Tag Archives: fans

Manchester City Stadium Developments

Manchester City have announced plans to develop the Etihad Stadium further, increading capacity to about 60,000 plus lots of other stuff. There’s a fan and community consultation as part of the plans too. The club have said: ‘Manchester City is delighted to unveil concepts for a best-in-class fan experience and year-round entertainment and leisure destination at the Etihad Stadium, with fans and the local community invited to share their feedback from today until Sunday 26 March.’

The announcement follows City’s announcement in December 2022 that feasibility studies were underway to explore concepts that could form part of ‘a future stadium development, consistent with the long-held vision to establish the Etihad Campus and the wider area as a globally relevant and competitive sport, leisure and entertainment destination.’

According to the plans released today: ‘several connected all-weather facilities, fully integrated into the stadium, are centred around an expanded North Stand with one larger, single upper tier above the existing lower tier, increasing stadium capacity to over 60,000.’

City Square will also be improved with: ‘a covered City Square fan zone, with a capacity of 3,000 and a wide variety of food and drink outlets, new club shop, museum and hotel, are all proposed in order to offer a broader range of dynamic matchday and non-matchday activities.’

It all sounds good and continues the investment in Manchester, community and facilities. If only all clubs could invest in their communities like this. More details:

https://www.mancity.com/etihad-stadium-consultation

68,614 Afternoon Attendance

On 21 February 1934 Manchester City defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Maine Road in a fifth round FA Cup replay.  A remarkable Wednesday afternoon crowd of 68,614 enjoyed the match.  Four days earlier Hillsborough’s record attendance of 72,841 had witnessed a 2-2 draw. Subscribers to this blog can read the story of that game, including photographs below:

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Manchester’s Female Football Fans-100 Years Ago

This week 100 years ago in Cumbria (as it’s now known) a local newspaper talked of the support both Manchester City & United received from women. This article suggested it was a new phenomenon but I’ve lots of evidence of female support at Manchester’s clubs goes back many decades before 1923. In fact City we’re issuing specially discounted season tickets to women from formation as MCFC in 1894.

Incidentally the Corinthians it mentions at the end of the piece is the famous male amateur team of the era, not the famous women’s team of the 40s to 80s.

The Day’s Highest Attendance

The 18th of February 1984 brought a crowd of 41,767 (the division’s second biggest crowd of the season) to the Second Division match between Manchester City and Newcastle United. This crowd was over 15,000 higher than the best in the top flight (Arsenal v Aston Villa attracted 26,640). City were third prior to the match, with Newcastle fourth. and here’s some background and highlights.

With three promotion places available City felt certain they could achieve an immediate return, however they did not account for the role Kevin Keegan would play in Newcastle’s fortunes.  Newcastle had been struggling to make an impact since relegation in 1978, but then Keegan returned as a player and the whole place seemed revitalised, indeed he had helped the Geordies achieve a 5-0 thrashing of City in October.  McNeill:  “There are few players that I have greater respect for than Keegan and this time, I’m referring only to his ability on the pitch, he was the heart and soul of Newcastle.  It’s a terrible thing to admit, but every time I read that Kevin had an injury I hoped it would keep him out of the Newcastle side for a game or two.  Usually it didn’t and I was glad in the end because I have such a high regard for him.  He was certainly the difference between City and Newcastle.  They had Keegan’s inspirational qualities and we didn’t.”

By 11 February City and Newcastle were level on points with the Blues in third place, and Newcastle fourth with a game in hand.  Above them lay Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday.  The four sides were termed the ‘Big Four’ by the media who regularly chose to feature games from the Second above those in the First.  As always Liverpool seemed destined to win the Championship and so much attention turned to the glamour clubs of the Second, especially Newcastle with the charismatic Keegan. 

On 18 February came the vital Maine Road clash between the ‘Jocks’ and the Geordies.  A win would put City six points ahead of Newcastle, yet defeat would put the two sides level with Keegan’s men also having a game in hand.  A crowd of 41,767 – City’s and the division’s second biggest crowd of the season – saw future Blues Peter Beardsley and Kevin Keegan netting fine goals to give the Geordies the initiative with Steve Kinsey scoring for the Blues.  Highlights:

City finished the season fourth and missed out on promotion.

Rock Bottom!

What a Valentine’s Day this was: Here’s a 1500 word article on a major turning point in the fortunes of Manchester City. I’ve called this ‘Rock Bottom!’ because that’s what we all felt that day but it did get worse! On this day (14 February) in 1998 City were defeated 1-0 by near neighbours Bury at Maine Road. It was a 2nd tier game and this defeat brought home the realisation that the Blues could be relegated to the third tier for the first time. There are lots of angles to the story and my article includes quotes from interviews I have performed with some of the key figures. John Wardle talks about the situation and there are also quotes from that weekend from David Makin and Frank Clark. City have moved on a lot since then but it’s important to remember that day and how we felt. Here’s the subscriber article:

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Free Online Discussion on MCFC Away Days – Register Now

On Wednesday 18 January at 6pm (UK time) come and join me for one hour of discussion about Manchester City FC away games. Sign up to listen to and participate in this free event where we will share memories of watching Manchester City away. This hour will be interactive as I’m keen to hear your memories of your first away game and of other away matches. The aim is to celebrate and share knowledge of great away moments, matches and following.

Do you remember traveling on the Train specials that the City Supporters Travel Club used to organise? Or were you on one of the official coaches, maybe number one coach with Helen ‘the Bell’ Turner? 

Amongst the moments/subjects being discussed will be the history of travelling to away games; Trevor Francis’ debut; railway & coach specials; the experience of being an away fan; games at Notts County, Barnsley, Stoke, Bradford, Crystal Palace, Manchester United etc. & much more. 

Register now to join this online zoom discussion. The plan is to open up the chat so that we can share our memories of our first away games or of experiences watching City away. Maybe we can remind each other of some great (and not so great) moments supporting City on their travels?

The link will be sent out shortly before the event is live to all those registered. Only those registered will be admitted into the video chat site. You must register here if you want to get involved.

The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere. This is a free event but there are a limited number of tickets. These must be ordered in advance.

There is a limited capacity so please book early if you want to participate.

The event will be live on Zoom on 18/1/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably the day before the event). To sign up for this online Zoom talk please register via this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/manchester-city-memories-of-away-days-tickets-510637800407

The Origins of ‘Er-Ling, Erling Haaland’ Chant

A couple of days ago I posted about the birth of the MCFC Viking Call in 1976, well today lifelong City fan Bobby Ward has been in touch with a video he caught during City’s last home game of fans chanting a new Erling Haaland chant. Here’s the video (look out for the actions):

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/img_4796-1.mov

The words, if you can’t work them out, are:

What shall we do with a big Norwegian, What shall we do with a big Norwegian, Can’t stop him from scoring, Erling, Erling Haaland, Erling, Erling Haaland…

The game v Brighton on 22 October 2022 ended in a 3-1 City win with Haaland scoring twice.

I’m always keen on the development of football chants, so if you’re one of the guys who started this please get in touch with your story of the chant, the actions and so on. I’d be happy to say more about it here. You guys were certainly persistent.

41 Years Ago Today: Trevor Francis Debut

I feel old today as 41 Years ago today (September 5, 1981) I attended my first away game. That day my parents told me we were going to Stoke v Manchester City. The reason why? It was to be the debut of new City striker Trevor Francis. This was perceived as a huge transfer at the time (don’t be fooled into thinking major transfers have only come in recent years!) and part of manager John Bond’s plan to challenge for the League title – and for a while it looked as if they would!

Here for subscribers is a piece on that day and what followed with quotes from interviews I’ve performed with Trevor Francis and Peter Swales who tell the story of that time. There are also contemporary match reports too:

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Manchester City Fans

While searching through my articles earlier this week I spotted a piece I wrote in 2019-20 on Manchester City’s support. Back then I became somewhat frustrated with a series of articles criticising City’s support. There were a number of ridiculous comments by some and so I wrote a piece challenging some of these views.

I’m not certain all the points are still valid (though City fans have received some significant abuse since 2020 too!) but readers can be the judge of that. Anyway, here’s the article for those who missed it back then:

Click to access 20200224-mcfc-fans.pdf

Showing Your Colours

In January this year the Newcastle Chronicle published a story that intrigued me. It talked of the history of fans wearing football scarves and suggested that a Newcastle fan in 1932 was the first to be photographed wearing a football scarf. The article explained that previously it had been claimed that an Arsenal supporter at a 1934 FA Cup tie had been the first filmed/photographed wearing a traditional bar scarf.  This set me off looking into the history of football scarves and of fans showing their colours.

So, here for subscribers to my site is a 1400 word article on showing your colours, focusing on the stories associated with Manchester City…

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