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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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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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:
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:
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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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)
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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 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:
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:
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.
Manchester City, the League Cup winners, travelled to Turf Moor for a League game with struggling Burnley on this day (13 March) in 1976. It was a strange day with City in control for much of the game. It seemed inevitable Tony Book’s side would win, especially when they were awarded a penalty in the 44th minute. Burnley’s centre-half Jim Thomson was sent off for kicking Dennis Tueart while he lay on the ground following a collision with the ‘keeper. Tueart said afterwards: ‘When Thomson was sent off the goalie and I stood looking at each other wondering what had happened. It was a bit silly really! There was a bit of a skirmish with Thomson, but I didn’t even feel a blow of any kind.’
Wembley hero Tueart stepped up to take the resulting penalty but Burnley ‘keeper Gerry Peyton saved brilliantly.
The game became ill-tempered and former City hero Mike Summerbee, playing for Burnley, clashed with Tueart at times, causing both men to be spoken to by the referee.
In the second half City, playing in red & black stripes, were awarded another penalty. This time Tueart’s spot-kick entered the net, but the referee judged that a City played had encroached the area and the penalty was retaken. This time Tueart’s shot hit the post!The game ended goalless and City were now sixth, eleven points (2 points for a win) behind leaders QPR with three games in hand.
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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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 (13 March) in 2011 Manchester City faced Reading in the FA Cup quarter final. Here for subscribers is the story of that game:
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Four years ago I worked on a project for the Women’s Euros capturing the stories of women who played football in the Trafford area. This included several Corinthians and other women who played in local football. Even if you’re not particularly interested in Trafford it’d be worth having a look at this to get a feel for the stories of these players and clubs.
I worked on a temporary basis with Trafford to capture the stories of women, teams & more, while also staging a few events and researching the history of women’s football within Trafford. My time with the project was a great experience. I managed to interview women who played football either for Trafford based clubs or women who are from Trafford who played for teams outside the borough. There were also interviews with women who played significant games in Trafford and those videod are free to view via the name tabs to the right on the following website. This website was set up to tell the stories and we’ve posted a few of those covering teams, games & players. Take a look here at the ones posted:
Audio interviews were performed with a variety of former players of teams such as Sale United, Trafford Ladies, Manchester Corinthians, Manchester United, Manchester City, FC Redstar, England and the Merseyside club Leasowe Pacific who won the FA Cup in 1989 at Old Trafford.
We also held a session where young girls from Sale United met with former Corinthians, City & United players to talk about their careers and compare experiences.
I staged a talk at the National Football Museum on the History of Women’s Football with particular emphasis on the experiences and landmark moments of Trafford & Manchester’s women footballers. Jan Lyons of Manchester Corinthians & Juventus and Lesley Wright of Manchester Corinthians & Manchester City participated in a panel discussion too with some great questions from the audience.
Photo by Rachel Adams for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Arts and Heritage programme
An exhibition, including objects such as a 1958 Manchester Corinthians shirt and boots signed by Steph Houghton, was staged at the archives centre at Sale.
Displays around Old Trafford were also set up with the national history of women’s football appearing alongside Trafford bespoke monoliths close to Hotel Football and the Old Trafford Stadium.
Photo by Rachel Adams for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Arts and Heritage programme
There were also postboxes decorated with knitted women footballers that were produced by the local knitting groups as part of the project.
Finally, I’m still capturing the stories of women’s football in Manchester as a whole and last week I did my latest interview with a Corinthian. Over 50 were interviewed for the Authorised History book and I continue to record and document their story using interviews, archival material and other research to capture the facts not the fiction of their existence.
My aim, as always, is to ensure stories of Manchester’s football history is captured for future generations.
Research by Dr Gary James led to the history of women’s football in Trafford being documented as part of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Arts and Heritage programme
Gary James' Football Archive 