Football fans: excited for the FA Cup fourth round?

Macclesfield's well-known auction house Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers will be flogging a piece of FA Cup history next month.

A gold winner's medal from the 1934 FA Cup Final will be sold for thousands of pounds.

It belonged to ex-Manchester City player Bill Dale, who started the FA Cup-winning game for The Sky Blues 88 years ago.

The Withyfold Drive auctioneers description for the item is as follows: "Manchester City fans take note! We have an important 15ct yellow gold FA Cup Winner's medal on offer in our first sale at Macclesfield this year.

"[The medal was] awarded to William 'Bill' Dale, Manchester City beat Portsmouth 2-1 in front of 93,258 fans at Wembley."

Niall Williams of Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers was able to provide further information about the vintage piece of football history.

"The item was part of a large collection of exhibition items consigned but the vendor was a big Manchester City fan and that is why the medal was in his possession," he said.

"The medal was originally purchased from Christies Scotland on 8th November 1995. The medal is made from 15ct (carat) yellow gold.

"The auction estimate for the medal is £2000/3000."

"Bill Dale played for both Manchester clubs and featured for City in the silverware-winning 1933-34 season 31 times in the league and eight times in the FA Cup."

A by-the-books defender, the full-back was clearly integral to the cup victory from his sheer number of tournament appearances.

You can even watch Bill and his teammates secure the victory in a video at the top of this article, thanks to British Pathé footage.

Born in Manchester in 1905, he started his career with Sandbach Ramblers and Marple before joining Manchester United as an amateur in April 1925. He turned professional in May 1926 and made his debut on 25 August 1928, and made 64 appearances for the other big club in Manchester.

He joined rivals Manchester City in December 1931 and he had a six-year career in the blue of Manchester City, appearing 236 times, also winning the 1937 FA Charity Shield alongside his big FA Cup win three years earlier.

He later played for Ipswich Town before the Second World War brought his career to a halt. Bill died in 1987, aged 82.

Now, his greatest achievement will be sold in a Macclesfield auction house.

The Macclesfield lot can be viewed online from Wednesday February 16 from 10:00am to 5:30pm.

It will go under the hammer on Thursday 17th February 2022 or Friday 18th February 2022 from 10.00am. Exact date TBC.

Please visit the Adam Partridge website for further details.

FA Cup champion Bill was playing at the heart of City's defence, with another Manchester footballing legend.

He paired up in defence with a young Matt Busby. Bill's Scottish teammate would later famously go on to manage rivals Manchester United.

City's starting line-up also contained two people involved with the Munich Air Disaster 24 years later. Busby would survive the Munich Air Disaster of 1958, while Bill's goalkeeper Frank Swift died.

Despite winning the FA Cup, remarkably, Bill never scored a goal in his professional career.

However, he did score an own goal in the FA Cup-winning campaign.

You can also follow Adam Partridge Auctioneers & Valuers on Facebook.

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