On this day (2 May) in 1992 City secured their second consecutive 5th place finish with a 5-2 victory over Oldham at Boundary Park. You can see film of the game below. The City scorers were David White (3), 17 year old Adie Mike (his first goal in his 2nd game; image is of him celebrating the goal) and Mike Sheron. Former Blues Tony Henry and Paul Moulden scored the Oldham goals. The highlights are well worth watching:
If you’d like to know more on the 1991-92 season when the Blues finished 5th for the second season running, have a read of this 2,100 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:
It was one of those crazy Manchester City days in the 1980s (and you can see film of it below!) when City travelled to Walsall for a League game on this day (25 March) in 1989. That day every one attending the match had real value for money when Nigel Gleghorn replaced the injured Andy Dibble in goal. City were 2-0 down when Dibble collapsed in agony with a groin problem. Gleghorn put on the green shirt and helped the Blues to fight back with David Oldfield – the fifth most expensive City player up until that point at £600,000 – scoring his first goal for the club. Paul ‘Golden’ Moulden equalised and then, early in the second half, he scored again to bring a 3-2 lead. Gleghorn made a couple of good saves and even kicked superbly to keep the pressure off City but then a ridiculous out of character back pass from Oldfield gave Walsall opportunity to score, and the game ended 3-3.
The substitute ‘keeper was certainly the man of the match, winning applause from both sets of supporters after being stand-in for around an hour. You can see highlights here (wonderful commentary from the Walsall video commentator too). City had the away section behind the goal on the right and the covered paddock opposite (right). I was stood in the paddock behind the row of stanchions. Notice the bananas too:
Subscribers can read a series of articles covering the 1980s – a seasonal journey through a truly important decade in the history of Manchester City Football Club. The 1988-89 article is a 4,100 word feature below. Enjoy!
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With Manchester City and Plymouth meeting this weekend it’s worth remembering this past encounter between the two teams. They met on 10 November 1987 – only three days after City had thrashed Huddersfield 10-1 in the League. The meeting with Plymouth was in the Full Members’ Cup – then sponsored by the unforgettable Simod Sports Shoes. Manchester’s football focus had been on Mel Machin’s goalscorerd and, once again, City entertained.
Plymouth suffered a 6-2 defeat only three days after the Huddersfield massacre. Again the press picked up on City’s exploits and for once the rather irrelevant Simod Cup dominated the back page headlines. The Star concentrated on the role played by Tony Adcock who had scored his second hat-trick in three days. Under the headline “Adcock’s ‘Arf Hour” reporter Kevin Francis concentrated on the news that the £80,000 signing from Colchester was only in the side because of injury to Imre Varadi, and suggested that Machin would have a difficult selection problem once Varadi returned to fitness. Machin, who also had the prolific Paul Moulden recovering from injury, looked forward to the time when he would actually be faced with the problem of selecting two of the four decent strikers he had on his books!
Interestingly, City’s first goalscorer against Plymouth, Andy Hinchcliffe, was being watched by Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish. Already the Blues were aware that almost all the wealthiest British clubs of the period were keen on City’s headline grabbing young players. Only four months later Rangers manager Graeme Souness arrived at Maine Road to watch the game against Swindon. He paid to sit in the North Stand, and watched the exploits of Paul Stewart while covering half his face with a scarf to hide his identity! It didn’t work. A Sunday People reporter spotted the Rangers manager and his assistant, Walter Smith, and forced the pair to leave before they attracted further attention.
For a while the interest in the achievements of City’s young players was high and this meeting with Plymouth certainly gained more headlines for them. The goalscorers that night for City were: Andy Hinchcliffe, Paul Lake, Paul Stewart and Tony Adcock (3).
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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Paul Moulden signed apprentice forms for Manchester City on this day (4 June) in 1984. You can find several articles that mention Paul throughout this website. Start looking here:
Continuing the series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1980s. Here’s a photographic reminder of a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Bradford City at Maine Road on this day (10 December) in 1988. The game saw two goals each from youngsters Ian Brightwell and Paul Moulden. David White played his part to set up several key chances (and goals) too!
If you’d like to know more about City in 1988-89 or indeed any season then why not subscribe to this site? Subscribers can read a 4,100 word feature on the 1988-89 season below. 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!
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.
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.
On this day (2 November) in 1988 Paul Moulden scored a hat trick for Manchester City in the League Cup third round tie with Sheffield United. The Blues won 4-2 with Trevor Morley netting City’s other goal.
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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On this day (19 November) in 1988 Paul ‘Goalden’ Moulden scored the only goal of Manchester City’s win at Bournemouth in Division Two. Subscribers can read an interview I performed with Paul here:
Gary James' Football Archive 