For any Manchester City fans interested I’ll be the guest at the Hattersley & Mottram branch of the City Supporters Club on Wednesday 12 November. On the night I’ll talk about City of course and my writing. No doubt we’ll also chat about Ricky Hatton and also the Manchester Corinthians. It starts at 7.30pm at Mottram CC. I’ll make sure I have a few copies of my books on Peter Barnes, Joe Mercer and the Corinthians available at discounted prices if anyone wants one. Thanks to Anthony and all at the branch for inviting me.
Here’s a cutting from 23 June 1978 reporting on the official opening of the Gilford branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club by Ken Barnes and Ian Niven. From my notes I understand the branch is now the oldest affiliated MCFC supporters club branch in Northern Ireland but I’m happy to be corrected if that’s not the case. Is there anybody mentioned in the article or on the photograph still involved with the supporters club? Feel free to let me know.
On Thursday (27 February) evening I’ll be talking at the West Yorkshire branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club (8pm; Morley Cricket Club, Scatcherd Lane Morley, Leeds LS27 0JJ) about the Manchester Corinthians women’s team and, of course, I’ll also discuss Manchester City’s history too. I’ll have copies of the Manchester Corinthians book with me, as well as copies of my Peter Barnes biography if anybody wants one.
You can find out more on the Corinthians book here:
A reminder that I’ll be at the Reddish branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club tonight talking about the Manchester Corinthians and, no doubt, a bit about City too. It’s open to non members and the address and details are here:
It’s always a good gathering at Reddish and I’m looking forward to talking about my latest book and the research/stories connected with that. It’ll be great to chat.
I thought I’d give this a mention again because this is likely to be something truly special. There’s a new documentary series going to be made on City and there are lots of City fans involved in the production. As part of the series the production team and MCFC are looking to find 4 generations of living Blues who can tell their stories of supporting City. They want to find fans who can be interviewed that have 4 (or more) generations of living City fans.
There are 4/5/6 generation families who have lost the earlier generations who have interesting stories I know, but the key here is that they need to be able to interview each generation. If you fit the bill and are interested then get in touch. There’s a bit more here:
You can email families@projectkippax.com if you do have 4 generations of living blues and want to be considered for the series.
They are also looking for film, video, cine camera, mobile phone footage from City over the decades. In some ways the older the better. They want to find stuff that hasn’t been seen before. Obviously, any footage must have your own copyright and not recordings from commercial media – for example, copied from YouTube or other media/social media outlets.
As I said earlier there are City fans involved in the production, some of whom have excellent reputations in the world of media production and have been dedicated match going Blues for decades. I’m also involved.
Does your family contain four generations of Manchester City fans? Or do you have your own footage connected with the club? If the answer is yes to either question then get in touch with City. Follow the link for details:
The series of features covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with this reminder of the days when the creation of a Super League was leaked to the press. The Super League eventually became the Premier League and the key clubs behind the move were Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United. Much of the coverage from this period in 1991 focused on these clubs wanting to exert greater control on football’s finances, i.e. to carve up the game’s riches for the biggest clubs of the era. These cuttings are all from the start of April 1991.
Back then the Football League had four divisions and voting rights were equal for all clubs in the top two divisions (the ‘full members’ of the League, hence the Full Members Cup). The bottom two divisions were classed as associate members and they still had voting rights which many in the top division objected to. They felt the clubs outside the top flight should not control the League’s finances and direction.
It wasn’t the first time the establishment of a Super League had been discussed (usually it involved the idea of bringing leading Scottish clubs into a British league system) but it does appear to be the first time the leading clubs in the top division wanted to limit the influence of the others.
You can see from these articles who the leading architects were and how fans reacted. This piece quotes Frank Horrocks from the MCFC Supporters Club. Many of his concerns have proved to be true in the 30+ years that have followed:
All these years on there have been multiple attempts by certain clubs to limit the opportunities for others and create an environment where they can prosper without necessarily investing. Many of the financial issues between the rich and the rest in football that people talk of today were created as a result of the greed of several clubs in the early 1990s.
For Manchester City the 1990-91 season saw a shock managerial departure could have disrupted the club but ultimately they finished 5th, 3 points ahead of Manchester United. Here’s a 2,700 word article on that season:
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This series of articles and features will run throughout March 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 March will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
I’m sure some will believe this didn’t happen but on this day (31 October) in 1930 the previous night’s meeting of the so-called Boycotting Committee of the Manchester United Supporters Club met to discuss their next boycott of a first team game. There was widespread dissatisfaction of the plight of the Reds that season and the season would end with United’s Old Trafford average being 11,685 (the lowest average for either United/Newton Heath or City since Newton Heath averaged 4,650 in 1902). Neither side has attracted a lower average since.
What’s significant about this brief article is the mention of the planned boycott v Arsenal – that game attracted the highest crowd of the season to date! This demonstrates how difficult it is to plan a protest and for all fans to join in.
I explored the boycott and fan related issues in Manchester A Football History (my 2008/2010 update) book. This has been out of print for over a decade but PDFs of every chapter are free to download for all who subscribe. See the following for details of how to subscribe:
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This week 100 years ago in Cumbria (as it’s now known) a local newspaper talked of the support both Manchester City & United received from women. This article suggested it was a new phenomenon but I’ve lots of evidence of female support at Manchester’s clubs goes back many decades before 1923. In fact City we’re issuing specially discounted season tickets to women from formation as MCFC in 1894.
Incidentally the Corinthians it mentions at the end of the piece is the famous male amateur team of the era, not the famous women’s team of the 40s to 80s.
What a Valentine’s Day this was: Here’s a 1500 word article on a major turning point in the fortunes of Manchester City. I’ve called this ‘Rock Bottom!’ because that’s what we all felt that day but it did get worse! On this day (14 February) in 1998 City were defeated 1-0 by near neighbours Bury at Maine Road. It was a 2nd tier game and this defeat brought home the realisation that the Blues could be relegated to the third tier for the first time. There are lots of angles to the story and my article includes quotes from interviews I have performed with some of the key figures. John Wardle talks about the situation and there are also quotes from that weekend from David Makin and Frank Clark. City have moved on a lot since then but it’s important to remember that day and how we felt. Here’s the subscriber article:
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Gary James' Football Archive 