The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s continues today with a reminder of the day in 1988 manager Mel Machin warned the City team to be careful of Shrewsbury. See the newspaper article. The Blues were due to play them the day after this article (published on Friday 16 December 1988) was published. Anybody remember the score? I was in the Kippax that day and you can watch what happened here (look out for future Blue Carl Griffiths!):
That game was played on 17 December 1988. If you want to know more of the 1988-89 season for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read the following 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. Enjoy!
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Continuing the series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s. Here’s a nice article from this day (5 December) in 1987. It was a piece praising Manchester city’s youth players with quotes from Nobby Stiles, the legendary Manchester United and England star. High praise indeed and these players deserved the focus.
Subscribers can find out more about the 1987-88 season by reading my 4,000 word feature on it below. Enjoy!
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A new daily series of articles for subscribers started earlier this month covering the 1980s. This is a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. Today’s article is a 8,000 word long read on the 1989-90 season. 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.
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.
A new daily series of articles for subscribers started earlier this month covering the 1980s. This is a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. Today’s article is a 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season. 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.
But City did not lose on this day (21 October) in 1987! Why was this remarkable? It was the first time Manchester City had won away from home in over a year. In fact the Blues had gone 34 away League games without victory.
I remember it well and was at Bradford that night when City won 4-2. At the time the buzz amongst those of us who travelled away was ‘will today be the day’ and it got that way that you felt you couldn’t miss an away game. I’m convinced numbers going to away games increased game after game as we were keen to be there on the day we finally found a win.
Throughout this long, long run without an away win the song ‘We never win at home and we never win away…’ seemed to become our anthem. It belted out game after game and, in some ways, was our release from the disappointment of another defeat or draw. The song had begun in the late 1970s (I’ve done quite a bit of research on this and should write it all up one day) but it was the 1980s, in particular the relegation season of 1986-87, when it became a regular chant, game after game. Usually reserved for when City conceded or were losing it was given more opportunities to be sung during that period than ever before.
It faded during the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially when City finished fifth two seasons running, but reappeared later in the 90s when Alan Ball’s management (and everything that followed) brought misery City’s way.
We all got a bit nervy against Bradford, especially when our 2 goal lead disappeared, but we won 4-2 and you can see how giddy those of us behind the nets were in these highlights of the goals. We were stood behind the goals to the right of the camera (the commentator makes a couple of errors but the film should give you a feel for the night):
This weekend the 2023 FA Cup final at Wembley will be the first all-Manchester FA Cup final but it is not the first all-Manchester FA Final. That came in 1985-86 when the two Manchester clubs reached the FA Youth Cup final. In the build-up to Wembley this final will probably be overlooked but I wanted to make sure we do remember. Here’s a brief piece on the final.
In April 1986 Manchester City’s youth team defeated Manchester United 3-1 on aggregate in the final of the FA Youth Cup. It was a tremendous achievement at the time, and one which proved that it was the Blues, rather than the Reds, who knew how to find and recruit young players – when Alex Ferguson arrived in Manchester later in 1986 he was dismayed that City tended to sweep up all the local talent and put things in place to change the situation. He even chatted to City’s chief scout Ken Barnes about the Blues’ strengths. More on Ken in a moment.
Of the 11 City boys who played in the 1986 final an amazing seven would also appear in the first team. Two of those would captain the Blues; two would play for England; and one would continue to play for the Blues into the late 1990s. For the record the City eleven plus subs were:
Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray, David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused subs: Steve Macauley (1st leg) & John Bookbinder (2nd leg).
City’s Chief Scout at the time was 50s Cup winner Ken Barnes and years later I interviewed him about the success. He firmly believed that it was exceptional to find so many young star players at the same time: ‘We were dead lucky. I have to say that I don’t think it will ever happen again. I don’t recall any team having so many of the players coming through from the Youth team. It was only circumstances as such that they all got into the team at the same time. There was no alternative – the club had no money. No money to buy new players – so the young lads were thrown in at the deep end. Maybe if we had had a good team at the time 3 or 4 of them wouldn’t have got into the team and, who knows what would have happened to them. It enlightened me the year they won the Youth Cup. They went throughout the whole season in the Lancashire League and lost only one game.
‘That was a remarkable youth side. In the past we had boys like Tommy Caton, Ray Ranson, Nicky Reid, John Beresford and Darren Beckford but we never had a team like the 1986 one. Most of the youngsters played for our nursery team Midas… Nearly all those who have made it into the first team played with them from the time they were 11 or 12.’
Here is the City first team match programme commenting on the success:
1986 YOUTH CUP STATISTICS
Old Trafford, 24 April 1986 Manchester United – Manchester City 1–1 (0–0) 1-0 49 min. Aidan Murphy 1-1 82 min. Paul Lake (penalty) Attendance: 7,602
Manchester United: Gary Walsh, Tony Gill, Lee Martin, Ian Scott, Steve Gardner (capt), Jon Bottomley, Aidan Murphy (red card, 69 min), Mark Todd, Dennis Cronin, David Wilson (replaced by Tony Hopley), Paul Harvey. Manager Eric Harrison.
Manchester City: Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray (red card, 69), David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused sub: Steve Macauley. Manager: Tony Book
Second leg
Maine Road, 29 April 1986 Manchester City – Manchester United 2–0 (1–0) 1-0 02 min. David Boyd 2-0 86 min. Paul Moulden Attendance: 18,158
Manchester City: Steve Crompton, Steve Mills, Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond (capt), Andy Thackeray, David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake, Ian Scott, David Boyd. Unused sub: John Bookbinder. Manager: Tony Book
Manchester United: Gary Walsh, Tony Gill, Lee Martin, Ian Scott, Steve Gardner (capt), Paul Harvey, Aidan Murphy, Mark Todd, Dennis Cronin, Jon Bottomley (replaced by Tony Hopley), Karl Goddard. Manager Eric Harrison.
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I was delighted to play a small part in a news item for Granada Reports on Maine Road. Thanks to Jam Williams-Thomas for asking me if I’d be interviewed. You can watch the extended piece here:
Today (13 March) in 1988 Second Division Manchester City faced Liverpool in the FAC quarter final. At the time this was seen as a major game, shown live on television and it was full of the usual controversy that these games tend to have. You can read the full story and watch highlights of it here:
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Back in 1989 the 11 February saw goals from Wayne Biggins (2), Brian Gayle and Trevor Morley to give Manchester City a 4-0 Division Two win at home to Ipswich Town.
We hear so much about the Premier League era and how the game has changed, so for today’s feature I’ve decided to take a look at the early 1990s and the birth of the Premier League. It’s almost thirty years since the structure of league football changed forever and during that time some clubs have benefitted from the new structure and others have found life difficult. City have experienced both extremes of course.
The narrative that we often hear about the Blues’ journey over the last thirty years is that they’ve gone from a struggling club to a hugely successful one and, while it is true City are highly successful today and that the Blues entered their lowest ever point in the late 1990s, it is wrong to assume that the position the club found itself in by 1999 was typical of the club’s full history.
So, here for subscribers, I’m taking a look back at the early 1990s and remind ourselves where the Blues were; who their rivals were; and the state of football at that time:
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Gary James' Football Archive 