Gareth Taylor signs contract extension to 2027 with Manchester City’s Women’s Team

Manchester City Football Club can today announced that Gareth Taylor has signed a new three-year contract.

The 51-year-old was appointed Head Coach of the women’s first team in May 2020, and has overseen 97 wins from 131 games in all competitions to date.

Having won both the FA Cup and Continental Cup during his tenure so far, City’s continued push for silverware this campaign has seen them reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and Continental Cup semi-final.

Taylor’s side currently boast the best defensive record in the Women’s Super League, and a 12-match winning run in all competitions – which has included statement victories on the road against title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, dealing the latter a first defeat at Kingsmeadow in more than three years. 

Speaking about his new contract, Taylor said: “I’m very happy to be able to commit to City for another three seasons. I think what we’re doing here and trying to achieve is a build and a long-term project of sustainability and success. 

“Our ambition was always to be right at the top and we’ve done that. It’s taken a lot of hard work from a lot of people behind-the-scenes. The players have really bought in to what we’re trying to do and achieve.”

Highlighting the importance of both Women’s Managing Director Charlotte O’Neill and Director of Football Nils Nielsen in City’s strong season so far, Taylor added: “Nils has helped in a number of ways. His experience of having been a head coach previously in the women’s game is really helpful as well because you’re not talking to someone who has not been there. 

“Charlotte I’ve worked with previously in the Academy. What she’ll do is be really clear in our objectives and really clear in what we are capable of doing.”  

Director of Football Nils Nielsen added: “I am very pleased that Gareth has agreed to continue his great work in our programme for the coming years.

“We have a clear strategy on how we want to move forward, and securing Gareth to lead the team is a key factor in this.

“Now we can all focus on finishing this season in style and prepare for the next few seasons by following the plan.”

Manchester City Women Managing Director, Charlotte O’Neill, added: “We’re very pleased to have Gareth continue his journey with City for another three years.

“Gareth is someone who has embraced the City Football Group approach from day one and shares our ambition to push the envelope in the women’s game and build a squad full of talented and ambitious players.

“Nils and I are very much looking forward to continuing our work with him for the rest of this season and beyond alongside this amazing group of players. I’m confident the future is very bright at this Club.”

The photo is of Nils Nielsen and Gareth Taylor of Manchester City signing a contract extension at Manchester City Football Academy on February 29, 2024 in Manchester. Photo by Declan Lloyd/Manchester City FC.

The 1990s: 1992-1993 A Whole New Ball Game

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with the 1992-93 season when the Premier League was born. Here’s a 3,200 word article on that season:

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

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If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

The 1990s: 1991-1992 Curle Signs

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with the 1991-92 season when the Blues finished 5th for the second season running. Here’s a 2,100 word article on that season:

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

The 1990s: 1990-1991 End Of The Affair

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with the 1990-91 season when a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 word article on that season:

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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.

This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

The 1990s: Series Starts Now!

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s starts today with the story of the opening months of 1990. Howard Kendall was the City manager and the Blues were in the middle of a period where many of their 1986 FA Youth Cup winners were now regulars. Kendall recognised that topflight experienced/major trophy winning players were needed and he had embarked on strengthening the Blues with several players he felt he could trust to re-establish City as a credible trophy challenging team.

The story starts with the opening months of 1990 (see below). This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? The following 1,300 word article on the end of the 1989-90 season is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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Starting Tomorrow: The 1990s

A new series of articles starts tomorrow on Manchester City in the 1990s. There will be a seasonal journey through a truly important decade when Manchester City began the decade hoping to challenge for the Premier League. People often forget how things changed that decade. A giant of a club at the start of the decade and one that the whole football world recognised as being part of English football’s aristocracy. By the end of the decade it was the loyalty of fans that most recognised the club for.

Those that claim City has ‘no history’ may learn something about a decade that is often highlighted for its failings but which actually had some wonderful, incredible, positive moments too. This series of features will show how that decade actually went and will hopefully help to explain why the narrative of ‘third tier club that got lucky’ is so wrong! For the entire month of March there will be features to make every Blue proud, while also recognising the true nature of football – some times it’s great being a fan and sometimes it’s awful. That’s football!

Re-live the highs and lows of the 1990s decade from tomorrow onwards.

If you’d like to read everything in this series then please subscribe. Details below:

The 1970s: Series Ends

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s has now ended but you can still take a look at the posts that have been made over the last couple of months. The series of articles and features ran throughout January and for much of February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There were flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day offered something to enjoy.

Subscribers can still access to everything and there are plenty of free on this day material for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? Have a search through what’s been posted and see what you want to read, watch and remember. The following 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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The 1970s: The 1976 League Cup Final

Another 1970s flashback today with film of the 1976 League Cup final played on this day (28 February) in 1976. I blame Tueart for my bad back as we all tried to replicate his goal at school the following week! Here’s film of the game:

You can read more on this amazing season below.

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.

Subscribers get access to everything. 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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Five in the FA Cup

Last night (27 February 2024) Erling Haaland became the third Manchester City player to score five goals in a FA Cup game when he faced Luton. The two previous players to achieve this feat were Frank Roberts (see link below for video of the game he scored 5 in) and Bobby Marshall. Marshall’s five came in a FA Cup replay at Swindon on 29 January 1930 when City won 10-1. The attendance for this Tuesday afternoon match was 46,082 – a remarkable figure for an afternoon game in the days before floodlit competition.

Here are a couple of reports of that game (the second contains the goalscoring times/sequence):

Here’s the story of Frank Roberts’ five:

Of course Denis Law had scored 6 in a FA Cup tie v Luton but these were wiped from the records:

For Haaland there were a few records/points to note:

  • He is regarded as the first player to score five or more in the FA Cup (1st round onwards) since Duane Darby scored 6 for Hull v Whitby in 1996-97.
  • He is the first to score five or more for a top-flight club in the FA Cup since George Best scored 6 for United v Northampton in 1970.
  • He is the first to score five against Luton for City since Denis Law in 1961 when Law scored 6 but all were wiped from the records as the game was abandoned.
  • This is the second time Haaland has scored five goals in a game in his senior career, previously doing so for City against RB Leipzig in the Champions League in March 2023.
  • Since his debut for City in July 2022, Haaland has scored 79 goals in 83 games in all comps, 30 more than any other Premier League player in the that time (Salah 49).

Luton v MCFC: Story So Far!

It’s Luton v Manchester City in the FA Cup tonight. The two sides have met on 7 previous occasions in the competition with City winning 4, drawing 1 and 2 ending in defeat. There was also the famous expunged game where Denis Law netted six. ‘Expunged’ – what a great word! For anyone wondering, it means wiped from the records. So none of those six count in either Law’s goals record or City’s, but it is a game that often gets remembered.

You can read about that one here:

Other fixtures include…

Paul Cooper saving a penaly:

Both sides pay their respects following the death of a monarch (interesting to note that that weekend’s FA Cup games went ahead as scheduled. Over 65,000 watched City defeat Luton 2-1 at Maine Road).

Of course, Luton played their part in one of the most infamous end of season games in 1983. I won’t put a link here to that but do a search if you’re interested as there’s plenty on my website about that day!

The full record for Manchester City against Luton prior to tonight’s game is:

CompetitionPlayedWonDrawnLost
League37141211
FA Cup7412
League Cup6321
European0000
Other0000