History

History

It is widely accepted that Manchester City F.C. was founded as St. Mark's (West Gorton) in 1880 at St. Mark's Church, in Gorton, a district in east Manchester.^[3] Prior to this, St. Mark's played cricket from the 1860s and the side evolved out of that cricket team – the key organiser was churchwarden William Beastow.^[4] 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.^[5] 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.^[6]

1880–1928

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 but City became the first club in Manchester to win a major honour.^[7]
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.^[8] 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. The 100,000 capacity stadium would go on to have a remarkable history, and because of high capacity it was nicknamed Wembley of the North.^[9]