Tag Archives: Tony Book

The Story of 1974-75

Here’s a review of the 1974-75 season as experienced by Manchester City. That year Manchester City finished 8th with an average attendance of 32,898 (fifth highest in the top flight). The following explains how Denis Law played on into the 1974-75 season, even scoring in one game (this is often ignored by those who incorrectly claim Law retired after the 1974 Manchester derby – he did not and played club football in 1974-75 for City!).

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This 1500 word article is available to subscribers. It costs £3 per month (here) or £20 a year (above) to subscribe. Why not subscribe for a month and see what you think? Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022.

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An Incident VAR Officials Would Have Loved!

On this day (22 November) in 1969 Manchester City and Arsenal drew 1-1 before a Highbury crowd of 42,923. The goals were scored by Ian Bowyer (City) and Terry Neill (penalty for Arsenal). However, there was major controversy when the referee appeared to book Arsenal’s much-loved Charlie George. Have a read of this article and see what you think. How would the modern day VAR world have coped with this?

You can read a 3,000 word interview I performed with Ian Bowyer here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/2022/10/25/in-search-of-the-blues-ian-bowyer/

Denis Law and United’s Relegation

Over the years there has been a lot of discussion on Denis Law and his backheeled goal for Manchester City v Manchester United at Old Trafford in April 1974. If you’re a Blue you tend to say it relegated United; if you’re a Red you tend to say ‘absolutely not! It made no difference.’ So, for this feature I decided to focus on the facts, emotion and mood of the era to paint an accurate picture of that day and the significance or not of that goal. Hopefully, Blues & Reds alike will gain a good understanding of it all. I include quotes from some of the interviews I’ve performed in the past. This article will be free to read until 27th September then it’s available to subscribers only. Here goes…

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The Peter Swales Video You’ve All Been Waiting For

Here it is online at last! On several occasions over the last decade myself & Will McTaggart have included a video profile of MCFC chairman Peter Swales in our Boys In Blue film show. each time those who missed it have asked if they could see a video of it. That’s never been possible until now! At long last you can now see the Swales profile here…

The BBC have included it in a series of films recently released. I would urge all MCFC fans and others to watch this in all its glory. Some of you may wish to jump to the David Brent-esque clip at 3 mins 20. Others may want to see the Ian Niven roof plan that was thwarted by signing Dave Watson at 1 min 45 secs. Then there’s the scene where Swales gives Watson financial advice (45 secs) and it ends with Swales telling us he was a bit like Kevin Keegan (4 mins).

This really is MCFC gold. Enjoy:

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/6139d63a544c6f0021171865?q=Manchester%20city&size=75

MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1968-69

The League Matches

As League champions, the Blues were expected to coast through the 1968-9 season, particularly as the Charity Shield match against Cup winners West Bromwich Albion ended in a comfortable 6-1 City victory.  Unfortunately life is rarely that easy and only one of the first nine games ended in victory – a 3-2 win over Wolves.  The Blues simply could not get into the rhythm they had enjoyed the previous season.  One of the reasons for this was that they had embarked on a rather disastrous tour of America during the summer which, amongst other problems resulted in an injury to captain Tony Book  He was kept out of action until January.

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MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1969-70

The League Matches

A 4-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of the season gave many supporters hope that 1969-70 would see the Blues challenge for the League title, however 3 successive defeats followed and the Mercer-Allison side struggled to find consistency.  Nevertheless they did manage to reach 4th place – 9 points behind leaders Leeds – by 18th December, and defeat Manchester United 4-0 on 15/11.

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MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE SEASON 1975-76

The Matches

By the start of 1975-6 City were clearly seen as one of football’s wealthiest clubs, and were without doubt one of the decade’s glamour clubs.  Almost every player was a household name and, with the arrival of £200,000 defender Dave Watson in June, City were able to boast they possessed 8 internationals.  By the end of the season the improved form of Joe Corrigan raised that figure to 9.  

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The Player of the Year Awards

This season has seen Manchester City players win several prominent player of the year awards with Kevin De Bruyne winning the PFA player of the year award; Phil Foden the PFA young player of the year and Lauren Hemp won the women’s PFA young player of the year award. There was also Ruben Dias won the FWA footballer of the year award and the Premier League player of the year award.

This is an incredible array of awards. The following subscriber post details all the Manchester City winners of these awards since their formation:

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Happy Agueroooo Day!

On this day (May 13) in 2012 Manchester City faced QPR in a game that entered football folklore. It was the most dramatic end to a Premier League season ever experienced. For those who want to relive that day – of for those who were too young at the time to appreciate – here is a 3,400 word article on that day… Enjoy!

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Decisive Derbies MUFC v MCFC 27 March 1968

Score United 1 City 3, Attendance 63,004 Old Trafford

Rather than settling a relegation issue, this match was perceived more as a title decider.  Prior to the match United were 2 points clear of the Blues at the top of the table, and were favourites for the League title, but the City of Mercer & Allison wanted to challenge United’s stranglehold on local football.  If the Blues were to make a name for themselves they had to beat the Reds.  It was as simple as that. Here for subscribers is the story of that game…

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