1907/08 SEASON REVIEW
The Manchester Guardian summed up City’s prospects for the new season: “After passing through a troublesome period, have turned the corner under the shrewd management of Mr H Newbould, backed up by an energetic directorate, headed up by Mr W Wilkinson. The loss of such famous players as Burgess, Meredith, Turnbull, Livingstone, Hynds, Frost and Hillman necessitated the rebuilding of the team, and it says much for the management that the club struggled through last season so creditably. Now with all plain sailing, a big effort will be made to restore Manchester’s premier club to it’s former high position.” Improvements in the Hyde Road ground included doing away with the old wooden stand at the Galloway End. The main import into the team was Frank Buckley, signed from Manchester United. The opening day of the season couldn’t have gone better as City won 5-2 at Sunderland, before an excellent 3-3 draw at Everton, then despite The Blues losing George Stewart in the early minutes of the game at Hyde Road against Sunderland, the Scottish International was sent off for striking an opponent, they held on for a creditable 0-0 draw. Newbould’s team suffered their first defeat at Woolwich Arsenal , 2-1 and the early Division 1 table saw City in 13th place with four points from four games. September finished with a 3-2 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday, however City lost their next game 2-1 at Bristol City. Willie McOustra was then transferred to Blackpool after five years at Hyde Road. The Blues then won two on the trot at Hyde Road beating Notts County 2-1 and Champions, Newcastle 1-0. A further victory, 4-2 at Preston left City in fourth place in Division 1, six points behind leaders Manchester United, City had a game in hand. The Blues then lost some ground at the top as they failed to win in November, drawing 2-2 at home to Bury, 2-2 at Aston Villa, 1-1 against Liverpool at Hyde Road and losing 2-0 at Middlesbrough. The Blues’ game against Sheffield United was postponed due to fog. Moving into December City drew 2-2 at Chelsea then beat Nottingham Forest, 4-2, however on a quagmire of a pitch at Bank Street The Blues lost 3-1 against league leaders Manchester United. Newbould’s team were unlucky to start the Festive period with a defeat as they lost 2-1 at Birmingham on Christmas Day, a game where City had only nine fit men on the pitch for a good period of the second half. On Boxing Day a patched up City side did well to beat Bolton 1-0 at Hyde Road, and then two days later, again at home they beat Blackburn 2-0. It left City entering 1908 in sixth place in Division 1 just three points behind 2nd place Newcastle, but twelve points behind runaway leaders Manchester United, albeit with a game in hand. New Years Day brought a 2-0 defeat at Bolton then at a fogbound Hyde Road, the game still went ahead and City triumphed 4-2 against Everton, however it’s doubtful any of the 9,000 fans present managed to see any of the goals through the Manchester ‘pea-souper’. In the first round of the FA Cup City drew 0-0 against Glossop on a frosty North Road pitch, however in a bad tempered replay at Hyde Road, within the first twenty minutes City were down to ten men with an injury to captain, Irvine Wallace, things were worse for Glossop as they lost two players, one through injury and one sending off, so for the last 70 minutes it was ten v nine and City were the easy victors, winning 6-0. Back in the league and it was ‘Jeckyll and Hyde’ City as they beat Woolwich Arsenal 4-0 at Hyde Road, but then lost 5-1 at Sheffield Wednesday. In the second round of the FA Cup The Blues struggled against Southern League New Brompton (later to become Gillingham) as they forced a replay with a 1-1 draw at Hyde Road. In the game at Priestfield Road City snook through to the third round beating New Brompton 2-1. City lost further ground in the league as they lost 1-0 at Notts County and drew 1-1 at Newcastle, before they earned yet another replay in the FA Cup drawing 1-1 against Fulham at Hyde Road in the third round, unfortunately The Blues didn’t go any further as Fulham beat them 3-1 at Craven Cottage. February finished with a 0-0 draw at Bury. In an attempt to re-ignite City’s league form Newbould brought in Outside Left Charlie Webb from Dundee and he made his debut in a 3-2 home victory over Aston Villa. However The Blues then lost their first game of the season at Hyde Road as Sheffield United won 2-0. This was just a blemish on a great March as City went on to make it four wins out of five games with a 1-0 win at Liverpool then in Lot Jones’ benefit game at Hyde Road Middlesbrough were beaten 2-1, then at Bramall Lane Sheffield United were beaten 2-1. With seven games left to play The Citizens were fourth on 36 points, two points behind second placed Newcastle but twelve points behind ‘would be’ champions Manchester United. Easter brought a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea and a 5-0 win against Preston, both games at Hyde Road. A further defeat, 3-1 at Nottingham Forest made it mathematically impossible for City to catch leaders United, however with four games to play they were still just two points behind second place Newcastle with a game in hand. The Blues then beat Birmingham 2-1 at Hyde Road, then, maybe with more an eye on next season they brought in forward Thomas Holford from Stoke. City finished the season with three 0-0 draws against Champions Manchester United at Hyde Road, Bristol City also in Manchester and Blackburn at Ewood Park. City finished third on 43 points. They played one post season friendly at Swadlincote near Burton-on-Trent, drawing 2-2 against Aston Villa in a game held for the benefit of the Rawdon Colliery Disaster Fund.