Sam Barkas – Page 2 – Gary James' Football Archive

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 14^th 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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Fogged Off: Manchester City V Brentford

On this day (November 28) in 1936 Manchester City’s game with Brentford was abandoned due to fog. The two were rivals for the League title and the rearrangement of that game did ultimately have a bearing on the title. More on this for subscribers below…

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Title Rivals: Manchester City and Brentford

With City and Brentford meeting today here’s a nice reminder of a day when both teams mounted a challenge for the League. Here’s a feature on a meeting between the sides played on April 3 1937.

The early months of the season were difficult for City. Significant injuries to captain Sam Barkas, and attackers Alec Herd and Fred Tilson had hampered City’s progress during the opening months. By the end of November the Blues were 12^th and somewhat off the pace. However, things were about to change for Manchester’s Blues with an incredible undefeated run that began with victory over Middlesbrough on Boxing Day.

Before the away game at Brentford on April 3, City had gone 15 consecutive League games without defeat.

Subscribers can read what happened next in this 1200 word article…

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Berlin Olympic Stadium’s First English Game

Tonight the Euros final will see England play in the Berlin Olympic Stadium. There have been many games involving English teams in that stadium over the decades but the first English game played there was a highly political match played on 19 May 1937. It doesn’t get mentioned as often as it should but I’ve talked about it often 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, 27^th 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.