Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (4 October) in 1981 Longserving Manchester City defender Tommy Booth moved to Preston North End. Tommy had made his City debut against Huddersfield Town (a) on 2 September 1968 in the League Cup with his League debut coming against Arsenal (h) on 9 October 1968. Joe Mercer once described the former Middleton Boys player as the ‘best footballing centre-half since Stan Cullis’ and Joe would know.
The image is of Tommy Booth scoring V Gornik in Copenhagen in 1971.
The 1970s Maine Road treatment room… It’s day 18 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. A photograph can say so much about the era.
This photo shows the treatment room at Maine Road with physio Roy Bailey working on Tommy Booth’s leg. On the bed to the left is Gary Owen and the other players are Dave Watson (on bed to the right either hiding his face or making a secret gesture with his fingers!), Kenny Clements and Tony Henry (with magazine).
What else can we spot? The telephone on the wall (and one on the trolley) and the ‘modern’ equipment. The closed off window, which shows that this room backed on to the main external frontage of the stadium. Years earlier that window would have been glazed with small glass blocks like the others were. There’s the fake wood panelling popular in the 70s – maybe Peter Swales got a job lot from somewhere and had the boardroom, offices and other spaces fitted out in it – the tiled ceiling and the wall heater. All very 1970s.
I’m pretty certain the equivalent facilities at the Etihad & CFA are somewhat more extensive than this but, at the time, City did claim they were ahead of most rivals in this area. Obviously, Roy Bailey would be able to talk more about support (or lack of it) from above, while the players could also talk about how they were treated overall.
For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help locate where the photo was taken from. It was taken in a room inside the Main Stand, in the lower level, somewhere behind and to the left of number 1.
If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateFifty years ago today (18 April 1973) City defeated Newcastle 2-0 with goals from Tommy Booth (a header) and a brilliant effort from Rodney Marsh (in 69th minute). City’s boss at the time was Johnny Hart. You can read his frank views (from an interview I did with him several years ago) here:
In September 2021 I was in Copenhagen and, as always when I’m in a city with a football ground, I popped over to the Parken Stadium. Most fans will remember that City drew 2-2 there with FC København in February 2009. Nedum Onuoha and Stephen Ireland scored in the UEFA Cup round of 32 first leg and in the return Craig Bellamy scored twice to give the Blues a 2-1 win on the night (4-3 on aggregate). That year we progressed to the quarter finals.
However, Copenhagen’s stadium played a much earlier role in City’s European story and, as today (31 March) is the anniversary of that game, I’m publishing this article looking back at the day when the Blues played a European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final replay there.
This 1500 word article is available for subscribers…
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time, see below) or £20 a year. Annual subscribers get full access to ALL the content on here throughout their membership. Do a few searches and see what’s on here.
It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or £20 a year (see above). Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything posted throughout their membership. Why not sign up for a month and see what you think?
On this day (22 March) 1969 Manchester City and Everton met in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park. Here for subscribers is the story of that day, including material from interviews I have performed with some of the key people (such as Tommy Booth). Enjoy!
To read this and all the other in-depth articles please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (see below). Annual subscribers get full access to everything posted since December 2020 and the hundreds scheduled to be posted during their subscription.
To read this and all the other in-depth articles please subscribe. It’s £3 a month (cancel anytime). Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything scheduled to be posted during their subscription.
I’d like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to visit my website. I have been researching and writing about Manchester football since the 1980s. I am not employed by anyone and I do not have sponsorship either and so I’ve set up this website to help share my 32 years plus writing and research.
The intention is to develop the archive and to provide access to as much of my material as possible over the coming weeks, months & years. Subscribers can already access hundreds of articles/posts including PDFs of a couple of books and exclusive audio interviews, talks etc.
It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 a month) or £3 if you’d like to sign up a month at a time to get full access for as long as you subscribe. If you’d like to check whether it’s value for money, have a search through content before subscribing – or even subscribe for a month, access what you want and then cancel!
Thanks for the support, Gary.
On this day (10 March) in 1971 a crowd reported as 100,000 witnessed a 2-0 Manchester City defeat by Gornik in the ECWC quarter final first leg. The story of that game and the rest of the tie is available below (with video clips) for subscribers to this site.
If you would like to read this and all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book, talks, articles, interviews etc.) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (see below). Annual subscribers gets full access to everything posted so far and the hundreds scheduled to be posted in the coming year.
If you would like to read this and more then please subscribe. It costs £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022 and everything to be posted throughout their subscription. Cancel any time.
I was recently asked by Brendan Gahan if I ‘had any details of a Central League derby at Maine Rd that finished 6-5 to City. I think it was either 66/67 or 67/ 68, there was a decent crowd of around 20,000.’ We’ll, I do. The answer is…
The game was played on 15 April 1968 and was watched by 2,503 (not quite the 20,000 remembered). City’s scorers were Mundy, Clay, Jones (2), Cunliffe and Bingham. The City starting 11 included Ricky Hatton’s father Ray: Dowd, Hutton, Woods, Jeffries, Booth, Mundy, Glennon, Clay, Jones, Cunliffe & Bingham.According to the programme (provided by Dave Masey) the half time score had been 5-4 to City and the United scorers were Herd 3 and Gowling 2.
I have statistics for most Manchester City Central League games (and first team of course) into the 2000s. If you’re a subscriber to my site and have a query get in touch and I’ll see if I can answer your query. Thanks.
Read more of this website when you subscribe today. £20 a year (about £1.67 per month) gets you access to all the articles, interviews, books & more already published on this site and those published over the next year. You’ll also be supporting my research and writing. I am not employed by anyone to do this research, so your subscriptions help enormously.
On this day (19 September) in 1981 Tommy Booth made the last of his 382 League appearances for Manchester City in the 3-0 defeat by Birmingham City.
A few years back I caught up with the goalscorers – Tommy Booth (1969) and Paul Power (1981) – of the last couple of FA Cup semi finals involving Manchester City prior to their 2011 FA Cup triumph v Stoke. Here, for subscribers, is a piece I wrote based on that interview with Booth and Power.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year or £3 per month if paying a month at a time. Whichever method you choose you get full access to everything on this site.
From World War Two up to and including 2011 Manchester City won every FA Cup semi-final they played with a 1-0 scoreline. That’s five games. In 2013 I caught up with two of the goalscorers – Tommy Booth (1969) and Paul Power (1981) – to discuss their memories of those games. Here for subscribers is what they said:
Read more of this and all the other content when you subscribe today. £20 a year works out about £1.67 a month and you get access to the 360+ articles posted here, including exclusive audio interviews and other archive material.
Gary James' Football Archive 