about City's 3-0 defeat to Everton in the 1933 FA Cup final, and it is packed with historical
resonance. It was the first Cup final to feature shirt numbers and City, lining up on the right,
are the first club to use the numbers 12-22.
In the image above City captain Sam Cowan is introducing the players to the Duke of York.
Standing behind the Duke is Charles Clegg, and behind him is Frederick Wall. Three decades
earlier these two elderly figures had been the driving force behind an FA investigation into
City. That resulted in 11 directors, 18 players and the club's manager being banned from
football - and ushered in the rise of Manchester United.
City were hardly an establishment club in the early 1900s. Controlled by a Catholic newspaper
baron and Manchester Liberal, City had been snatched from the hands of a serving Conservative
Prime Minister and an Ardwick brewery that helped get him there. But by the 1930s, Freemasons
were back in charge, and City had become respectable, not to mention, highly successful.
The video is the 1930s equivalent of MOTD highlights and gives a great insight into style and
tactics, not that there was too much style on display on the cabbage patch of a Wembley pitch.
Matt Busby features for City, while Tommy Johnson - who had scored 166 goals in 354
appearances for City - plays for Everton. His sale three years earlier sparked protests from
City fans.
Everton's second looked like a clear foul on the keeper to me, but back then players never
complained to referees. Following the match (at 6.26min) captains Sam Cowan and Dixie
Dean give a toast to Lancashire (you may remember it from Baddiel and Skinner's Fantasy
Football League).
Dixie Dean, though, does not look a happy bunny. Smoking a cigarette, he looks like he wants
to give the gentleman standing next to him a bit of a slap.
Click here to watch the video
Buy my new book on City's origins in time for Christmas
My new book, A Man's Game: The Birth of Mancunian Football and the Origins of Manchester
City FC (Books & Doxey), is still available in time for Christmas.
The 218-page paperback took me three years to research and two more to write and I'm pleased to say
I'm getting very positive feedback so far. You can read some of the reviews lower down the page.
Buy direct through the publisher for £9.75 plus £2.75 P&P via the BuyNow button
& Save £0.13 on Amazon.co.uk price
Copies purchased through Buy Now are signed by the author
& will be dispatched by 1st class post the following day
& will be dispatched by 1st class post the following day
UK Customers
You can contact me at akeenan(at)manchesterfootballhistory(dot)com.
I'm also on Twitter @mcfchistory and on Facebook here.
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