Tag Archives: West Gorton

Missing: A City Blue Plaque

There are not many blue plaques in Manchester dedicated to football – There’s the Manchester Corinthians blue plaque (see elsewhere on this site for details of the campaign); the Football League first meeting (a red plaque); Newton Heath’s first pitch (a red plaque which is the standard colour for Manchester sites); the Fallowfield FA Cup final (black if I remember right) and that’s about it. Oh, there’s also the Bank Street plaque for United’s former home (just behind the velodrome/BMX centre). There used to be one to mark Manchester City’s birth positioned on the Aces public house close to Clowes Street in West Gorton BUT this vanished shortly after the pub closed many years ago. This image shows the plaque as it looked when I took this photo in the early 2000s. It’s seeing this plaque years ago that first got me thinking about marking footballing sites in Manchester.

What happened to it? It was obviously stolen but where is it today?

It was positioned incorrectly and should have been a few streets away to mark the actual first pitch of St Mark’s or maybe even the church itself.

If anyone knows where this plaque is today then please get in touch. Incidentally, I think the plaque marking United’s Newton Heath birth is missing too but I’ve not checked on it recently.

There are other plaques around Greater Manchester connected with football, for example the one at Stalybridge for Bert Whalley (again, see elsewhere on the site for the details of that).

The Origins Of Manchester City: The Earliest Known Game

Continuing here: the story of Manchester City’s origins. Today’s feature is a 3,300+ word feature on the earliest known game, played in November 1880. Have a look elsewhere on the site for other content on this period.

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The Origins Of Manchester City: The 1860s

Continuing here: the story of Manchester City’s origins. Today’s feature is on the 1860s. As I’ve mentioned previously, this was before association football clubs were in existence in East Manchester but steps were taken in the this decade that would ultimately lead to the establishment of teams in West Gorton. Below is a 1500+ word article on that period and the second part of a series looking at Manchester City’s origins prior to 1890.

Already there are seasonal articles on every season from 1890-91 (Ardwick) through to 2009-10 and now, throughout February, I’ll be adding the history of the Club prior to 1890. I’ll be telling via a series of articles the story of key individuals/origins/moments that contributed to the establishment of a football club. The series continues below with the second feature on the 1860s.

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These articles will be available to subscribers to this site. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or sign up for a year for the discounted price of £20 per year (works out about £1.67 a month to access every article on this site). To date in excess of 1,500 articles/features have been posted including interviews, talks and more.

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The Origins Of Manchester City: The 1850s

Starting here: the story of Manchester City’s origins, beginning with the 1850s. This was many years before association football clubs were in existence in East Manchester but steps were taken in the 1850s that would ultimately lead to the establishment of teams in West Gorton. Below is a 1000+ word article on that period and the first part of a series looking at Manchester City’s origins prior to 1890.

Already there are seasonal articles on every season from 1890-91 (Ardwick) through to 2009-10 and now, throughout February, I’ll be adding the history of the Club prior to 1890. I’ll be telling via a series of articles the story of key individuals/origins/moments that contributed to the establishment of a football club. The series starts below with the first feature on the 1850s.

Subscribe to get access

These articles will be available to subscribers to this site. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or sign up for a year for the discounted price of £20 per year (works out about £1.67 a month to access every article on this site). To date in excess of 1,500 articles/features have been posted including interviews, talks and more.

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