Tag Archives: Southend

Forty Years Ago Today: Ticket News for MCFC and Southend

In the days before the internet we didn’t have many ways of finding out about ticket sales for games. There were match programmes (but fixtures didn’t always allow time for us to read the details in time); occasional announcements on Radio Manchester or Piccadilly Radio; Clubcall (if you could afford the ridiculous cost of phoning the number); and then there was the local press. Here’s the Manchester Evening News from today (10 September) in 1986 giving their latest ticket news on City, except all it really told us was that the League Cup tie at Southend would be all-ticket. I suppose a few days later the criteria would’ve been announced. Back then we’d wait and wonder if the away allocation would be satisfied by regular season ticket holders, first year season ticket holders or end up on open sale.

By this time I was a ‘regular’ season ticket holder (a separate category; in past years there were 1st year, 2nd year etc. season ticket holders – all the way up to 4th year at one point – but by 1986 there were just ‘regular’ and ‘first year’) so probably could get a ticket but I didn’t get to Southend due to work commitments sadly.

If you’d like to know more about City during the 1980s, here’s a 2,500 word subscriber feature on the 1985-86 season that came before this one (elsewhere on the site you can find 1986-87). Enjoy!

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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1986-87 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:

The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald

The 1950s: The 1955-56 Season

The new series on Manchester City in the 1950s continues today with this 3,900 word article on the 1955-56 season when City won the FA Cup final (nowadays known as the Trautmann Final) and Bert Trautmann was FWA Footballer of the Year (presented in the days before the final). Enjoy!

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Valentine Lawrence

Happy Valentine’s Day! Way back in 1911 Manchester City signed a player from Forfar Athletic with the name Valentine. He was born in May 1889, not 14 February as maybe some would expect. He joined City on 5 July 1911 but only made 22 first team appearances in defence before signing for Oldham Athletic on 31 May 1913 (£50 transfer fee). Sadly he only managed one League appearance at Oldham.

A year later he was on his way to Leeds City. War ultimately limited his opportunities and he later played for Southend in 1921 before joining Abertillery in July 1922.

When he signed for City he was expected to be a significant member of the team but it didn’t quite work out like that. His debut was against Oldham on 7 October 1911 and he did play in a goalless Manchester derby. I first wrote about him in The Pride of Manchester, the history of the Manchester derby I co-wrote with Steve Cawley.

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