Tag Archives: Sam Barkas

The 1930s: 1939-1940 War Reports

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a 1,400 word subscriber article on the 1939-40 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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The 1930s: 1937-1938 Making History

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a 1,800 word subscriber article on the 1937-38 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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The 1930s: 1936-1937 Champions

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a 2,500 word subscriber article on the 1936-37 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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The 1930s: 1934-1935 Topical City

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a subscriber article on the 1934-35 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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The 1930s: 1933-1934 Record Crowds And Wembley Glory

My series on Manchester City in the 1930s continues today with a 4,300 word subscriber article on the 1933-34 season. If you subscribe (see below) I hope you enjoy it. If you don’t subscribe then why not try it for a month (£3 per month or sign up for a year at a discounted £20 per year)?

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Manchester City v Germany in the Berlin Olympic Stadium

On this day (19 May) in 1937 Manchester City became the first English team to play at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. This was a highly political match but it doesn’t get mentioned as often as it should but I’ve talked about it frequently over the decades. The match saw League Champions Manchester City become the first English side to play in the Berlin Olympic stadium when they faced a German national 11 – club v country! 

The German national side beat “England’s greatest players” 3-2 in a propaganda led game.  According to the English players there that day, tHe Blues had a morale victory when they refused to perform the Nazi salute. You can read more on this game below.

I am not going to pretend that English football teams making tours of Continental countries do not have a very pleasant time, but at the same time these tours are not picnics.  You are there to play serious football, and you have to go about it in the ordinary businesslike way.”  Sam Barkas, City Captain, 27th May 1937

As Sam Barkas hinted, sometimes end of season football tours are not the fun experience a lot of fans think. Sometimes the tour takes on a whole different meaning.  This is certainly true for the May 1937 tour to Germany.

The Blues, as Champions of England, were invited to play a series of high profile matches across Germany and its neighbouring States.  Although this was a major honour for City it has to be stressed that the whole concept of the tour, as far as Germany’s Nazi rulers were concerned, was to promote Germany’s sporting prowess against the best England could offer.  

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The 1940s: The 1946-47 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s continues with this feature on the 1946-47 season. 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 (photograph) 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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The 1940s: The 1939-40 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1940s starts today with this 1,400 word article on the 1939-40 season. The season started as any other but then world events intervened!

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The 1960s: 1968-1969 The Fourth FA Cup

Continuing the series of features on the 1960s, here’s a subscriber article on Manchester City during the 1968-69 season. Another trophy winning season. If you’d like to read this 6,000 word article , plus all other articles on the site, then please subscribe (see below). As with most of the other features in this series it includes words from interviews I have performed with those who were there.

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A City Captain’s Death

On this day (8 December) in 1989 the captain of Manchester City’s 1936-37 League title success died. The captain was defender Sam Barkas, who had been born in December 1909. Here’s a profile of this legendary figure who also played for Bradford City and Workington.

SAMUEL BARKAS (1934-47)

Defender, 5ft 9in, 13st. 7lbs, b. Wardley, 29 December 1909, d. Shipley, W.Yorks, 8 December 1989

Signed from Bradford City, 20 April 1934 (£5,000)

Transferred: Workington player-manager, May 1947

Career: Middle Dock, Thorndale, Barnes Rovers, Bradford City, City, Workington Town

Debut v Liverpool, 2 May1934

Appearances: League: 175 apps. 1 gl; FA Cup: 20 apps. 0 gls; Charity: 1 apps, 0 gls Wartime (League & Cup): 75 apps. 3 gls;  Total:  271 apps, 4 gls.

Captain of the great 1936-37 Championship winning side, Barkas was a stylish left back who joined the Blues for £5,000 from Bradford City in April 1934 shortly before the FA Cup final.  Naturally, he was unable to play at Wembley but did manage to play in the final two League games that season.  In fact Barkas was to miss only one of the first 68 League games played after his arrival as he quickly proved his value with many outstanding performances. 

One of the first players to create positive play from defensive positions, Barkas became renowned for always trying to create attacking opportunities and even managed to score a goal himself – to bring a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the 1934-5 season at West Bromwich Albion.  

As the decade progressed Barkas became an England international and a major figure in Manchester.  Sadly, the war interrupted his career as he was in his prime – he was 29 when war broke out – and when football returned on a professional, national basis Barkas was almost 37.  Nevertheless he managed to guide the side to the Second Division title and appeared in 33 League matches during 1946-7.  His last appearance came on 14th June 1947 (City’s latest ever finish) when the Blues defeated Newport County 5-1 with all goes coming from George Smith.

He later became Workington Town manager and also had a spell on City’s scouting staff.

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