The 1950s: Stanley Matthews’ 250th Blackpool League Game (A MCFC Victory)

Seventy years ago today (4 February 1956) Stanley Matthews made his 250th league appearance for Blackpool on a snow covered Bloomfield Road ground. In treacherous conditions Manchester City defeated the home team 1-0 with a goal from Roy Faulkner. Interestingly Faulkner only ever made 7 first team appearances for City but scored 4 goals. This match report highlights Faulkner’s contribution. Notice also the mention of Joe Mercer’s early managerial career (Sheffield United match report).

You can read more on Manchester City in the 1950s with this 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!

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The 2020s: City’s Winning Streak

Manchester City’s winning streak was extended to 13 games following a comfortable victory at Burnley on this day (3 February) in 2021. Not only that but the win placed Pep Guardiola’s side top of the League, three points ahead of rivals Manchester United, and this was City’s sixth consecutive clean sheet. Here’s a Mini-report and highlights of the game…

The game started wonderfully for City when a stinging shot by Bernardo Silva was parried straight to Gabriel Jesus by Burnley ‘keeper Nick Pope. Jesus headed in from a couple of yards out after only three minutes.

In the 38th minute the lead was doubled when an Ilkay Gundogan pass found its way to Raheem Sterling who scored his tenth goal of the season to date. There were other chances and City were always in control, but the game ended 2-0. Afterwards Burnley boss Sean Dyche admitted: ‘City were very good. They’re on a good run of form. They are really sharp in transition and attack… They play with three and a half [at the back]. The right-back or left-back goes into midfield when they have the ball.’

An odd stat was highlighted after this game recording that City had become the first team ever to win 12 consecutive Premier League games played on a Wednesday. By this time of Pep’s reign so many longstanding records had been broken that the statisticians began looking for something new to highlight!

City have highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/burnley-man-city-exended-highlights-63747986

Manchester City v River Plate at Maine Road

On 2 February 1952 Manchester City were defeated 4-3 by Argentinian football club River Plate in a friendly at Maine Road, watched by a crowd of 34,974. Here are some interesting images from an official record book showing details of entertainment tax paid by City and turnstile records. I’m not certain if anyone has ever researched how much money football clubs paid in entertainment tax over the years but if anyone’s interested then hopefully the following will help.

You can see from the above photo a few match details such as HT/FT scores, weather and referee details. In addition the various admission prices can be seen (not all shown on this image) and the record book also includes details of how many fans attended within these prices per turnstile. A summary of the attendance per price and the amount of tax paid can be seen in the next image:

For the record City’s goals were scored by Don Revie, Jimmy Meadows and Roy Clarke. The two images below show the name of the turnstile operator and the admissions via that turnstile and the second image shows the total attendance and income details.

The series on the 1950s includes some free articles and some subscriber only features. If you’d like to know more on this period then why not subscriber and enjoy the following article on the 1951-52 season.

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

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Tottenham v City

It’s Tottenham v City today, so an appropriate time to look back at other meetings. The two clubs first met in a FA Cup tie in January 1909 with the first League game coming at White Hart Lane on 27 December 1910. City’s first scorer in a League match with Spurs was John Smith, who netted in that first League game (a 1-1 draw). Smith played in only 18 League games (scoring 6) for City.

There are plenty of articles on my website concerning games between City and Tottenham, and here’s a link to the heatwave game played on 27 September 1913:

Heatwave at Tottenham

There’s also the Ballet on Ice here:

Coleman Goal in the Blue Ballet

Here’s a link to all other features tagged Tottenham:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/tottenham/

60 Years Ago: Blushing Mike Summerbee For England?

This week in 1966 Manchester City manager (and future England boss) Joe Mercer told journalists that he believed that Mike Summerbee was ready to play for England. Mercer felt Summerbee could play in the following summer’s World Cup and urged Alf Ramsey to pick the City star. You can see one of the many articles published about this here. As for Mike Summerbee… Summerbee was flattered and slightly embarrassed about Mercer’s claims but many neutrals believed the City star deserved the opportunity.

You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

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Manchester Corinthians Brazil Film and Article

The latest Corinthian article and video has been produced. This one is aimed at South American audiences and Portuguese speakers. I’ve been working with Luis for some time on this as I knew he could help get the Corinthians‘ story out in South America. Obviously it’s aimed at Brazil rather than Venezuela but this is great coverage. His article was picked up by a national media company and can be read here. Also, there’s a link to the Portuguese language film he’s done here too:

https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2026/01/27/terra-de-city-e-united-manchester-ja-teve-um-corinthians-feminino.htm

Luis has also created an English language version here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzzv-OHp8Wc

Great coverage and already he’s been getting interest from Brazilians who had no idea. Hopefully, the news will spread further in South America. Thanks again to all that have helped with getting the stories out there.

Dzeko’s FAC First

On 30 January 2011 Manchester City travelled to Notts County in the FA Cup. Roberto Mancini’s Blues went behind (59thminute) but new signing Edin Dzeko lifted spirits with his first goal in the competition. With only ten minutes left Micah Richards pushed forward on the right then crossed wonderfully for Dzeko, who volleyed into the roof of the net from close range.

Further opportunities followed but the game ended 1-1. There had been intense media focus on the tie – billed as England’s oldest club against the world’s wealthiest (neither description accurate) by some media outlets – this had been put forward as a day when a football shock could occur, especially as the playing surface was poor following rugby games played on it. Ultimately, Dzeko’s goal avoided any embarrassment and allowed the game to go to a replay in what was to become a trophy winning season.

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From The Archives: An Away Friendly

Here’s an item from the collection from this day (29 January) in 1949 when Coventry City staged a home friendly against Manchester City. The game ended in a 2-1 defeat for Manchester’s Blues (Johnny Hart scored for City) and was watched by 14,779. A few notable names in that lineup: Joe Fagan (future Liverpool European Cup winning manager); Eric Westwood (a City captain who fought in Normandy); and Roy Clarke (who became a major hero and went on to manage the City Social Club). It’s not clear exactly who this letter was sent to but similar letters were sent to both the FA and the League for games like these.

If you’d like to find out more on the 1940s at City why not read the following article on the 1948-49 season. This article can be read by subscribing below.

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The 1950s: A Manchester Derby

Here’s film of the FA Cup 4th round tie from this day (29 January) in 1955 when Manchester City defeated Manchester United 2-0. Joe Hayes and Don Revie were the City scorers. Enjoy: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/59278/

This series on Manchester City in the 1950s includes free items and items only available to subscribers. If you’d like to find out more on the 1954-55 season then subscribe and read the following 3,400 word article on it. It’s a season when City reached the FA Cup final and Don Revie was FWA Footballer of the Year.

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

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Were You There 60 Years Ago Today? Manchester City 3 Middlesbrough 1

Today (29 January) in 1966 goals from Mike Summerbee (2) and Neil Young brought City a 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough and left City top of Division Two. It was a convincing win (Malcolm Allison boasted how City could have scored 6) but fans actually felt dissatisfied at the end as the Blues had eased off. Here’s the League table from after that game:

Here for subscribers are match reports from this game:

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You can find out more on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season by reading the following 4100 word article. As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there. This is a subscriber article (see below).

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.

Subscribe
How To Subscribe

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.

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