The Day Manchester Turned Blue
On 1 May 1934 Manchester turned blue. Literally.
Amid ‘scenes that were reminiscent of Mafeking or Armistice nights’, Manchester City’s triumphant players paraded the FA Cup they’d won by defeating Portsmouth 2-1 at Wembley.
The Nottingham Journal wrote:
‘It happened to be a May Day, when horses and vans are usually decorated. All were a blaze of blue and white.
Above the heads of the team danced thousands of streamers of blue and white. The roar of the welcome and the noise of the trumpets was deafening.
When Cowan, the captain, left the carriage he was almost swept off his feet.’
A Pathe newsreel claimed that ‘more than a million people’ had turned out, though newspaper estimates ranged from ‘more than 100,000’ to ‘hundreds of thousands’.
But this wasn’t just an historic day for Manchester football. City’s homecoming produced a number of historic firsts for the game of football.
This was the first Cup homecoming to be broadcast live on radio. The seven-minute broadcast began with the loud blowing of a train’s whistle as it approached London Road station with City’s players—and the Cup—on board.
It was broadcast across the north of England, including the North-East. As pretty much everyone listened to the radio back then, and only had the choice of the BBC's local or national station, City’s triumphant return would have been heard by millions.
According to the Lancashire Evening Post,
‘Long before the team arrived, the roars of the thousands lining the route from London-road Station could be heard like ever deepening echoes.
When at last the team reached Albert-square, the distant cheers turned into sudden thunder.
The band struck up “Who says City Can’t Play?” and the whole assembly sang the chorus at the tops of their voices, waving City colours to the time of the music.’
The Liverpool Daily Post reported,
‘It seemed as though half the city had turned out to greet the winners of Wembley.
Not only were the streets packed…but office windows and even the roofs of the highest buildings had their quota of excited spectators.
While the procession was passing down Market-street towards the Royal Exchange, someone threw through a window a silver cup into the players’ coach. This cup was caught by Swift.’
The drama had begun three days earlier, in a final that was broadcast live on radio to the nation (FA Cup finals had been broadcast live since 1927).
City had lost to Everton in the previous year’s final. But this time they were sporting new colours, provided by Wilmslow-based kit manufacturers Umbro.
‘The Portsmouth players, arrayed in white, were out first, but the Lancashire people showed they had the louder voices when the City, looking very smart in their new maroon jerseys, followed them immediately.’
City were trailing 1-0 with 15 minutes left. But two goals from striker Fred Tilson, the second with just two minutes remaining, sealed a remarkable—and deserved— comeback. The drama proved too much for City’s teenage keeper, Frank Swift. The Sunday People reported,
‘Swift, who is only 19, and in his first season of first class football, played the game of a veteran, but when the referee’s whistle announced the great game had ended the strain told. He jumped into the air and fell in a faint. Fortunately, he quickly recovered.'
As City captain Sam Cowan, who ‘played with paddings of cotton wool in one of his boots’, explained,
“We won by stamina. We have beaten several of our opponents in the earlier rounds by coming from behind.”
The following day players, directors and staff took the Cup to Brighton, closely followed by newspaper photographers.
At the celebration tea held at Manchester’s Town Hall the following day, Mayor Binns declared:
‘It reflected the greatest credit of Trainer Alec Bell, and if they had another ten minutes to play they might have got another two or three goals.’
City’s vice-chairman Albert EB Alexander, whose son became chairman during the Mercer-Allison era, explained the key to City’s success.
Mayor Binns also told guests that, in a message of congratulation, Lord Derby had said that ‘the King had asked if Swift was well again’.
City had become so big that even the head of the British Empire was asking after them. But the two had already become well acquainted.
In 1920 George V became the first reigning monarch to visit an English League ground when he attended City’s game against Liverpool at Hyde Road. Six years later he was at Wembley to watch City lose the Cup final. According to London’s Weekly Dispatch,
‘Sam Cowan, the Manchester City captain, told the King in 1926 that he would be back at Wembley for the Cup—and yesterday he came.
When Manchester City lined up and the King presented Cowan with the Cup, Cowan said: “The last time I spoke with you, your Majesty, was in this very ground when Bolton Wanderers beat us in the final. I said then that I would be back to get the Cup from you. Well, here I am.”
The King nodded, smiled, and said: “Well done, my boy.”’
After the high tea, the players ‘proceeded to the Maine Road ground’. The route was ‘lined by huge cheering crowds’, and the players were met with ‘another huge crowd’ on their arrival at Moss Side.
Fans would also be given a chance to meet the players for the next three days at Lewis’s.
The giant department store was Manchester’s Harrods, and City’s players would have pocketed a tidy sum for their appearances. More than they got for winning the Cup, most likely.
Cowan, Tilson and young Frank Swift were now household names, as were Barnett, Dale, Busby, Bray, Marshall, Herd and Brook. And “Twinkletoes” Toseland, of course.
These players were now propelled into movie-star levels of fame.
Well, they did play for City after all.
On Wednesday I’ll be posting a piece called Pep, The Absent-Minded Professor, while next Saturday my historical feature will be called, The Day City Stood Up To The Nazis.
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