The article, produced to mark the British Society of Sports History’s 40th anniversary, highlights progressive projects at a variety of clubs including several at City.
For example, it discusses our badge redesign six years ago and explains how it was ‘the most detailed consultation any Premier League club had ever performed’ on an emblem’s significance.
The article provides those researching the history of sport ideas of projects and partnerships that can prove beneficial.
The author, football historian Dr Gary James, discusses the work of himself and others in developing projects and working with football clubs.
He explores ways in which historians can engage in a number of creative, innovative and impactful ways.
As well as our badge consultation one of the other areas featured is our project uncovering the 30 year plus history of our women’s team.
Dozens of women involved with the club throughout its history were interviewed and items were added to our archive as the story of the club was documented for the first time.
Gary takes time to highlight the work of other historians such as Tosh Warwick. Tosh has been working with Middlesbrough FC on a number of issues and, like Gary with his own writing in our match programme, Tosh helps ‘educate in an entertaining manner.’
Gary, who is an Honorary Research Fellow at De Montfort University says: ‘The idea of the article was to demonstrate how working with sports clubs and bodies can develop opportunities to widen historical understanding.
“From my own experience with City it is clear that forward-looking sports clubs can embrace historical projects.
“City recognises that understanding the past is an essential part of modern football too. They have invested in several ground-breaking historical projects.’
The article is free to download for the month of October here.
You can follow Gary’s work via his twitter account too: @GaryJamesWriter
