Manchester City

The club was founded in 1880 by members of St. Mark’s Church of England in the West Gorton neighborhood of Manchester. Known first as St. Mark’s and then as Gorton Association, they switched the name to Ardwick Association F.C. in 1886-87 and finally to Manchester City in 1894. They also switched the team colors to sky blue in 1894.

The team played in the Football Alliance to start the 1890s and then Division Two of the Football League in 1892. After they became Manchester City in April 1894, the team played at Hyde Road. They won the Second Division in 1899 to get promoted for the first time.

Manchester City beat their rivals Manchester United to a trophy as they won the 1904 FA Cup. However the next year the team was embroiled in controversy as the team finished in third place. Investigations into the team revealed they were breaking league finance rules. Manager Tom Maley was suspended for life, seventeen players were suspended until 1907 and the team was fined. City was forced to sell their players at auction and four of their best players went to rival Manchester United.

The team struggled in the rebuild and a fire, caused by a cigarette, destroyed the main stand at Hyde Road in 1920. The team moved into Maine Road stadium in 1923. The team claimed glory for the first time in three decades when they beat Portsmouth to win the 1934 FA Cup. They won the First Division for the first time in 1937 but then got relegated the following season. They played one season in the Second Division before World War II, finishing fifth.

After the war they won the Second Division in 1946-47 to go back up. They finished 10th and seventh over the next two seasons before getting relegated again in 1950. They came right back up and stayed in the First Division for the next 12 seasons but never finished better than fourth. They won the 1956 FA Cup after losing in the 1955 final.

They were relegated again in the 1962-63 season and spent three seasons back in the Second Division. They not only climbed back to the First Division in two years but they won their second League Championship in 1967-68. That win was secured on the final day of the season with a 4-3 win at Newcastle United.

They finished the decade by winning the 1969 FA Cup. Manchester City started the 1970s by winning both the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. This made them the second English team to win a European cup and an English cup in the same season.

After winning the League in 1968, they didn’t finish top three again until 1976-77 when they were second. They did lift another League Cup in 1975-76 and they sent Manchester United down in relegation with 1-0 win on the final day of the 1973-74 season.

Manchester City finished the 1970s with four straight years finishing 10th or below in the league. Disaster struck in 1982-83 when they finished 20th and were relegated back to the Second Division. City came back two years later but were again relegated after the 1986-87 season.

City returned to the First Division in 1989-90 and turned in two top-five finishes before being a founding member of the Premier League. In that first 1992-93 season they finished ninth. But they didn’t finish top 10 in any of the next three seasons and were relegated to the renamed Division One in 1996. They spent two seasons in Division One, finishing 22nd in 1997-98 to go all the way down to the third tier.

New chairman David Bernstein put in manager Joe Royle and City were promoted from League Two after a playoff win. They finished second in League One in 1998-99 and got promoted back to the Premier League. However they went right back down to League One and Royle was let go with Kevin Keegan as the new manager.

Keegan led the team to a record setting season in goals scored and points achieved as they won League one to go back to the Premier League. In 2002-03 they qualified for Europe. City moved into a new City of Manchester Stadium, known as the Etihad in 2003-04. They finished 10th or worst in the Premier League in four of the next six seasons before a fifth place finish in 2009-10.

The club was losing millions toward the end of the decade and a new Thai owner, Thaksin Shinawatra had his assets frozen. In August 2008 the Abu Dhabi United Group took over the team and immediately started spending money for new players.

Roberto Mancini took over as manager in December 2009 and was in charge as City moved into the Europa League for the 2010-11 season. They beat Manchester United in the FA Cup semifinal and then beat Stoke City for their first trophy in 35 years. They also qualified for the Champions League with a third place finish in league play.

City started a decade of dominance in 2011-12. Sergio Aguero’s goal in the final moment of the final game gave City their first Premier League title and first top-tier title in 44 years. Mancini was fired after a second-place finish in 2012-13 and a FA Cup Final loss. Manuel Pellegrini won the league in his first season and also won the League Cup.

They won the League Cup in 2016 ubut dropped to fourth in the Premier League and Pellegrini was fired. Pep Guardiola came over from Bayern Munich and rebuilt the team to his style. After a third place finish in his first season, Guardiola led City to the 2017-18 Premier League title and a League Cup.

The 2018-19 season was one for the ages. City repeated as Premier League champions for the first time in their history. They also won the League Cup and the FA Cup to become the first club to win all three trophies in the same season.

City finished second in 2019-20 but won the League Cup for a third straight season. They won a fourth League Cup in 2020-21 and returned to the top of the Premier League. City also made the Champions League final for the first time ever but lost to league rivals Chelsea. City scored three goals in a five-minute span to win the 2021-22 Premier League title in the final 10 minutes of the last game of the season. That win gave Guardiola a fourth Premier League title in five years.

Manchester City has major rivalries that impact both the fans and the Premier League standings. The Manchester Derby with Manchester United is their big rivalry as the teams battle to turn the city blue (City) or red (United). They have also developed a relatively new rival with Liverpool competing head to head for trophies and the Premier League titles in the 2010s and 2020s.