Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (25 November) in 2020 City defeated Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League to progress to the last 16. Subscribers can read about that game below:
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It’s worth reminding ourseleves of this game from 12 November 2023 when Manchester City drew 4-4 at Chelsea. It was heralded as a great game by the media but for fans of the teams involved they tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game in 2023 I was asked when City’s previous 4-4 draw was and I spent a few minutes thinking ‘I’ve never seen one before involving City, or have I?’ So, I then started to scour the material in my collection and was somewhat surprised to find it was against Grimsby in September 1950! Certainly many, many years before I was born.
My favourite goal in that match at Chelsea was the one Haaland scored with his er… um… er… shorts area. The City scorers were: Haaland (25 minutes pen, 47 minutes), Akanji (45+1 minutes), Rodri (86 minutes) and for Chelsea (including two City old boys): Thiago Silva (29 minutes), Sterling (37 minutes), Jackson (67 minutes), Palmer (90+5minutes pen).
You can watch City’s highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/chelsea-4-4-man-city-extended-premier-league-highlights-63835413
Incredibly that game wasn’t the first time City had drawn 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before the 2023 match. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about the earlier match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year – as they did in 2023-24!
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DonateOn this day (17 June) in 2020 football returned to the Etihad after the pause in the 2019-20 season caused by the Covid pandemic. The first game there saw Manchester City defeat Arsenal 3-0 with goals from Sterling, De Bruyne and Foden. You can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/man-city-3-0-arsenal-long-highlights-63728028
On 3 June 2023 Ilkay Gundogan City secured his place in national football history with the quickest goal in a FA Cup final. It was a stunning volley after only 12 seconds. That day Gundogan scored two and helped City to 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United.
As well as the speed of the first goal, Gundogan’s goals gave him another MCFC record. Dave Masey, who has been collecting stats and historical information on Manchester City for years contacted me to tell me about one of his spreadsheets which holds details of City scorers in trophy winning games.
His records capture those who have scored in major cup finals, but besides Cup Finals he also records other trophy-winning games. These include the deciding League games from 1937 onwards against Sheffield Wednesday (1937), Newcastle, QPR, West Ham, Brighton and Villa (2022), but nothing from three recent title successes where the Blues clinched the title when they were not playing. Got that? Good, now….
Dave tells me that the FA Cup success saw Gundogan move to the top of the list with 5 goals, overtaking Neil Young and Sergio Aguero. So he has scored more goals in trophy-winning games than any other Blue.
The list of scorers in trophy winning games reads:
| 1904 | Meredith |
| 1934/7 | Tilson (3), Brook (2), Doherty |
| 1956 | Hayes, Dyson, Johnstone |
| 1968/70 | Young (4), Lee (2), Summerbee, Doyle, Pardoe |
| 1976 | P Barnes, Tueart |
| 2011-(former) | Aguero (4), Y Toure (2), Nasri (2), Kompany (2), D Silva (2),Jesus (2), Sterling (2), Dzeko, Zabaleta, Navas, Fernandinho |
| 2016-(current) | Gundogan (5), Laporte (2), Rodri (2), Mahrez, De Bruyne |
Dave also tells me that in the three seasons where somebody else’s defeat clinched the title for City, the scorers in the club’s last game before the title confirmation were:
Gundogan (3), Sterling (2), Jesus, Haaland.
As Dave says, Ilkay gets a remarkable number of important goals, particularly for somebody who is ‘just’ a 1 goal in 5/6 games player (63 in 357 for City by June 2025).
On this day (19 December) in 2021 Manchester City (the Premier League leaders) defeated Newcastle 4-0 at St James’ Park. City were on a run of seven consecutive league wins but this was not the easy, walkover the score suggests.
Ruben Dias scored an early goal with the second coming from Joao Cancelo – an incredible strike. In the second-half, a Riyad Mahrez volley made it 3-0 and the fourth came from Raheem Sterling.
Here are the highlights:
On this day (5 December) in 2020 in front of an official crowd of zero (these were the days when no fans were allowed to attend due to Covid) Raheem Sterling (5th minute) and Kevin De Bruyne (penalty after Sterling had been brought down) gave City a 2-0 victory at home to Fulham. You can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-2-0-fulham-extended-highlights-63742795
On this day (12 November) in 2023 Manchester City drew 4-4 at Chelsea and this was heralded as a great game by the Sky TV pundits. As fans, these sort of games never feel like great games at the time but neutrals obviously love them. For fans of the teams involved they tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game in 2023 I was asked when City’s previous 4-4 draw was and I spent a few minutes thinking ‘I’ve never seen one before involving City, or have I?’ So, I then started to scour the material in my collection and was somewhat surprised to find it was against Grimsby in September 1950! Certainly many, many years before I was born.
My favourite goal in last season’s match at Chelsea was the one Haaland scored with his er… um… er… shorts area. The City scorers were: Haaland (25 minutes pen, 47 minutes), Akanji (45+1 minutes), Rodri (86 minutes) and for Chelsea (including two City old boys): Thiago Silva (29 minutes), Sterling (37 minutes), Jackson (67 minutes), Palmer (90+5minutes pen).
You can watch City’s highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/chelsea-4-4-man-city-extended-premier-league-highlights-63835413
Incredibly last season’s game wasn’t the first time City had drawn 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before last year’s match. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about the earlier match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year – as they did in 2023-24!
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Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateOn this day (30 September) in 2020 Manchester City defeated Burnley 3-0 in the League Cup at Turf Moor. City’s scorers were Raheem Sterling (2) and Ferran Torres. Here are some highlights of the game:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/burnley-0-3-city-match-highlights-63737092
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DonateFive years ago today (28 September 2019) Manchester City defeated Everton 3-1 before 39,222 at Goodison Park. The City scorers were Jesus, Mahrez and Sterling and you can see highlights of the game below:
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DonateIt’s Manchester City at Chelsea this weekend. Last season that same fixture ended in a 4-4 draw and this was heralded as a great game by the Sky TV pundits. As fans, these sort of games never feel like great games at the time but neutrals obviously love them. For fans of the teams involved they tend to feel like opportunities lost or maybe great comebacks depending on which side you support. Immediately after the game last year I was asked when City’s previous 4-4 draw was and I spent a few minutes thinking ‘I’ve never seen one before involving City, or have I?’ So, I then started to scour the material in my collection and was somewhat surprised to find it was against Grimsby in September 1950! Certainly many, many years before I was born.
My favourite goal in last season’s match at Chelsea was the one Haaland scored with his er… um… er… shorts area. The City scorers were: Haaland (25 minutes pen, 47 minutes), Akanji (45+1 minutes), Rodri (86 minutes) and for Chelsea (including two City old boys): Thiago Silva (29 minutes), Sterling (37 minutes), Jackson (67 minutes), Palmer (90+5minutes pen)
Incredibly last season’s game wasn’t the first time City had drawn 4-4 at Chelsea and, coincidentally I’d tweeted about this before last year’s match. I never expected history to repeat itself. You can read about the earlier match via the link below. Incidentally, the game was in 1936-37 and City won the title that year – as they did in 2023-24!
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Donate
Gary James' Football Archive 