Just A Pic: Image Archive

Came across the 1951 picture of a Manchester United XI who played an Ashton-Sale XI held at the Gas Board sports ground on Glebelands Road, Sale during the festival of Britain celebrations. The Ashton is Ashton-on-Mersey which is between Sale and Carrington, and last time I looked the sports ground was still there. Can't identify anybody in the picture.

This is in the Trafford Lifetimes online image collection which I recently stumbled across. They might have a lot more offline. I'll get down there this summer and check it out. There are only a few Manchester United photos but ones you've probably not seen before. A good aerial picture of the Old Trafford when there was another football pitch behind the Stretford End...here.

Worth entering different search terms. Start with football.

Manchester Football History Book

Purchased the new heavy hardback - Manchester A Football History by Gary James. 510 pages and a weighty 1.54 kilos, so you get you're monies worth. But the best part is you can dip in on any chapter and get a good story. It's all in here, and as someone who knows their football history there is stuff I didn't know. Plus myths are dispelled - for instance Denis Law didn't play his last game in the derby that sent United into Division 2. The other smaller clubs in the region get good coverage too - Stockport County, Altrincham, Rochdale even the short-lived Manchester Central and the newest club FC United. Yes it has pictures and some stats. It's the sort of book you can return to again and again and not have to swallow in one sitting. Looking forward to a few more chapters over the summer break.

There is a website www.manchesterfootball.org

Stuff of legends

Came across the name of Leigh Richmond Roose whilst reading "The Knowledge" in the Guardian. It's the stuff of legends "Like many footballers, Roose was famously superstitious, wearing a 'lucky shirt' beneath his goalkeeping jersey throughout the course of his career. The shirt, said to have been an old black-and-green Aberystwyth top, was reputedly never washed. Played for Stoke City, Everton, Woolwich Arsenal, Port Vale, Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa...and Wales. Read the Wikipedia entry full of anecdotal stories that would make headlines today. Link
Sadly our goalkeeping hero is killed at The Battle of The Somme in 1916 along with over a million other lives.

They Just Pop Up No.5

Picture is of Denis Law by the famous artist Harold Riley. It's part of 'A Photography Retrospective 1943 - 2007' - begins and ends in Salford, via locations around the world. Venue is The Lowry, Salford, 6th October right through until April 20th 2008 - so plenty of time to miss it. Free admission but you usually get stung in car park charges. Photograph taken in 1966, when Denis would have been 26 and the King at Old Trafford.

Manchester Evening News: Link to Story