to support this site, my research or have enjoyed the audio recording then why not donate? See below. Thanks.

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The First Noel and More

In the build up to MCFC’s ChampionsLeague final the other year I interviewed musician Noel Gallagher about his support for City. Here are the first 15 minutes of that interview.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-first-15-minutes.mp3 

If you enjoyed that you can listen to part two and the other sections via the following links. Subscribers to my site get access to hundreds of articles, recordings (such as my earlier interviews with Malcolm Allison & John Bond). There’s also lots of free content on the site. If you enjoy this and would like to support my research, the site etc. then why not donate a couple of pounds to pay the website’s bills and help fund detailed research into football’s history. You can do that lower down this page. Thanks.

Now, here’s part two:

Part three:

Part four:

Part five: