When City Fell Foul of Edwardian Financial Fair Play (Pt 4)
Four: Total Football
There are a number of similarities between Tom Maley, who became City’s manager in July 1902, and his modern-day counterpart.
Like Pep, Maley was an ardent nationalist who spoke at rallies for Irish independence. He was also something of a stylish dresser, earning him the nickname “Handsome Tom”. And like City’s current manager, Maley was lured to Manchester by a chairman with a bold ambition—and money to spend.
But most importantly, Maley had also been schooled in a footballing philosophy new to the English game: a passing game that became known as “The Celtic Way”. Soon he would have a core of players at his new club familiar with its workings.
The day after Maley’s appointment, City signed Celtic’s 26-year-old full-back Robert Davidson for £250. Two of Celtic’s ‘youngest and cleverest forwards’, William McOustra and James Drummond, had already been signed earlier that year, and in August, 18-year-old forward Sandy Turnbull was also lured from Scotland. According to Athletic News, the signing
'has caused some disappointment at Bolton, for he had been all but secured by the Wanderers. The City, however, offered him much better terms, and, as with all good Scotsmen, the money decided his destination.’
In a later interview, Maley recalled that some of City's directors wanted to send Turnbull back to Scotland with £5, thinking him too small and too slow. But after Hulton backed his new manager, the player stayed.
Maley quickly instilled his footballing philosophy into his new squad. Although many were now playing in unfamiliar positions, after a 4-1 victory over Arsenal at Hyde Road in December one newspaper noted that 'the secret of City's success was the steadiness and perfect understanding of the players'.
It was their fifth consecutive League win, and with City now top of the Second Division even the most hardened sceptic at the club had been converted to the “Celtic Way”. City had also become one of the best supported sides in the country, attracting a record gate record gate of 35,000 for the game against Small Heath in January.
In March, a 5-0 win at Burton United took City’s goal tally to 31 in five consecutive League victories. They only conceded once in that time, and that was from a penalty.
City fans had also started travelling to away games in large numbers. On 21 March, it was estimated that 4,000 of the 7,000 in attendance for City’s 1-0 win at Glossop were City fans, while the majority of the record 10,000 crowd that watched City secure promotion at Stockport two weeks later were reckoned to be “Hyde Roaders”.
City finished top of the Second Division that season, scoring 95 goals and conceding just 29. Fitness was key to their success. And central to that was the pioneering physiotherapy of City director John Allison, founder of the country’s only clinic that specialised in the treatment of sports injuries.
Rival clubs had become increasingly unhappy with Allison’s role at City, and that summer they threatened to stop sending their players to his Hyde Road clinic. As a result, Allison resigned as a City director and announced he would not take any further part in the management of the club or in football.
But his official departure made little difference.
Strengthened by the capture of highly rated inside forward George Livingstone from a reluctant Liverpool (making him the Raheem Sterling of his day), City won nine of their opening 12 League games of the 1903-04 season.
Newspapers were now noting the fitness levels of City players, particularly their ability to be ‘first to the ball’. Following the 1-0 defeat of Aston Villa in October, a newspaper report noted that, ‘The City players were in fine condition physically and kept running throughout the game... Jimmy Bannister showed infinite energy.’
But it was the style of football that City were now playing that In December 1903 City went top of the First Division, after a 3-0 win at Small Heath. The Athletic News reported that City
‘Moved with a smartness and precision which could not fail to evoke admiration, the forwards sweeping along like one man, and brooking no resistance. Indeed, they completely baffled the home defence… They never knew what was going to happen next. Now a feint, now a pass, next a short dribble, maybe a shot or a wide pass out to the wings, to be quickly followed by a true, insidious centre—all these moves were executed with perfect understanding and with clock-like precision.’
The fluidity of the players’ positions—and the important role of defenders in attacking play—was also noted:
‘Throughout they were receiving the greatest assistance from the half-backs, who never forgot that feeding was an essential part of their play. They were constantly slipping the ball out to their forwards, and never failed to fall behind to the assistance of their backs in times of pressure.’
The unique style of City’s play was also noted by Empire News after the game:
‘The Mancunians showed by far the finest football seen at Coventry Road this season. They seemed to take the bit between their teeth from the very start, in the first half hour they had morally won the game. Strong at back and in goal, absolutely high-class at half, and sprightly and skilful at forward, they showed that they knew how to combine pretty football with effectiveness—a combination by no means usual in modern football.’
The Edwardian era was a time of great invention. In July 1901 Scotland Yard became the first police force in the world to use fingerprinting. A month later the first powered flight was made, and the electric vacuum cleaner invented.
In 1902 tarmac was patented, along with the first commercially successful light farm tractor. The following year the first cardiac surgery was performed in Britain, and the first transatlantic radio broadcast made between Britain and the United States.
So it might be a surprise to many, that during this Age of Innovation it was Manchester City—the club with “no history”—that was leading football into the modern era.
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Brilliant as usual 👏🏻👏🏻