Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Score 1-1, Attendance 52,424 Maine Road
City’s penultimate match of the season turned out to be one of the most controversial derby matches of all time. Both clubs were languishing at the foot of the table, and a derby victory would more or less guarantee the victor’s survival.
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The City players lined up to applaud Wolves and congratulated them on their success. Dave Wagstaffe believed this was well received by his team mates: “That was great. Wonderful. If you looked at our team none of us had ever won anything. Even Derek Dougan! I think City were saying ‘Well done’. We really appreciated that. It meant a lot and said something about City. That night we celebrated at a club after the formal dinner and Franny Lee walked in with bottles of champagne. He gave them to us and said well done. It was a great gesture and said a lot about him and City at that time.”
Here for subscribers is the story of a final that, from a Manchester City perspective is often forgotten (in the early 2000s a history video of the club neglected to include it at all!):
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On this day (2nd March) in 1974 Manchester City faced Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup final at Wembley. It was City’s second League Cup final in four years and saw the Blues, managed by Ron Saunders, lose 2-1. Colin Bell scored for City. For the story of the game, including quotes from interviews I’ve performed with Bell, Swales, Wagstaffe etc., see:
https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/03/02/the-1974-league-cup-final-wolves-v-manchester-city/
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