On this day (24 January) in 1966 52,661 watched at Maine Road as Manchester City defeated Blackpool 3-1 in the FA Cup with goals from Mike Doyle, Mike Summerbee and Johnny Crossan (the photo is of course of Mike Summerbee with Colin Bell and Francis Lee in October 1967). 1965-66 was an important season in MCFC history and you can read more on it in the following 4100 word article. This (plus all other articles on the site) is available to subscribers (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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As part of the series on Manchester City in the 1960s I’m taking a look today at an Irish player who joined the club in January 1965 and went on to captain the team, Johnny Crossan. Here goes…
Johnny Crossan was born in Derry on 29th November 1938 and first came to the notice of English clubs when he was a youth. Crossan: “I had apparently been doing quite well as a youngster. I had got into the Derry team when only aged 14 and Joe Mercer came over to have a look round and weigh up likely prospects. Later, I learned he wanted to sign me for his club, which was then Sheffield United, and a fee of around £5,000 was discussed. I never did find out what went wrong. Perhaps Derry wanted more money.”
He moved on to Coleraine a little later, and then another proposed move to England collapsed when problems over a possible transfer to Bristol City resulted in a ‘life’ ban. Crossan then moved to the continent, signing for Sparta Rotterdam, and then Standard Liege. At Liege he played in the European Cup. By October 1962 the English ban was lifted and he was transferred to Sunderland for £27,000.
At Roker Park he managed to score 39 goals in 82 appearances, before George Poyser brought him to Maine Road as a last desperate act to save his own job.
Johnny Crossan signs with City boss George Poyser, January 1965
Crossan made his debut in a 2-0 defeat at Derby County on 30 January 1965.
Although the Irishman did little to impress City’s support during Spring 1965, over time he did prove to be an excellent signing.
When Mercer took over from Poyser he was delighted to find Crossan was already at the club. He was determined to award him the captaincy and always admitted that Crossan was one of the main reasons City achieved success: “We received tremendous help from one little fellow in the dressing room – Johnny Crossan. In those early days this whimsical Irishman was a wonderful dressing room influence as we tried to mould players we hardly knew into a fighting unit.”
The promotion season was Crossan’s best at Maine Road and clearly demonstrated his playing ability, humour, and captaincy skills. He seemed to be destined to play a major part in City’s future when tragedy struck. At the age of 28 he was involved in a car crash close to Roker Park prior to the 1966-7 season. He missed the opening game of the season and, despite managing to regain his place, his City career was nearing its end. Foolishly he tried to disguise an injured knee and as a result gave the impression he just wasn’t trying. In actual fact he was probably trying more than most, but he was simply unable to cope. He also suffered from a grumbling appendix.
In August 1967 he was transferred to Middlesbrough for £32,000 – proving that he was still a player with much to offer. At Middlesbrough he made a total of 56 appearances and scored 8 goals, but suffered with insomnia and was forced to endure several hospital visits.
Once his footballing career was over Crossan returned to Derry, and in later years played an active role in training local youngsters.
In total Crossan made 24 international appearances for Northern Ireland (ten while with City), and proved to be a very popular player within the dressing room and, for most of his City career, on the terraces. Without Crossan Mercer and Allison would have found it more difficult to lift the Blues out of the Second Division, and the transformation in City’s fortunes may have taken a while longer.
Johnny Crossan
Born: Derry, 29th November 1938
Debut v Derby County (away) 30/1/1965
City Appearances:
FL: 94 apps. 24 goals.
FAC: 14 apps. 2 goals.
FLC: 2 apps. 2 goals.
TOTAL: 110 apps. 28 goals.
Middlesbrough Appearances:
FL: 54+2 apps. 7 goals.
FAC: 5 apps. 1 goal.
FLC: 2 apps.
TOTAL: 61+2 apps. 8 goals.
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Jack Charlton’s Middlesbrough arrived at Maine Road on this day (21st January) in 1976 for the second leg of the League Cup Semi final 1-0 up after a tense first leg match. The majority of the first leg had been played out in midfield with Alan Oakes, Asa Hartford and the emerging Paul Power putting up a good fight on City’s behalf. Boro had found it difficult to break through City’s powerful defence until David Armstrong gave them the lead in the 66th minute. Despite the advantage Middlesbrough’s Evening Gazette predicted a difficult return game.
At Maine Road a youthful City side destroyed Boro. As early as the 5th minute 19 year old Peter Barnes – now working for GMR – crossed the ball to 20 year old Ged Keegan, who headed home his first senior goal. Six minutes later Keegan laid the ball off for Oakes to fire a left foot shot past ‘keeper Jim Platt. A minute into the 2nd half Barnes made it 3-1 on aggregate. Shortly before the end Joe Royle made it 4-1 and maintained his record of scoring in every round.
You can watch highlights here:
Stats: League Cup semi-final 2nd leg. 21st January 1976.
While you’re here why not subscribe and read a 5,320 word article on the entire 1975-76 season – a season which saw Tony Book guide the club to major success. You can read this below.
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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.
On this day (12 January) in 1966 Manchester City defeated Rotherham 3-1 with goals from Mike Doyle (2) and Johnny Crossan (the photo is of course of Mike Doyle in the following decade at Maine Road). 1965-66 was an important season in MCFC history and you can read more on it in the following 4100 word article. This (plus all other articles on the site) is available to subscribers (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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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 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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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.
Here’s a flashback to a difficult period on this day (9 November) in 2008…
City conceded twice in three consecutive League games during this period, dropping to 13th after a 2-1 defeat to Spurs on 9 November. It was a difficult time, especially as manager Mark Hughes felt aggrieved with some refereeing decisions. Most notably, Hughes was unhappy that Middlesbrough on 29 October had been awarded a highly debateable penalty by referee Lee Mason. Replays showed that there had been minimal contact between City’s Sturridge and Boro’s Wheater as the player went down outside the area. That goal switched control in the game. Hughes: “Wheater was not in full control of the ball, he was outside the box and the linesman did not give it. The shape of the game changed… All night the referee took it upon himself to make decisions that were quite frankly disappointing.”
After defeats at Bolton and at home to Spurs the media began to speculate that Mark Hughes’ position was in doubt. City, a point above the relegation zone, had suffered seven defeats in 12 League games causing journalist Daniel Taylor to comment: ‘Hughes is now at a club where the high expectation levels make him vulnerable…[Hughes] did not sound entirely convincing as he tried to pass some of the blame for this defeat to the referee Mike Dean for “not taking into account the [rainy] conditions”.’
It should be noted that City had ended the Spurs game with only nine players following the dismissals of Fernandes (26 min) & Dunne (83) and that Tottenham also had a man sent off.
Continuing the series of features on Manchester City in the early 1900s! Today it’s a 9400 (yes that’s right!) word article telling the story of 1903-04 when Manchester won its first major trophy. If you’re a subscriber you’ll need to get a brew before reading this celebration of that season. If you’re not a subscriber then why not?
Ever wondered how Manchester found its first major trophy success or what the scandal that rocked City was all about? Then subscribe and read this series of articles.
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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?
The 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.
Match programme for 29 September 1900. Manchester City v Stoke
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?
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.
Manchester City with the Second Division Shield, 1899
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:
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The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with this brief post about average attendances. We hear so much baloney these days about which clubs are giants and so on but the truth is that in terms of success no team has ALWAYS been at the top and in terms of support most clubs have had highs and lows. There are some clubs that generation after generation have been popular with fans and this cutting from the Manchester City match programme of 1977-78 may interest some.
I’m not going to point to any club or anything but look at the numbers and make your own minds up. Manchester City, incidentally, tended to be the 3rd best supported club (no matter where they finished) behind United and Liverpool throughout the mid to late 70s and early 1980s. They occasionally dropped to 4th depending on whether Everton or Spurs had a good season and even in City’s 1982-83 relegation season Manchester’s Blues were the 4th best supported club. Not bad for a failing club!
This series of articles and features on Manchester City in the 1970s will run throughout January 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 January will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will 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.
Gary James' Football Archive 