The 1940s: The 1946-47 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1946-47 season. This was the first league season after the war and ended with City winning the Second Division title. There were some truly significant – and well attended – games that season and future Liverpool manager Joe Fagan (photograph) made his debut this season too. This subscriber article includes comments from an interview I did with George Smith back in 2003.

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The 1940s: Sheff Utd 2 Manchester City 3

On this day (20 April) in 1946 Manchester City defeated the Football League North league leaders Sheffield United 3-2 at Bramall Lane. The City scorers were Lew Woodroffe, Jimmy Constantine and George Smith. The image shows the results from that day.

A crowd recorded as 40,000 watched this match. Although this game was played in peacetime the regional war leagues were still being played, with the Football League returning the following season.

There was FA Cup action though and you can read about that in the following feature on the 1945-46 season.

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The 1940s: The 1945-46 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1945-46 season. This feature includes comments from George Smith (photographed against United a few years later), who I interviewed in 2003.

This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.

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The 1940s: The 1944-45 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1944-45 season. This includes some quotes from Johnny Hart (photographed a few years later).

This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.

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A Football League First

On this day (17 April) in 1888 the Football League’s first meeting was held in Manchester. Despite stories that often circulate no Manchester team was invited to this meeting. If one had it would probably have been Manchester Association Football Club as they had the highest status at the time.

The 1940s: The 1943-44 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1943-44 season. The story of George Smith (pictured with United’s Johnny Carey) is included within this. George was the victim of friendly fire and his story is remarkable.

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A Women’s Football First!

On this day (16 April) in 1949 the earliest known win over a rival club by the pioneering Manchester Corinthians team was recorded. It was also recorded as ‘the best women’s football match ever seen’ according to one report! The game ended in a 4-3 victory over Ashbourne (at Ashbourne), in front of 2,000 spectators. The winning goal was a penalty. You can find out more on this game and read the facts (not the fiction!) about this incredible team in my new book. Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages.

It 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.

£25.00

Sold Out – Manchester City Women: An Oral History

This week I distributed the last new copy of Manchester City Women: An Oral History. The book told the first 30 years or so of the City Women (formerly City Ladies) team with interviews with women from the first season of 1988-89 through to the 2018-19 season included. Amazon still claim to have a couple of copies, but other than that if you want it look out for ‘pre-loved’ copies. Here’s the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-City-Women-Oral-History/dp/0955812798/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2W79N46LOQGXO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PQNoqhPqqfTH0pBO8WGK4jtZ-_1JIOefiYiDyO7C-KTTa4ay-DSh8RjyCMV0F7uS.kbsV-81_ugXKld0SUXGY2sQtWmGHzBwPdNzSEv6r5P0&dib_tag=se&keywords=manchester+city+women%3A+an+oral+history&qid=1744732848&sprefix=manchester+city+women+an+oral+history%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-1

Thanks to everyone who bought this and supported such a groundbreaking book (and project).

My designer tried quite a few different designs but you can see there was one constant image… My father-in-law’s photo from 1989 of the team at Maine Road.

You can still find lots of interesting stuff on women’s football on my website of course. For example:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/womens-football-2/page/16/

The 1940s: The 1942-43 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1942-43 season.

This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.

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The 1940s: The 1941-42 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this article on the 1941-42 season.

This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.

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