Manchester City F.C.
John Wardle | manager =
Stuart Pearce | league =
FA Premier League | |
position = Premier League, 15th |
season =
2005-06 | shirtsupplier=
Reebok shirtsponsors=
Thomas Cook pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders|
leftarm1=ffffFF|body1=AAD0FF|rightarm1=ffffFF|shorts1=AAD0FF|socks1=AAD0FF|
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_thinwhitesides|pattern_ra2=|
leftarm2=000033|body2=000033|rightarm2=000033|shorts2=000033|socks2=000033|
Manchester City Football Club are an
English football club based in
Manchester. Formed in 1880 as
West Gorton (St. Marks), they went on to become
Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887 before finally becoming Manchester City F.C. in 1894. The club has won the
League Championship twice, the
FA Cup four times, the
League Cup twice and the
European Cup Winners Cup once. Manchester City's most successful period came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they acquired several trophies under the management team of
Joe Mercer and assistant
Malcolm Allison and with great players such as
Colin Bell.
In more recent years, the club has fallen on harder times, and have not won a major honour since 1976. The club's decline led to
relegation twice in three years in the 1990s, meaning City spent one year in the third tier of
English football. However, the club has since regained their
FA Premier League status, putting them back in the top flight, the division in which they have spent the majority of their history. City enjoy a large fanbase, regularly attracting more than 40,000 fans to their home ground, the
City of Manchester Stadium.
Manchester City were founded as
West Gorton (St. Marks) in 1880 by two wardens of St. Marks church in
Gorton, a district in east Manchester. In 1887 they moved to a new shed at
Hyde Road, in
Ardwick just to the east of the city centre, and were renamed
Ardwick A.F.C. to reflect their new location. Ardwick joined
the Football League as founder members of the
Second Division in 1892. Financial troubles from gambling in the 1893-94 season led to a reorganisation within the club, and the Tards were reformed as Manchester City FC.
City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to highest level in English football, the
First Division. They went on to claim their first major honour on
April 23,
1904, beating
Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at
Crystal Palace to win the
FA Cup; City narrowly missed out on a League and Cup
double that season after finishing runners-up in the League. In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1906, including captain
Billy Meredith[James, pp 59-65.]. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to
Maine Road in
Moss Side.
In the 1930s Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to
Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating
Portsmouth in 1934. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, but were relegated the following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team in the division
. 20 years later, a City team inspired by a tactical system known as the
Revie Plan reached consecutive FA Cup finals again, in 1955 and 1956; just as in the 1930s, they lost the first one and won the second. The 1956 final, in which Manchester City beat
Birmingham City 3-1, is one of the most famous finals of all-time, and is remembered for City goalkeeper
Bert Trautmann continuing to play on after breaking his neck.
After relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against
Swindon Town in January 1965 (and perhaps many more claim to have been "one of the 8,000"). In summer 1965 the management team of
Joe Mercer and
Malcolm Allison was appointed. In the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in
Mike Summerbee and
Colin Bell. Two seasons later, in 1967-68, Manchester City claimed the League Championship for the second time, clinching the title on the final day of the season with a 4-3 win at
Newcastle United. Further trophies followed: City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the
European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, beating
Górnik Zabrze 2-1 in
Vienna. City also won the
League Cup that season, becoming the first English team to win a European trophy and a domestic trophy in the same season.
The club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing just one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. One of the matches from this period which is most fondly remembered by supporters of Manchester City is the final match of the 1973-74 season against arch-rivals
Manchester United, who needed to win to be sure of avoiding relegation. Former United player
Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1-0 win and confirm the relegation of their rivals.
[Other results meant United would have been relegated if the match had been drawn, but neither team knew this at the time.] The final trophy of the club's most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2-1 in the League Cup final.
A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s. Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as
Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed â€" seven in the 1980s alone. City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to
Tottenham Hotspur. The club was twice relegated from the top flight in the 1980s (in 1983 and 1987), but recovered to finish fifth in Division One twice in succession under the management of
Peter Reid. However, this was only a temporary respite, and following Reid's departure Manchester City's fortunes continued to fade. City members were founders of the
Premier League upon its creation in 1992, but were relegated to Division One in 1996. After two seasons in Division One, City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the first ever European trophy winners to be relegated to English football's third tier.
|
Manchester City (blue) in action against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, January 2006. |
The 2002-03 season was the last at Maine Road, and included a 3-1 derby victory over Manchester rivals Manchester United, ending a run of 13 years without a
derby win. City also qualified for the
UEFA Cup through the "fair play league", earning the club's first entry into European competition in 25 years. In the 2003 close season the club moved to the new
City of Manchester Stadium.
In March 2005 Kevin Keegan left the club, and
Stuart Pearce took over as
caretaker, leading his side to an eight-match unbeaten run at the end of the season as it just missed out on European qualification. Pearce was rewarded by being given the manager's position on a permanent basis. The
2005-06 season started brightly for Manchester City; the club held a top-six position until November. However, form deteriorated in the second half of the season, and the club finished 15th.
|
Manchester City crest from 1972-1997. |
Manchester City's home colours are sky blue and white. Their traditional away kit colours are either maroon or red and black, however, in recent years several different colours have been used. Through the 2004-06 campaigns the team will wear an all-navy away kit. The current third kit is yellow. The origins of the club colours are unclear, but there is evidence that the club have worn blue since 1892 or earlier. A booklet entitled
Famous Football Clubs - Manchester City published in the 1940s indicates that West Gorton (St. Marks) originally played in scarlet and black, and reports dating from 1884 describe the team wearing black jerseys bearing a white cross, showing the club's origins as a church side.
[James, pp. 14-15]The current club crest was adopted in 1997, a result of the previous crest being ineligible for registration as a
trademark. The badge is based on the
arms of the
City of Manchester, and consists of a shield in front of a
golden eagle. The shield features a ship on its upper half, representing the
Manchester Ship Canal, and three diagonal stripes in the lower half. The bottom of the badge bears the
Latin motto
Superbia in Proelio, which translates as
Pride in Battle. Above the eagle and shield are three stars.
City have previously worn two other crests on their shirts. The first, introduced in 1970, was based on designs which had been used on official club documentation since the mid-1960s. It consisted of a round badge which used the same shield as the current crest, inside a circle bearing the name of the club. In 1972 this was replaced by a variation which replaced the lower half of the shield with the red rose of
Lancashire.
On occasions when Manchester City play in a major cup final, members do not use its usual crest, but instead wear shirts bearing a badge of the arms of the City of Manchester as a symbol of pride in representing the city of Manchester at a major event. This practice originates from a time when the players' shirts did not normally bear a badge of any kind, but has continued throughout the history of the club.
[David Clayton, Everything Under the Blue Moon (Mainstream Publishing, 2002), 21.]Main articles: City of Manchester Stadium, Maine Road, Hyde Road |
The City of Manchester stadium. |
Manchester City's current stadium is the
City of Manchester Stadium, a newly constructed state-of-the-art 48,000-seater stadium situated in East Manchester, leased from Manchester City Council after the
2002 Commonwealth Games. The City of Manchester Stadium has been home to City since the end of the
2002-03 season, when the club moved from
Maine Road.
Before moving to the stadium, Manchester City spent about £35million on upgrading it and lowering the field of play from ground level (where it was during the Commonwealth Games) to below ground level, adding an additional tier of seating around the entire pitch and also building the new North Stand. The inaugural match at the new stadium was a 2-1 win over
FC Barcelona in a
friendly match, with the first goal at the stadium scored by
Nicolas Anelka.
Manchester City have also used several other grounds during their history. After playing home games at five different grounds between 1880 and 1887, the club settled at
Hyde Road and stayed for 36 years. After a fire destroyed the Main Stand in 1920, the club decided to look for a new site, moving to the 84,000-capacity
Maine Road in 1923, which was nicknamed the "Wembley of the North" by designers. On
3 March 1934, Maine Road hosted the largest-ever crowd at an English club ground, when 84,569 attended an FA Cup tie against
Stoke City. Maine Road was redeveloped several times over its 80-year lifespan, though by 1995 its capacity was restricted to 32,000, prompting the move to the City of Manchester Stadium.
Manchester City have a large fanbase in relation to their comparative lack of success on the pitch. Since moving to the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester City's average attendances have been in the top four in England
. Even in the late 1990s, when the club were relegated twice in three seasons and playing in the third tier of English football (then Division Two, now
Football League One), home attendances were in the region of 30,000, compared to an average for the division of less than 8,000
. Research carried out by Manchester City estimates a fanbase of 400,000 in the United Kingdom and a total in excess of 2 million worldwide
.
Manchester City have a number of supporters organisations, of which three have official recognition: the Official Supporters Club, the Centenary Supporters Association and the International Supporters Club. There are also several
fanzines published by supporters, the most well-known are
King of the Kippax and
Bert Trautmann's Helmet.
The City fans' song of choice is a rendition of "
Blue Moon", which despite its melancholic theme is belted out with gusto as though it were a heroic anthem. City supporters tend to believe that unpredictability is an inherent trait of their team, and label unexpected results "typical City"
[ ]. Events that fans regard as "typical City" include City's being the only reigning English champions ever to be relegated (in 1938), or the more recent example that City was the only team to beat
Chelsea in the 2004-05 Premiership, yet in the same season City were knocked out of the FA Cup by
Oldham Athletic, a team two divisions lower.
Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours
Manchester United, against whom they contest the
Manchester derby. Unlike football rivalries in some other cities, such as
Glasgow and
Barcelona, the rivalry between City and United does not have its origins in religion or politics, and before the
Second World War, when travel to away games was rare, many Mancunian football fans watched both teams. As travel became easier, support for both teams became unusual and the rivalry developed.
A common stereotype is that City fans come from Manchester, while United fans come from elsewhere. A 2002 report by a researcher at
Manchester Metropolitan University found that a higher proportion of City season ticket holders come from Manchester
postcode areas; however United had a higher number of season ticket holders living in Manchester, as they had more season ticket holders overall. However, the report contained a
caveat stating that the number of City season tickets has since increased (the report was compiled before City's move to the City of Manchester Stadium). The study also found that City had the highest proportion of support in the south and east of the city, and United had the highest proportion in the north and west of the city.
Manchester post codes also cover Salford, which is located to the northwest of Manchester.
In the late 1980s, City fans started a craze of bringing
inflatable objects to matches, primarily oversized
bananas. The craze had its origins in a match against
West Bromwich Albion when chants from fans calling for the introduction of
Imre Varadi as a substitute mutated into "Imre Banana". Terraces packed with inflatable-wielding supporters became a common sight in the
1988-89 season as the craze spread to other clubs, with the phenomenon reaching a peak at City's match at
Stoke City on
December 26, 1988, a match declared by fanzines as a fancy dress party.
(Captain)
Number 23
Since 2003, Manchester City have not issued the squad number 23. It was
retired in honour of
Marc-Vivien Foé, who was on loan to the club from
Olympique Lyonnais at the time of his death on the field of play playing for
Cameroon in the
2003 Confederations Cup.
Listed according to year of Manchester City first-team debut (year in parentheses)* pre-1920:
Billy Meredith (1894).
* 1920s:
Maxwell Woosnam (1920),
Sam Cowan (1924),
Eric Brook (1928).
* 1930s:
Frank Swift (1933),
Peter Doherty (1936).
* 1940s:
Roy Clarke (1946),
Bert Trautmann (1949).
* 1950s:
Roy Paul (1950),
Don Revie (1951),
Joe Hayes (1953),
Alan Oakes (1958).
* 1960s:
Denis Law (1960),
Neil Young (1961)
Mike Doyle (1964),
Mike Summerbee (1965),
Colin Bell (1966),
Tony Book (1966),
Francis Lee (1967),
Joe Corrigan (1967).
* 1970s:
Rodney Marsh (1972),
Dennis Tueart (1974),
Dave Watson (1975).
* 1980s:
Trevor Francis (1981),
Paul Lake (1987),
David White (1987)
* 1990s:
Niall Quinn (1990),
Uwe Rösler (1994),
Georgiou Kinkladze (1995),
Shaun Goater (1998),
Shaun Wright-Phillips (1999).
* 2000s:
Ali Benarbia (2001),
Marc-Vivien Foé (2002),
Nicolas Anelka (2002)
Listed according to when they became managers for Manchester City (year in parentheses):*
Ernest Magnall (1912-1924)
*
Les McDowall (1950-1963)
*
Joe Mercer (1965-1971)
*
Kevin Keegan (2001-2005)
*
First Division (old format)
[Up until 1992, the top division of English football was the Football League First Division; since then, it has been the FA Premier League. At the same time, the Second Division was renamed the First Division, and the Third Division was renamed the Second Division.]**Champions 1937, 1968
**Runners-up 1904, 1921, 1977
*
Second Division (old format),
First Division (new format)
**Champions 1899, 1903, 1910, 1928, 1947, 1966, 2002
**Runners-up 1896, 1951, 1989, 2000
*
Second Division (new format)
**Play-off winners 1999
*
FA Cup**Winners 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969
**Finalists 1926, 1933, 1955, 1981
*
League Cup**Winners 1970, 1976
**Runners-up 1974
*
European Cup Winners' Cup**Winners 1970
*
Charity Shield**Winners 1937, 1968, 1972
**Runners-up 1934, 1956, 1969, 1973
*
Full Members Cup** Runners-up 1986
*
Record League victory â€" 11-3
v. Lincoln City (
March 23,
1895)
*
Record FA Cup victory â€" 12-0
v. Liverpool Stanley (
October 4,
1890)
*
Record League defeat â€" 1-9
v. Everton F.C. (
September 3,
1906)
*
Record FA Cup defeat â€" 0-6
v. Preston North End (January 1897 )
*
Highest attendance â€" 84,569
v. Stoke City (
March 3,
1934)
*
Most League appearances â€" 561 + 3 sub,
Alan Oakes 1958-76
*
Most appearances overall â€" 668 + 4 sub,
Alan Oakes 1958-76
*
Most goals scored overall â€" 178,
Eric Brook 1928-40
*
Most goals scored in a season â€" 38, Tommy Johnson 1928-29
*
Record transfer fee paid â€" £13 million to
Paris Saint-Germain for
Nicolas Anelka, June 2002
[The figure of £13 million includes the valuation of Alioune Touré , who went to Paris Saint-Germain as part of the deal.]*
Record transfer fee received â€" £21 million from
Chelsea for
Shaun Wright-Phillips, July 2005
*
