Tag Archives: Newport

The 1940s: George Smith 5

On 14 June in 1947 Manchester City’s George Smith (on right of photo the following season playing against Manchester United) scored five as the Blues defeated Newport 5-1 in the Second Division. At the time this was City’s latest finish to a season (eclipsed by the Covid affected 2019-20 season of course!). You can read more on the 1946-47 season below. 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 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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Manchester City 5-1 Newport County

On 16 June 1947 the Western Mail carried this match report of Manchester City’s 5-0 victory over Newport County, which was played on 14 June. The game was remarkable for a number of reasons:

  • Prior to the 2019-20 Covid affected season this was the club’s latest finish to a season. 2019-20 ended in August (Champions League) with the League campaign ending on July 26 2020. The 1946-47 season had been affected by snow and frozen pitches, causing many games to be postponed.
  • City played with only ten men for much of the second half due to an injury to Billy Walsh
  • The Blues won 5-1 with George Smith scoring all five goals. No player has ever scored more goals for the Blues in a League game (Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland have scored 5 in the League of course – you can read about those elsewhere on this site). Denis Law did score 6 goals in a FA Cup tie v Luton but this was abandoned and wiped from the records.
  • Roy Clarke made his City debut and, as City were promoted, he became the first man to play 3 successive league games in 3 different divisions when he appeared in his next City game. He’d joined from Cardiff (Division 3); made his City debut in Division 2 then played in Division 1. Subscribers can read more about Roy Clarke here:
MANCHESTER CITY – HALL OF FAME: Roy Clarke
  • City had achieved promotion over a month earlier (May 10) when they defeated Burnley 1-0 in front of a Maine Road crowd of 69,463.
  • City were promoted as champions.

Newport County 1 Manchester City 4

FA Cup day saw Manchester City win 4-1 at Newport County on this day (16 February) in 2019. A crowd of 9,680 watched this tie. The City scorers were Leroy Sane, Phil Foden (2) and Riyad Mahrez. You can watch the highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2019/february/newport-v-city-extended-highlights

Of course, as has been customary, the difference in value between the sides was quoted often that day. The BBC included this in their match report: ‘There was no overstating the gulf between these two clubs – Newport, with a squad value totalling £70,000, against Manchester City, the world’s most richly-assembled squad at around £450m.’

I still find it odd that others don’t face the same level of money related stats but we’ve got to live with it it seems.

Manchester City 5-1 Newport County

On this day (June 16) in 1947 the Western Mail carried this match report of Manchester City’s 5-0 victory over Newport County, which was played on June 14. The game was remarkable for a number of reasons:

  • Prior to the 2019-20 Covid affected season this was the club’s latest finish to a season. 2019-20 ended in August (Champions League) with the League campaign ending on July 26 2020. The 1946-47 season had been affected by snow and frozen pitches, causing many games to be postponed.
  • City played with only ten men for much of the second half due to an injury to Billy Walsh
  • The Blues won 5-1 with George Smith scoring all five goals. No player has ever scored more goals for the Blues in a League game (Sergio Aguero of course also scored 5 v Newcastle in October 2015). Denis Law did score 6 goals in a FA Cup tie v Luton but this was abandoned and wiped from the records.
  • Roy Clarke made his City debut and, as City were promoted, he became the first man to play 3 successive league games in 3 different divisions when he appeared in his next City game. He’d joined from Cardiff (Division 3); made his City debut in Division 2 then played in Division 1. Subscribers can read more about Roy Clarke here:
MANCHESTER CITY – HALL OF FAME: Roy Clarke
  • City had achieved promotion over a month earlier (May 10) when they defeated Burnley 1-0 in front of a Maine Road crowd of 69,463. You can read about that game here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/05/10/69463-watch-mcfc-and-burnley-in-division-two/

  • City were promoted as champions.