New MCFC History section on Bluemoon

Think you'd have to go back into the archives of the Local History Library (If it's still there) in St. Peter's Square and trawl through the microfiche records. Anytime I did research there, whirring the handles on those old machines, I found myself getting distracted from whichever articles on political events, etc. I was looking at by going to the back pages and reading the sports reports.

From me too, a big thank you to Gary James and co. for the splendid job they've done with these records. It's a labour of love. One thing I' wish could be added (and might not require tons of extra work) is a note at the end of each season's list of results saying where City finished in the league that season. This is included in the old "Manchester City, the Complete Record" book, apologies if I've missed it in the on-line material.
There's lots of stuff we could add - league position after every game for example; reserve and youth lineups. More specific details on players and so on. I have most of this in ledgers and spreadsheets, compiled over many, many years. The biggest issue is turning it all into a website that can easily be maintained and the time to set it up initially plus the time then to maintain it. @Ric has done an excellent job maintaining it and kudos to him too for giving space to it in the first place. Years ago, when we did this, I had offered my material to MCFC for their website (they were starting a project to redesign it) for free - the offer is still there if anyone at City wants to take it on of course - but at the time it was decided it was too bulky/cumbersome to create something appropriate on the OS. Ric felt differently about the data and made sure Bluemoon became its home. I was delighted. The great thing for me is that it's not here as a money making venture or anything like that (other clubs have stats sites developed by fans that generate an income for the guys who created the site) - instead it's here as an added benefit to the forum. It's the forum that people initially come to Bluemoon for and if they manage to stumble across the history stuff then that's brilliant. I want our history to be known and enjoyed by all and was pleased when Ric agreed to house the stats and then take on the job of maintaining them. Thanks also to the guys, most notably Ray Goble, who had spent years like me (except he's much older so it's a lot longer!) digging out stats and material. City have a long and proud history - we should all ensure everybody is aware of that. Thanks for the positive comments.
 
Will the site ever be expanded to cover non-competitive fixtures? I see from the London Hearts site, for example, that we have played 12 times in over a hundred years, yet that information is absent.

Wonderful resource, notwithstanding.
 
Always been gutted there's no footage of my first ever game the Coventry home game in 70/71.

I'd love to see Franny's penalty again, can't remember if he had to re-take it or we had 2 & he missed one.
 
This is absolutely brilliant! for a nerd like me who gets lost in stats. One area that would be nice to add, is in the 1980s, I think it was 85/86 or 86/87 season, in one of the programmes towards the end of the season, City added an extra stat to the usual matrix of all the fixtures that season with the date, score, attendance, players, subs, who scored, debuts etc. They added the away attendance for each game and it was remarkable. That said it could have been a separate article.

I don't have my stash of programmes to hand, but from memory, Wimbledon brought ~200 to Maine Road, Everton ~400, Arsenal and Spurs ~600, Villa ~1,200, Liverpool ~6000 and United ~8,000 (the last two could have been higher). City? well our away support varied between 2,000 - 8,000, the lower figures were at Old Trafford and Anfield because of limited supply, with the highest at The Hawthorns.
 
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Always been gutted there's no footage of my first ever game the Coventry home game in 70/71.

I'd love to see Franny's penalty again, can't remember if he had to re-take it or we had 2 & he missed one.
Guess it wasn't till the late 80s that every game was filmed.
Back in the 70s probably 5 or 6 regional ITV games and 2 on Match of the day.
 
Many thanks to everyone (especially Ric and Gary) who have helped in any way to set up this fantastic reservoir of information.
I can see that it will be a place to go to when ever I get a spare moment to reflect on my passion for City which has continued for well over 50 years. No history!! In the old days we were the epitome of the “inverse square law” ... the worse we played to more real fans turned up to support.
We now we can enjoy the best football being played by some of the best players. Long may it continue!
 
Just found this on the individual opponent tab:

Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Division One (Old)
Sat 23 November 1957.


Score: L 3-4

Attendance: 45121




We were winning that game 3-1 with ten mins to go. The fog descended and the only thing I saw in the last ten minutes were three City kick-offs! I was ten years old at the time, and each game I attend at the Etihad has to have a scoreline of 4-1 with less than ten minutes to go. Only then do I count the match as secure!
 
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Just found this on the individual opponent tab:

Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Division One (Old)
Sat 23 November 1957.


Score: L 3-4

Attendance: 45121




We were winning that game 3-1 with ten mins to go. The fog descended and the only thing I saw in the last ten minutes were three City kick-offs! I was ten years old at the time, and each game I attend at the Etihad has to have a scoreline of 4-1 with less than ten minutes to go. Only then do I count the match as secure!
Even back then, "typical City" was in existence.
 

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