Kit and caboodle
Chris Slater meets the City fan who claims to have the world’s biggest collection of Blues shirts
FOR City fan Mark McCarthy, what was once a spare bedroom is now anything but – it’s a footballing Aladdin’s Cave.
Hung on huge rails – almost spanning the length of the room is a treasure trove of Blues shirts spanning eras from 1920s through to the present day.
An array of sizes, patterns, colours and kit makers, each is a symbol of a particular time in the club’s history.
Yet Mark says his collection, of more than 400 shirts, believed to be the biggest City collection of its kind in the world, was only ever meant to have one in it.
Builder Mark is the cousin of former City defender – and now well-known manager – Mick McCarthy, previously Wolves and Republic Ireland boss and now in charge of Cardiff City.
And Mark declared himself a Blue in 1983, after visiting his grandfather, Mick McCarthy’s uncle, who told him his cousin was about to join the Blues.
Mark, 47, at that stage, didn’t know anything about football and didn’t support a team.
Yet, he says, from that moment on he was ‘simply hooked’.
Mark, from Milton Keynes, became a loyal Blues fan, following them all over the UK and Europe.
And around ten years ago he decided he wanted to trace back his City roots, by obtaining one of his cousin’s match-worn shirts.
“I always wanted to trace a shirt of Mick’s. That’s all I wanted really,” Mark says.
“As a kid you could never get anything Man City related, down here. It was a dream just to own anything. But in particular, I always dreamt of having one of his shirts. As time progressed and the internet became available it became more of an option to start trying to trace one.
“I found a dealer who was selling up his collection who had one, well a couple in fact.”
The short and long sleeved Saab shirts worn by Mick in the 1982/83 season became Mark’s treasured possessions, sparking an obsession.
Mark’s collection stretches right back to the Edwardian era, with the shirt worn by City’s George Hicks in the 1926 FA Cup final, which they lost 1-0 to Bolton.
Mark also has numerous gems from the 1950s, including a spare shirt from the 1956 FA Cup final against Birmingham where Bert Trautmann famously broke neck, as well as a specially made one for the first game played under the Maine Road floodlights against Scottish side Hearts in 1953, which Mark cites as a particular favourite.
“They designed a silky shirt and it had a collar,” he says.
“The idea was that that would reflect better off the lights.”
Mark also has the shirt worn by Tommy Booth in the 1969 FA Cup final win over Leicester.
“It’s the look, it’s the feel,” he says. “But also the nostalgia.”
“For instance with Tommy Booth’s shirt from the ‘69 final, you think to yourself that was on the Wembley dressing room floor.”
Other treasured shirts include one of Colin Bell’s from the 1968 title-winning season, several from City’s record 10-1 over Huddersfield in 1987, David White’s from the ‘Maine Road massacre’ - the 5-1 win over United in 1989, Georgi Kinkladze’s from the game against Southampton where he scored his wondergoal in 1996, and six shirts from the 1999 playoff final win over Gillingham.
Mark is documenting his extraordinary collection in his new book – 101 Manchester City Matchworn Shirts – which is set to be published later this month by Conker Editions.