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Manchester City Football Club
Club History & Facts:
Manchester City were formed in 1880 in Gorton, east Manchester. They started life as Ardwick but reformed to Manchester City at the end of the 19th century. They are nicknamed the blues or the citizens and are renowned for their sky blue home kit. In 1923 they started life at Maine Road after a fire burnt down their old ground, but moved again in 2003 to the larger City of Manchester stadium which holds a capacity of 48,000 people.
They won their first league title in 1937, 3 years after they won their 2nd FA cup. City's most successful period came in the late 1960's and early 70's. The blue won their first and only piece of European silverware when they defeated Polish side Gornik Zabrze in the Cup winners cup final. Club legends Mike Summerbe,Colin Bell and prolific striker Francis Lee were hugely influential in City's golden era which also included another league title win in 1968 piping city rivals Manchester United to the crown and a 1969 FA cup triumph.
One of the clubs historical highlights occurred in 1974 when Scotsman Dennis Law's back heel goal relegated his former side Manchester United to the second division to the delight of the City faithful. in 1976 they won their last trophy with a victory in the 1976 League cup final over Newcastle United.
A period of relative failure followed in years to come compounded by their relegation to the second tier of English football in 1996 and then the unthinkable happened as they were relegated again to the old 2nd division in 1998. Kevin Keegan was hired to bring success back to the Manchester club and eventually they gained promotion back to the Premier League in 2002 and have stayed there ever since.
They've been a mid-table team more often that not in recent years but the arrival of Arabian billionaire owners changed all that in the summer of 2008. Amazingly Manchester City have become the richest club in the world and were responsible for the most expensive transfer in British history with the 32 million pound signing of Brazilian forward Robinho. City have gone on to acquire world class talent spending 200 million since the arrival of owner Sheikh Mansour.
Manchester City European Performances:
Italian Roberto Mancini took over the helm as manager after the dismissal of Mark Hughes in late 2009 and the current side were in a strong position to gain Champions League qualification for the first time in their illustrious history, but narrowly missed out to Spurs and finished fifth.
Current stars include City legend Shaun Wright-Phillips, midfield marvel Gareth Barry and Argentinean striker who jumped ship from Man United, Carlos Tevez. Profile by Chris Howe.
Manchester City Club News & Useful Links:
Manchester City Official Website
more to follow
