Women’s Football – Page 12 – Gary James' Football Archive

The 1990s: Manchester City v Manchester United

Yesterday (23 March 2024) saw another Manchester City victory over United in the WSL Manchester derby. It’s always impressive seeing the Blues win and this City team has been in existence since 1988. The history of women’s football in Manchester does not always get the attention it deserves and many of us have been determined to change that for years (this year I’ll be publishing the Authorised History of the Manchester Corinthians after years of research – see below). So hopefully the following will be of interest. It includes a few quotes from those involved in previous decades and I’ve included it as part of my series on the 1990s as the first City-Utd women’s league derby took place in 1990.

While the perception will always exist that Manchester United’s women’s team has always been City’s rivals and vice versa, for both clubs the real rivals have varied over the years. Derby matches have been played against Manchester Belle Vue and other prominent local clubs. There were even derbies in the 1940s when Manchester Ladies and Manchester Corinthians played each other.

However, any game between City and United takes on extra significance. United fans established a Manchester United Ladies team in the 1970s with close ties to the men’s club. This eventually was closed down by the men’s club before re-emerging in 2018 as a WSL 2 club. In September 2019 the first WSL Manchester derby between City and United occurred at the Etihad following United’s move into the top flight. This was a truly special day for both clubs and for those of us present.

The first competitive derby between City and United was actually in September 1990 in the North West Women’s Regional Football League Second Division when Neil Mather was City’s manager: “I was nervous for weeks on end, and it was coming and coming and coming. I thought ‘we’ve got to beat United in the first competitive Derby.’ Being a big blue it was like ‘whatever we do we’ve got to beat them.’ We were 4-1 up with about five minutes to go and then had a five minute collapse where I thought we’re going to blow this. At one point it had looked like we were going to get five or six and annihilate them and then we nearly lost it! Thank God we hung on for a 4-3 win, but I’ll never forget that game. We had a girl called Jenny Newton who was a manic City fan and scored and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. When she scored her eyes were bulging and it meant the world and a lot of our girls were City fans. It meant the world to beat them.”

Lesley Wright: “The first time we played United in a competitive game there was about 150 there. They were a really strong team. Better than us at the time and they’d been established a lot longer.”

Rita Howard: “Despite being a United fan I loved playing as City Ladies against United. I absolutely loved it. Even though I’m a United fan I never contemplated joining them because the support from City, even when it waned a little, was far superior to anything United got. At best they’d get a kit and then it was ‘on your way.’ I know our closeness to City came from that beginning with Neil. His enthusiasm got us the kit, the tracksuits, the minibus…. All sorts of things. I know that wasn’t happening at United and at that time I don’t think any club connected in any way to a Football League side were as close as we were then. I think we got a lot more recognition from the beginning and that has carried on to today. Look at what City have done.”

Jane Morley: “I’m a season ticket holder at Manchester United but I was a manager at City Ladies. One day I’d been with City at a tournament and then went straight to Old Trafford for a men’s game. I was sat there when the bloke next to me – who I didn’t know – said ‘what you doing with that on!’ I realised I still had my City jacket on. I had to explain to him that I managed City Ladies.”

Bev Harrop was a Manchester United fan playing for City: “I had a United shirt underneath my City shirt! (laughs) Most of the time. Not later on, I grew out of it eventually, but at first, I did.”

Jane Morley: “It angers me when people say that Manchester United now have their first women’s team. As with City when the relaunch happened that implies the stuff we did for the club years before doesn’t count. I played for United in the 70s and 80s before a few of us broke away to set up FC Redstar. We left United because we wanted to test ourselves. We had some great players and wanted to progress but those who ran United wanted to stay in a Manchester League and not join the North West League. So we broke away in 1985 and formed FC Redstar.

“Many of the teams we know today as WSL clubs are actually men’s clubs that have taken over established women’s clubs. Teams like Leasowe Pacific became Everton. I have to bite my lip sometimes when some clubs claim they created a women’s team… no, you took and rebranded a team. There were quite a few big teams around the time City Ladies started such as Broadoak with Tracey Wheeldon.”

These snippets are from my book on Manchester City’s women’s team. Copies (signed by me) can be ordered here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/shop/

For more on the book on the Manchester Corinthians (who started in 1949) see:

If you’d like to read more on women’s football in Manchester then take a look at:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/womens-football-2

If you would like to read all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Each subscriber gets full access to the 500+ articles posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming weeks.

Manchester Corinthians Interview and Feature

I’ve been delighted with some of the media coverage on the research into the history of Manchester Corinthians recently. Yesterday Manchester City posted a website story on the club and the research while earlier this month I was interviewed for Tameside Radio too. You can listen to that interview here (it starts about 35 minutes into the programme):

https://player.autopod.xyz/539975

Thanks to Lewis Connell for doing this and interviewing me. For those who missed it here’s the article that was on the City website:

https://www.mancity.com/news/womens/gary-james-manchester-corinthians-history-63846547

If you’re interested in finding out more on the Corinthians then why not subscribe to Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. Here’s the latest information on the book:

Dozens of interviews have been performed for the book and include women who played in the club’s first ever game in the 1940s and others who played in the last ever game, over forty years later. It’s a wonderful period of football history.
Voices from every season of the club’s existence have been captured. There are some truly remarkable stories gathered in interviews performed across the country. These wonderful women have provided their memories of every period of the club’s development. Every season is covered.
Myths, including some connected with the formation of the club, persist and still get promoted. For the first time, this Authorised History will highlight the key steps and people involved with the formation of the club, dispelling myths and properly acknowledging those who ensured the team had a life.
Over 300 players have been identified as playing for the Corinthians to date. These women come from every era of the club’s existence (but the search continues for other names – please get in touch: Gary@GJFootballArchive.com). Every player identified will be listed within the book.
The book will tell the story via the voices of those involved from beginning to end (and beyond!), backed up with detailed archival research.
The Manchester Corinthians’ tours across the globe will be featured extensively within the book, while the key managers (especially the club’s manager and guiding figure from 1949 until his death in 1967, Percy Ashley) and other personalities will be profiled.
Hundreds of games have been identified with official – and unofficial – match reports adding flavour and supporting the words of the women who played.
Rare objects, cuttings, match programmes, trophies and more have been located for this book, with many of the players lending their collections to help ensure this is a wonderful record of the club’s full life.
Every person ordering the book before publication will not only have the book posted to them before it appears in any shop, but they will also have their name (or another name of their choosing) published within a special roll of honour at the back of the book.
The book will consist of over 320 pages and will include hundreds of images from every era of the Corinthians, alongside the story of the club and its players.
As with Gary’s book on Manchester City Women this book is destined to be a landmark history on a true Manchester institution and pioneering football club. In some ways this new Corinthians’ history will be a prequel to the City Women book.
This book is being self funded by Gary and so every pre-publication order helps the research enormously. Thanks for your support. It is appreciated.

UK readers can subscribe to the book here (If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs):

Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there

£19.95

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’s one of the TV reports that covered our plaque unveiling back in October. This is from ITV National News:

https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1710420337240813717/video/1

Here are a few words from a review of the Manchester City Women book the Corinthians will be based on (this is from a review by Fiona Cosson, for the Oral History Society):

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Manchester football historian Dr Gary James has been researching and writing about football for around forty years, with his first book published in 1989. By that time Gary was a regular at women’s football games in the region and already knew several Corinthians featured in the Corinthians’ book. His connections with the team go way back, in fact his sister was taught PE in the 1980s by a prominent player with the club, while his mum once told him about an older girl being brought to the front in her school assembly during the 1950s to talk about travelling abroad as a Manchester Corinthian.

Gary was on the steering committee for the National Football Museum project Unlocking the Hidden History of Women’s Football and was the Trafford lead for the UEFA/FA project on the history of women’s football for the Women’s Euros in 2022. He has performed various talks and written many significant articles on the Manchester Corinthians throughout the last six years. He established the campaign to create a blue plaque and other tributes for the women who played for the club, working tirelessly to ensure the Corinthians’ receive the accolades they so richly deserve.

Gary’s research and writing is recognised for his quality and depth, and he has written several landmark publications on Manchester football (both men’s and women’s), as well as being historical consultant with films, such as The Keeper, and TV (including researching and producing a 6 part TV series). Gary is the founder of the International Football History Conference and in 2023 was appointed Visiting Research Professor at New York University. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at De Montfort University.

You can watch a one hour talk Gary did at the National Football Museum on the history of women’s football in the Manchester region here:

The cover is still in development but the two cover images are draft proposals which will be worked up further. If you’d like to purchase Gary James’ earlier book on Manchester City Women’s team then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order here:

The 1990s: The First Women’s Manchester League Derby

The latest City in the 1990s flashback feature is about the women’s Manchester derby. This weekend marks the latest Manchester derby in the Women’s Super League and it will be played at the Etihad Stadium (City currently hold the record attendance for a women’s club game in Manchester – you can find details of that elsewhere on the website). There’s a long history of competition between teams representing the women of Manchester City and Manchester United.

City’s team has been in existence continually since November 1988 when Donna Haynes and Heidi Ward both scored two goals in their first game (v Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park).

I was at the City Ladies (as they were then known) first game and I was also at their first league derby in September 1990 when City defeated United 4-3. It was a fantastic day, watched by around 150 people.

City’s goals came from Rhoda Taylor (8 min), Rachel O’Shaughnessy (43 mins), Jenny Newton (50 mins) and Lesley Peters. City’s manager Neil Mather told me as part of my research for the Manchester City Women book: ‘United were the top side, you know, and beating them was so good for morale. The men’s team were a good side in the early 90s when City Ladies carried on developing, you know. This was the Howard Kendall era, and City had top five finishes. City were one of the top five or six teams in the country at the time, so it was fabulous for women’s football to have Man City, you know.’

Helen Hempenstall played for City that day and she described her memory of the day for my book: I remember when we played United (30/9/90) and Neil (Helen’s boyfriend, now husband) and all his mates came to watch us. There were a lot of people there that day. United had a decent team then. It was always a difficult game against United. They had a right-winger… We never got on. Every time we played each other we were at each other all the way through the game. Me and Carol Woodall were having a go at her. The referee told Lesley Wright “Tell both your full backs to shut their mouths otherwise they’ll both be off!” We just didn’t get along and before every game I thought I’ll get in their first. ‘I’m having her.’ Neil Mather still talks about it.

‘I think Lesley Wright kept the team together. She kept it all tight at the back. I played at the back with her and I learnt a lot from her. Because I was next to her I knew how important she was. If I missed something she always got it. She always encouraged me and kept shouting ‘different class, different class’. You learn from the people around you and I listened to her. Before every game she came to speak to me. She’d put her arm around me and reassure me. She’d tell me not to worry about anything. Most of the time travelling to away games I’d go with Lesley in the car. We used to have a laugh. I remember one day we were travelling to an away game some distance away and we stopped for petrol and all got out. I lit up a fag and everyone else jumped back in the car screaming! I didn’t even think! When we got to the ground they all told Neil Mather and I think he worried that he could’ve lost half his team. At another game I was sat in the middle and as we got out the person before me slammed the door back. It hit my head and I had a big lump for the game.’

Lesley Wright was one of several women who had first played for the pioneering Manchester Corinthians team. I’ve been researching their remarkable story for years and this summer (2024) my work will be published. It will tell the story of the Corinthians from its formation in 1949 through to its final days forty years later. For more information on that club and the book see:

The story of the first women’s League derby and of the first 30 years or so of City Women’s existence can be read in my book on the club. It’s called Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is basically the women telling their stories of playing for the club and how they got into football, plus statistics covering the journey from friendlies in 1988-89 through to competition and the modern day successes.

You can buy the book via this link (every copy is signed by me):

Manchester Corinthians’ Latest

Thanks to all those who have subscribed to Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. It means a great deal. For those who haven’t or would like to know more on what the book will entail, here’s the latest information:

Dozens of interviews have been performed for the book and include women who played in the club’s first ever game in the 1940s and others who played in the last ever game, over forty years later. It’s a wonderful period of football history.
Voices from every season of the club’s existence have been captured. There are some truly remarkable stories gathered in interviews performed across the country. These wonderful women have provided their memories of every period of the club’s development. Every season is covered.
Myths, including some connected with the formation of the club, persist and still get promoted. For the first time, this Authorised History will highlight the key steps and people involved with the formation of the club, dispelling myths and properly acknowledging those who ensured the team had a life.
Over 300 players have been identified as playing for the Corinthians to date. These women come from every era of the club’s existence (but the search continues for other names – please get in touch: Gary@GJFootballArchive.com). Every player identified will be listed within the book.
The book will tell the story via the voices of those involved from beginning to end (and beyond!), backed up with detailed archival research.
The Manchester Corinthians’ tours across the globe will be featured extensively within the book, while the key managers (especially the club’s manager and guiding figure from 1949 until his death in 1967, Percy Ashley) and other personalities will be profiled.
Hundreds of games have been identified with official – and unofficial – match reports adding flavour and supporting the words of the women who played.
Rare objects, cuttings, match programmes, trophies and more have been located for this book, with many of the players lending their collections to help ensure this is a wonderful record of the club’s full life.
Every person ordering the book before publication will not only have the book posted to them before it appears in any shop, but they will also have their name (or another name of their choosing) published within a special roll of honour at the back of the book.
The book will consist of over 320 pages and will include hundreds of images from every era of the Corinthians, alongside the story of the club and its players.
As with Gary’s book on Manchester City Women this book is destined to be a landmark history on a true Manchester institution and pioneering football club. In some ways this new Corinthians’ history will be a prequel to the City Women book.
This book is being self funded by Gary and so every pre-publication order helps the research enormously. Thanks for your support. It is appreciated.

UK readers can subscribe to the book here (If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs):

Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there

£19.95

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’s one of the TV reports that covered our plaque unveiling back in October. This is from ITV National News:

https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1710420337240813717/video/1

Here are a few words from a review of the Manchester City Women book the Corinthians will be based on (this is from a review by Fiona Cosson, for the Oral History Society):

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You can watch a one hour talk Gary did at the National Football Museum on the history of women’s football in the Manchester region here:

#IWD: Women’s Football Interviews and Videos

If you’re interested in women’s football or in football in Trafford or Manchester here are some video interviews we did as part of the work on the #WEuro2022 Heritage Lottery funded project for Trafford. These interviews are with women who played for Manchester Corinthians, Manchester City, Manchester United, FC Redstar, & Macclesfield:

We start with Jan Lyons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHkt5rGOJ5E

Now Gail Robertson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TO4nnHtp-U&feature=emb_logo

Next Lesley Wright:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPgjj84gHfw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Finally, Jane Morley:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tbzsOIpO7I&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Here’s an interesting clip of the Corinthians playing in 1960:

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60bf2dbfc69ade0020ef3021?q=ladies%20football%20international%201972u0026amp%3Bsize%3D30

Margaret Shepherd and Margaret Whitworth were also filmed as part of the wider project (they were interviewed by Wigan & Leigh). Here they are:

Margaret Whitworth actually appears on this BBC clip from 1960 playing:

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/60bf2dbfc69ade0020ef3021?q=ladies%20football%20international%201972&size=30

Also, here’s my talk explaining about the history of women’s football:

This talk on the history of women’s football was staged at the National Football Museum on 1st July as part of my work on a consultancy basis with Trafford local archives. The talk lasts about 47 mins. Enjoy!

There will be a video of the panel discussion mentioned in this talk that will appear as a part 2 later. Maybe next week?

The Trafford Archive website I mention during my talk is available here:

https://exploringtraffordsheritage.omeka.net/exhibits/show/traffordwomensfootball

On International Women’s Day… Ask Your Mam or Nan if She Was a Footballer…

Let’s all learn more about the sporting activities of our mums and grans this International Women’s Day. I’ve been researching into the pioneering women who played for Manchester Corinthians and its sister clubs for years and years and their stories are quite remarkable. BUT some of them had previously kept quiet because of reactions they may have had or assumed others were simply not interested in their incredible exploits. In fact, during my research, I have met women who had not told their families that they played football and so asking the simple question ‘Did you play football, Nan?’ will sometimes bring out a wonderful aspect of your nan’s life. So, I urge you all to ask your mum, mam, ma, mātā, mom, madar, mama, nan, gran, nani, nana, nonna, granny, babushka, grandma (or whatever term of affection you use for your mother or grandmother) about playing sport.

Ask your mam or your nan if she played – you never know what you’ll hear! I have had players talk to me during my years of research into the Corinthians who had kept it quiet from their own families, so granny may well have been one of the club’s pioneering figures – or a leading light at another club whose story needs to be told – but just hasn’t talked about it!

If you find a Corinthian then get in touch. I really don’t want to leave anybody out of my book.

As well as asking your mam or your nan, how about helping the book get published by subscribing to it? You will get a copy of the book (posted before it appears in the shops) and your name will be included in a special roll of honour published within the book if ordered by 31st March 2024 here:

Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there

£19.95

Opportunities to buy multiple copies, sponsor the book or donate to ensure it’s published to the size and standard the women who played deserve exist. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com for more information on those opportunities.

This book is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and will consist of over 300 pages. It will be fully illustrated throughout and subscribers can order it now for £19.95 (including UK postage and packaging). All orders received before 31st March 2024 will have the purchaser’s name included within the special roll of honour at the back of the book. You can order the book for someone else – all details will be checked and confirmed before publication.

The book will be published this summer.

If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of 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.

The book will include the story of the club as told by the women involved, alongside a significant amount of archive material. Myths will be corrected and the facts of this pioneering club will be told in an easy to read format.

Guided by founder Percy Ashley, the club went on to represent Manchester, football and female endeavour for decades, winning major international tournaments in Europe and South America. The Corinthians are, without doubt, one of the most important football clubs ever to come from Manchester and they were a prominent and pioneering club in so many ways.

As well as the interviews and dozens of archive trips there’s been a concerted effort to compile as comprehensive list as possible on women who played for the club. I’ve managed to compile a list of around 300 women who played for the club. Objects and trophies have also been rediscovered. This is the type of detailed research I enjoy. It’s time consuming, difficult and often frustrating but occasionally you find a little gem that adds significantly to our knowledge. There have been quite a few of those.

The Hebden Bridge talk when the campaign for a Blue Plaque and other tributes was publicly announced, December 2021

I’m still keen to hear from any former player who can add their voices to the history of the club, though the research and writing stage will be ending soon, so please get in touch as soon as possible. Please email Gary@GJFootballArchive.com with your name, rough dates you played and contact details.

Those subscribing to the book will receive a copy signed by author Gary James and posted out to subscribers before it appears in any shop or is distributed to any retailer. This is the ONLY way to guarantee your copy.

Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History will include interviews with players from every era of the club from a founding player back in 1949 through to those playing for the club in its final days over 40 years later (yes, that’s right – over 40 years later!). The book will finally tell the story of the club from start to finish via the voices of the women who played. Via these voices the entire history of the club will be explained with the key figures identified and remembered. There’s a remarkable trail of women linking the first game with the last.

The book will be published to a similar style and quality to the acclaimed Manchester City Women: An Oral History and is destined to be another landmark publication on a major, pioneering women’s football club. Dozens of former players have been interviewed for this book and their remarkable stories and memories will be supported with an amazing array of photographs, newspaper articles, match programmes, trophies and other items of memorabilia from every era of the club’s existence.

Alongside chapters chronicling the history of the club there will also be features on founder Percy Ashley, who dedicated his life to promoting women’s football, and on Gladys Aikin (a key figure not only with the Corinthians but also with the early years of the Women’s Football Association) and George Aikin, who continued to take the Corinthians on tours into the 1980s. There will be special features on the major tours of the 1950s and 1960s when Percy Ashley led the Corinthians to major international success.

The cover of the book will be worked on by the designer over the coming months but following feedback from former players the maroon has been replaced with a darker blue, more reminiscent of the colour most frequently worn by the Corinthians (based on the reports, programmes and other material found so far and the majority of comments from players). This may still change of course (‘The Authorised History’ will probably change colour too). The back will contain later images and wording.

If you’d like to purchase my earlier book on women’s football then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order that and other books here:

On World Book Day… Help the Authorised History of the Manchester Corinthians Get Published

Why not use World Book Day to help get the story of a pioneering women’s football club published once and for all? For years I’ve been researching the incredible Manchester Corinthians. Why? It matters to me personally for a variety of reasons and I’ve been trying to ensure these incredible women get the recognition they deserve for years. We managed to get a blue plaque and other tributes erected last year and now, after dozens of interviews, years of research and a lot of time and effort, the authorised history of the Manchester Corinthians will be published this summer.

You can help by ordering the book now (before publication). Every pre-publication order helps enormously and buyers will get their name included in a special roll of honour published within the book if ordered by 31st March 2024 here:

Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there

£19.95

The book will be published this summer.

If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of 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.

If you’d like to purchase my earlier book on women’s football then a limited number of copies, signed by me, are still available. You can order here:

Gareth Taylor signs contract extension to 2027 with Manchester City’s Women’s Team

Manchester City Football Club can today announced that Gareth Taylor has signed a new three-year contract.

The 51-year-old was appointed Head Coach of the women’s first team in May 2020, and has overseen 97 wins from 131 games in all competitions to date.

Having won both the FA Cup and Continental Cup during his tenure so far, City’s continued push for silverware this campaign has seen them reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and Continental Cup semi-final.

Taylor’s side currently boast the best defensive record in the Women’s Super League, and a 12-match winning run in all competitions – which has included statement victories on the road against title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, dealing the latter a first defeat at Kingsmeadow in more than three years.

Speaking about his new contract, Taylor said: “I’m very happy to be able to commit to City for another three seasons. I think what we’re doing here and trying to achieve is a build and a long-term project of sustainability and success.

“Our ambition was always to be right at the top and we’ve done that. It’s taken a lot of hard work from a lot of people behind-the-scenes. The players have really bought in to what we’re trying to do and achieve.”

Highlighting the importance of both Women’s Managing Director Charlotte O’Neill and Director of Football Nils Nielsen in City’s strong season so far, Taylor added: “Nils has helped in a number of ways. His experience of having been a head coach previously in the women’s game is really helpful as well because you’re not talking to someone who has not been there.

“Charlotte I’ve worked with previously in the Academy. What she’ll do is be really clear in our objectives and really clear in what we are capable of doing.”

Director of Football Nils Nielsen added: “I am very pleased that Gareth has agreed to continue his great work in our programme for the coming years.

“We have a clear strategy on how we want to move forward, and securing Gareth to lead the team is a key factor in this.

“Now we can all focus on finishing this season in style and prepare for the next few seasons by following the plan.”

Manchester City Women Managing Director, Charlotte O’Neill, added: “We’re very pleased to have Gareth continue his journey with City for another three years.

“Gareth is someone who has embraced the City Football Group approach from day one and shares our ambition to push the envelope in the women’s game and build a squad full of talented and ambitious players.

“Nils and I are very much looking forward to continuing our work with him for the rest of this season and beyond alongside this amazing group of players. I’m confident the future is very bright at this Club.”

The photo is of Nils Nielsen and Gareth Taylor of Manchester City signing a contract extension at Manchester City Football Academy on February 29, 2024 in Manchester. Photo by Declan Lloyd/Manchester City FC.

Corinthians’ Influence on Modern Day Success

This Saturday just gone (24 February 2024) I was down in Cardiff watching the Tri-Nations Cup (a women’s international walking football tournament). The England over 55s team was captained by former Manchester Corinthian and Manchester City player Lesley Wright. Ultimately, England were successful in a tournament involving Wales and Ireland.

It was great to see England (EWFC over 55s pictured above; photo from @Eilis1979) find success, led by a former Corinthian, in a sport that promotes health, exercise and activities. Another Corinthian, Gail Redston, also played for England and it was wonderful to see the Corinthian influence still there in trophy winning teams.

There were players appearing in the tournament who had played for leading clubs across Great Britain and Ireland. This included Mac Barlow, who netted most of England’s goals. Mac’s previous eleven-a-side clubs included Preston.

The whole tournament was a positive example of walking football and supporters came from across the UK too. There was even a group of Crystal Palace season ticket holders who had sacrificed watching their Premier League match to support England.

Lesley Wright and Gail Redston both feature in my new book on Manchester Corinthians. Details here:

Hebden Bridge & the Manchester Corinthians

In December 2021 I staged a talk at Hebden Bridge on the FA ban of women’s football. The night was sponsored and supported by Geoff Matthews and his company Cansquared Ltd. It was a wonderful night and lots of attendees asked about the future and what they could do to help promote the stories of the women who played at a time when the FA tried to kill female participation in the sport. Well, after that night a lot has happened to recognise the Manchester Corinthians.

As part of my longstanding project into female participation and involvement in football in Manchester I have been researching and writing Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History. The book will be of a similar scope to my Manchester City Women: An Oral History on City’s women’s team.

Margaret Shepherd and Margaret Whitworth with me prior to the Hebden Bridge event

A lot has been written on the Corinthians (see the section on women’s football on this site for a few examples) but not nearly enough, plus there are some inaccuracies out there that need to be corrected (even now there are some that keep on being repeated). Basically, this team possessed a talented group of players who toured Europe and South America promoting football, female endeavour and Manchester.

I talked quite a bit about Corinthians at Hebden Bridge and we were fortunate to have three Corinthians as guests that night. Margaret Whitworth, Margaret Shepherd and Lesley Wright between them covered every season of the club’s life from the 1950s through to its demise. Since that night I’ve also tracked down a player from the club’s very first season of 1948-49 who, together with detailed archival research, has helped me piece together for the first time several people who were instrumental in the birth of the club. Again, this is not something that has appeared in any of the articles or films connected with the club in recent years. This will be explained properly for the first time in my book.

I’m still trying to track down other Corinthians to include in the book. To date I’ve identified over 230 players. See:

After the Hebden Bridge night it was clear that we needed to recognise the Corinthian players further. On that night I mentioned my idea of having a plaque erected for the Corinthians in a significant/related location in Manchester. Several members of the audience thought this was a wonderful idea and asked if they could support the wider promotion of the Corinthians – one more or less suggested we should march on Downing Street to persuade them to do something about it!

In 2019 I’d written articles for a variety of publications suggesting the same and urging the FA and others to recognise the Corinthians. In the Manchester City men’s match programme as well I highlighted my desire to get a plaque erected about their achievements.

The talk at Hebden Bridge

Via Manchester Council I was put in contact with the Friends of Fog Lane Park and we ultimately set up a successful appeal in their name. The FA made a significant donation which funded the plaque and our fundraising efforts raised enough to allow the Friends to commission 2 murals and other tributes to the Corinthians as well.

Those present at Hebden Bridge in December 2021 helped raise the profile and that event was significant in highlighting the incredible achievements of its female footballers. Now, the authorised history of the Corinthians will tell the story of the club from its birth right through to the blue plaque appeal. It will use the voices of the women who represented Manchester and England in a positive manner and who won trophies in South America & Europe and who toured North Africa. They won a significant European competition before either Manchester men’s team yet their achievements were not recognised by the city until the blue plaque appeal started.

I am immensely proud of how this has all happened. The event at Hebden Bridge was free to attend and was made possible by the support of a locally based business, Cansquared (Geoff Matthews – who co-hosted the evening). We felt it was vital we made this free to attend to spread the word.

If anyone runs a key Manchester venue and would like a Corinthians celebration event then please get in touch. The more we can do to promote their story the better.

Thanks for reading this. If you would like to find out more about the Corinthians then follow the tabs on this site or use the search function. If you’d like to know more about the FA Ban then you can download for free an article I’ve recently co-written here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460263.2021.2025415

You can find out more on the Corinthians book here:

Copies of my book on Manchester City Women are still available. This tells the history of City Women via the voices of the women (and some men) involved. The book has been heralded as a model for oral histories by the Oral History Society.

Here’s a link you can follow to order a signed copy of the City Women book:

Watch this space for more on the Corinthians and women’s football over the coming months. Thanks – now use the tabs and search to learn more on women’s football in Manchester. Ta!

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