Manchester City on this day: 1937 Charity Shield
In his Press Conference yesterday, Pep Guardiola was asked about the form of his side. Implied with the question was, with City enjoying a five point lead over United, were City already Premier League winners? After the weekend, it is possible that City could be eight points above United and twelve above Sunday’s opponents, with no signs of slowing.
His answer was fantastic. Highlighting how many games were left, and what points they represented. Guardiola pointed out that injuries happened, and that to talk right now of the title already one was, quite simply ridiculous. And it is!
Talk of going through the whole 38 games of the Premier League season would be all but impossible, and Arsenal’s invincible’s will remain the sole side to do that in the Premier League era.
The history of football is littered with examples of teams falling away in the most disastrous ways possible. In fact, one of the greatest examples belongs to our very own club owns. On this day, 80 years ago, Manchester City played Sunderland in the Charity Shield, and won 2-0. Goals from Alec Herd and Peter Doherty (not that one!) were enough to secure the victory.
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Held at Maine Road, the Charity Shield success followed on from the Division One title of 1936-37. A side which, on that day, boasted goalkeeper Frank Swift (Headline image) and previous City record goal-scorer Eric Brook.
With two points for a win, City ended the league three points clear of Charlton Athletic. That final game of the season was a draw away to Birmingham, and meant Manchester City had gone 22 League games undefeated. That was equalled in the season following the Second World War and, currently, remains the record.
This upcoming game, if we don’t lose, will be our 19th League game in a row without a loss. Southampton at home would equal that record, West Ham in December would beat it. But that’s enough of today’s City side.
Wilf Wild was the manager back for the title win, and had been since 1932. Guiding us to the title, scoring 107 goals and only losing seven League games in the process. In the following season, when the Charity Shield was played, Wilf had already lost five games.
December through to the beginning of March, City lost eight games. Some were really heavy defeats, including a 6-1 at home to Middlesbrough. It was a season of goals though and we scored six or more on four occasions to finally end the season with a plus three goal difference.
Scoring 80 and conceding 77, a 1-0 defeat on the final day was enough to see us relegated, a year after lifting the title. We should have been safe but with Grimsby, Portsmouth, Birmingham and Stoke all winning their final games, we dropped. Only two wins separated the bottom club from 11th (remember there were 22 clubs in the League at that point) to show just how close it was.
So, Pep is right, nothing is won until its won. And records are great, but silverware in the cabinet is greater.