Search results

I often think that when someone dies it's often better to hear their own words on their life, career or interests and so today as my tribute to John I've published an interview I did with him back in 2014. You can read it here...

100 years ago today (12 September) the first Maine Rd derby was staged. The stadium opened 2 years earlier but Utd were, of course, a Second Division team then. Photo on my site is of Sam Cowan scoring: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2025/09/12/the-1920s-first-maine-road-derby/

Can’t get a publisher! Would love to update the full history but no one wants to publish it sadly.

'Which club is Manchester?' If you want to wind up any Reds... They had an official answer back in the early 1900s (follow the link): https://gjfootballarchive.com/2025/08/18/which-club-is-manchester/

Yes. Malcolm Allison told me the story about the bet - it was at Utd’s title winning banquet in 1965 and Allison and Mercer had listened to lots of Utd officials laugh at City. That night Allison snapped and told Matt Busby’s son that his dad had a twenty year start but that Allison’s& Mercer...

He was the man responsible for Maine Rd and viewed City (rightly) as the bigger club. He spent more years at City too.

My newest article on My website focuses on the manager who walked out on MUFC to become City boss. Not only that but his last Utd game was the derby. He already knew he was taking over City and the Blues won that match! Follow the link for the story...

To mark the 100th anniversary of Maine Road in 2023 I did a whole series of articles on the old stadium. I basically posted 1 a day for 100 days on the old stadium and they can still be read on my website. I included lots of old photos too. There's lots of other stuff on there about Maine Road...

I told the story in a few of my books and it's here too: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/07/16/maine-road-100-day-60/

The Central story is here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2024/10/03/manchester-central/

Thanks for mentioning my stuff. For those interested there’s lots on Mercer here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/category/joe-mercer/

It’s not St Mark’s, it’s Gorton AFC. The earliest known kit associated with the club is the black shirts with white cross pattee that Gorton AFC wore in 1884-85. There wasn’t an official St Mark’s badge either - anything you see that looks like a St Mark’s football badge has been fabricated this...

Or David James, another good artist.

It feels like an appropriate time to re-release this…. A few years back I interviewed Noel Gallagher. You can listen to it for free here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2025/07/05/the-noel-gallagher-interview-2/ The interview was a hour long and was the week before our first CL final.

This one… https://gjfootballarchive.com/2023/05/30/maine-road-100-day-13/ I’ve posted lots of Maine Rd images on there but that one is definitely something special.

That’s part of a bigger photo I found and then used in Farewell To Maine Rd. It’s shortly after the war and the bigger image shows few vehicles on the streets and is quite atmospheric, remembering a time when few had cars.

This all reminds me of when I worked for the Halifax Building Society in Hyde in 1985. The region’s Business Development Officer announced he had a NW region competition for those opening LittleXtra accounts (kids accounts) to win a day at OT where they would meet Bryan Robson and have their...

City had a whole series of badges designed based on the elements fans chose. I don’t know how they reached their final selection though.

I did a series of presentations on the badge and wrote articles for those on how the badge evolved. Much of the material on its history at the consultation came from the material I did. Maybe I could write an article for www.GHFootballArchive.com soon? On the ship - it’s not about the ship...

Announced on that day but in use as the official badge from 9 years ago today. From then on the eagle badge was no longer the club’s official emblem.