Today (4 May) in 1929 the legendary Tommy Johnson netted his 38th League goal of the season at Anfield when City drew 1-1 with Liverpool. This remains Manchester City’s record number of goals by a player in a League season (Haaland scored 36 League goals in 2022-23). Johnson’s 38th goal came in the 22nd minute of the final game. Here for subscribers is a detailed look at Tommy’s record and his life.
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On this day (3 May) in 2003 Manchester City defeated Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield. The newspaper reports that followed tended to praise City ‘keeper Peter Schmeichel most, even though Nicolas Anelka had scored both goals for the Blues. In Manchester, this was a hugely popular City win but this was a strange and emotional period for all connected with the Blues. The following game would be City’s last first team match at Maine Road and while fans celebrated a rare win at Anfield there were many emotions as the club now looked ahead to Maine Road’s farewell.
You can read plenty on this final season elsewhere on the site.
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On this day (29 April) 1970 Manchester City won the European Cup Winners’ Cup beating Gornik Zabrze from Poland 2-1 at the Prater Stadium in Vienna. For those wondering, this meant that City had won a UEFA tournament years before many prominent ‘European’ teams including Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus etc. Note: The Fairs Cup was not established as a UEFA competition and had some odd entry rules (one team from a city plus initially only teams from cities that had staged trade fairs could enter, hence its title. London entered it one year!).
The following table shows the span of success between each club’s first UEFA trophy and their most recent for the 20 or so clubs with the biggest span between first and most recent European success.
European span of success 2023, showing EC/CL, ECWC, UEFA/Europa & Europa Conference
Also, for subscribers, here are a few comments and feelings from supporters, players, and others affected by the Gornik final in 1970. These were gathered as part of a project I organised to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the final. As we’ve now reached the 54th anniversary they have become an even greater historical record.
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On this day (April 26) in 1969 Manchester City defeated Leicester City in the FA Cup final. It is worth pausing to consider how the Blues compared to football’s other successful sides in the competition at this time in football history. City’s four FA Cup successes placed them 7th in the all-time list of FA Cup winners – can you guess the clubs they were behind? Liverpool? No! MUFC? No! Arsenal? No! Keep going…
They were behind Aston Villa (7), Blackburn Rovers (6), Newcastle United (6), Tottenham Hotspur (5), The Wanderers (5) and West Bromwich Albion (5). Bolton, Sheffield United and Wolves had, like City, each won four FA Cups, while Manchester United and Arsenal had only won three, Liverpool one and Chelsea had not yet won the trophy. In fact Chelsea had only won one major trophy (the League Championship) at this point in their history.
Here for subscribers is a long read on that final and the events surrounding it:
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On this day (April 9) in 2005 a 90th minute volley from Kiki Musampa – his first for the Blues – at the northern end of the stadium gave Manchester City a 1-0 home victory over eventual European Champions Liverpool. This was Stuart Pearce’s first league victory as City manager.
The Musampa goal was described at the time as a ‘spectacular volley’ – You can judge for yourself here:
Former City and England captain Pearce guided the Blues through the final nine games of 2004-05 after the departure of Kevin Keegan. Apart from a 2-1 defeat in his first game, the Blues were unbeaten until the end of the season. This run included the victory over Liverpool and wins over Birmingham (3-0), Portsmouth (2-0) and Aston Villa (2-1).
As a result Pearce was named the Barclays Premiership Manager of the Month for April.
For more on the 2004-05 season have a read of this:
The series of features covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with this reminder of the days when the creation of a Super League was leaked to the press. The Super League eventually became the Premier League and the key clubs behind the move were Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United. Much of the coverage from this period in 1991 focused on these clubs wanting to exert greater control on football’s finances, i.e. to carve up the game’s riches for the biggest clubs of the era. These cuttings are all from the start of April 1991.
Back then the Football League had four divisions and voting rights were equal for all clubs in the top two divisions (the ‘full members’ of the League, hence the Full Members Cup). The bottom two divisions were classed as associate members and they still had voting rights which many in the top division objected to. They felt the clubs outside the top flight should not control the League’s finances and direction.
It wasn’t the first time the establishment of a Super League had been discussed (usually it involved the idea of bringing leading Scottish clubs into a British league system) but it does appear to be the first time the leading clubs in the top division wanted to limit the influence of the others.
You can see from these articles who the leading architects were and how fans reacted. This piece quotes Frank Horrocks from the MCFC Supporters Club. Many of his concerns have proved to be true in the 30+ years that have followed:
All these years on there have been multiple attempts by certain clubs to limit the opportunities for others and create an environment where they can prosper without necessarily investing. Many of the financial issues between the rich and the rest in football that people talk of today were created as a result of the greed of several clubs in the early 1990s.
For Manchester City the 1990-91 season saw a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they 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:
Despite drawing 2-2 at Newcastle on this day (16 February) in 1977 and Ipswich heading the table, Norwich’s Ken Brown believed Manchester City were the most likely team to win the title. City were certainly the team with all the flair this season and perhaps deserved success but ultimately it was the grim, more negative football played by Liverpool that was to find trophy success.
You can read a 2,100 word article on the entire 1976-77 season – a season which saw City miss the title by a point – below. This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January & February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others.
Subscribers can access everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 2,100 word article is on the 1976-77 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a brief flashback to a time when industrial action and power cuts led to us all having to look in the local newspaper to see when our electricity would be available. It feels like an alien world today but in February 1971 (and at other times in the years that followed) electricity was provided at certain times of the day in certain areas. This led to games being re-arranged for afternoon kick offs or postponed altogether.
On this day (15 February) Liverpool newspapers carried the story that LFC’s match with Manchester City would be one game played earlier in the day.
These newspaper cuttings give a brief idea of how it all was. If there’s interest I may do a more detailed piece on this later. There’s a famous gave v Coventry a few years later that I remember being at. That day a generator ensured the match went ahead but we also had a bomb scare. We were asked to look under our seats and around us to see if there was a bomb there (seriously!) and play was halted. Mike Summerbee (in my memory but others say it was the referee) picked up the ball and shook it to see if it was a bomb! More of that another day. Here are the cuttings from today in 1971:
There have been flashbacks to great 1970s games, players and more every day in January & February. Subscribers get access to everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 5,200 word article is on the 1970-71 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Here’s another attendance flashback piece. This is from February 1984 when Second Division Manchester City were reported as only being a few thousand behind League leaders Liverpool. The article praised City fans of course but it also highlighted the support Newcastle were also getting in the second tier of English football at the time.
In recent years it has become fashionable to knock fans when stadia are not quite full but in the past we tended to praise and recognise those that continued to be loyal. With the cost of football now considerably higher than it was back in the 1980s then I think it’s only fair that we start to go back to recognising the dedication and loyalty of fans. It is so frustrating when modern day fans (often who don’t pay to attend games) or even journalists/commentators/former players on TV (again, often who do not pay to attend games) criticise the supporters of any club if they see a seat or so empty. If only they realised the efforts fans go to to attend games at times usually arranged for the media’s benefit and not ours.
Parking issues, money concerns, travel gridlock, strikes, weather, travel, work… a whole host of things get in the way and it takes dedication to attend any game.
Lots more on this website about attendances. If you want to know crowd comparisons for the decade before 1983-84 season then this is well worth reading. It may surprise fans of some clubs:
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a 2,100 word article on the entire 1976-77 season – a season which saw City come close to League success. You can read this below. This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s has been running throughout January with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. Every day in January has offered something to enjoy.
Subscribers can access everything. If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? You could even subscribe for a month and see what you think. The following 1,200 word article is on the 1976-77 season and is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
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.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
