Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (2 November) in 2011 Manchester City defeated Villareal with goals from Yaya Toure (2) and Mario Balotelli (penalty; photograph) You can watch highlights below:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2011/november/villarreal-v-city-60-sec-highlights
Today’s Champions League draw has produced the following fixtures for Manchester City: Borussia Dortmund (H), Real Madrid (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Villarreal (A), Napoli (H), Bodo/Glimt (A), Galatasaray (H), Monaco (A).
On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
Tonight it’s Juventus v Manchester City and here’s a report (& film) of Manchester City beating Juventus in their first competitive meeting. It was played on 15 September 1976. That day Brian Kidd scored the only goal (a header) and you can see that goal here:
The match report expresses the disappointment City felt at only taking a 1-0 lead to Italy for the 2nd leg.
Here’s a photo from the game. Notice anything odd? Follow the link after the photo for the story.
Subscribers can read more about the game here:
I love this photo of Dave Watson. He’s looking at the flowers as if to say: ‘What the XXXXXXXXX are they? We’re playing football!’ I’ve posted it today because that photo was taken on this day (November 23) in 1978. Manchester City drew 2-2 with Milan at the San Siro and here is a 1100 word piece plus rare colour photos from that highly significant UEFA Cup game (which should have been played a day earlier – details below).
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If you’d like to read more about 1978-79, here’s a 5,700 word article on the entire season – a season which saw City mount a UEFA Cup challenge and a former hero return (if only he hadn’t!). My article, like the other indepth pieces, contains material from interviews I have performed with many of the key figures – chairman, managers, players and others. You can read this below.
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On this day (1 September) in 1958 it was revealed that Manchester United were to be prevented from taking a special place that had been awarded to them in the European Cup. UEFA had offered United the place as a mark of sympathy following the Munich Air Crash and the FA had approved the move but then discussions within the League proved problematic, leading to the Football League banning the move.
This cutting even quotes an unnamed official who basically said the European Cup is for champions and United ‘are not the English champions.’ It was all a mess and distasteful.
To understand the full story/impact of the Munich Air Disaster and how it affected all of Manchester then have a read of this:
Well, the draw has been made for the newly enlarged Champions League. The dates of fixtures will be confirmed once the Europa League draw has been made but here are the fixtures for Manchester City:
The Inter Milan fixture will be a nice reminder of the 2023 Champions League final. You can read about that here:
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On this day (14 August) in 2003 the City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad Stadium) staged its first competitive game as City defeated TNS 5-0 in the UEFA Cup. Relive that night (and Granada TV!) with this video of the game:
The report above talks of the UEFA Cup draw with TNS.
On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
On 20 June 2003 following the UEFA Cup draw, which had seen Manchester City drawn against Welsh Club TNS, discussions were being taken as to where the Welsh leg of the game could be played. Initially reports like this one suggested Wrexham but ultimately the game was moved to Cardiff. With the City leg played at the new City of Manchester Stadium (now Etihad) this meant both legs were played in the two newest major stadia in the UK.
This cutting has some interesting quotes on the European status of the two clubs at the time.
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