Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
The new series on Manchester City in the 1950s continues today with this 1,500 word article on the 1958-59 season. Enjoy!
This is a subscriber article and you can read it by subscribing below.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or you can subscriber for the discounted annual rate of £20 per year. Each subscriber gets access to everything posted so far, including PDFs of a couple of my books.
On this day (31 January) in 1968 Manchester City defeated Reading 7-0 in a FA Cup replay. As the players left the field the Elm Park tannoy announcer claimed: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just seen one of the greatest teams England has produced in a long time.’
Goalscorers were Mike Summerbee (3), Colin Bell, Tony Coleman, George Heslop and Neil Young. This photo is of the Bell, Lee & Summerbee statue at the Etihad today.
Dozens of letters arrived at Maine Road commenting on City’s performance. Many Reading fans wrote in saying they could have watched the Blues all night. Other letters arrived commenting on how well behaved the City supporters were, while fans themselves commented on the cheerfulness of the Reading police.
These points may seem trivial today, but in 1968 football had already begun to enter its hooligan period. Football supporters had started to be seen as trouble causers and incidents of violence, or of vandalism, soon found their way into national newspapers. Although City supporters were never totally blameless, during the late 1960s Blues fans continued to gain commendations rather than condemnation.
You can read more on this remarkable, trophy winning season below. 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.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.
Continuing the series of features on the 1960s, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1968-69 season. Another trophy winning season. If you’d like to read this 6,000 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.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.
Continuing the series of features on the 1960s, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1967-68 season. A trophy winning 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.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year (works out £1.67 per month). Subscribers access the 1000+ articles posted so far and the others scheduled during the life of your subscription.
On this day (10 November) in 1956 the great Don Revie left Manchester City for Sunderland. Revie had been in and out of favour with manager Les McDowall for over a year, but fans recognised his qualities. Here for subscribers is a profile of Don. Enjoy.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or there’s a special discounted rate of £20 a year. Subscribers have access to everything posted on the site, including PDFs or Manchester A Football History and my 1st book on MCFC (published in 1989).
Three days after making his Manchester City debut in a League Cup tie with Leicester (22 September 1965, 3-1 City win) Stan Horne made his League debut for Joe Mercer’s Blues. The game, played on this day (25th) in 1965 ended in a 1-0 City win over Derby County at Maine Road. The scorer was Jimmy Murray.
Horne had previously played for Mercer’s Aston Villa too.
There’s a lot of furore this week about Manchester City’s decision to wear their new Oasis inspired kit instead of their home kit for their Champions League game with Inter Milan. Lots are talking about tradition, heritage and the like, so I thought I’d add a few words here that might have been overlooked or forgotten. So here goes…
Firstly, my position is clear that I’ve always been keen to see City wear home colours/blue for every fixture possible (whether home, away or at a neutral venue) but I’m a pragmatist and know that’s no longer likely. History and tradition does mean something but of course, when it comes to football, traditions change frequently. People may think City have only ever worn a particular colour at home or that the traditional away colours are red & black but these things are not true. Times change.
When it comes to wearing alternative kits at home it has been done more often than perhaps people realise. In fact the only decade when it hasn’t happened appears to be the 2010s – I say appeared because I haven’t got evidence of every home game in the 1890s and 1900s!
These last few days have caused some to recall the Middlesbrough game when David James went up front and the two Tottenham games at Maine Road in 80s/90s when the referee felt the kits were too close and City ended up changing. But there have been many other occasions. In fact it’s well over 100 years since City first chose to wear away colours/alternative strips at home when they didn’t need to!
The image above of Neil Young comes from the 1971 ECWC semi-final v Chelsea. Notice that Young is wearing City’s away colours.
Often when there was a clash of colours in a cup game City would wear their away strip. Games in the 1920s right through to 1970s saw the Blues don maroon, red/black and even scarlet at times at Maine Road.
Here’s another image from that Chelsea semi final:
To the right you can see the North Stand under construction, as you can in the Young image.
Other games in living memory (not necessarily mine, but living memory for many older blues) include:
January 1971 – City v Wigan in FA Cup (red & black)
September 1970 – City v Bologna in Anglo-Italian Cup (red & black)
January 1968 – City v Reading in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1966 – City v Everton in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1966 – City v Leicester in FA Cup (all maroon)
March 1956 – City v Everton in FA Cup (maroon shirts, white shorts)
In earlier decades City often chose to wear an away shirt for cup ties where there was a clash. Prior to 1921 the FA rule was that home teams would have to change if there was a clash.
In March 1924 City chose to wear a kit they described as ‘Lucky scarlet’ for a FA Cup tie with Cardiff at Maine Road. So for well over 100 years City have often chosen to wear alternative kits at home instead of traditional blue when they didn’t need to.
Personally, I’d still prefer City to always wear blue no matter where they play, but that’s never going to happen anyway.
Incidentally, if you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
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DonateThe series of features on the 1900s continues today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1900-1901 when Manchester City finished 11th in the First Division (top tier). There were 18 clubs in the division that season. Despite this relatively low position, City were the second best supported club – the highest position either Manchester team had enjoyed up to that point. League champions Liverpool were the 5th best supported club. Newton Heath (MUFC) were still a Second Division club and were 22nd best supported team.
All these figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.
In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.
1900-1901 Average Attendances
| Average | Team |
| 18700 | Aston Villa |
| 18300 | Manchester City |
| 16225 | Everton |
| 15800 | Newcastle |
| 15000 | Liverpool |
| 13600 | Sheff Utd |
| 11525 | Sunderland |
| 10575 | WBA |
| 10175 | Bolton |
| 9950 | Sheff Wed |
| 9450 | Notts County |
| 9350 | Nottm Forest |
| 8375 | Middlesbrough (2) |
| 8050 | Derby |
| 6950 | Bury |
| 6850 | Stoke |
| 6575 | Blackburn |
| 6325 | Preston |
| 5900 | Small Heath (2) |
| 5900 | Woolwich Arsenal (2) |
| 5850 | Wolves |
| 5475 | Newton Heath (2) |
| 4975 | Leicester Fosse (2) |
| 4625 | Grimsby (2) |
| 3725 | Stockport (2) |
| 3575 | Lincoln (2) |
| 3125 | Walsall (2) |
| 3100 | Burnley (2) |
| 2850 | Barnsley (2) |
| 2825 | Chesterfield (2) |
| 2800 | Glossop (2) |
| 2675 | New Brighton Tower (2) |
| 2375 | Burton Swifts (2) |
| 2075 | Burslem Port Vale (2) |
| 2050 | Gainsborough Trinity (2) |
| 1850 | Blackpool (2) |
This series of features covers the final years of Ardwick, the birth of Manchester City and the Club’s first national success. Why not subscribe and read every feature?
More on the 1900s tomorrow.
The series of features on the 1900s starts today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1899-1900 when Manchester City was a First Division club for the first time. They were the third best supported club – the highest position either Manchester team had enjoyed up to that point. In fact City had been the best supported club for the opening months of the season as the heading photo shows (that’s from 20 January 1900).
All these figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.
In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.
1899-1900 Average Attendances
| Average | Team |
| 19825 | Aston Villa |
| 16725 | Newcastle |
| 16000 | Manchester City |
| 12925 | Everton |
| 11325 | Liverpool |
| 11175 | Sheff Utd |
| 10475 | Sunderland |
| 8950 | Notts County |
| 8125 | Derby |
| 7875 | Nottm Forest |
| 7700 | Stoke |
| 7150 | Sheff Wed (2) |
| 6575 | Wolves |
| 6475 | Blackburn |
| 6250 | Leicester Fosse (2) |
| 6225 | Newton Heath (2) |
| 6175 | WBA |
| 5925 | Burnley |
| 5925 | Middlesbrough (2) |
| 5775 | Bury |
| 5050 | Small Heath (2) |
| 4825 | Preston |
| 4800 | Bolton (2) |
| 4125 | Woolwich Arsenal (2) |
| 4000 | Glossop |
| 3775 | Grimsby (2) |
| 3775 | Lincoln (2) |
| 2950 | Chesterfield (2) |
| 2875 | New Brighton Tower (2) |
| 2525 | Walsall (2) |
| 2400 | Barnsley (2) |
| 1875 | Gainsborough Trinity (2) |
| 1675 | Burslem Port Vale (2) |
| 1650 | Loughborough (2) |
| 1650 | Luton (2) |
| 1500 | Burton Swifts (2) |
This series of features covers Manchester City in the opening years of the twentieth century. Why not subscribe and read every feature?
Tomorrow there’ll be a subscriber article on the 1900-01 season in a similar style to those recently posted on the 1890s. Here’s an 1800 article below on Manchester City in the final months of 1899:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?
More on the 1900s tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?
The series of features on the 1890s continues today with a simple look at the average attendances of league clubs. I’m publishing the statistics here for season 1898-99 when Manchester City was a Second Division club – but look where they are in the attendance table! These figures are estimated based on newspaper reports of the period but are widely accepted as a good indication of support enjoyed at each club.
In the following table every team is in Division One unless (2) appears after their name. This indicates they were a Second Division club that season. Where two teams have the same average then these have been listed in alphabetic order.
1897-9 Average Attendances
| Average | Team |
| 20675 | Aston Villa |
| 18150 | Newcastle |
| 14525 | Everton |
| 13975 | Liverpool |
| 12300 | Sunderland |
| 10675 | Notts County |
| 10000 | Manchester City (2) |
| 9850 | Sheff Utd |
| 9400 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 8875 | Sheff Wed |
| 8850 | Nottm Forest |
| 8025 | Stoke |
| 7775 | Newton Heath (2) |
| 7550 | Wolves |
| 7450 | Leicester Fosse (2) |
| 7325 | Bolton |
| 7225 | Derby |
| 6125 | Burnley |
| 6025 | Preston |
| 5775 | Small Heath (2) |
| 5200 | WBA |
| 4600 | Burslem Port Vale (2) |
| 4525 | Bury |
| 4475 | Woolwich Arsenal (2) |
| 3350 | New Brighton Tower (2) |
| 3325 | Grimsby (2) |
| 3000 | Lincoln (2) |
| 2875 | Walsall (2) |
| 2775 | Luton (2) |
| 2750 | Glossop (2) |
| 2400 | Barnsley (2) |
| 2375 | Burton Swifts (2) |
| 2275 | Gainsborough Trinity (2) |
| 1900 | Loughborough (2) |
| 1500 | Blackpool (2) |
| 900 | Darwen (2) |
This series of features covers the final years of Ardwick, the birth of Manchester City and the Club’s first national success. Why not subscribe and read every feature? Here’s a link to the story of the 1898-99 season:
Here’s an 1800 article below on Manchester City in the final months of 1899:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or sign up a year at a time for the discounted annual fee of £20. This gives access to everything on the site, including PDFs of 3 of my books and various other articles, interviews and audio material. Each subscriber has access to all content posted during their subscription period too. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?
More features tomorrow. Why not subscribe and read this and all the other subscriber features?
Gary James' Football Archive 