On this day (5 October) in 1968 Manchester City wore Red & Black stripes for the first time. Malcolm Allison had suggested adopting AC Milan’s colours and City first wore them for their meeting at Everton on October 5th 1968. The game ended in a 2-0 defeat and the result brought a lot of complaints from fans about the use of the colours. However, due to a colour clash with Leicester, the new colours were worn in the 1969 FA Cup final. The club won that trophy and the kit soon entered City folklore as an important kit.
City chose to wear the new style for all the successful major finals that followed during Joe Mercer & Malcolm Allison’s time, including the club’s first European trophy in 1970. At one point Allison suggested making red and black the first choice kit.
There were however plenty of complaints about City adopting the colours. Take a look at an earlier post I made on those complaints here:
On this day (1 October) in 1969 Manchester City’s first ever home tie in the ECWC (at the time Europe’s second most important competition) ended 3-0 (6-3 on aggregate) as the Blues defeated Athletic Bilbao. City scorers were Alan Oakes, Colin Bell and Ian Bowyer. Attendance 49,665. You can read more (and watch a video) about the game here:
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On this day in 1975 Manchester City faced Stoke at Maine Road.
Here for subscribers is a flashback piece detailing what features were in the MCFC match programme that day and game information:
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Last week I posted a piece on the 1978-79 season when Malcolm Allison returned midway though, describing himself as City’s Coaching Overlord. It was never an official title but the press loved it. That led to several people commenting on facebook, twitter and in private messages to me about the loss they felt when Malcolm started to move on some of the players fans loved. This included Peter Barnes (who I’ve written an authorised biography of – see elsewhere on my site for details of how tobuy that) and Gary Owen. Both players were loved by fans (and still are). So today’s 1970s flashback follows on from all of that.
It’s a reminder of the day Gary Owen made his Manchester City debut, replacing Alan Oakes. The debut was actually on 20 March 1976 against Wolves. A few years back I interviewed Gary about this first appearances and asked:
Your chance to play eventually came in March 1976. What do you remember about your debut against Wolves?
‘I’d been on the bench for the FA Cup tie with Hartlepool when we beat them 6-0 (3/01/76) but not used, and at Burnley on 13th March. Then Alan Oakes was injured and so the day before the Wolves game I was told I was going to make my debut. That night I could hardly sleep and on the morning of the game I remember having bacon, egg & toast. I had a full fry up! This was before nutritionists and so on and I thought it was the best thing to have. I thought I had to build myself up. I was full of nervous energy as well. I would have loved to have kicked off at 8am because I was ready… I couldn’t wait. I’d had my fry up and I wanted to face Wolves. It couldn’t come quick enough. I remember getting to the ground and walking in, seeing everyone. People were asking for my autograph – only a year before I had the pictures on my bedroom wall and was after the autographs.
‘I got into the changing room. Changed faster than anybody else. Went into the gym and played head tennis. As soon as the opportunity came to get out on the pitch I was out there. I wanted to savour every moment of it and take it all in. Back inside we had the team talk and Tony Book told me what my role was and that but, I have to tell you Gary, once I walked out on to that pitch I had nothing in my mind apart from getting every ball. I wanted the ball all the time and I chased, and pushed for it.’
Here’s a Manchester Evening News follow up piece to his debut, talking about the game and the player:
Gary Owen’s debut, 20 March 1976
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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The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a 2,100 word article on the entire 1976-77 season – a season which saw City come close to League success. You can read this below. This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January has offered something to enjoy.
Subscribers can access 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 1,200 word article is on the 1976-77 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
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.
Yesterday I posted this small amount of praise published on this day (10 January) in 1970 in the Liverpool Echo. The brief post comments on how 12 City players who had appeared to date in the 1969-70 had cost the Blues nothing. So, I asked ‘can name those 12?’ Looking at the date this was published and appearances the answer is:
Joe Corrigan, Glyn Pardoe, Mike Doyle, Tommy Booth, Alan Oakes, Neil Young, Ian Bowyer, Stan Bowles, Dave Connor, Tony Towers, Jimmy Mundy & Derek Jeffries.
Did you get this right?
This series of articles and features on the 1970s will run throughout January 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 January 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 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
Continuing the series of articles on the 1980s and today it’s a newspaper article on a possible return to FA Cup action at the age of 40 for Alan Oakes. Oakes, the former Manchester City FA Cup winner, was expected to make his debut for Northwich Victoria. This report comes from this day (8 December) in 1982.
Oakes did indeed play one FA Cup game for Northwich and later still he played a League game for Port Vale.
You can read more on the 1982-83 seasonarticle is a 3,500 word feature on the 1982-83 season. Enjoy (well, if you know the outcome of this season you can enjoy this memory refresh while reflecting on the modern day successes of the Blues!).
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
A new daily series of articles for subscribers started last week covering the 1980s. This is a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. Today’s article is a 2,500 word feature on the 1983-84 season. Enjoy!
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
Today (14 November) is the anniversary of the first appearance for Manchester City’s first team of Alan Oakes. Oakes is City’s record appearance holder and that all important first competitive appearance came in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea back in 1959.
The City scorer was Jack Dyson who had been out of action for two years with a broken leg and related complications. These two brief match reports suggest that Oakes had a good game.
Were you at this match? If so why not leave your memories below as comments. Thanks.
Gary James' Football Archive 