When Shorts Were Short concerns itself solely with what was actually a very narrow window in football history when teams wore, well, short shorts. The podcast takes 1954 as its starting point, when Umbro made their first England kit with shorter shorts, to 1992, when short shorts were all but finished as Umbro's baggy shorts for Tottenham's new kit, ahead of the '91 FA Cup Final, quickly caught on.
If the shorts weren't short, we just don't talk about it.
My guest this week is a man who served one of our big clubs with huge distinction, making over 600 appearances for the club his family supported. Alongside Frank Swift and Bert Trautman, Joe Corrigan is rightly regarded as one of Manchester City’s greatest ever keepers. In May ’81, in both what was the 100th FA Cup Final and the replay, Corrigan was man of the match in both games and unfortunate to be on the losing side. It was supposedly the era of Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton, both keeping goal for what were then the country’s top clubs, Liverpool and Forest, and vying to be England’s number one. Joe Corrigan was the nominal number three, but in those two games at Wembley in May 1981, he reminded the country what an exceptional keeper he was and while he is rightly proud to have won nine England caps, it should’ve been more.
We look back at Joe Corrigan’s eventful career, from his early difficulties winning over the City fans, to being voted the supporter’s player of the year as he finally convinced the City faithful of his talents, to the difficulties of Malcolm Allison’s disastrous return to the club in the late 70s, and no less disastrous perhaps, the collapse of John Bond’s initially promising Manchester City revamp in the early 80s.
Running Time: 01:38:02
