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).

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60 Years Ago Today: Manchester City and Blackpool FAC Tie at Bloomfield Rd

On this day (22 January) in 1966 Manchester City travelled to Blackpool for a FA Cup tie. The game ended 1-1 between the Second Division promotion hopefuls and the First Division side. In this photo Glyn Pardoe has scored City’s goal. Subscribers can find out more about this game below, plus read several contemporary match reports:

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City v Middlesbrough: League Cup Semi

Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough arrived at Maine Road on this day (21 January) in 1976 for the second leg of the League Cup Semi final 1-0 up after a tense first leg match.  The majority of the first leg had been played out in midfield with Alan Oakes, Asa Hartford and the emerging Paul Power putting up a good fight on City’s behalf.  Boro had found it difficult to break through City’s powerful defence until John Hickton (I had previously said David Armstrong had scored but he’d netted for them in the 1-0 League meeting 3 days earlier) gave them the lead in the 66th minute.  Despite the advantage Middlesbrough’s Evening Gazette predicted a difficult return game.

At Maine Road a youthful City side destroyed Boro.  As early as the 5th minute 19 year old Peter Barnes – now working for GMR – crossed the ball to 20 year old Ged Keegan, who headed home his first senior goal.  Six minutes later Keegan laid the ball off for Oakes to fire a left foot shot past ‘keeper Jim Platt.  A minute into the 2nd half Barnes made it 3-1 on aggregate.  Shortly before the end Joe Royle made it 4-1 and maintained his record of scoring in every round. 

Stats:  League Cup semi-final 2nd leg. 21st January 1976.

City 4 Middlesbrough 0

Scorers – City: Barnes, Keegan, Oakes, Royle

City:  Corrigan, Barrett, Donachie, Doyle, Clements, Oakes, Power, Keegan, Royle, Hartford, Barnes.

Boro: Platt, Craggs, Cooper, Souness, Boam, Maddren, Murdoch (McAndrew), Brine, Hickton, Mills, Armstrong.

Attendance: 44,426

While you’re here why not subscribe and read a 5,320 word article on the entire 1975-76 season – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. You can read this below.

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60 Years Ago Today: Manchester City in Unusual Kit at Home

On this day (15 January) in 1966 Manchester City drew 0-0 with Preston at Maine Road but look at the kit City are wearing. This photo shows George Heslop (5) and Alan Oakes (6) in unusual colours for Maine Road. Subscribers can find out more about this kit and day below, plus read several contemporary match reports:

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60 Years Ago Today: Portsmouth’s Free Seats for Women

On this day (8 January) 1966 Portsmouth welcomed Manchester City to Fratton Park. Subscribers can read a contemporary match report below of that important game in City’s quest to earn promotion from the second tier (Joe Mercer was not happy!). What also made the day special was that Portsmouth chose that day to introduce a policy of free tickets for women (to accompany their men according to this cutting in my collection!). I’m not certain how long their policy lasted but it’s worth noting that many clubs had previously had a policy of half price tickets for women (City had been doing that from the 1890s).

Here for subscribers is a contemporary match report of Portsmouth v City (you can find out why Joe Mercer was angry too!):

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From My Collection: The 1967-68 Champions

Here’s an odd item from my collection. It’s a compliment slip by a Star Press (the ‘champion printers’) which lists the players in Manchester City’s 1967-68 title winning team. There are a couple of spelling mistakes. See if you can spot them. One side of the compliments slip shows the League Champions and the other side looks like this:

I’m not certain if there was a close connection between Manchester City and Star Press at this time.

You can find out more about the 1967-68 season by reading the following subscriber article. If you’d like to read this 7,600 word article (yes, 7,600 words on one season!), plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other seasonal features it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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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.

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Manchester City 4 Mansfield Town 2

Fifty years ago today (3 December 1975) Manchester City defeated Mansfield Town 4-2 in the League Cup. Subscribers can read all about the game below.

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The 1960s: Allison’s Plymouth

On this day (3 April) in 1965 Manchester City defeated Plymouth 2-1 thanks to goals from Alan Oakes and Trevor Ogden. Mike Trebilcock scored for Plymouth. Tony Book played for Plymouth that day while Malcolm Allison was their manager. The following summer Allison would arrive as number two to Joe Mercer and the year after that Tony Book would become a Blue too. Incredible success followed of course!

The 1964-65 season was remarkable and, perhaps, demonstrated how bonkers things were at Maine Road before Mercer and Allison arrived. This was the season when a City director held meetings, hoping to merge City and United! If you’d like to read the following 2350 word article on that season, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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The 1960s: 1967-1968 Leeds v Manchester City

On this day (23 March) in 1968 came a game between two title challenging teams – Leeds Utd and Manchester City. The view was that this game could knock City out of the title race if it went Leeds’ way. So what happened? Here’s film of the game:

You can find out more aboutthe potential impact of this game by reading this subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1967-68 season. If you’d like to read this 7,600 word article (yes, 7,600 words on one season!), plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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The 1950s: The 1959-1960 Season for Manchester City

The series of features on the 1950s continues with this subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1959-60 season. If you’d like to read this 1200 word article, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below).

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