An Insight into the History of Manchester City Football Club

There are many teams that have remarkable histories, some more than others, however, Manchester City’s history seems to always be overlooked. It is senseless to know that so many people fail to realize that the team’s history actually falls back to the beginning of soccer. Through ups and downs, peaks and valleys City has had a remarkable history which had four major stages of life thus far. These stages include; the establishment during world wars, succession and upbringing, the downfall and financial difficulty, and the beginning of a new era.

Much of Manchester City’s establishment was taken place during both world wars. The team was officially established in 1894, however, it originally goes back two decades before that. In 1880 a church was built on the east side of Manchester called St. Marks Church. This church began to host events and activities to grow the community. One activity that had attracted interest was the game football. As years went on the church had begun to develop a team, and by 1884 they had their official jersey which was all black and had a white cross on the left side of the chest. Due to the strong relationship between the church and the Freemasonry, there is a lot of speculation on what the logo actually represented. Three years after the first jersey the team decided to change their name to Ardwick AFC as a part of the move to Hyde Road. And once again in 1894 they reformed their name to represent the city, to what we call them today, Manchester City. Over the years they played their games at Hyde Road which at the time was their home stadium, however in 1923 the stadium caught fire and was destroyed, as a result, they moved to a new stadium called Maine Road which would remain to be their stadium for decades to come.

As years go by, Manchester City collected numerous milestones including; the highest recorded derby victory of 6-1 at Old Trafford stadium home to their rivals Manchester United, beating Portsmouth 2-1 to lift the FA Cup, winning the league championship for the first time, and being promoted as Champions of Division Two. Nobody would have known that these achievements would be toped and records would be broken in the decades to come. As the 1960’s approached, a new manager was chosen named Joe Mercer, alongside he brought a second manager with him named Malcolm Allison. These two became the pillars of City’s success in the coming years. They won; the FA Cup, European Cup, Winners’ Cup, and the League cup all within four years. The team had never experienced such success, which brought many passionate supporters of the team. Joe and Malcolm were polar opposites, Joe was hard header but had an answer for everything, while Malcolm was dynamic and open-minded. As a result, the two began to have problems which costed the club because of disagreements. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of the decline of the club as a whole.

The 1980’s was a terrible decade for Manchester City. Investments for the club started to slow down, and stadiums would be half empty due to the progressive downfall of the team. They began selling players to increase capital, which was a short-term solution, however selling their good players attributed losses, if players were not sold, then the team could have potentially continued winning. City fell to the bottom of the table and eventually was relegated in 1996. The need for investment began to skyrocket as the stadium needed rework. A few years later, the team managed to get promoted, and because of the promotion, it brought more revenue, more fans, in turn, more money. Progressively they improved and began winning games again. In 2003, it was evident on how much Manchester City had improved. The best football was being played since decades. However, the need for rework of the stadium was needed. This marked a new era for the team because in 2003 they played their final match at their home turf Maine Road. They had plans to move to the stadium we know of today which is Etihad stadium. In their final match against Southampton they lost 2-1, and at the end of the match no one wanted to leave, it was a super emotional time for the fans because of all the memories and achievements made since 1923.

However, everyone knew the move to the new stadium would be better for the fans, and it would mark a new era. The era ultimately began with a new owner of the club being Abu Dhabi United Group. With the new owners taking charge, money was not an issue, and they proved it by breaking the transfer record with a 32. 5 million euro signing of Robinho from Real Madrid. A year later in 2009, Roberto Mancini took the manager role of Manchester City. Slowly, they managed to pick up form and in 2011 they won the FA Cup and qualified for the 2011/2012 Champions League for the first time. One of the most remarkable times for Manchester City, and what really revolutionized the team to what it is today, is in 2012 City had won the League Championship for the first time in 44 years in outstanding fashion. Sergio Aguero had scored a last-minute goal which shook the entire stadium. Two years later they won two trophies in a single season for the first time since 1970. In 2016 a well-known manager named Pep Guardiola had signed a three-year management contract at the club, which ultimately lead to a series of achievements. Through 2016 to our present year, they accomplished to win; the League Cup, the Carabao Cup, and the league title for the fifth time after achieving the most points in the history of the Premier League.

Manchester City has had a remarkable history. However, the recent history has sparked new innovation to the club. The club has managed to increase at a compound rate in recent years, and with all the money that has poured in, the youth development has never been better. City had opened the only stadium in the country for youth football. The insane pace has brought development to the men’s team, the women’s team, the community, and the city as a whole. It is remarkable how far the team has gone, and it is crazy to know that the real growth has only just begun.