When Football Was Football: Manchester City

HAYNES PRESS RELEASE

When Football Was Football: Manchester City

David Clayton

Publication: Out Now

Format: Hardback

RRP: £18.99

ISBN: 978 0 857330 376

Manchester City may have recently become one of the richest clubs on earth, but it’s worth remembering that a great many episodes went before this in the long and eventful history of a side rightfully considered a mainstay of the English game.

This unique collection of photographs now pays fitting tribute to over a century of history at one of the country’s most well-established clubs, using images - many of them previously unpublished - from the Daily Mirror's extensive archive to illustrate the highs and lows of life of a City fan from the early 1900s until the dawn of the Millennium.

This latest title in the ‘When Football Was Football series’ harks back to a bygone era when life - and the game - seemed much simpler. Alongside images of the heroics of the likes of Billy Meredith, Bert Trautmann and Mike Summerbee, this hardback book captures the essence of the famous old club and its loyal fans, with rarely-told stories adding to the rich tapestry of people, players and experiences to have shaped City’s history since its humble beginnings.

In stark contrast to the carefully controlled environment that today’s stars operate in, there are previously unseen pictures of the Blues' first team training on a wet car park before the Manchester derby, Trautmann signing an autograph on a deserted London street and numerous shots of the lifeblood of the club, its magnificent supporters who made Maine Road such a well-loved ground for all those who knew it.

Its black and white images from decades ago - complete with lavish colour photos from the sixties and seventies and beyond - make this like no other account of City’s glorious and occasionally chaotic past, which every fan in the Blue half of Manchester- young or old- simply must own.

Author

David Clayton took in his first game in August 1977 - a drab 0-0 draw with Leicester City. But from the moment his young eyes caught sight of that magnificently tendered Maine Road pitch, he was smitten, for better or for worse. Since then he's followed the club religiously and written about it almost non-stop for the past ten years, first as a fan, then as editor of the official club magazine. Today, he is employed by the club as a journalist, edits the new club magazine ManC and lives with his wife Sarah and three young children – Harry, Jaime and Chrissie - in Didsbury.

-ENDS-

For further information, to arrange an interview or request a review copy please contact Kierstan Lowe at Spirit PR on 0117 944 1415 or email

Notes to Editors

The information on this page is supplied courtesy of Haynes Publishing. Please credit accordingly if you intend to use it.

Haynes Publishing

Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset BA22 7JJ

Telephone: 01963 440635 Fax: 01963 440001 E-mail: