Tag Archives: Flo Cloake

Manchester Corinthians: Featured In Further Books

I’m delighted to say that in addition to Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History (published at the start of the year, see below) and Histories of Women’s Football in Britain and Ireland (published last month) I’ve written a feature for another book which mentions the Corinthians. The book tells the story of football (focusing on England) in 100 objects. I’ve written a few of the features for this National Football Museum book (alongside Marek, Alex & Wiebke from the museum) and one of these is on Margaret Shepherd’s Corinthians shirt. The shirt is currently on display at the museum too.

This feature, together with mentions by myself and others in the Histories book and the Authorised History, helps spread the word about these remarkable women.

Some of you are aware of my obsession to document and promote the history of women’s football in Manchester over the last decade, but for those uncertain I’d like to post a few links and bits of information here on the remarkable stories of the Manchester Corinthians who, before the men’s teams of City & United, found international success.

  • Some of the Friends of Fog Lane Park at the last meeting before the Corinthians plaque unveiling
  • Dorothy Alcock, Manchester Corinthian from formation in 1949
  • Margaret Whitworth with the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque
  • Washing in the duck pond, Manchester Corinthians by Artist Gavin Renshaw
  • Some of the trophies won by the Manchester Corinthians

Over the last decade I’ve been interviewing women who played football in Manchester, or for Manchester based teams, during the 1940s to modern years. This includes Maureen Charlton, Dorothy Allcock and Flo Cloake (who played in the 1940s & 50s) and players like Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott (who of course played in more recent times). For me the stories of all are inspiring but it is those who played for the Corinthians that I’m most keen to promote at the moment. These women played prominent roles in football’s development and some are still contributing significantly today.

In 2021 the blue plaque appeal was launched to recognise the Corinthians and elsewhere on my site you can read about the success of that and the unveiling in 2023. In addition in December 2024 I staged a reunion where over 90 attended (most Corinthians with some in their 90s). You can watch scenes from that here:

I gave a speech explaining why the Corinthians matter that day:

There were some wonderful words from Margaret Shepherd which I am truly grateful for. Margaret has been one of the key figures promoting the club’s endeavours and she certainly inspired me during my research:

We’ve also inspired Imprint Films to put together this 18 minute overview of the Corinthians’ story, including interviews with some of the players:

https://www.imprintfilms.co.uk/oh-what-a-team

Of course there is the book too and I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there. The book hasn’t won any prize but the comments mean a lot to me.

For those interested Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages. Getting it into Manchester bookshops, particularly Waterstones, is proving difficult so if there’s anyone reading this who can help please get in touch. We can organise events if that helps?

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far to promote the Corinthians and their stories. We still need to bang the drum so please do all you can to spread the word on this remarkable team. If you need more info then there’s lots on this website, just search Corinthians. There’s also the books of course….

The Authorised History is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.

If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.

You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.

UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.

£25.00

Here’s links to the other books on Amazon:

Manchester Corinthians Resources and Spreading the Word

Some of you are aware of my obsession to document and promote the history of women’s football in Manchester over the last decade, but for those uncertain I’d like to post a few links and bits of information here on the remarkable stories of the Manchester Corinthians who, before the men’s teams of City & United, found international success.

  • Some of the Friends of Fog Lane Park at the last meeting before the Corinthians plaque unveiling
  • Dorothy Alcock, Manchester Corinthian from formation in 1949
  • Margaret Whitworth with the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque
  • Washing in the duck pond, Manchester Corinthians by Artist Gavin Renshaw
  • Some of the trophies won by the Manchester Corinthians

Over the last decade I’ve been interviewing women who played football in Manchester, or for Manchester based teams, during the 1940s to modern years. This includes Maureen Charlton, Dorothy Allcock and Flo Cloake (who played in the 1940s & 50s) and players like Steph Houghton, Karen Bardsley and Jill Scott (who of course played in more recent times). For me the stories of all are inspiring but it is those who played for the Corinthians that I’m most keen to promote at the moment. These women played prominent roles in football’s development and some are still contributing significantly today.

In 2021 the blue plaque appeal was launched to recognise the Corinthians and elsewhere on my site you can read about the success of that and the unveiling in 2023. In addition in December 2024 I staged a reunion where over 90 attended (most Corinthians with some in their 90s). You can watch scenes from that here:

I gave a speech explaining why the Corinthians matter that day:

There were some wonderful words from Margaret Shepherd which I am truly grateful for. Margaret has been one of the key figures promoting the club’s endeavours and she certainly inspired me during my research:

We’ve also inspired Imprint Films to put together this 18 minute overview of the Corinthians’ story, including interviews with some of the players:

https://www.imprintfilms.co.uk/oh-what-a-team

Of course there is the book too and I’m absolutely delighted with this from Matt Williams, a longlist judge for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025 award. He has posted the following video about the Manchester Corinthians book as his ‘What are we reading this week?’ post on social media. It really does please me and demonstrates why I’ve been so keen to get the Corinthians story out there.

For those interested Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History is a must for anyone interested in Manchester or women’s football and consists of 356 pages. Getting it into Manchester bookshops, particularly Waterstones, is proving difficult so if there’s anyone reading this who can help please get in touch. We can organise events if that helps?

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far to promote the Corinthians and their stories. We still need to bang the drum so please do all you can to spread the word on this remarkable team. If you need more info then there’s lots on this website, just search Corinthians. There’s also the book of course….

The book is illustrated throughout and you can order it now for £25 (including UK postage and packaging). I’ll sign all copies ordered direct from me below.

If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs.

You do not need to have a PayPal account to order – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button above and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.

UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.

£25.00

This Is Why I Did It

I’m absolutely delighted to say I’ve received messages from three of the founding/original Manchester Corinthians who were there in 1948 (yes, 1948!) when the club was first established. They’ve each got the book and were interviewed and their comments have really pleased me. They – and the hundreds of women who played for this remarkable, pioneering and important club – are the reason I wanted to push and promote this club’s history.

The three I’ve heard from are Dorothy Allcock, Maureen Charlton and Flo Cloake (the names they played under). When I started researching in detail the club I was told frequently I’d never track down a player from the club’s opening season, so it was wonderful when these three came forward to be interviewed.

Their comments now that they’ve seen the book are deeply satisfying and I am so grateful that they – and the other 50+ Corinthians interviewed for the book – allowed me to tell their stories.

Flo lives in the States now and sent this text:

I just thought I would let you know my book arrived today. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but Gary what an amazing job you did, absolutely perfect about the history of the Corinthians… It’s about the whole team over the years and how they progressed. An amazing book… lots of love and hugs Flo.

Maureen’s son sent the following email:

A fantastic job Gary, amazing! Mum is delighted, and especially the picture of her and dad, and poem excerpt, a few tears… Mum is enthralled with the details,  many memories coming back… Mum was delighted to see some of her photos, especially the corinthians badge.

Dorothy’s son sent a nice email too and says she’s still watching her football, tennis and snooker, alongside reading the book of course. It was an absolute pleasure meeting Dorothy, Maureen and Flo and it was wonderful to spend time with them talking about events from almost eighty years ago, when they were teenagers and first playing football. Their stories are of course featured in the book and over the coming weeks and months. I’ll be talking at some events about them and the other Corinthians. There will also be articles.

The book consists of 356 pages. It is illustrated throughout and you can order copies signed by me below for £25 (including UK postage and packaging).

If you live outside the UK then please contact for details of additional postage costs. Note: It may be worth checking your national Amazon website as they do claim they can send copies across Europe and North America (for example) at reasonable costs. I cannot vouch for their service but do suggest checking locally.

To order direct from me, you do not need to have a PayPal account – use the ‘Pay with PayPal’ button below and it will give you the option to pay by credit/debit card without creating a PayPal account.

UK ONLY – Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History

The story of a pioneering women’s club as told to Gary James by those who were there. This will be published in late December 2024. This is UK only at £25 (incl UK postage and packaging). Outside UK contact for additional postage costs.

£25.00

If you want a taste of what’s in the book then watch this wonderfully produced video, filmed at the Corinthians reunion in December. A few former players talk and I explain a little about the club too. For details of the video and to watch it see:

https://www.imprintfilms.co.uk/oh-what-a-team

If you’ve issues watching the video there (youtube may ask you to sign in) you can also watch it here (click on the ‘Watch on Youtube’, bottom left if your link doesn’t work):

I’d like to thank all at Imprint Films for doing the video. In the spirit of Percy Ashley himself, they have funded the production of this video themselves and have the desire to see the Corinthians story spread widely. This is, of course, something I totally believe in myself. We need to spread this story and let the entire world know about the Corinthians.

Please share the video and, while you’re at it, spread the news about the book too. Both are self funded and we need help to spread the word.