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First Football Rivalries: Manchester City v Everton |
Manchester City first played Everton, from the city of Liverpool, two days before Christmas and just a few days before the end of the nineteenth century.
The two sides met in League Division One at City’s Hyde Road ground in Manchester on 23rd December 1899. Everton won the match 2.1. Inside-right Jimmy Settle scored one of Everton’s goals that day. Settle could also play as a winger and was considered to be so fast that he could have had a successful sprinting career had he not concentrated on football.
Settle played six times for England and scored their goal in a 1.0 win over Scotland on 5th April 1902. However, this match does not appear in official international football records, rather it was a tragic example of back page match reports becoming front page headlines. The match was played at Ibrox Stadium, home of Glasgow Rangers. After heavy rain during the previous night the wooden West Tribune stand collapsed, killing 25 football supporters and injuring 517. The first major incident of its kind in British football, it will be forever known as the ‘First Ibrox Disaster.’
City had been founded nineteen years earlier, as St Mark’s Church in West Gorton. In 1887 St Mark’s evolved into Ardwick A.F.C. and moved to Hyde Road. Hyde Road was destroyed by fire in 1923 and the club moved to Maine Road where they remained until they moved again to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, now more commonly known as Etihad Stadium or simply 'The Etihad.'
Ardwick were founder members of the new Second Division of the Football League in 1892 before going bankrupt and being reformed as Manchester City in 1894. This was the same year that the Manchester Ship Canal – also known as the ‘Big Ditch’ - was opened confirming Manchester as the world’s first inland port. Although a great commercial rivalry already existed between the cities, many cite the building of the Canal and the maritime business and jobs that subsequently moved to Manchester from Liverpool as the source of such fierce competition which still exists today on the football field in derby matches between Liverpool and Manchester United, and Everton and Manchester City.
Manchester City were promoted to the First Division in 1898-99 and so faced Everton in the league for the first time the following season. All of the league meetings between these two teams have taken place in the top tier of English football – League Division One of the Football League until 1992 and the Premier League since then.
Everton were originally founded two years earlier than Manchester City, in 1878 as St Domingo’s (after the local Methodist Church), changing their name a year later to Everton F.C. They were founder members of the world's first football league – The Football League - in 1888, were league champions in 1890-91 and moved to the new Goodison Park a year later – one of the first purpose-built football grounds in the world. They had also finished as runners-up twice by the time they played City. Certainly, they would have been seen as the ‘Grand Old Team’ when they first encountered these ‘upstarts’ from Manchester, though both sides were well established as the Victorian Age drew to a close.
Everton also won the corresponding away league fixture – and first of the new century – at Goodison Park, 4.0 on 28th April 1900
Manchester City won their first match against Everton later that year. A First Division match, they won 1.0 on 13th October 1900 in front of 15,000 at Hyde Road. The winner was scored by Scottish forward ‘Jim’ Cassidy who had previously played for Newton Heath – the team from the other side of town and destined to become Manchester United in 1902.
Manchester City’s first league game against Everton at Maine Road occurred on 15th December 1923 in the First Division. City won 2.1 in front of an attendance of 35,000. Horace Barnes and Frank Roberts scored the goals for the home team.
Everton’s biggest win to date in the fixture came on 3rd September 1906 when they beat City 9.1 at Goodison Park. Settle scored two more goals and Scottish striker Alex ‘Sandy’ Young scored four of Everton’s goals that day. Young had scored Everton’s FA Cup Final winner against Newcastle United the previous April and would go on to also play for Manchester City for a season in 1911-12. With 125 goals, he is fourth in the all-time list of top Everton goalscorers. His life after football was far less glorious with him being certified as mentally unstable and dying in 1959 in an Edinburgh mental asylum.
Manchester City scored goals – the highest number of goals they have ever put past Everton – for the first time on 15th September 1928. City had been relegated at the end of the 1925-26 season but promoted back to the First Division in 1928 and so this was the first time they had played Everton for two and a half years. They certainly celebrated their return in style, winning 6.2 at Goodison Park in front of 47,871 astonished fans. Forward Tommy Johnson scored five of City’s goals that day and would go on to achieve the record for the most goals scored by a Manchester City player in a single season with 38 in that campaign. Like Jimmy Settle he would also play for the other club, joining Everton in 1930.
City were certainly back in the top flight with a vengeance – certainly as far as Everton were concerned – as they went on to win the corresponding fixture in Manchester 5.1 on 26th January 1929. ‘Fred’ Tilson scored two of City’s goals that day. A one-team player he would compete for Manchester City up until the outbreak of World War Two which included him scoring the two goals which helped Manchester City to beat Portsmouth in the 1934 FA Cup Final 2.1.
The highest scoring draw in this fixture to date came fairly early on – a 4.4 draw on 19th September 1925 at Maine Road. One of Everton’s goals came from legendary striker Dixie Dean while Tommy Browell – who had formed a lethal goalscoring partnership with Horace Barnes – scored all four of City’s goals as their season promised much and then fell apart at the end. They reached the 1926 FA Cup Final via some huge victories such as an 11.4 win against Crystal Palace and 3.0 against Manchester United in the semi-final. However, they lost in the Final 1.0 to Bolton Wanderers. As we have seen, they were also relegated at the end of the season after a 3.2 defeat on the final day of the season at Newcastle United.
These two sides have met numerous times in the FA Cup and on two occasions the winners of those ties have gone on to the Final: Everton who beat Sheffield Wednesday 3.2 in 1966, and City who lost in that dramatic FA Cup Replay of 1981, also 3.2, to Tottenham Hotspur. They also played each other in the Final itself - in 1933 - when Everton won 3.0 with goals from Jimmy Stein, Dixie Dean and James Dunn.
The two sides met in League Division One at City’s Hyde Road ground in Manchester on 23rd December 1899. Everton won the match 2.1. Inside-right Jimmy Settle scored one of Everton’s goals that day. Settle could also play as a winger and was considered to be so fast that he could have had a successful sprinting career had he not concentrated on football.
Settle played six times for England and scored their goal in a 1.0 win over Scotland on 5th April 1902. However, this match does not appear in official international football records, rather it was a tragic example of back page match reports becoming front page headlines. The match was played at Ibrox Stadium, home of Glasgow Rangers. After heavy rain during the previous night the wooden West Tribune stand collapsed, killing 25 football supporters and injuring 517. The first major incident of its kind in British football, it will be forever known as the ‘First Ibrox Disaster.’
City had been founded nineteen years earlier, as St Mark’s Church in West Gorton. In 1887 St Mark’s evolved into Ardwick A.F.C. and moved to Hyde Road. Hyde Road was destroyed by fire in 1923 and the club moved to Maine Road where they remained until they moved again to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, now more commonly known as Etihad Stadium or simply 'The Etihad.'
Ardwick were founder members of the new Second Division of the Football League in 1892 before going bankrupt and being reformed as Manchester City in 1894. This was the same year that the Manchester Ship Canal – also known as the ‘Big Ditch’ - was opened confirming Manchester as the world’s first inland port. Although a great commercial rivalry already existed between the cities, many cite the building of the Canal and the maritime business and jobs that subsequently moved to Manchester from Liverpool as the source of such fierce competition which still exists today on the football field in derby matches between Liverpool and Manchester United, and Everton and Manchester City.
Manchester City were promoted to the First Division in 1898-99 and so faced Everton in the league for the first time the following season. All of the league meetings between these two teams have taken place in the top tier of English football – League Division One of the Football League until 1992 and the Premier League since then.
Everton were originally founded two years earlier than Manchester City, in 1878 as St Domingo’s (after the local Methodist Church), changing their name a year later to Everton F.C. They were founder members of the world's first football league – The Football League - in 1888, were league champions in 1890-91 and moved to the new Goodison Park a year later – one of the first purpose-built football grounds in the world. They had also finished as runners-up twice by the time they played City. Certainly, they would have been seen as the ‘Grand Old Team’ when they first encountered these ‘upstarts’ from Manchester, though both sides were well established as the Victorian Age drew to a close.
Everton also won the corresponding away league fixture – and first of the new century – at Goodison Park, 4.0 on 28th April 1900
Manchester City won their first match against Everton later that year. A First Division match, they won 1.0 on 13th October 1900 in front of 15,000 at Hyde Road. The winner was scored by Scottish forward ‘Jim’ Cassidy who had previously played for Newton Heath – the team from the other side of town and destined to become Manchester United in 1902.
Manchester City’s first league game against Everton at Maine Road occurred on 15th December 1923 in the First Division. City won 2.1 in front of an attendance of 35,000. Horace Barnes and Frank Roberts scored the goals for the home team.
Everton’s biggest win to date in the fixture came on 3rd September 1906 when they beat City 9.1 at Goodison Park. Settle scored two more goals and Scottish striker Alex ‘Sandy’ Young scored four of Everton’s goals that day. Young had scored Everton’s FA Cup Final winner against Newcastle United the previous April and would go on to also play for Manchester City for a season in 1911-12. With 125 goals, he is fourth in the all-time list of top Everton goalscorers. His life after football was far less glorious with him being certified as mentally unstable and dying in 1959 in an Edinburgh mental asylum.
Manchester City scored goals – the highest number of goals they have ever put past Everton – for the first time on 15th September 1928. City had been relegated at the end of the 1925-26 season but promoted back to the First Division in 1928 and so this was the first time they had played Everton for two and a half years. They certainly celebrated their return in style, winning 6.2 at Goodison Park in front of 47,871 astonished fans. Forward Tommy Johnson scored five of City’s goals that day and would go on to achieve the record for the most goals scored by a Manchester City player in a single season with 38 in that campaign. Like Jimmy Settle he would also play for the other club, joining Everton in 1930.
City were certainly back in the top flight with a vengeance – certainly as far as Everton were concerned – as they went on to win the corresponding fixture in Manchester 5.1 on 26th January 1929. ‘Fred’ Tilson scored two of City’s goals that day. A one-team player he would compete for Manchester City up until the outbreak of World War Two which included him scoring the two goals which helped Manchester City to beat Portsmouth in the 1934 FA Cup Final 2.1.
The highest scoring draw in this fixture to date came fairly early on – a 4.4 draw on 19th September 1925 at Maine Road. One of Everton’s goals came from legendary striker Dixie Dean while Tommy Browell – who had formed a lethal goalscoring partnership with Horace Barnes – scored all four of City’s goals as their season promised much and then fell apart at the end. They reached the 1926 FA Cup Final via some huge victories such as an 11.4 win against Crystal Palace and 3.0 against Manchester United in the semi-final. However, they lost in the Final 1.0 to Bolton Wanderers. As we have seen, they were also relegated at the end of the season after a 3.2 defeat on the final day of the season at Newcastle United.
These two sides have met numerous times in the FA Cup and on two occasions the winners of those ties have gone on to the Final: Everton who beat Sheffield Wednesday 3.2 in 1966, and City who lost in that dramatic FA Cup Replay of 1981, also 3.2, to Tottenham Hotspur. They also played each other in the Final itself - in 1933 - when Everton won 3.0 with goals from Jimmy Stein, Dixie Dean and James Dunn.
