Tag Archives: Neil Young

Manchester City’s All-Time Best FA Cup Winning Eleven

So far I’ve told you about Bert Trautmann, Tony Book, Glyn Pardoe, Vincent Kompany, İlkay Gündoğan, David Silva, Billy Meredith, Colin Bell and Fred Tilson in my all-time best Manchester City FA Cup final winning team and today it’s the time for the final couple of names.

I was asked to select an all-time City eleven and had two rules – they had to actually play in a winning final (so, unused substitutes were not allowed) and they could not be a member of the current playing squad. I also tried to focus on the fact that this eleven would also be facing an all time Manchester United eleven. Therefore victories over United in key games were always in the back of my mind.

The final two players selected are heroes from the 1969 and 2011 finals:

Neil Young (1961-1972)

A Mancunian who scored the only goal of the 1969 final – a trademark left foot shot past Peter Shilton – and followed this with the opening goal in City’s first European trophy success the following season. The leading goalscorer during the 1967-68 title winning season, Young played in a variety of attacking roles, always contributing goals.

1971 ECWC v Chelsea North Stand being built but used for terracing. Neil Young. Photo by Alan Jubb.

There are lots of articles that mention Neil Young on this site. You can read some here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/neil-young/

Yaya Toure (2010-2018)

Bustling, powerful and rampaging, the African Footballer of the Year was goal scorer in the 2011 FA Cup semi against United and that season’s final too. This versatile midfielder can play a holding role or play box-to-box, adding many options to this team. He is adept at turning any game.

Yaya Toure

You can read about the significance of 2011 and Yaya’s significant role in that in this feature here:

2011 – What It Meant Historically

More on the all-time FA Cup winning eleven tomorrow when I highlight which manager was selected. I think most can work this out!

The Death of Defensive Football: Title Race Decider

This Sunday Manchester City and West Ham face each other in the Premier League with a City victory (or an equal result to Arsenal’s game) giving the Blues the title. It’s another of those last day title deciders that City fans have had to get used to over the years.

Although there had been other seasons when City needed to get a good result in their final game to avoid relegation, earn promotion etc. the first last day title decider involving the Blues came in 1968. Back then Joe Mercer was manager and Malcolm Allison his number two. They believed in entertaining football – a contrast to what the rest of English football seemed to believe it as the following report shows.

Have a read of what was said back in May 1968 to fully appreciate how wonderful that team was and how refreshing City were to late 1960s football:

You can read about the build up to that game; the story of the match itself and quotes from those involved below.  Enjoy!

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City 1 Leicester 0, the FA Cup Final

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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The 1970s: A European Semi Final Victory

Francis Lee v Schalke 15 April 1970

Today (15 April) in 1970 German side Schalke 04 were defeated 5-1 in the ECWC semi-final second leg at Maine Road by Manchester City. You can read the story of that game (and watch video highlights) below.

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You can read more on the 1969-70 season here:

The 1970s: Series Starts Now!

IN SEARCH OF THE BLUES – Bobby Kennedy (Interviewed in April 2005)

Defender Bobby Kennedy proved to be a popular player after joining the Blues in 1961.  He went on to make 251 (plus 3 as sub) appearances for City over a seven year period and was a key member of City’s mid sixties side.  In April 2005 Gary James caught up with him at the stadium.

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The 1970s: Series Ends

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s has now ended but you can still take a look at the posts that have been made over the last couple of months. The series of articles and features ran throughout January and for much of February with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There were flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day offered something to enjoy.

Subscribers can still access to everything and there are plenty of free on this day material 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? Have a search through what’s been posted and see what you want to read, watch and remember. The following 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 is available to subscribers below. Enjoy!

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The 1970s: Can You Name City’s Free 12? The Answer is…

Yesterday I posted this small amount of praise published on this day (10 January) in 1970 in the Liverpool Echo. The brief post comments on how 12 City players who had appeared to date in the 1969-70 had cost the Blues nothing. So, I asked ‘can name those 12?’ Looking at the date this was published and appearances the answer is:

Joe Corrigan, Glyn Pardoe, Mike Doyle, Tommy Booth, Alan Oakes, Neil Young, Ian Bowyer, Stan Bowles, Dave Connor, Tony Towers, Jimmy Mundy & Derek Jeffries.

Did you get this right?

This series of articles and features on 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, 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? The following 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 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.

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Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

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The 1970s: 1970-71 Takeover Madness

The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a 5,200 word article on the entire 1970-71 season. You can read this below. 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!

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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.

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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.

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The 1970s: A Neil Young Goal

The series of features/articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s continues with a reminder of the first goal Manchester City’s first team scored in the 1970s. It was scored by Neil Young on this day (3 January) in 1970 and you can watch it here:

This was a FA Cup tie at Hull that ended 1-0 before at crowd of 30,271.

Although City didn’t win the FA Cup that season this was a glorious year for the Blues. By the end of April the Blues would have two major trophies on the shelf, including the club’s first European trophy (won before so many of today’s perceived European giants). This series of articles and features on 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 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 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.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

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The 1970s: Series Starts Now!

The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1970s starts today with the story of the opening months of 1970. By the end of April the Blues would have two major trophies on the shelf, including the club’s first European trophy (won before so many of today’s perceived European giants). This series of articles and features 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, 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? The following 5,600 word article on the successes of 1970 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.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access – Annual

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.

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