1953/54 SEASON REVIEW
During the Summer expensive floodlighting was installed at Maine Road for the first time, and so there was little money available for Les McDowall to bring in players.
City were offered £1,500 to play a pre-season friendly in Germany as long as Bert Trautmann played in the game, such was the popularity of the German Custodian in his Fatherland. A crowd of 35,000 saw City draw 2-2 with Frankfurt FSV .
It was a three game pointless and goal-less start to the season for City as they lost 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, 4-0 at home to Wolves and 3-0 at Aston Villa.
City’s first points were earned in an amazing 5-4 win against Sunderland at Roker Park, however the Blues lost again, 1-0 at home to Aston Villa , and so after just five games City were second bottom of the league on two points.
The City faithful were much happier in their next game at Maine Road as Manchester United were well beaten 2-0.
Two 1-1 draws followed at Huddersfield and at home to Cardiff , and then another defeat, 1-0 at home to Huddersfield .
A good point was earned against Arsenal at Highbury with a 2-2 draw and then City won only their third game of the season beating Portsmouth 2-1 in Moss Side.
October brought four consecutive legue defeats, 2-0 at Blackpool , 3-2 at Bolton , 4-1 at home to Preston and 3-0 at Tottenham , in between those defeats Maine Road saw it’s first ever game under floodlights as City beat Hearts 6-3 in a friendly, they also played a further floodlit friendly against the Turkish side Fenerbahce and won 5-1.
Inside right Ivor Broadis was then transferred to Newcastle for a fee of around £20,000. His departure coincided with City’s only win in October as they beat Burnley 3-2 at Maine Road. A further friendly under floodlights was played at Maine Road, City drawing 1-1 against Glasgow Celtic .
November started with two draws 2-2 at Liverpool and 0-0 at home to Newcastle , and then a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough and ended with a 3-2 home defeat to West Brom . Prior to playing the Baggies City beat Admira Vienna 3-2 in another money spinning floodlit friendly at Maine Road. City also brought in two players, Bill Leivers joined from Chesterfield for a fee of £10,800 and keeper John Savage also joined as understudy to Bert Trautmann.
December’s start didn’t get any better as City lost 2-1 at Charlton , which prompted the board to bring in another forward, they paid Irish side Distillery £10,000 for the services of Billy McAdams.
Although McAdams didn’t play, City won their next game at Maine Road, beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2, but as Christmas approached the Blues lost again, 3-1 against Wolves and were now 4th from bottom of division 1 just two points above bottom side Liverpool.
Christmas brought better cheer for City as they took three points from two games against Sheffield United , drawing 2-2 at Bramhall Lane on Christmas Day and beating Sheffield United 2-1 at Maine Road on Boxing Day.
Billy McAdams made his debut on 2nd January and he scored to help City beat Sunderland 2-1 at Maine Road. City then played a friendly against an Army XI away from Maine Road and drew 5-5. Back to competitive football and Billy McAdams helped himself to a hat-trick as The Blues won 5-2 at 3rd division Bradford Park Avenue 5-2 in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.
Courtesy of an other McAdams goal City drew 1-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and the improvement in form continued with a 3-0 win at Cardiff
City were then knocked out of the FA Cup, losing 1-0 at home to Tottenham in the 4th round, the game was watched by over 50,000 spectators and brought in some much needed revenue, with gate receipts declared at £6,575.
Back in the league the Blues drew 0-0 ay home to Arsenal and then lost two games 4-1, against Portsmouth at Fratton Park and at home to Blackpool , they also found time to beat East Fife 2-1 in a friendly at Maine Road. And so with a quarter of the season to go City were five points above the relegation zone in 17th place
City rallied in their next home game and beat Bolton 3-0, however relegation worries returned away at Deepdale as Preston beat City 4-0, the Blues were also beaten in two friendlies, the first at Gigg Lane where Bury won 3-1 and the second at Boundary Park where they drew 0-0 with Oldham .
Home form again kept the Blues afloat as they beat Tottenham 4-1, however three defeats on the trot, 3-1 at Burnley , 4-3 at Newcastle and 2-0 at home to Liverpool left them on 30 points just one point ahead of Middlesbrough who were 2nd from bottom.
With five games left to play City all but made it to safety as they beat Middlesbrough 5-2 at Maine Road and Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Although City then lost 1-0 at West Brom they drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season and their place in Division 1 was safe for another season.
With the relegation pressure abated the Blues won the last game of the season, beating Charlton 3-0 at Maine Road to end the season 17th in division 1 on 37 points.
City played one last friendly on home soil, a 3-2 win over Manchester United to raise funds for Henshaws Blind Charity, before they embarked on an end of season tour to Germany. It was on this tour that the first sight of what would become known as the ‘Revie Plan’ was seen to be put in place. It was based on the ‘Mighty Magyars great team of the 50s, which involved using a deep lying centre forward. Revie Barnes and Paul had been trialling the plan with reserve coach John Williamson in the season’s second string games, and they felt this tour was the perfect time to bring it into the first team.
The Blues played five games on the tour, they drew 3-3 against Bayern Munich , beat Furth Nuremberg 2-0, drew 2-2 against Stuttgart and then beat Wurnburg Frankfurt 1-0 and a Wuppertal Combined XI 2-0.
City were offered £1,500 to play a pre-season friendly in Germany as long as Bert Trautmann played in the game, such was the popularity of the German Custodian in his Fatherland. A crowd of 35,000 saw City draw 2-2 with Frankfurt FSV .
It was a three game pointless and goal-less start to the season for City as they lost 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, 4-0 at home to Wolves and 3-0 at Aston Villa.
City’s first points were earned in an amazing 5-4 win against Sunderland at Roker Park, however the Blues lost again, 1-0 at home to Aston Villa , and so after just five games City were second bottom of the league on two points.
The City faithful were much happier in their next game at Maine Road as Manchester United were well beaten 2-0.
Two 1-1 draws followed at Huddersfield and at home to Cardiff , and then another defeat, 1-0 at home to Huddersfield .
A good point was earned against Arsenal at Highbury with a 2-2 draw and then City won only their third game of the season beating Portsmouth 2-1 in Moss Side.
October brought four consecutive legue defeats, 2-0 at Blackpool , 3-2 at Bolton , 4-1 at home to Preston and 3-0 at Tottenham , in between those defeats Maine Road saw it’s first ever game under floodlights as City beat Hearts 6-3 in a friendly, they also played a further floodlit friendly against the Turkish side Fenerbahce and won 5-1.
Inside right Ivor Broadis was then transferred to Newcastle for a fee of around £20,000. His departure coincided with City’s only win in October as they beat Burnley 3-2 at Maine Road. A further friendly under floodlights was played at Maine Road, City drawing 1-1 against Glasgow Celtic .
November started with two draws 2-2 at Liverpool and 0-0 at home to Newcastle , and then a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough and ended with a 3-2 home defeat to West Brom . Prior to playing the Baggies City beat Admira Vienna 3-2 in another money spinning floodlit friendly at Maine Road. City also brought in two players, Bill Leivers joined from Chesterfield for a fee of £10,800 and keeper John Savage also joined as understudy to Bert Trautmann.
December’s start didn’t get any better as City lost 2-1 at Charlton , which prompted the board to bring in another forward, they paid Irish side Distillery £10,000 for the services of Billy McAdams.
Although McAdams didn’t play, City won their next game at Maine Road, beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2, but as Christmas approached the Blues lost again, 3-1 against Wolves and were now 4th from bottom of division 1 just two points above bottom side Liverpool.
Christmas brought better cheer for City as they took three points from two games against Sheffield United , drawing 2-2 at Bramhall Lane on Christmas Day and beating Sheffield United 2-1 at Maine Road on Boxing Day.
Billy McAdams made his debut on 2nd January and he scored to help City beat Sunderland 2-1 at Maine Road. City then played a friendly against an Army XI away from Maine Road and drew 5-5. Back to competitive football and Billy McAdams helped himself to a hat-trick as The Blues won 5-2 at 3rd division Bradford Park Avenue 5-2 in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup.
Courtesy of an other McAdams goal City drew 1-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and the improvement in form continued with a 3-0 win at Cardiff
City were then knocked out of the FA Cup, losing 1-0 at home to Tottenham in the 4th round, the game was watched by over 50,000 spectators and brought in some much needed revenue, with gate receipts declared at £6,575.
Back in the league the Blues drew 0-0 ay home to Arsenal and then lost two games 4-1, against Portsmouth at Fratton Park and at home to Blackpool , they also found time to beat East Fife 2-1 in a friendly at Maine Road. And so with a quarter of the season to go City were five points above the relegation zone in 17th place
City rallied in their next home game and beat Bolton 3-0, however relegation worries returned away at Deepdale as Preston beat City 4-0, the Blues were also beaten in two friendlies, the first at Gigg Lane where Bury won 3-1 and the second at Boundary Park where they drew 0-0 with Oldham .
Home form again kept the Blues afloat as they beat Tottenham 4-1, however three defeats on the trot, 3-1 at Burnley , 4-3 at Newcastle and 2-0 at home to Liverpool left them on 30 points just one point ahead of Middlesbrough who were 2nd from bottom.
With five games left to play City all but made it to safety as they beat Middlesbrough 5-2 at Maine Road and Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Although City then lost 1-0 at West Brom they drew 1-1 at home to Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season and their place in Division 1 was safe for another season.
With the relegation pressure abated the Blues won the last game of the season, beating Charlton 3-0 at Maine Road to end the season 17th in division 1 on 37 points.
City played one last friendly on home soil, a 3-2 win over Manchester United to raise funds for Henshaws Blind Charity, before they embarked on an end of season tour to Germany. It was on this tour that the first sight of what would become known as the ‘Revie Plan’ was seen to be put in place. It was based on the ‘Mighty Magyars great team of the 50s, which involved using a deep lying centre forward. Revie Barnes and Paul had been trialling the plan with reserve coach John Williamson in the season’s second string games, and they felt this tour was the perfect time to bring it into the first team.
The Blues played five games on the tour, they drew 3-3 against Bayern Munich , beat Furth Nuremberg 2-0, drew 2-2 against Stuttgart and then beat Wurnburg Frankfurt 1-0 and a Wuppertal Combined XI 2-0.