There are only a few players in football history that have represented both the blue and red sides of Manchester, and one of the earliest to do so was Billy Meredith.
Considered one of the early superstars of football due to his performances for both City and United, Meredith had a colourful and, at times, controversial career. He achieved great successes with both clubs and was an instantly recognisable player due to his habit of chewing on a toothpick during games.
From 1903-1911, Meredith created a scrapbook compiled of clippings from various newspapers and magazines such as the Manchester Evening Chronicle, The Daily Sketch and the London Opinion, many of which have not survived in other archives. It largely follows his own career, but also the histories of other players and clubs around the North of England and in Wales, as well as some contemporary accounts of other realms of the sporting world such as cricket and rugby.
This scrapbook is on loan to the museum from the Players Foundation and is a truly unique object that gives us a clear insight into what it was like to not only be a professional footballer in the early 1900s, but also what it was like to be one of the first icons of football.
Born in a small coal-mining village near Chirk, North Wales in 1874, Meredith showed promising football skills whilst at school but began working in a mine at the age of 12. At 16 he joined his fellow pit workers in playing for his local football team as an amateur, but this came to an untimely end when a miners’ strike forced the players to withdraw from the league. Not one to give up on his dreams, Meredith joined Northwich Victoria in 1892, and was soon spotted by a Manchester City scout, leading to him joining the club in 1894.
Meredith remained an amateur and continued to work in the mines for the first four years of his playing career and was a strong believer that clubs should allow their players to seek other employment outside of football. His success at Manchester City soon overshadowed his personal beliefs, however, as he captained the 1903-1904 team to win the club’s first major honour, defeating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 to become the winners of the 1904 FA Cup.
Two years later, Meredith’s career at Manchester City was cut short when he was investigated by the FA for bribery and match-fixing, resulting in him obtaining wages that were above the legal limit of £4 per week. A £100 fine and an 18-month ban were given as his punishment, and Meredith had to leave Manchester City.
It was not all heartbreak, however, as in 1906 Meredith joined Manchester United who paid his £100 fine as well as a £500 signing on fee for their new star player. The eye-watering fees were certainly worth it, though, as Meredith and his new team won the 1907-1908 league title, followed by the FA Cup in 1909 and another league title in 1910-1911, along with two FA Charity Shields.
Meredith’s time at Manchester United was not without further controversy, however, as he continued to fight for what he believed in, which was still that footballers should have contractual freedoms that allowed them a wage from elsewhere, and that the maximum wage for footballers should be abolished. Meredith championed the newly re-established Players’ Union, which was the forerunner of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and by the end of 1907 he chaired the inaugural meeting of the union with along with fellow United player Charlie Roberts.
Unsettled by the growing popularity of the union, in 1909 the FA told football clubs to include a clause in players contracts that meant that if players did not forfeit their membership of the union, they would face a playing ban.
This seemed to work on a lot of players but not on the newly crowned FA Cup winners Manchester United, and Meredith and his fellow reds were subsequently banned from playing. They refused to leave the union and conform to the FAs demands, but continued to train at a local sports ground, adopting the new name of ‘Outcasts FC’. 24 hours before the beginning of the 1909-1910 season, the FA gave in and revoked the players’ bans.
Meredith remained at Manchester United until 1921, then returned to Manchester City and remained there until his retirement in 1924. He was the oldest ever player for City, United and his beloved Welsh national team, and even in his retirement he remained outspoken and passionate, but now in his new roles as a pundit and businessman.
He continued to champion the abolition of the maximum wage legislation, but despite his best efforts this did not happen until 1961, three years after he passed away at the age of 83.
It is clear from the snippets in the scrapbook that Meredith was a controversial yet extremely popular figure, a pioneer of his time and one of the first superstars of football. Whatever the direction of modern football’s unities and controversies today, there was one man who did it first.