Tag Archives: Chelsea

The 1970s: Great Performance by Colin Bell

The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with this video clip of City away at Chelsea in the FA Cup on this day (23 January) in 1971. Watch the footage below to see two nice goals from Colin Bell and another from Ian Bowyer, which owed much to Bell too. Bell was wonderful this day but sadly only these brief black and white highlights remain. Watch it here:

Were you at the game and do you remember it? Feel free to give your story in the comments.

This series of articles and features on Manchester City in 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. 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 5,200 word article is on the 1970-71 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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Buying Success?

In recent years it has become fashionable to claim that football is all about money these days and that certain clubs have ‘bought success’. Well, that may or may not be true but what is an absolute fact is that this has been the situation throughout football history. Take a look at this article from October 1965 which talks about clubs ‘buying success’. It focuses on Everton & Tottenham – two clubs whose fans often criticise City & Chelsea for ‘buying success’.

What this shows is that there’s nothing new in football. If someone talks of football being ‘ruined’ by your clubs spending then remember that at some point in the past the game may have been ‘ruined’ by their clubs’ spending!

Enjoy the cuttings:

Oh, and if you think it’s a one-off about Everton, here’s an article from the Liverpool Daily Post (13 May 1963) congratulating the Toffees on their policy of spending. It basically says that clubs should be applauded for doing that! Interesting how it’s okay when it’s your local club but not when it’s one from a rival city.

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The 1970s: 1970-71 Takeover Madness

The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a 5,200 word article on the entire 1970-71 season. You can read this below. This series of articles and features on Manchester City in 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. 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 5,200 word article is on the 1970-71 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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Forward as Goalkeeper for 3/4 of Game v Chelsea

I love this cutting showing Manchester City striker Eric Brook in nets, deputising for the Blues’ injured keeper. It looks like Brook had a bandana on his head here too! The photo was taken on this day (December 17) in 1932 when the Blues faced Chelsea.

You can read the match report here. City were losing 1-0 when Nicholas 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.

The 1980s: Full Members Final?

Today’s 1980s flashback is an on this day (17 December) from 1985 when newspapers carried the news that Full Members’ Cup finalists Manchester City and potential finalists Chelsea planned to meet to set a date for the competition’s final. These were strange days and I guess there are many younger fans who have no idea what the Full Members’ Cup was all about. Elsewhere on this site you can find material on it or you can read the article on this season below (see boxes on subscribing below).

The issue was that the competition needed a Wembley final to add some credibility to it and both City and Chelsea were determined this would take place at a weekend. The preferred date was 1 March 1986 but this required clubs to postpone fixtures as the article suggests. What was not realised on 17 December 1985 was that City’s opponents on 1 March would object. Why? Well, City’s opponents were Oxford and they were the team that Chelsea had to beat to reach the national final. Had Oxford won then it seems likely they would have had no objection to rearranging their League game with City, but once Chelsea beat them the chance of City getting their preferred date was never going to happen.

In the end the final was played on Sunday 23 March, the day after an Old Trafford Manchester derby!

The 1980s was a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club and you can find out more on this season by reading the following 2,500 word feature on 1985-86. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1980s: Corrigan and Daley Move?

Continuing the series of articles covering the 1980s. Today’s is an on this day (8 December) from 1980. It’s a newspaper story about Joe Corrigan and Steve Daley potentially moving from Maine Road to other clubs. Have a read of the piece. Ultimately Corrigan stayed but Daley never did play for Manchester City again. If you want to know more about the trials and tribulations of this period then why not subscribe and read the following ten thousand word long read on the 1980-81 season. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1981-82 season.

The 1980s: 1985-1986 Trophy Success

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 1985-86 season. Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

Oakes’ Debut Game

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 match stats can be read here:

https://bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/History/Matches/Match.aspx?id=2318

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.

Happy 80th Alan Oakes (Interview Feature)

4-4 at Chelsea (again!)

Yesterday’s 4-4 draw for Manchester City at Chelsea was heralded as a great game by the Sky TV pundits but of course, as fans, these sort of games never feel like great games at the time. They tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game 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 yesterday 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)

Yesterday wasn’t the first time City drew 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before the game. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about that match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year. Will history repeat itself again?

Chelsea 4 Manchester City 4

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Chelsea Defeated

Pre-match the Times claimed: ‘if only one [goal] is needed, Chelsea usually find it.’ Well, not this day as Manchester City became the only team to beat Chelsea during their title winning season (their 2nd title; their first was 50 years earlier).

Nicolas Anelka netted an early penalty to give Manchester’s Blues the 1-0 win on this day (16 October) in 2004.

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