Tag Archives: Gary Megson

40 Years Ago: ‘We Want Wham’ (SWFC v MCFC)

Forty years ago today (21 December in 1985) the humour of Manchester City fans was in evidence at Sheffield Wednesday. That day I was stood in the away section behind the goal and Wednesday led 3-1 at half time. City had taken the lead via Mark Lillis in the 13th minute but Wednesday had equalised a minute later (Thompson) then taken the lead (future Blue Gary Megson, 25 mins & Sterland 42 mins). It didn’t look like it was to be City’s day but City fans were in good spirit overall. As the players trudged off the guy running the PA system put on ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham. The song had been released the previous year. A few City fans began moving to the music and there was a bit of laughter. Then the music stopped on the PA as the announcer began reading out the half time scores. City fans immediately began booing.

Then the chant ‘We want Wham!’ started to boom out from the Leppings Lane End and the boos and chanting grew louder and louder. It was one of those surreal football moments. When he’d finished reading out the half times the PA announcer, still drowned out to some extent by our chant of ‘We want Wham!’ said: ‘And now, just for the Man City fans it’s back to Wham and Last Christmas!’

The away section cheered and then what had been a small group of fans bopping along to the song initially was now a significant part of the away section.

I don’t know who the PA announcer was but he certainly ‘got’ the mood of the day and helped create one of those odd, surreal football fan moments that rarely get reported.

The game ended 3-2 to Wednesday after Neil McNab scored City’s second in the 66th minute before a Hillsborough crowd of 23,177. Here’s my programme from the game:

If you’d like to know more about Manchester City at this time, here’s a 2,500 word subscriber feature on the 1985-86 season. Enjoy!

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The 1990s: City 3 Luton 0

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an on this day (5 March) from 1991 when the Blues defeated Luton 3-0 with goals from Niall Quinn (2) and a penalty from Clive Allen. Here’s an interesting clip from the old Saint and Greavsie show which showed the action as part of their preview of the City v Liverpool game. It’s interesting as it’s clear from this that City WERE seen as a potential challenger that season (so many people try to claim otherwise!). The 1990s was not all bad!

Here’s the clip:

The 1990-91 season had included a shock managerial departure which could have disrupted the club but ultimately the Blues finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 word article on that season:

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This series of articles and features will run throughout March 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 March will offer something to enjoy.

Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.

If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:

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The 1980s: 1989-1990 Blue Moon Is Born

A new daily series of articles for subscribers started earlier this month 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 8,000 word long read on the 1989-90 season. Enjoy!

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Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.

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Today’s feature was the last on the 1980s. I hope you’ve enjoyed them. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

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

Division’s Highest Crowd

On this day (10 December) in 1983 41,852 witnessed Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat by promotion rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Maine Road.  The crowd was the highest Division Two crowd of the season. Here’s a contemporary report of that game and a few highlights from the game: