David Johnson

After a glittering career with Preston, Everton and Liverpool, striker David Johnson joined Manchester City on this day (21 March) in 1984.  Johnson scored on his City debut – an 83rd minute equaliser v Cardiff in a game the Blues went on to win 2-1. Unfortunately, despite a reputation as a lethal striker – and hard evidence of achievement – Johnson’s time at Maine Road was not particularly successful.  After one goal in four (plus two as substitute) games Johnson moved to play soccer in North America in May 1984.   

Johnson died in November 2022 and the following piece was written by Samuel Meade and published in the Mirror:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/grame-souness-david-johnson-tribute-28569782

Arsenal v MCFC

it’s one of the oldest fixtures either club has with a rich history stretching back to the 1890s. Both sides have found major success with City’s first major trophy coming in 1904 and Arsenal’s arriving 26 years later. As you’d expect with such a long history there are plenty of articles on my website about both clubs. Here’s a link to all those tagged Arsenal:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/arsenal/

Fifty Years Ago Today: Gary Owen’s Debut

The League Cup winners faced Wolves at Maine Road on this day (20 March) in 1976. The game looked like a certain defeat – or at best a draw – for most of the match with Wolves dominating the early stages and even a Dennis Tueart scissor kick was unable to find the net (saved by goalkeeper Phil Parkes). Wolves took the lead via a low shot from future Blue Steve Daley in the 29th minute.

The second half saw City play with more fluidity and came close to scoring when 17-year-old debutant Gary Owen fired in a low shot following a free kick. Parkes managed a good save at the foot of the post. Eight minutes into the half City did equalise through another young player, Ged Keegan. 

After 81 minutes Wolves took the lead again with a Kindon header. Three minutes later a handling offence in the area gave City a penalty which Tueart blasted past Parkes to equalise.

Only a minute later, and with the game entering its final five minutes, Mike Doyle stormed in to head City in front, making it 3-2. The victory for Tony Book’s side was a little harsh on Wolves, particularly after some excellent saves from Parkes, but it demonstrated the never-say-die attitude that seemed to be a key feature of City at this time.

Post match much of the talk was on City’s final flourish, but journalist Peter Gardner was also keen to write about Gary Owen, claiming: ‘Owen provided one of the most startling League debuts I have ever seen… he is essentially an exciting player with abundant flair and ability. He shows too, a crispness in the tackle that comes from a stocky build reminiscent of an early Ball or Bremner. Doubtless his display exceeded the expectations of many as City rallied after the break to come up on the post and snatch victory from the grasp of a Wolves side ready to celebrate.’

You can read more on the 1975-76 season with this 5,320 word article – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. 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!

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Colin Bell’s City Debut Goal

60 years ago today (19 March 1966) Colin Bell made his debut for Manchester City in a League game with Derby County. The game ended 2-1 with Colin Bell scoring a debut goal (see main photo). Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison often joked about the goal (according to Allison it hit him and went in which Allison claimed caused Mercer to cry out: ‘Oh no, what have we done!’). That was more of a story used years later when Colin had proved his worth time and time again.

Bell signed on 16 March. Here for subscribers are contemporary match reports and also an image of Young’s goal too:

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If you’d like to find out about Colin’s Bury debut (which was against Manchester City), you can read that here:

The 1960s: Colin Bell’s Bury Debut

The 1933 FA Cup Semi Final – Manchester City v Derby County at Huddersfield

On this day (18 March) in 1933 Manchester City faced Derby County in the FA Cup semi-final at Leeds Road. Here for subscribers is the story of that day, including images, a match report and film of the game. Enjoy!

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Colin Bell Signs

60 years ago today (17 March 1966) newspapers carried the story that Colin Bell had transferred from Bury to Manchester City. He actually signed on 16 March and made his debut on 19 March v Derby (watch this space for a story about that).

If you’d like to find out about Colin’s Bury debut (which was against Manchester City), you can read that here:

The 1960s: Colin Bell’s Bury Debut

The 1950s: The 1956 FA Cup Semi Final

70 years ago today (17 March 1956) Manchester City defeated Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the FA Cup final with a goal from Bobby Johnstone. The game was watched by 69,788 at Villa Park and you can watch film of it here:

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/60611/

You can read more on this season below…

Here for subscribers is a 3,900 word article on the 1955-56 season when City won the FA Cup final (nowadays known as the Trautmann Final) and Bert Trautmann was FWA Footballer of the Year (presented in the days before the final). Enjoy!

You can read the article by subscribing below.

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The 2020s: Victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach

On this day (16 March) in 2021 City faced Monchengladbach in the second leg of this Champions League round of 16 tie. They had won the first leg 2-0 and went on to match that scoreline in this second leg. Due to Covid restrictions both legs of this tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest and so this game enters the record books as one of the few home games not played in Manchester by the Blues.

City started the game without a recognised centre forward as both Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero were on the bench, but Pep Guardiola’s side were in control from the start. The German team were unable to cope with City’s quality, passing, creativity and movement.

The opening goal came when Kevin De Bruyne scored a wonderful 20 yard left footed strike after only twelve minutes. This was the 100th goal scored by City in all competitions this season. Six minutes later Ilkay Gundogan slotted the ball past the Monchengladbach ‘keeper following a great run and pass from Phil Foden.

Pep Guardiola enjoyed the victory: ‘It was a good performance; we controlled the game from the beginning. Players like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva have a lot of quality, they help us a lot, but everyone was so committed and we’re delighted to be in the next stage. We now have everybody fit. That’s why we can rotate six or seven players. If you want to compete for competitions, you have to be fresh. The seasons are so long, we haven’t had one long week [off] since October.’

Post match the statisticians enjoyed highlighting a variety of City achievements. These included a couple of odd facts such as: Half of Monchengladbach’s defeats (5 out of 10) in the Champions League have been by City. City were also one of one three teams (AC Milan & Arsenal) to have kept seven consecutive clean sheets in the competition’s history.

Match Stats

16 March 2021

Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne & Gundogan) Borussia Monchengladbach 0

Attendance 0 (Covid restrictions)

Denis Law Signs for Manchester City

65 years ago today 15 March 1960) Huddersfield Town’s Denis Law signed for Manchester City for £55,000 – £10,000 more than the previous British transfer record fee.

Here for subscribers is an overview of that transfer plus footage from Law’s debut and other material.

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The First Manchester Derby at the Etihad

The first Manchester derby at Manchester City’s new stadium (then called the City of Manchester Stadium, now the Etihad) occurred on this date (14 March) in 2004.  For pride’s sake it was important Kevin Keegan’s side did not lose that fixture, but with United some 13 places above the Blues pre-match Ferguson’s side were clear favourites.  It was time for City to upset the form book.

On a wonderful day, perhaps the best the stadium had enjoyed in its inaugural year, a terrific atmosphere helped Keegan’s side achieve a memorable victory.  Fowler opened the scoring in the third minute and Macken made it 2-0 after 32 minutes.  Scholes made it 2-1 three minutes later.  

In the second half goals from Mancunian Trevor Sinclair (73) and Shaun Wright-Phillips made it 4-1 to the Blues.  You can hear my interview with Trevor Sinclair about this game here:

Trevor Sinclair Interview

Matt Dickinson (The Times):  “Humiliated by Manchester City last season, Sir Alex Ferguson and his men used the pain to fuel their drive to the title.  Humiliated again yesterday, they are condemned to live with the despair for months – perhaps even years.”  

Keegan felt the win was thoroughly deserved:  “We had played better against Chelsea and lost.  But against United we got that important early goal which gave us something to hang on to.  We had personnel problems because we had players doing jobs that don’t come naturally to them and also had to make two enforced changes at the interval.”

Chris Bailey explained the significance of the match in the Manchester Evening News:  “Maine Road saw some pulsating derbies in its time but few could have matched this first-ever neighbourly spat at Eastlands.  And how satisfying that Kevin Keegan’s side should choose this day of all days to win their first home game since October 18 and banish all thoughts of the drop.”

In 2012 Dennis Tueart, who was a director at the time of the stadium move, told me his memories of that derby match, believing it was an important moment in the stadium’s inaugural season:  “When we moved to the stadium Kevin Keegan worried about whether the atmosphere would be the same and I told him that fans would take a bit of time getting used to it because they were no longer sat with the people they’d been with for years.  The dynamics were different.  He felt we should try and get fans in the ground earlier, but I said that performance on the pitch would be the most significant factor.  

“When we beat United 4-1 in the first derby at the stadium the atmosphere was incredible.  Kevin came to me afterwards and said ‘I see what you mean’.  That then set the tone of the place.  The place was rocking – people were singing as they walked down the spirals at the end of the match and the atmosphere was absolutely superb.”

If you would like to read about other Manchester derbies then check out this:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/manchester-derbies/

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This was a brief taste of the material on http://www.GJFootballArchive.com If you would like to read all the in-depth articles (including the entire Manchester A Football History book and the audio interview with John Bond) 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 everything posted so far and everything scheduled to be posted during your subscription.

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