Here’s a brief clip I took on this day (6 November) in 2021 of City fans at the end of the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford. A dominant day for Manchester’s Blues.
After the game City manager Pep Guardiola told the BBC he wanted to give a ‘massive compliment to the players’ because ‘they are the real artists for the way we played.’
Guardiola said City’s approach was shaped by United’s ability on the counter-attack: ‘If you don’t finish the attack you will be attacked much, much quicker and that is where they are so good. That is why we needed a game with a thousand million passes. We need a game like with the ball in the fridge, keep it there. Right now Chelsea are unstoppable. We know we cannot drop much points to be close to them but against the big six we performed well.’
The win lifted City above Liverpool into second in the Premier League while fifth-placed United were nine points behind leaders Chelsea.
A flashback to a high scoring win for Manchester’s Blues on 2 November 2013…
After the 2-1 last gasp defeat at Chelsea in their previous League game, manager Manuel Pellegrini took the decision to drop goalkeeper Joe Hart for this important match with Norwich. The decision brought much scrutiny City’s way but Hart’s replacement Pantilimon had little to do as the Blues thrashed Norwich 7-0. The win lifted City to fourth in the League but more significantly demonstrated the fire power the Blues possessed and demonstrated to all that Pellegrini’s men were determined to mount a serious challenge for the title. Seven separate scorers – including an own goal – made this City’s largest top flight win since 1968. Afterwards Pellegrini was delighted that his side kept striving for more: “Normally a team 4-0 ahead finishes working.”
City had a 100% home record in the Premier League but away from home life was not so easy. At Sunderland in the next League game the Blues were unfortunate to lose 1-0. The BBC’s Sam Sheringham explained: “Referee Mike Dean’s leniency was on display once again in the build-up to the opening goal. The official opted not to penalise Bardsley when he appeared to bundle over Milner, allowing the full-back to race on to Brown’s long pass and curl a precise finish past Costel Pantilimon.”
The Blues were back down to eighth in what seemed likely to be a tight title race.
Match Stats:
2013-14
2 Nov Norwich City (H) W 7-0 Silva, Nastasic, Negredo, Toure, Aguero, Dzeko & Johnson (OG) 47,066
10 Nov Sunderland (A) L 0-1 40,137
League Cup
30 Oct Newcastle United (A) W 2-0 Negredo, Dzeko 33,846
Twenty years ago today (16 October 2004) eventual champions Chelsea were defeated 1-0 by Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad). City were the only side to beat the champions during 2004-5 and managed to draw the return fixture 0-0. You can read more on the October game below:
By the time Chelsea arrived in Manchester on 16 October the Blues were 12th on 8 points, while the visitors were second, behind Arsenal, on 20 points. Chelsea were also one of only two sides unbeaten in the League and were, without doubt, favourites to win this match. Keegan optimistically told fans pre-match: “It is still 11 against 11 on the day and we are more than capable of beating the top sides.”
The manager’s views proved correct as City defeated the eventual champions 1-0 with an 11th minute penalty from Nicolas Anelka. It was the first time Jose Mourinho had suffered a defeat at Chelsea and was only the second time his side had conceded a goal during 2004-05. It was also City’s first home victory over the London club in the Premier League. Sadly, Jihai Sun suffered cruciate ligament damage and was to miss the rest of the season.
The Jihai Sun injury was not the only one affecting Keegan’s side during the first half of the season and, as the Blues had one of the smallest squads in the Premier League, the manager found himself with few players to choose from at times.
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On this day (10 October) in 1985 Chelsea forward Gordon Davies joined Manchester City (the team he supported; his hero was Colin Bell). Davies made 3 Welsh international appearances while at City. There was a chant connected with him which was, err, well, typical 1980s. It was based on the ‘Woo Gary Davies, woo Gary Davies, woo Gary Davies on the ra-di-o’ jingle used by Radio One DJ Gary Davies (of course). The chant (I’m sure you can guess) went ‘Woo Gordon Davies, woo Gordon Davies, woo Gordon Davies in the ar-e-a’ (meaning penalty area of course!). Those were the days, hey?
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There’s a lot of furore this week about Manchester City’s decision to wear their new Oasis inspired kit instead of their home kit for their Champions League game with Inter Milan. Lots are talking about tradition, heritage and the like, so I thought I’d add a few words here that might have been overlooked or forgotten. So here goes…
Firstly, my position is clear that I’ve always been keen to see City wear home colours/blue for every fixture possible (whether home, away or at a neutral venue) but I’m a pragmatist and know that’s no longer likely. History and tradition does mean something but of course, when it comes to football, traditions change frequently. People may think City have only ever worn a particular colour at home or that the traditional away colours are red & black but these things are not true. Times change.
When it comes to wearing alternative kits at home it has been done more often than perhaps people realise. In fact the only decade when it hasn’t happened appears to be the 2010s – I say appeared because I haven’t got evidence of every home game in the 1890s and 1900s!
These last few days have caused some to recall the Middlesbrough game when David James went up front and the two Tottenham games at Maine Road in 80s/90s when the referee felt the kits were too close and City ended up changing. But there have been many other occasions. In fact it’s well over 100 years since City first chose to wear away colours/alternative strips at home when they didn’t need to!
The image above of Neil Young comes from the 1971 ECWC semi-final v Chelsea. Notice that Young is wearing City’s away colours.
Often when there was a clash of colours in a cup game City would wear their away strip. Games in the 1920s right through to 1970s saw the Blues don maroon, red/black and even scarlet at times at Maine Road.
Here’s another image from that Chelsea semi final:
1971 ECWC v Chelsea. Francis Lee. Photo by Alan Jubb
To the right you can see the North Stand under construction, as you can in the Young image.
Other games in living memory (not necessarily mine, but living memory for many older blues) include:
January 1971 – City v Wigan in FA Cup (red & black)
September 1970 – City v Bologna in Anglo-Italian Cup (red & black)
January 1968 – City v Reading in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1966 – City v Everton in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1966 – City v Leicester in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1956 – City v Everton in FA Cup (maroon shirts, white shorts)
In earlier decades City often chose to wear an away shirt for cup ties where there was a clash. Prior to 1921 the FA rule was that home teams would have to change if there was a clash.
In March 1924 City chose to wear a kit they described as ‘Lucky scarlet’ for a FA Cup tie with Cardiff at Maine Road. So for well over 100 years City have often chosen to wear alternative kits at home instead of traditional blue when they didn’t need to.
Personally, I’d still prefer City to always wear blue no matter where they play, but that’s never going to happen anyway.
Incidentally, if you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
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.
This weekend Manchester City face Chelsea and it’s reminded me of this newspaper cutting from the 1930s. I love this cutting showing Manchester City striker Eric Brook in nets v Chelsea. He was deputising for the Blues’ injured goalkeeper. It looks like Brook had a bandana on his head here too! The photo was taken on December 17 1932. You can read the match report here.
City were losing 1-0 when Nicholls was injured 15 minutes into the match and the scoreline became even more convincing as the game progressed. However this report (from a London edition of a national newspaper) states that City were the better team in both halves.
It’s Manchester City at Chelsea this weekend. Last season that same fixture ended in a 4-4 draw and this was heralded as a great game by the Sky TV pundits. As fans, these sort of games never feel like great games at the time but neutrals obviously love them. For fans of the teams involved they tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game last year I was asked when City’s previous 4-4 draw was and I spent a few minutes thinking ‘I’ve never seen one before involving City, or have I?’ So, I then started to scour the material in my collection and was somewhat surprised to find it was against Grimsby in September 1950! Certainly many, many years before I was born.
My favourite goal in last season’s match at Chelsea was the one Haaland scored with his er… um… er… shorts area. The City scorers were: Haaland (25 minutes pen, 47 minutes), Akanji (45+1 minutes), Rodri (86 minutes) and for Chelsea (including two City old boys): Thiago Silva (29 minutes), Sterling (37 minutes), Jackson (67 minutes), Palmer (90+5minutes pen)
Incredibly last season’s game wasn’t the first time City had drawn 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before last year’s match. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about the earlier match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year – as they did in 2023-24!
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Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s an article on the season after the ban, showing how City coped. Despite everything that had been thrown at Manchester’s Blues they finished third. Read the subscriber article below for the story.
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Each year, following the end of the UEFA football season I update the UEFA European Span of Success table. What is this? It’s a list of those clubs who have won two or more major UEFA tournaments showing the span between their first UEFA success and their most recent. The list may surprise some who think that football is all about those perceived as European giants with ‘history’.
The table hasn’t really changed much from last year as Real Madrid were Champions League winners. Atalanta, who won the Europa League, and Olympiacos (Conference winners) have only won one major European trophy and so they do not yet make it on to the list of multiple winners:
European Span of success 2024
The ‘history’ ‘no history’ thing really irritates me. All clubs have history and even when that’s recognised some still go on about history as if it started in 1992, 1999 or 2008 etc. depending on whether your club was successful or your rivals were failing. The two highest placed English teams are West Ham and Manchester City, who both found major European success before some of those clubs recognised today as Europe’s elite.
Obviously, this table does not show the number of major trophies won, but it does give an indication of trophy winning longevity for those who obsess on ‘my cup’s bigger than yours’ and similar debates. Personally, I think we should all be proud of our club’s achievements and not worry about what a rival has won.
West Ham have the second longest span of all Europe’s clubs and City have the fourth equal. Nice work Hammers and Blues!
The above table includes the four major UEFA tournaments: European Cup/Champions League; European Cup Winner’s Cup; UEFA Cup/Europa League & the Europa Conference League. It does not include non-UEFA tournaments such as the Mitropa Cup and Fairs Cup. Nor does it include the Intertoto Cup or similar.
I’m sure some will say but why aren’t the Mitropa or Fairs Cups in there? It’s a good point but these were not UEFA tournaments, though I recognise that the Mitropa Cup had some significant clubs competing in it. It was predominantly an East European competition and participants were not spread over the entire continent.
With the Fairs Cup… It is true that this was later transformed into the UEFA Cup and I have included all UEFA Cup finals in my analysis. But the Fairs Cup had an odd series of entry rules at times. Cities, rather than clubs, often entered with Barcelona beating London in one final for example. It was set up as a friendly type of competition with cities that had staged trade fairs playing each other. As time wore on entry came via the League Cup or League position in England, which added significance to it. But two teams from the same city were not allowed to participate, which meant that teams finishing way down the table could be (and were) included if those above them were multiple clubs from the same city.
In 1970 Manchester City’s Mike Doyle joked that by winning the League Cup he was satisfying his aim of ‘keeping United out of Europe’ (he joked about creating car stickers with that slogan!) because it appeared at that time that United’s only chance of Europe had gone with City’s qualification for the Fairs Cup.
1970 ECWC
City went on to win the ECWC that season, meaning that Fairs Cup place was opened up to League position, but United had finished lower down the table anyway and qualified for the Watney Cup instead. Actually, the Watney Cup is one worth talking about, but I’ll save that for another day. In 1970 Fourth placed Derby County qualified for the Watney Cup, while 5th to 7th (Liverpool, Coventry and Newcastle) all got a Fairs Cup place, alongside 12th placed Arsenal (Fairs Cup winners). I’ve not investigated this fully but it does seem odd that the Watney Cup took precedence over the Fairs Cup.
Arsenal’s 1970 Fairs Cup success was their first European trophy but is not included in the span, neither are those Fairs Cup wins of Barcelona. However, as quite a few Arsenal fans seemed to get a bit upset when the table was posted last year I’ve decided to include the Fairs Cup in the following version of the table. So this table is the winners of the main UEFA competitions I mentioned earlier plus the Fairs Cup with its odd rules:
European Span of success 2024 including Fairs Cup
Hopefully, those Arsenal fans who were somewhat upset last year will now be happy. Note that West Ham have now been overtaken by Roma and that Barcelona are now above Manchester City, Bayern & Atletico Madrid. Both ‘Rome’ and ‘Barcelona’ won the Fairs Cup when it was city based and not club based.
Arsenal are now 18th in this combined table, behind their fellow English clubs West Ham, City, Chelsea, United and Liverpool.
As an example of the odd qualification rules in place for the Fairs Cup at times it’s worth looking at the 1969 qualification via the English League system.
In 1969 champions Leeds entered the European Cup. The ECWC place went to FA Cup winners Manchester City and the Fairs Cup places went to: Arsenal (4th), Southampton (7th) and Newcastle (9th). Swindon had won the League Cup, beating Arsenal in the final, but the Fairs Cup organisers wouldn’t allow them to participate as they were not a top flight club! This adds to the reason the competition is usually excluded. It is certainly not a UEFA competition in any case.
Similarly, Everton (3rd), Chelsea (5th), Spurs (6th) and West Ham (8th) who all finished above Newcastle were denied because of the rule that only one club from each city be allowed. So Liverpool and Arsenal’s inclusion meant their rivals stood less chance of winning the trophy than Newcastle simply because there were multiple clubs in their cities.
That rule does make me wonder what would have happened if both Manchester clubs had qualified for the competition as City are within the city of Manchester boundaries and United are not. Would the two clubs have challenged any decision not to include one of them based on the age old argument of Manchester’s boundaries?
Maybe I’ll post more on the odd rules of football competitions and tell the story of some of those long forgotten competitions.
If you’re interested in the wider span of success for English clubs (listing those who have the longest span between their first trophy and most recent, not simply European trophies) then take a look at this (Manchester City are second):
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.
