Tag Archives: Leicester

Top Two Divisions Attendances and Table From 40 Years Ago!

Last week I posted the top flight attendances for this last week forty years ago and this led to a number of comments/questions and so to answer some of those I’ve now posted the top two divisions attendances together with the two League tables AND the end of season average attendances. People asked for clarity on how the figures compared to the second tier and whether League position played its part in affecting crowds. As a reminder here’s last week’s attendances…

And here’s this week’s (published 24 November 1985) and the League table too.

Obviously, these are only snapshots from that season but to add a bit more context here are the end of season averages here are the top 46 best supported clubs in order that season (hopefully it might make those who sing songs like ‘Where Were You?’ think about the crowds at their own clubs first):

A few notable League positions for those who do sing ‘Where Were You?’… The top eight clubs in the League were: Liverpool (champions), Everton, West Ham, Man Utd, Sheff Wed, Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest. Manchester City (who were 4th best supported club) were 15th (only 4 points above relegation zone), Spurs were tenth, Newcastle 11th and Aston Villa 16th.

In the Second Division best supported club Sunderland were 18th (avoiding relegation by 4 points); the top four were Norwich, Charlton, Wimbledon and Portsmouth.

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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Attendances 40 Years Ago!

These two results tables for top flight football in November 1985 make interesting reading. I’ve included the details published today (17 November, for games played the previous day) in 1985 and also the week after’s details too. This gives an idea of what the top clubs were attracting back then. Notice West Ham’s game attracted more at home than Arsenal’s and that Liverpool were over 26,000 less than Manchester United. Arsenal’s crowd was 6,000 less than struggling Manchester City and Tottenham attracted more than Arsenal too. Reigning League champions Everton were some way ahead of the London clubs and only about 600 behind Liverpool. Obviously, these are only snapshots from two weekends but hopefully it might make those who sing songs like ‘Where Were You?’ think about the crowds at their own clubs first.

the Marwood scoring for Sheffield Wednesday was of course Brian Marwood who went on to play a key part in Manchester City’s modern return to glory. 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 1920s: Peter Hodge

Continuing the series on Manchester City in the 1920s here’s a brief post on 1920s City manager Peter Hodge. Enjoy!

Peter Hodge

City Manager between: 26 April 1926 – 12 March 1932

Previously:  Former Leicester City manager.

Took Over From: Committee led by vice-chairman Albert Alexander snr.

Inherited: Sam Cowan, Tommy Johnson & Frank Roberts.

Players Brought In: Eric Brook & Fred Tilson.

Youngster Gave Debut To: Matt Busby

Players He Let Go/Sold:  Tommy Johnson in 1930, leading to widespread demonstrations and a boycott (crowds dropped by around 8,000 following the move). 

First Game: City 2 Leeds Utd 0 (City scorers Austin & Johnson), 27 April 1926, Division One, attendance 43,475 

Lows: Relegation five days and 2 games after taking over in 1926.

Last Game: Arsenal 1 City 0, 12 March 1932, FA Cup semi final at Villa Park,  attendance 50,337.  

Unusual Start:  It was agreed Hodge would become City manager in 1926 but would only take up the post after his current club Leicester ended their own season.  Their last game was on 24th April 1926 and he became City’s manager with 2 League games left the following Monday.  The Blues looked safe from relegation, but defeat at Newcastle saw City demoted (a point would have kept them up).

Similar End:  Hodge’s City career ended with defeat by a solitary goal in the dying seconds of the FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal in 1932.  The manager had already agreed to return to his previous club Leicester once City’s FA Cup campaign ended.

Season By Season Record:

League

1925-26 P 2 W 1      D 0      L 1      GF 4               GA 4   Pts 2

1926-27 P 42 W 22 D 10    L 10    GF 108          GA 61 Pts 54

1927-28 P 42 W 25 D 9      L 8      GF 100           GA 59 Pts 59

1928-29 P 42 W 18 D 9      L 15    GF 95             GA 86 Pts 45

1929-30 P 42 W 19 D 9      L 14    GF 91             GA 81 Pts 47

1930-31 P 42 W 18 D 10    L 14    GF 75             GA 70 Pts 46

1931-32 P 32 W 11 D 10    L 11    GF 70             GA 59 Pts 32

2 points for a win

FA Cup

1925-26 City competed in the FA Cup Final 2 days before he took over.

1926-27 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 1   GA 4   Reached 3rd round

1927-28 P 3 W 2      D 0      L 1      GF 3   GA 2   Reached 5th round

1928-29 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 1   GA 3   Reached 3rd round

1929-30 P 5 W 2      D 2      L 1      GF 18 GA 7   Reached 5th round

1930-31 P 1 W 0      D 0      L 1      GF 0   GA 3   Reached 3rd round

1931-32 P 5 W 4      D 0      L 1      GF 16 GA 7   Reached semi-final

TOTAL (League & cup fixtures)

P260   W122  D59     L79     GF  582         GA 446

Trophies Won: Second Division title 1927-28, the season after missing out on promotion by the tightest margin in the history of the game.

Followed By: City secretary Wilf Wild who went on to become a truly successful manager.

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The 1930s: 1933-1934 Record Crowds And Wembley Glory

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a 4,300 word subscriber article on the 1933-34 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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The 1930s: 1931-32 A Minute to go!

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a subscriber article on the 1931-32 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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Barney Daniels

I’ve heard the sad news that the former Manchester City and Stockport County player Barney Daniels has died. He also played for Manchester United (though not in the first team), Chester City, Ashton United and Hyde United.

He joined City on 30 March 1973 and made his first team debut against Derby County on 6 Feb 1974 (report below). In total he played 3 games in 1973-74 (debut v Derby 1-0 win; 9/2/74 at Chelsea & came on as sub at Liverpool on 16/4/74).

Screenshot

The following season (1974-75) he made ten appearances and the first of those was against Leicester on 23/11/74 when he scored 2 goals and made the headlines as he helped City go to the top of the top flight (see following report):

Daniels moved to Chester City on 9 July 1975 (Chester’s record signing at the time) and went on to join Stockport County (July 1976), Ashton United (1978-82), Hyde United 1982 and back to Ashton United (1982-84).

At City he was a consistent performer for the reserves.


John Maddocks (City’s former statistician/historian in the 80s/90s) gave these notes he’d written on Barney in the late 1990s which are worth posting here: ‘Most enjoyable it was watching Barney Daniels in action in the Reserves in the 1970’s. He scored an average of almost a goal a game in 1973-74 including several hat-tricks and he deserved his first team chance when it came. He had had trials with Blackpool, scoring three goals in four reserve games, but was not taken on, and in his first season with Ashton United he scored 27 goals. City bought him for £1,000 and also played a friendly at Ashton.

‘Barney was top reserve team marksman in consecutive seasons from 1973-75, scoring 44 times.’

John’s stats showed that Barney made the following City appearances:

FL:9+4 apps. 2 gls.

TOTAL:9+4 apps. 2 gls.         

Res:61+1 apps. 44 gls.

Other:10+2 apps. 12 gls.

The 1950s: Season Ends With A Victory

On this day (29 April) in 1959 Manchester City’s season ended with a 3-1 victory over Leicester City with goals from Joe Hayes, Billy McAdams (photographed) and Ray Sambrook. You can read more on this season for City below. It’s a 1,500 word article on the 1958-59 season which should put this game and result in to context. Enjoy!

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The 1940s: The 1946-47 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1946-47 season. This was the first league season after the war and ended with City winning the Second Division title. There were some truly significant – and well attended – games that season and future Liverpool manager Joe Fagan (photograph) made his debut this season too. This subscriber article includes comments from an interview I did with George Smith back in 2003.

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The 1940s: The 1939-40 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s starts today with this 1,400 word article on the 1939-40 season. The season started as any other but then world events intervened!

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The 1960s: 1967-1968 Leeds v Manchester City

On this day (23 March) in 1968 came a game between two title challenging teams – Leeds Utd and Manchester City. The view was that this game could knock City out of the title race if it went Leeds’ way. So what happened? Here’s film of the game:

You can find out more aboutthe potential impact of this game by reading this subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1967-68 season. If you’d like to read this 7,600 word article (yes, 7,600 words on one season!), 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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