1910/11 SEASON REVIEW
Newly promoted City got off to a great start beating Bury 5-1 at Hyde Road on the opening day of the season. Things weren’t to go as well for the rest of September though as The Blues drew 1-1 at Preston, lost 1-0 at home to Notts County then played Manchester United at The Reds’ new ground Old Trafford for the first time and lost 2-1.
September finished with a 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool and October started with a disastrous 5-2 defeat at Bury. A fifth loss on the trot, 4-0 against Sheffield United at Hyde Road sent City to the foot of Division 1 with just three points from seven games.
The Blues lost again 2-1 at Aston Villa, but then were unlucky not to take all the points as they finished with ten men in a 3-3 home draw with Sunderland. Then came their first win in nine games with a 1-0 victory at Woolwich Arsenal.
Forward Bob Grieve who had failed to make any senior appearances for over a year moved to Accrington. City then played a friendly at Southampton for The Saints Frank Jefferis benefit, the match ended 3-3
November started with two further defeats, 3-1 at home to Bradford City and 2-0 at Blackburn, City were well affixed to the bottom of Division 1 with a quick return to Division 2 on the cards with a third of the season gone.
City manager Harry Newbould brought in defender John Chaplin from Dundee and he made his debut in a 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest at Hyde Road, which was followed by a further home victory, 2-0 against Oldham.
Unfortunately the run up to the Christmas period brought three further defeats, 1-0 at Everton, 2-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday and 2-1 at Bristol City. The Blues were still bottom the league.
Despite a 2-0 win against Newcastle at Hyde Road on Christmas Eve, the rest of the Festive period was certainly not full of good cheer as they drew 0-0 on Boxing Day at Middlesbrough, 1-1 at Tottenham 24 hours later and lost 2-0 at home to Preston on New Years Eve.
1911 started well though as City beat Tottenham 2-1 at Hyde Road and Notts County 1-0 at Meadow Lane. Then in the FA Cup 1st round they beat Stoke 2-1 at The Victoria Ground.
A small amount of fans were injured as 40,000 fans crushed into Hyde Road to see City, down to ten men at half-time, draw 1-1 against top of the table Manchester United, and then against fellow strugglers Liverpool The Blues drew 1-1 at Anfield.
February saw another drought on the victory front. City were knocked out in the 2nd round of the FA Cup, losing 1-0 against Wolves at Molyneux, then in the league they drew 2-2 at Sheffield United, 1-1 at home to Aston Villa and lost 4-0 at Sunderland, with just ten games left to play The Blues were one of three teams on 22 points, second from bottom of Division 1.
Off the field things were just as bad as Roland Codling and James Conlin were suspended by the club indefinitely for indiscipline during training.
Without a game due to absence from the FA Cup City played a friendly at Huddersfield and they lost 3-2.
City failed to win again in March, scoring just one goal as they drew 1-1 at home to Woolwich Arsenal, lost 1-0 at Bradford City, drew 0-0 against Blackburn at Hyde Road and in their 11th draw of the season, 0-0 at Nottingham Forest. With just six games to play The Blues still sat in the second relegation spot.
Conlin’s suspension was lifted and City started April with a good 1-1 draw at Oldham and then two victories at Hyde Road, 2-1 against Everton and 2-1 against Middlesbrough meant that City had secured First Division football for another year with three games to play.
The last three games of the season had no bearing on the league, City lost 4-1 at Sheffield Wednesday, then in George Dorsett’s benefit game a large crowd guaranteed the popular player around £700 as the Blues lost 2-1 against Bristol City at Hyde Road.
Before the last game of the season City keeper John Lyall moved to Dundee after two seasons at Hyde Road.
City drew 3-3 at Newcastle on the last day of the season to finish 17th on 31 points.
Despite struggling in the league and an early exit from the FA Cup The board still announced a nett profit of £1,016.