The first known competitive fixture was played in November 1880, when the side was known as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they then became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City Football Club in 1894. The club's most successful period was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they won the League Championship, the FA Cup, the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup under the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison and with players including Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee. Since winning the League Cup in 1976, the club has failed to win any major honours. The club's decline led to relegation twice in three years in the 1990s, spending the 1998–99 season in the third tier of English football. The club has since regained top flight status, the level at which they have spent the majority of their history.
[1]It is widely accepted that Manchester City F.C. was founded as St. Mark's (West Gorton) in 1880 by Anna Connell and two churchwardens of St. Mark's Church, in Gorton, a district in east Manchester.
[2] Prior to this, St. Mark's played cricket from 1875 and the side evolved out of that cricket team – the key organiser was Church Warden William Beastow.
[3] In 1887, they moved to a new ground at Hyde Road, in Ardwick just to the east of the city centre, and were renamed Ardwick Association Football Club to reflect their new location.
[4] Ardwick joined the Football League as founding members of the Second Division in 1892. Financial troubles in the 1893–94 season led to a reorganisation within the club, and Ardwick were reformed as Manchester City Football Club.
[5]City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division. They went on to claim their first major honour on 23 April 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.
[6] 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, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United.
[7] A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to their new purpose-built stadium at 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.
[8] 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.
[9]Twenty 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, to Newcastle United, 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 unknowingly breaking his neck.
[10]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.
[11] In the summer of 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.
[12] 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 and beating their close neighbours Manchester United into second place.
[13] 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.
[14] City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second 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.
[15] One of the matches from this period that 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 have any hope of avoiding relegation. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford and confirm the relegation of their rivals.
[16][17] 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.
[18] A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, the first being John Bond who succeeded Allison in October 1980. Under Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The following season began well and they went top of the league just after Christmas, only to finish mid-table at the end of the season. They were relegated a year later, and reclaimed their top flight status two years afterwards, only to lose it within another two years. They returned to the top flight again in 1989 and finished fifth in 1991 and 1992 under the management of Peter Reid.
[19] However, this was only a temporary respite, and following Reid's departure Manchester City's fortunes continued to fade. City were founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, but after finishing ninth in its first season they endured three seasons of struggle before being relegated in 1996. Two years after that, they were relegated to Division Two – becoming the first former winners of a European trophy to be relegated to the third tier of their domestic league.
After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline.
[20] City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham. A second successive promotion saw City return to the top division, but this proved to have been a step too far for the recovering club, and in 2001 City were relegated once more. Kevin Keegan arrived as the new manager in the close season, bringing an immediate return to the top division as the club won the 2001–02 Division One championship, breaking club records for the number of points gained and goals scored in a season in the process.
[21] 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 rivals Manchester United, ending a run of 13 years without a derby win.
[22] City also qualified for European competition for the first time in 25 years. In the 2003 close season the club moved to the new City of Manchester Stadium. The first four seasons at the stadium all resulted in mid-table finishes. Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson became the club's first manager from overseas when appointed in 2007.
[23] After a bright start performances faded in the second half of the season, and Eriksson was sacked in June 2008.
[24] Eriksson was replaced by Mark Hughes two days later on 4 June 2008.
[25] In August 2008, the club was purchased by Abu Dhabi United Group. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high profile players; the club broke the British transfer record by signing Brazilian international Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million.
[26] City finished tenth, and also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. During the summer of 2009 the club took transfer spending to an unprecedented level, with an outlay of over £100 million on players Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tévez and Joleon Lescott.
[27] On 19 December 2009 it was announced that Mark Hughes had been replaced as manager by Roberto Mancini.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_City_F.C.
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