When Archie Gemmill scored a last minute penalty on this day (18 October) in 1980 to give Birmingham all the points at Maine Road Manchester City were struggling at the foot of Division One. Malcolm Allison had been sacked, and these were the first few days of John Bond’s reign. Looking back on City at this time Bond said: “They’d only got 4 points out of 10 games, hadn’t won a match, hadn’t got a left-back of any description on their books, and the players lacked direction and confidence. To be honest any fool could have turned them around to a limited extent.”
Bond soon turned City around and he was named manager of the month for both November and December. You can read more on the 1980-81 season by subscribing. Here’s a ten thousand word long read on that season. Enjoy!
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If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
“When I heard the team I said two prayers. One of thanks to the Scots for leaving me out, and one on behalf of Adam Little who had taken my place. I knew then we’d do well to get away with less than five goals against.” So said Bill Shankly referring to the selection of the England team to face Scotland at Maine Road in October 1943. You can read the story of this incredible game here:
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I’ve researched a lot on the history of Manchester’s prominent clubs and so I know how the history of those teams has often been incorrectly reported. So, I’m just going to post this and make no further comment today. This is an article from October 1912 which talks of Manchester City as Manchester’s oldest football club. You can find out all about the history of Manchester’s clubs in my academic book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’ if you’re interested.
Fifty years ago today (11 October 1975) a goalless draw with Burnley led to lots of issues at Maine Road. Dressing room disagreements (some say fights) led to captain Rodney Marsh being placed on the transfer list. Some fans protested but new captain Mike Doyle spoke out, explaining that the players supported the manager. Marsh never played for City again and in the games that followed Dave Watson and Tommy Booth both filled in as forwards in games (and both scored). Centre forward Joe Royle was injured as well.
While you’re here why not subscribe and read 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.
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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 enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
I’m delighted to say that in addition to Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History (published at the start of the year, see below) and Histories of Women’s Football in Britain and Ireland (published last month) I’ve written a feature for another book which mentions the Corinthians. The book tells the story of football (focusing on England) in 100 objects. I’ve written a few of the features for this National Football Museum book (alongside Marek, Alex & Wiebke from the museum) and one of these is on Margaret Shepherd’s Corinthians shirt. The shirt is currently on display at the museum too.
This feature, together with mentions by myself and others in the Histories book and the Authorised History, helps spread the word about these remarkable women.
Some of you are aware of my obsession to document and promote the history of women’s football in Manchester over the last decade, but for those uncertain I’d like to post a few links and bits of information here on the remarkable stories of the Manchester Corinthians who, before the men’s teams of City & United, found international success.
Some of the Friends of Fog Lane Park at the last meeting before the Corinthians plaque unveiling
Dorothy Alcock, Manchester Corinthian from formation in 1949
Margaret Whitworth with the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque
Washing in the duck pond, Manchester Corinthians by Artist Gavin Renshaw
Some of the trophies won by the Manchester Corinthians
Over the last decade I’ve been interviewing women who played football in Manchester, or for Manchester based teams, during the 1940s to modern years. This includes Maureen Charlton, Dorothy Allcock and Flo Cloake (who played in the 1940s & 50s) and players like Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott (who of course played in more recent times). For me the stories of all are inspiring but it is those who played for the Corinthians that I’m most keen to promote at the moment. These women played prominent roles in football’s development and some are still contributing significantly today.
In 2021 the blue plaque appeal was launched to recognise the Corinthians and elsewhere on my site you can read about the success of that and the unveiling in 2023. In addition in December 2024 I staged a reunion where over 90 attended (most Corinthians with some in their 90s). You can watch scenes from that here:
I gave a speech explaining why the Corinthians matter that day:
There were some wonderful words from Margaret Shepherd which I am truly grateful for. Margaret has been one of the key figures promoting the club’s endeavours and she certainly inspired me during my research:
We’ve also inspired Imprint Films to put together this 18 minute overview of the Corinthians’ story, including interviews with some of the players:
Of course there is the book too and I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there. The book hasn’t won any prize but the comments mean a lot to me.
For those interested Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages. Getting it into Manchester bookshops, particularly Waterstones, is proving difficult so if there’s anyone reading this who can help please get in touch. We can organise events if that helps?
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far to promote the Corinthians and their stories. We still need to bang the drum so please do all you can to spread the word on this remarkable team. If you need more info then there’s lots on this website, just search Corinthians. There’s also the books of course….
The Authorised History is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.
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.
UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History
The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.
I’m doing some clearing out of my collection and keep rediscovering some random Manchester football memorabilia. I’ll post some images of them on here from time to time. Today here’s an image of my medal, number and related material from the first City 10K run. It took place on 29 April 1984 (the next one was to be staged on 7 October 1984) and I decided to take part. I won’t tell everybody my time though!
Watch out for more odd items from my collection over the coming weeks.
On this day fifty years ago (8 October 1975) the draw for the fourth round of the League Cup was made. Manchester City were to face newly promoted Manchester United at Maine Road in what would turn out to be both a thrilling night and a deeply saddening night too!
You can find out what happened by reading the following 5,320 word article on the entire 1975-76 season for Manchester City – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. You can read this below.
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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 enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
On this day (7 October) in 1995 this report of the Manchester City-Wycombe League Cup tie played on 4 October. The report was written by journalist Simon Mullock, well-known in the press areas at City and to City fans of course. His report seems a fair reflection of the tie that night. If you’re interested, you can now read more on City’s 1995-96 season below. This was a hugely significant season and this article is almost 5,500 words long.
Yes, I know but we can look back and remember from a position of relative comfortability now!
It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? As with many of these subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 5500 word article on that season:
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or £20 a year 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 want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read all the other articles? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
This map shows the Maine Road area, where Manchester City’s former ground was, before any of the terraced housing was built. The dark blue shape I’ve placed on the map is approximately where the stadium was built. Maine Road was initially known as Dog Kennel Lane and was renamed in stages as terraced housing was built on it. The lane originally had a bend where the current Maine Road ends and the old lane veered off towards modern day Princess Parkway.
I explain a lot more about this in Farewell To Maine Road and in the Big Book of City. In the MCFC match programme a few years back I explained:
Maine Road itself was a relatively insignificant street in 1923, but in the previous century the road had the name ‘Dog Kennel Lane’ and it had for many decades been a fairly significant but meandering route south of the city. The street was renamed in stages when the area was developed during the late 1800s. For years the reason Maine Road was picked was not clear, but in 2009 I discovered the truth.
The Maine Road name came indirectly from the US State of Maine but this was a compromise. The following newspaper article explains: ‘Dog Kennel Lane took its name from the kennel where hounds were kept. It stood on the right-hand side at the bend about a thousand yards from Moss Lane, opposite to the road which tracked off to the left and led to Demesne Farm. The common name of this lane is so common and unattractive that when the Temperance Company bought the Trafford land they asked the local board to change the name to Demesne Road, and the subject was compromised by calling it Maine Road out of compliment to the Temperance principles of the petitioners.’
The idea of the Temperance movement was to discourage people from drinking alcohol. On 2 June 1851 the State of Maine passed the first recognised prohibition law, and two years later the United Kingdom Alliance was founded in Manchester, pledging to badger Parliament to outlaw liquor in England.
The ‘Temperance Company’ mentioned in the article was actually part of the movement and had bought some land at the top of Dog Kennel Lane – this area is close to the junction with Moss Lane East. They wanted to create a better standard of living and within that area they erected buildings in keeping with their approach to life, such as the Temperance Billiard Hall. However, the ‘Dog Kennel Lane’ name was clearly an issue and so the selection of the name ‘Maine Road’ was made. So the name Maine Road refers to the US State and the part that Maine played in the Temperance movement.
An early 20th century interpretation of an older map, showing modern streets (dotted) with the original roads.
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Gary James' Football Archive 