1904/05 SEASON REVIEW
During the Summer of 1904 the FA investigated Manchester City’s books as they believed that players were being paid in excess of the maximum wage, however they could find no impropriety in this area, but they did discover irregularities in the transfers of Frank Nosgrove and Irvine Thornley, and ruled that City had paid out illegal signing on fees in excess of the maximum £10 allowed.
City were hit with a large penalty. Hyde Road was to be closed for one month, directors Josh Parlby, John Chapman and Lawrence Furniss faced three year bans from football and finance director, Madders was banned for life, in addition the club was fined £250.
Even so the board spent over £2,000 on the Hyde Road ground to bring the capacity up to 40,000.
During the summer Jimmy Drummond moved to Partick Thistle, and after just a year at Hyde Road Billy Lyon moved to Preston and Sam Ashworth to Southern League Reading.
Two days before the start of the season City played a friendly at Hyde Road, beating Ripley Athletic 3-0.
It was a disappointing mixed start for the FA Cup holders as they beat Small Heath (soon to become Birmingham City) 2-1 at Hyde Road, lost 1-0 at Stoke then drew 1-1 at Notts County and 1-1 at home to Sheffield United.
The Blues played a friendly fixture at Altrincham, losing 3-1.
Moving into October Bob Davidson was transferred to Airdrie after just 32 appearances. Then despite an initial 2-0 defeat at Newcastle, City’s form improved as they won three games on the trot, 6-1 at home to Preston, 1-0 at Middlesbrough and 4-2 at Bury leaving The Blues in a healthy seventh position in Division 1 on ten points, four points behind leaders Sheffield Wednesday with a game in hand.
The one month closure of their ground saw City with three games in hand on most teams, and the day the ban ended they played one of them and celebrated with a 2-1 win against Aston Villa.
City then lost 3-1 at Blackburn and two days later they played another of their games in hand beating Wolves 5-1 at Hyde Road. After eleven games they were now sixth in the league just three points behind leaders Sunderland still with a game in hand.
November finished with a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest and a 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
December started well with an impressive 5-2 win at Hyde Road against Sunderland which kept City just three points off the top of the table and so the club invested in winger George Dorsett to keep them in the hunt, paying West Brom a hefty £450 for his signature.
The Blues then lost 1-0 at Woolwich Arsenal and as had become the custom of league engagements in the south City played a friendly match, on this occasion the opponents were Southern League Brentford and The Blues won 2-0. Back in Manchester and they managed to squeeze in another friendly, beating The Lancashire Fusiliers 2-1 at Hyde Road.
City gained an excellent 5-0 win over Derby as they entered the Festive fixtures.
Christmas brought a mixed bag, on Christmas Eve The Blues drew 0-0 at Everton, Boxing Day saw a 1-0 win at Preston and New Years brought a 3-1 defeat at Small Heath, moving into 1905 City had lost some ground in Division 1, lying in seventh place, six points behind leaders Sheffield United but with two games in hand.
It was a fantastic start to 1905 as The Blues won all four league games in January, 1-0 against Stoke, 2-1 against Notts County, both games at Hyde Road, 3-0 at Sheffield United and 3-2 at home to Newcastle. The only defeat was a friendly against a George Robey International XI, 3-0, a charity match arranged for the unemployed by the popular comedian. City were now well placed in fourth place on 30 points just two points behind leaders Everton with a game in hand.
Moving in to February and The Blues scrimped through the first round of the FA Cup, beating Lincoln City 2-1 at Sincil Bank.
In the league they beat Middlesbrough at Hyde Road 3-2 but in the second round of the FA Cup they were knocked out losing 2-1 to Bolton in Manchester.
Back in the league and it was seven victories on the trot as they beat Bury 3-2 at Hyde Road and Derby 1-0 at The Baseball Ground. City were now second in the league.
The Blues then moved on equal points at the top of Division 1 with Everton as they beat Blackburn 2-1 at Hyde Road.
The Blues then lost ground as they lost 2-1 at Nottingham Forest, they drew 0-0 in a friendly at Hull and back in the league drew 0-0 at Sunderland, but a 1-0 win at home to Woolwich Arsenal kept them in third, two points behind leaders Everton with four games to play.
Despite a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday at Hyde Road City then beat leaders Everton 2-0, again in Manchester, then beat Wolves 3-0 at Molyneux. They also played a friendly in April at Hearts, losing 2-1
On the final Saturday of the season, City had to beat Aston Villa at Villa Park and hope that Newcastle would lose at Middlesbrough. If City and Newcastle both won then the Geordies would take the title on goal average.
It was not to be for the Blues as they were beaten 3-2 by Aston Villa in a violent game at Villa Park where it was later reported that City’s Sandy Turnbull had been attacked after the game and bundled into the Villa dressing room where he was set upon by the Villa players.
The FA were incensed by the violence and how it was tarnishing the name of football, in addition the fact that it involved the clubs who were pushing for the abolition of the minimum wage, which again the FA opposed, gave them a chance to hit back at the clubs.
The FA set up a committee with the official guise of looking into the violence, however covertly the committee, headed by FA Chairman JC Clegg, were out to find as much ‘dirty washing’ on the clubs as possible.