Tag Archives: Asa Hartford

Crowd Issues At Birmingham

On this day (27 November) in 1976 a goalless game at Birmingham caused Manchester City to drop to fifth place but, with only two defeats coming in the side’s opening 15 games (and conceding only one goal in 6 games), there was still a great deal of optimism about the place.  In fact consistency was perhaps the side’s greatest strength.

On the pitch there had been few changes with Corrigan (1), Donachie (3), Doyle (4), Watson (5), Royle (9), Hartford (10), and Tueart (11) being everpresents at this stage in the season in every competition – League, UEFA Cup, and League Cup.

Off the pitch, the mid 70s was a difficult one for supporter behaviour nationally.  Although the Blues took the lead with their great work with young fans and supporters clubs, nationally hooliganism was strong.  The 1975-76 season had seen British Rail cancel all soccer specials following a number of high profile acts of hooliganism, although City’s supporters’ club took a lead in keeping fans on the move during 1976-77 as they managed to keep rail specials for members of the City travel club going.  In fact they continued to run rail specials until the 1990s.

Supporter behaviour was a major issue and there was the first call, by the Daily Mail, to introduce ID cards for fans.  The previous season the supporters of Manchester United and Chelsea had rioted in an attempt to get games in which they were losing abandoned and so City’s great work with the Junior Blues and Supporters’ Club was trying to buck the trend.  Throughout the 1976-77 season the Blues devoted a two page feature (out of 24) each programme to a different supporters branch.

Sadly, there were still instances of trouble at City games and the Birmingham match was no exception.  Young supporter Ian Hodgkinson (aged 16) was particularly upset at the situation at St. Andrew’s:  “The City fans in the Tilton Road End were attacked by Birmingham supporters.  This caused the City fans to run to the entrance.  The Birmingham police then informed us that it was safe to return, but when we got back, the police vanished and once more we were attacked.  Two of my mates had their scarves stolen and were punched many times.”

Ian’s comments were typical of many that were sent to City and the local media, but sadly despite the strength of City’s relationship with supporters at this time, there was little being done elsewhere in football, other than caging fans in (something the Blues tried to avoid at Maine Road). 

Results

27 Nov 1976 Birmingham City (A) 0-0, Attendance 29,722

Subscribers can read a 2,100 word article on the entire 1976-77 season below – a season which saw City come close to League success. You can read this below. Enjoy!

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Programme Flashback City V Stoke, 24 September 1975

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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50 Years Ago Today: Asa Hartford

Asa Hartford signed for Manchester City on this day (13 August) in 1974. You can find several articles that mention Asa throughout this website. Start looking here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/asa-hartford/

The 1990s: 1997-1998 A New Low

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1997-98 season. The article is almost 9,500 words long – there’s so much to say! Some people write entire football club histories that are shorter than that. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.

Here’s the 9500 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:

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The 1990s: 1996-1997 Further Managerial Changes

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1996-97 season. If you don’t know what happened then brace yourself! The article is almost 4,900 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time, including Phil Neal who talks about Steve Coppell’s shock resignation.

Here’s the 4900 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:

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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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The 1970s: Tueart Penalty as City Beat Everton 3-0

Today we have another 1970s flashback. This is of the day when a Tueart penalty helped Manchester City to a 3-0 victory over Everton. This happened at Maine Road on this day (21 February) in 1976. You can see film of that and all the goals here:

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. Every day offered something to enjoy.

Subscribers have 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 1970s: Royle Goal v Arsenal

Here’s another flashback to the 1970s. It’s video of Joe Royle scoring for Manchester City v Arsenal. It was the only goal of the game and you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf67c68Cj7o

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and February 2024 with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.

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!

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The 1970s: Junior Blues News

The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with this cutting from today (10 February) in 1979 where Junior Blues’ chairman Roger Reade answers critics about the lack of players at a couple of meetings. It’s a bit difficult to read because of the quality of the scan but hopefully you can appreciate the story.

Basically, Roger explains, players were normally available for Junior Blues branch meetings (note: these are district/branches linked to Supporters Club branches, not the main Junior Blues – what an incredible commitment to have players at both the main Junior Blues but also the branches too!). The plans were disrupted because Asa Hartford and Willie Donachie had been selected for Scotland AND on another occasion because Malcolm Allison returned as coach and insisted all the players were in a meeting with him instead.

Here’s the article:

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January and now into February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day offered something to enjoy and I’ll continue this series for a little while yet. Thanks for all the positive comments about it.

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 5,700 word article is on the 1978-79 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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The 1970s: Booth and Hartford

Another 1970s flashback today with film of Tommy Booth and Asa Hartford both scoring for Manchester City on this day (7 February) in 1976. The Blues had gone a goal behind to Aston Villa before great work from Hartford helped to change the course of the match. All goals can be seen in this clip here:

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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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.

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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.

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