Manchester City

The club was born out of the need for social good in east Manchester. The Rector of St Mark's (West Gorton), Revd. Arthur Connell and his family witnessed suffering in industrial 19th century Manchester and believed unity would help to reduce crime and improve productivity in east Manchester. The values that saw Manchester City founded as a club for social good are still followed by Manchester City today, its City in the Community charity for instance engages with thousands of people mainly in Greater Manchester every year and the club settled on Manchester City as its name in 1894 as a club all Mancunians could follow proudly and support.

Once settling on their professional club name as Manchester City in 1894, they rose through the tiers of English football with aplomb and quickly won the FA Cup in 1904, becoming the first club from Manchester to win an honour while marginally missing on the league too by three points. However in the following years, the club was dogged by corruption allegations, and the Football Association, decided to punish the club after believing them to have paid wages. This was not uncommon and other clubs were known to do it, some believed City's magnitude resulted in them being "made an example of". Many of the Manchester City players had to be auctioned off, with many going to new local rivals, Manchester United and forming their first team who helped them win their first trophies, including the talismanic Billy Meredith.

The 1910s were mostly a period of indifference for the club particularly with World War I affecting the football calendar. Ernest Mangnall, who dramatically switched from Manchester United to City in 1912, at the helm for twelve years. After the 1920s, City started to assemble a team capable of challenging at the top. Players included Horace Barnes, Tommy Johnson, Max Woosnam with players such as Ernie Toseland, Eric Brook, Frank Swift, Matt Busby, Fred Tilson and Sam Cowan arriving in the late 1920s and early 30s.

In 1923, the club moved from Hyde Road to the Maine Road stadium, the largest football venue other than Wembley and this would be City's home for the next 80 years. The club were runners-up in the FA Cup in 1926 and, as in line with their inconsistent trait, the club were relegated before returning to the top flight in 1928. In 1930, the club finished third and had established itself as one of England's top young sides.

The years from 1932 to 1934 marked a key achievement which culminated in City winning the Cup in 1934. Semi-finalists in 1932, then runners-up in 1933, captain Sam Cowan proclaimed that City will "come back next year and win it". On the 1934 FA Cup run, a crowd of 84,569 packed Maine Road in a sixth round clash with Stoke City, a record English football home attendance that remains the to this day. City progressed to the 1934 Final, and beat Portsmouth 2-1 to lift the cup - Cowan's promise had come true. The victory was made all the more important to Mancunians as Manchester United had been floundering for over two decades by the 1930s.

Source: Manchester City FC