Tag Archives: QPR

The 1970s: Attendance Flashback to 1978

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!

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Horton’s 9 Men Hold On

Manchester City were down to nine men when they defeated QPR 2-1 on this day (15 October) in 1994. It was a bit of a strange one for Brian Horton’s Blues with both goalkeeper Andy Dibble (two footed challenge on Les Ferdinand) and Richard Edghill (2nd bookable offence) sent off.

City had taken a 56th minute lead via a Garry Flitcroft header but then followed a frantic seven minutes or so. Paul Walsh scored City’s second when the ball went in off his face! Then Andy Dibble raced forward under pressure from Ferdinand and was judged to have handled the ball outside the area. Former blue Clive Wilson netted from the free kick.

After that came the sending off of Dibble then Edghill. You can read more on the game in this contemporary match report from the Telegraph:

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Lee Peacock

On this day (9 October) in 1976 Lee Peacock was born. Peacock was a Mansfield Town player who joined Manchester City in 1999, making his debut as a substitute in the League game with QPR on 6 November 1999. Co-incidentally his last game was also against QPR on 8 March 2000. Not bad considering he only made ten actual appearances for the Blues

Prior to joining City Peacock did play his part in one game that often gets talked about when discussing City in the late 1990s and this is the infamous Auto Windscreen Shield tie of December 1998. It was a competition City did not want to be in and it was a fact known across City’s supporter base. They also knew that a weakened team would be played and, to be frank, we were mostly full of apathy for the competition. The League was the only competition that mattered that season.

For the record Peacock scored twice for Mansfield – a 53 minute penalty and another three minutes later. If you want to relive that game (why would you?) here’s a match report from a Mansfield based newspaper:

Rodney Marsh Special

I’ve talked about this before but it’s always worth reminding ourselves of it. On this day 49 years ago (28 September 1974) Rodney Marsh netted a spectacular overhead goal. It was the only goal of the match with QPR at Maine Road. Do you remember it? The following subscriber post tells the story of that classic goal and images of it step by step.

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Anti-owner demos: Just another day in Manchester football

One Manchester club seems to be getting everything right, winning League titles, European trophies and so on while the other appears to be in self-destruct mode with demonstrations against the owner and all sorts of worrying stories appearing in the media. Sound familiar? This was actually the situation on this day (11 September) in 1993 when Manchester City (not United) were the team in crisis and United (not City) were the team winning Leagues and European trophies.

This cutting is from 11 September 1993 and highlights the proposed takeover by Francis Lee of the Blues. Peter Swales had been City’s chairman for twenty years during which he’d taken the club from being a major, profitable power to one that was heavily in debt – debt that was hampering the club’s development – with a stadium that was being downgraded almost every day via a lack of serious investment. Across at United the club appeared relatively stable with a stadium that was being invested in. They also had one of the game’s most talented and successful managers while City had gone through a series of managers in the previous few years. City were a relatively stable top flight team though by 1993. Brian Horton was now City’s boss and he seemed to offer a positive style of football but the wider problems of the club were never far away. All sound familiar still?

I do find it amazing that City and United seem to have swapped roles so emphatically since 1993 in terms of how the clubs are managed, invested in, stadium developments and so on.

For those unaware of what happened to City or those who perhaps support United and are looking to see what happened and whether history will repeat here’s a brief overview: United dominated football for most of the 1990s & 2000s while City’s Lee takeover was successful. Lee, however, was unable to revive City’s fortunes and build on the fifth place finished that had occurred in 1991 and 1992. Although much of the financial infrastructure of City was improved following the takeover, the dismissal of Horton as manager and a poor appointment in Alan Ball led to relegation. Further issues followed as star players left, managers were sacked or left and the Blues ended up in the 3rd tier (for one season – too many believe City were a 3rd tier club who eventually got lucky but they were a top 6 team who fell apart!).

Could history repeat itself with the roles reversed? Unlikely United will ever fall as low as City but it is worth noting that City never expected to fall that low. Also, removing Swales from power was something that fans had been wanting for decades. It only became a possibility when a former hero announced he could take over the club BUT even then the hopes and ambition of all Blues could not be met.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 68

It’s day 68 of my Maine Rd countdown…. Many goals over the old stadium’s 80 year life were described as the greatest ever at Maine Road.  Sometimes these became a talking point for a few days, sometimes for a few years but unless they happen to occur in a major game goals tend to lose their significance as time moves on.  This is especially true for Maine Rd games prior to the 1990s when television coverage was limited to, at best, a handful of top flight games.

One that was remembered for many years was Rodney Marsh’s overhead kick from the City-QPR Division One game of September 1974.  Do you remember it? The following subscriber post tells the story of that classic goal and images of it step by step.

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Aguero Hat-trick

When Manchester City defeated QPR 6-0 on this day (10 May) in 2015 Sergio Aguero netted a hat-trick for the Blues. His first came after three minutes when he went on a mazy run before clipping the ball over the onrushing Rob Green to give Manuel Pellegrini’s side a perfect start.

Aleksandr Kolarov netted City’s second (a free kick from 30 yards) in the 31st minute and the Blues made it 3-0 when Aguero scored in the 49th minute.

Aguero’s third came from a penalty after David Silva had been pulled down in the 64th minute. James Milner made it 5-0 five minutes later before Silva completed the scoring in the 86th minute. when he ran on to a wonderful back heel from Bony, before rounding goalkeeper Green.

City lineup: Hart (c), Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernando, Fernandinho (Toure 73), Lampard (Bony 62), Milner (Navas 81), Silva, Aguero
Unused: Caballero, Sagna, Clichy, Dzeko

Attendance 44,564 (building work as part of the extension of the South Stand had reduced the capacity).

History Talk – MCFC Away Days Now Live For Subscribers

On Wednesday 18 January I held a discussion about Manchester City FC away games. Subscribers can now listen to a recording of that talk here (it costs £20 a year to access everything on the site or £3 per month). The talk lasts about 1 hour so get yourself a brew and listen to the story of traveling away.

We talk about the train specials that the City Supporters Travel Club used to organise and their coaches too (remember number one coach with Helen ‘the Bell’ Turner?). Amongst the moments/subjects discussed were the history of travelling to away games; Trevor Francis’ debut; railway & coach specials; the experience of being an away fan; games at Notts County, Barnsley, Stoke, Bradford, Oldham, QPR, Leeds & more.  Thanks to all who participated in this for your efforts, especially Graham Ward, Roger Reade and the guys from the Lad & Dad Away Days podcast who all brought up their own memories of games.

The next History Talk will take place later today 1/2/23 at 6pm-7pm UK time. This will be more of a presentation and will be about the origins of Manchester City. You can register for that and find out more here:

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Here’s the recording of the MCFC Away Days talk. This is for subscribers only:

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History Talk – MCFC Away Days Now Live

On Wednesday 18 January I held a discussion about Manchester City FC away games. You can now listen to a recording of that talk here. It lasts about 1 hour so get yourself a brew and listen to the story of traveling away.

There’s a link further down this page to the recording. We talk about the train specials that the City Supporters Travel Club used to organise and their coaches too (remember number one coach with Helen ‘the Bell’ Turner?). Amongst the moments/subjects discussed were the history of travelling to away games; Trevor Francis’ debut; railway & coach specials; the experience of being an away fan; games at Notts County, Barnsley, Stoke, Bradford, Oldham, QPR, Leeds & more.  Thanks to all who participated in this for your efforts, especially Graham Ward, Roger Reade and the guys from the Lad & Dad Away Days podcast who all brought up their own memories of games.

The next History Talk will take place on 1/2/23 at 6pm-7pm UK time. This will be more of a presentation and will be about the origins of Manchester City. You can register for that and find out more here:

Free Online Presentation on the Origins of MCFC – Register Now

Here’s the recording of the MCFC Away Days talk. This was freely available until 31 January and now it is for subscribers only:

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If you would like to access it here and support my writing & research while also reading all the great content (including PDFs of Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens) then please subscribe. It costs £20 a year (access everything) or £3 per month (see below).

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