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Meredith was certainly an enormous influence. Lots to say on him. One of my pet subjects and I’ve interviewed both his daughter (who was almost 100 at the time) and his grandson (whose dad was also a City player). Both of them pointed out that Harding’s biography of Meredith was incorrect in...

Maine Road was the UK’s leading stadium when it opened in 1923. It was not ‘the Wembley of the north’ ad people claim as Wembley had an extremely poor reputation when it first opened. Instead City claimed Maine Rd was the English Hampden, as that stadium was perceived as the most important in...

The Kippax: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/20/maine-road-100-day-64/ https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/21/maine-road-100-day-65/ https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/22/maine-road-100-day-66/

I would say there is. I’ve had some media contacts try to push me towards an angle. Before FAC final a national broadsheet tried to twist my view and catch me out… I ended up having to get them to pull my name and quotes out of an article which started to go on about FFP and human rights -...

He wouldnt want to be scrutinised.

It was Headline books in 1994 and my Mercer biography had come out and was doing well. I put a proposal together which was to document the story of City from after Mercer to the Lee takeover. Headline invited me down to London and I got on really well with the commissioning editor (a MUFC fan)...

Sad news. Like many others my first away game was Trevor’s debut. I interviewed him a few years back and have posted it today as a tribute: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/24/trevor-francis/

The plans are dated January 1994 and Lee took over in December, so it’s just an early version of the plan. Their main aim was to get the Kippax sorted and I think they’d based the drawings on a basic version of what they intended, plus at that time Swales’s plan was to build a second tier on the...

Got the colour image you mentioned and posted it here now: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/11/maine-road-100-day-55/

Sadly not. I’ll get a post up on my website about it soon. Cheers

Yes - Eric Alexander revealed it to me during an interview. Swales becoming chairman and Niven being put in charge of stadium developments changed it all sadly.

I totally agree and explain why the Fairs Cup is not something I count in span of success here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/06/13/european-span-of-success/ I explain about the rules and that it was not a UEFA tournament. But, to the wider world, the Fairs Cup counts as a European...

You’re right… and on the Kippax too: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/06/16/maine-road-100-day-30/

I know which one you mean… it was in colour and given away as a poster. I have one somewhere but that website story of mine does have an illustration too. It’s black and white from my book Farewell To Maine Road: https://wordpress.com/post/gjfootballarchive.com/10758 Heres a screenshot of it:

That’s the one I refer to here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/05/maine-road-100-day-49/

The 100 days of Maine Rd theme I’m doing has continued on my website. If you’ve not checked it out yet here’s a couple to whet the appetite: The City F.C. Flag: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/08/maine-road-100-day-52/ How close was Maine Rd to being bombed...

It wasn’t exactly invitational at that time but did have some strange rules like: only one club per city which meant Newcastle played in it in 1968-69 instead of a second London club. I explain a bit more on the weirdness of it here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/06/13/european-span-of-success/

I agree - and often stress that the Fairs Cup was not a UEFA tournament - which is why I’ve always said City were the first team to win a major European trophy and domestic trophy in the same season. It is something that does have to be explained because, sadly, our rivals will pick us up on it...

Today's free Maine Road feature is a 'then and now' aerial photo showing the stadium in the 1940s and the same site today. Makes interesting viewing. Images/details via link: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/06/28/maine-road-100-day-41/

Correct. It wasn’t an all-English team. It’s one of those myths that just won’t go away sadly. They also weren’t the first to win a European trophy and English trophy in same season - Leeds had already done that. However, when City won the League Cup it was the first time all 92 clubs had...