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The Blue half of Manchester owes a great debt to a vicar’s daughter called Anna Connell. She’s believed to be the only woman in the world to have founded a football club - Manchester City in 1880. She wanted to give local men something to do, to keep them out of trouble and crucially, out of the pub. When she started the team they would play on a scruffy bit of derelict land. Now City is one of the richest clubs in the world, and desperate to unseat its illustrious Red neighbour, as THE team in Manchester. Judy Merry went to a City home game and asked some of the faithful if they knew who Anna Connell was. She also spoke to Peter Lupson, the author of ‘Thank God for Football’ and to Gary James, the Manchester City Writer & Historian.

'Thank God for Football' by Peter Lupson is published by Azure. ISBN 139781902694309