1896/97

1896/97 SEASON REVIEW

1896 to 97 team group

Two players were brought in at the start of the season, defenders Dick Ray from Macclesfield and Billy Holmes from Chesterfield.
City played one pre-season friendly, losing 1-0 at home to Preston.
On the opening day of the season The Blues earned a creditable 1-1 draw against Woolwich Arsenal at Hyde Road, before another 1-0 defeat at home in a friendly against Everton.
Back to the bread and butter of Division 2 and 1-1 draw at Gainsborough Trinity then two games at Hyde Road saw a 4-1 win over Darwen and a 3-0 victory against Lincoln.
City finished September unbeaten, drawing 2-2 at Blackpool. The early Division 2 table showed The Blues third five points behind leaders Newton Heath with two games in hand.
October was slightly different as they failed to win a game, first drawing 0-0 at home to top of the table Newton Heath then a 3-3 draw at Notts County. The Blues first loss of the season was a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle.
Two further defeats followed, 3-1 at Grimsby and 4-1 against new league leaders Notts County at Hyde Road, where new signing from Bolton, John Gunn, made his debut for the Blues. City had now slipped to ninth with a third of the season gone.
Entering November City got back to winning ways at Hyde Road with a 4-2 victory over Blackpool and Burton Swifts were beaten 3-1, however then lost 3-2 at Walsall.
To bolster the squad Fred Williams moved to Hyde Road from South Shore, and he scored on his debut as Burton Wanderers were beaten 2-1 in Manchester.
December started with a break from league football with two friendlies at Hyde Road, South Shore were beaten 6-0 and Sheffield United won 3-1.
Back in the league City beat Grimsby 3-1 at home to move into the Festive fixtures fifth in Division 2 with 17 points from 15 games, 9 points behind leaders Notts County.
Unfortunately Christmas wasn’t full of good tidings for City as they lost 2-1 at Newton Heath on Christmas Day and 5-0 at Burton Swifts on Boxing Day.
New Years Day 1987 saw City beat Small Heath Alliance 3-0 and then the next day they beat Dresden United 3-0 in a friendly and William Gillespie scored a brace in first game for City on the day he was transferred from Lincoln, both games were played at Hyde Road.
Walsall were then beaten 5-0 again in Manchester, but Darwen beat City 3-1 at Barley Bank, both league games.
The final game in January saw The Blues dumped out of the FA Cup in the first round as Preston thrashed them 6-0 at Deepdale.
City played just three league games in February, losing 3-0 at Newcastle, then winning 1-0 at Lincoln and 4-1 at home to Gainsborough Trinity.
March saw just another three league games; a 1-1 draw at Burton Wanderers, a 4-0 victory at home to Leicester Fosse, and a 2-0 defeat at Loughborough Town. City also beat Sunderland 2-1 in a friendly at Hyde Road.
April started with three further friendlies, a 4-1 defeat at Stockport was followed by a 5-0 win over West Manchester in the semi-final of the friendly Manchester & Salford Cup, and finally a 2-0 defeat at Oldham.
With three league games left to play City had nothing to play for as they entered the congested Easter period.
On Good Friday City drew 1-1 at home to Loughborough Town, then in a friendly on Easter Saturday The Blues lost 2-1 at Blackpool and in the penultimate league game of the season The Blues lost 3-1 at Small Heath Alliance on Easter Bank Holiday Monday.
A return friendly against Blackpool at Hyde Road ended in a 2-1 victory for The Tangerines and in the last league game of the season City won 2-1 at Woolwich Arsenal to finish tenth in Division 2 with 30 points from 30 games.
The last game of the season was the friendly Manchester & Salford Cup Final as Newton Heath beat City 5-2 at Hyde Road.