Continuing the series of features on the 1960s, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1965-66 season. This was an important season in City’s development. If you’d like to read this 4100 word article, plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.
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I’ve left it a few days to let it all sink in but ‘wow!’ What an achievement for Manchester City! Never in the near 140 years of League football has any club achieved such a remarkable feat of four successive titles. This record, like the domestic treble, will last for an eternity with future generations aware of how brilliant these players and this manager was.
So for today’s piece I thought I’d look back at the successive titles record and see how that has developed. This demonstrates what a truly remarkable achievement this has been, but it also adds to the debate about whether teams have dominated particular eras or not. We’re often told that City’s era of dominance is new and no team has ever done this before – well no team has ever won 4 consecutive titles that’s for certain – but we’re also told that other clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal and United for example, have had greater periods of dominance (though that’s acceptable and City’s is not – that’s odd in itself!). It seems your view depends on which team you support. For neutrals and those prepared to explore the facts, the following can help with all of this assessment.
Record 2 in a row progression
Preston won the first two League titles in 1888-89 and 1889-90 (and were runners up in the three seasons that followed).
Sunderland equalled the record in 1891-92 and 1892-93 (and were runners up in 1893-94 6 points behind Villa) before winning it again in 1894-95
Aston Villa matched the 2-in-a-row twice in 1895-96 & 1896-97 and 1898-99 & 1899-1900. They actually won 5 out of 7.
Wednesday were next winning 2-in-a-row 1902-03 & 1903-04 (pipping FA Cup winners City to the title).
Liverpool were next with successes in 1921-22 & 1922-23
After Liverpool’s 2-in-a-row came a new record:
Record 3 in a row progression
Huddersfield Town were the first to win three successive title. Their successes came between 1923 and 1926 BUT they also were runners-up in 1926-27 & 1927-28 (missing it by 2 points).
Arsenal achieved the feat of 3-in-a-row between 1932 and 1935. The gunners had won the title in 1931 and were runners up in 1932 (missing it by only 2 points – 1 win), so came close to five.
Liverpool matched the 3-in-row between 1981 and 1984 but they’d come close to 5-in-a-row between 1975 and 1980 when they won the League in 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980 and were second in 1978. In total Liverpool won 7 out of 9 between 1975 and 1983 (8 out of 11 too).
Manchester United were the next to achieve 3-in-a-row between 1998 and 2001. They had also won 7 out of 9 (1992 to 2001) and 8 out of 11. The years they managed 7 out of 9 saw them finish as runners up in the other two seasons, missing it by only 1 point in both 1994-95 and 1997-98. Rightly, this was heralded as a remarkable achievement.
Manchester United matched their own 3-in-a-row with another between 2006 and 2009. They also finished as either champions or runners up in the following four seasons. This meant that between 1992 and 2009 United had won 11 out of 17 titles and finished second in a further three.
Record 4 in a row setting
Manchester City are the only team to win 4-in-a-row English League titles. This remarkable feat has been achieved with title successes in 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. City also won consecutive League titles in 2018 and 2019 and were runners up in 2020. This means City have won 6 out of 7 Premier Leagues.
There have been a lot of people out there claiming that this year’s League title was a ‘foregone conclusion’ and that it was ‘boring’. As I pointed out last week that all depends on whether things become boring once your own team are unable to challenge, but for many neutrals it’s about title races going to the final day or ones that are close.
Did you know that only 10 of the Premier League’s 32 seasons have finished with 3 points or less separating the top two teams? In exactly 50% of those seasons Manchester City were the champions – more than any other club! Also, if you’re the kind of person who believes City are the ‘only’ team to challenge and that it’s a foregone conclusion then it may surprise you to learn that 62.5% of ALL City’s Premier League titles have been won by 2 points or less! That’s not even a victory – how close do you want it? How much less of a foregone conclusion works for you?
As a comparison only 15% of Manchester United’s Premier League titles have been won by 3 points or less! I know Liverpool have only won one title since the Premier League was created (yes, and many, many more before that of course!) which means that 100% of LFC’s Premier Leagues have been won by 18 points (that was a foregone conclusion and boring if we believe that the earlier the competition is won the more boring it is!).
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With Manchester City facing Huddersfield Town this weekend in the FA Cup here’s a reminder of some previous City-Huddersfield meetings caught on film. The earliest surviving film of a game between the two clubs is a FA Cup tie from 98 years ago: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/51830/
Here’s a City win from February 1972 with a goal from Tommy Booth:
Post 84 of my 100 Maine Rd countdown remembers the day in 1987 when Manchester City defeated Huddersfield Town 10-1. It was one of the most memorable days at the old ground for fans of my age. I was stood in the Kippax that day. Notice the newspaper cutting includes Maine Road in its headline. The old stadium name often appeared in headlines in a way that doesn’t seem to happen so much these days.
Paul Stewart, Tony Adcock, and David White each scored a hat-trick while the goal spree was started by Neil McNab. You can read the full story of the game; watch highlights and more here….
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For post 76 of my Maine Rd 100 countdown a reminder of a day when over 74,000 watched managerless Manchester City at Maine Road. The image is of Frank Roberts, a City star that day. That day (30 January 1926) City faced Huddersfield Town in a FA Cup tie at Maine Road, watched by 74,799.
The following article, for subscribers to GJFootballArchive.com, provides the background story to the tie and film of the game.
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On this day (18 March) in 1933 Manchester City faced Derby County in the FA Cup semi-final at Leeds Road. Here for subscribers is the story of that day, including images, a match report and film of the game. Enjoy!
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On this day (6 March) in 1963, due to an exceptionally snowy winter, both Manchester City’s and Manchester United’s first appearances in the FA Cup that season occurred. The games had been delayed until this date due to the poor weather.
For the record, the Blues won away at Walsall 1-0 in the 3rd round (Alex Harley scored). 7 days later they beat Bury (1-0 at Maine Road, 41,575 crowd) in the 4th round and then lose to Norwich (2-1 at Maine Road on 16 March) in round 5.
The Reds defeated Huddersfield 5-0 at Old Trafford (Law 3, Giles & Quixall) before 47,703. They also defeated Aston Villa (1-0 on 11 March at Old Trafford), Chelsea (2-1 on 16 March at Old Trafford), Coventry (3-1 on 30th March), Southampton (1-0 at Villa Park on 27th April) and Leicester City 3-1 in the final at Wembley on 25 May.
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Here’s a profile of goalkeeper Tommy Wright who made his Manchester City debut on this day (18 January) in 1997. Enjoy….
Northern Ireland international Tommy Wright joined City from Nottingham Forest on loan in January 1997 and despite being cup-tied and missing out on his new club’s 1997 FA Cup run (City reached the fifth round, losing controversially to Middlesbrough), Tommy made a terrific impression on the fans at Maine Road and finally signed a permanent deal in March 1997. The Blues had endured a managerial merry-go-round during the early part of the season with four men taking charge of first team games before the arrival of Frank Clark as manager on 30th December 1996. With injury to Immel both Andy Dibble and Martyn Margetson had played but Clark felt he needed to bring in more experience, especially as naming a goalkeeper as substitute meant that a bigger pool of players was needed than a decade earlier.
Wright made his debut on 18 January 1997 as City drew 1-1 with Huddersfield in Division One and made a total of 13 League games that season. It would have been more but a leg injury caused him to miss the final six games of the campaign and the start of the 1997-98 season – he suffered a torn quadriceps muscle during the club’s close-season tour to Scotland. Nevertheless, when fitness returned Clark made sure Wright knew that he was the manager’s first choice and the ‘keeper made 18 appearances in 1997-98. Clark was dismissed in February and less than a month after the arrival of Joe Royle the new manager replaced Wright with Margetson.
The following season Nicky Weaver became City’s first choice with Wright helping the young ‘keeper develop. Wright went on loan to Newcastle and Wrexham, making a total of 19 appearances, in 1999 and then in January 2001 he went to Bolton where he made four League appearances.
Appearances: League: 33 FAC: 2 League Cup: 1
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On this day (7 November) in 1987 Manchester City defeated Huddersfield Town 10-1. Paul Stewart, Tony Adcock, and David White each scored a hat-trick while the goal spree was started by Neil McNab. You can read the full story of the game; watch highlights and more here….
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. If you’d like to support my research then why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides annual subscribers with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.
Gary James' Football Archive 