Reserves and Academy

Reserves

Until 2011 the reserves played in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North and the Manchester Senior Cup. The club have fielded a reserve team since 1892, when the reserves played in the Lancashire Combination. The reserves were champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1901/02. They left the Lancashire Combination in 1911 to join the Central League upon its formation. The reserves played in The Central League until 2000, winning it on three occasions; the 1977/78, 1986/87 and 1999/2000 seasons.

Academy

Manchester City's Academy is responsible for youth development at the club, with the goal of developing young players for the future. The club's first youth team was set up by Albert Alexander in the 1920s, known as the 'A' Team. From 1951 the 'A' team competed in the Lancashire League against reserve and youth teams of other clubs from North West England. From 1955 a second youth team, the 'B' team, typically comprising younger players than the 'A' team, competed in Division Two of the Lancashire League.
The academy is one of the most revered in the country and since its new incarnation in 1998 it has produced more professional players than any other Premier League club, 35 in total.^[42] 14 of these players are still at the club and in the past two years, there have been eight graduates.
From the 2011–12 season the reserves will compete in the new formed NextGen football series, a European style competition in the form of the Champions League or Europa League with the aim of giving young European footballers the opportunity to play against one other.^[43] Manchester City have played a pioneering role in creating the league^[44] amid growing criticism from English media that English football is not producing enough young talent.^[45][46]
Aside from the academy, the club attempts to reach out to young people in the Manchester area through its City in the Community charity programme^[47] which provides Soccer Schools and a City Sixes programme for free coaching at certain venues in Manchester.[48

2001–present

After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline.^[23] City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in a play-off against Gillingham. A second successive promotion saw City return to the top division, but this proved to have been a step too far for the recovering club, and in 2001 City were relegated once more. Kevin Keegan arrived as the new manager in the close season, bringing an immediate return to the top division as the club won the 2001–02 Division One championship, breaking club records for the number of points gained and goals scored in a season in the process.^[24]
The 2002–03 season was the last at Maine Road, and included a 3–1 derby victory over rivals Manchester United, ending a run of 13 years without a derby win.^[25] City also qualified for European competition for the first time in 25 years after missing out in the 1990s with the European ban on English clubs entering European football. In the 2003 close season the club moved to the new City of Manchester Stadium. The first four seasons at the stadium all resulted in mid-table finishes. Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson became the club's first manager from overseas when appointed in 2007.^[26] After a bright start performances faded in the second half of the season, and Eriksson was sacked in June 2008.^[27] Eriksson was replaced by Mark Hughes two days later on 4 June 2008.^[28]
The dream of bringing back the glory era to City, set out by Thaksin Shinawatra just a year before, now seemed doomed,^[29] but what was about to unravel was something manager Hughes and the Manchester City supporters could never have possibly imagined, never mind anticipated – as within the coming months Hughes would find himself placed in a financial position which would become the envy of many a football manager and one which would hopefully change the course of Manchester City's inconsistent history for good.
In August 2008, the club was purchased by Abu Dhabi United Group. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high profile players; the club broke the British transfer record by signing Brazilian international Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million.^[30] City finished tenth, and also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
During the summer of 2009, the club took transfer spending to an unprecedented level, with an outlay of over £100 million on players Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tévez and Joleon Lescott.^[31] On 19 December, it was announced that Mark Hughes had been replaced as manager by Roberto Mancini.^[32] City finished the season in fifth position in the Premier League, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League, and compete in the UEFA Europa League in season 2010–11.
Prior to the start of the 2010–11 season, Man City completed the transfers of Jérôme Boateng,^[33] Yaya Touré,^[34] David Silva,^[35] Aleksandar Kolarov^[36] and Mario Balotelli.^[37] James Milner signed during the first week of the season.^[38] Edin Džeko joined the club during the January 2011 transfer window.^[39] On 16 April 2011, City reached the 2011 FA Cup Final, their first major final in over thirty years, defeating derby rivals Manchester United in the semi-final to set up a meeting with Stoke City.^[40] They won the final 1–0, securing their fifth FA Cup (and first since 1969) and their first major trophy since winning the 1976 League Cup. On 10 May 2011, the club qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time with a 1–0 Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur.^[41] On the last day of the 2010–11 season, City passed Arsenal for third place in the Premier League, thereby securing qualification directly into the Champions League group stage.
For the 2011–12 season, City made a number of high profile signings, including Gaël Clichy, Stefan Savić, Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri and Owen Hargreaves. City started the season well, and were five points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 6-1 victory over Manchester United in October. During the January transfer window City signed David Pizarro on loan.

1928–1965

In the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934.^[10] During the 1934 cup run, Manchester City broke the record for the highest home attendance of any club in English football history, as 84,569 fans packed Maine Road for a sixth round FA Cup tie against Stoke City in 1934 – a record which still stands to this day.^[11] The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, but were relegated the following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team in the division.^[12]
Twenty years later, a City team inspired by a tactical system known as the Revie Plan reached consecutive FA Cup finals again, in 1955 and 1956; just as in the 1930s, they lost the first one, to Newcastle United, and won the second. The 1956 final, in which Manchester City beat Birmingham City 3–1, is one of the most famous finals of all-time, and is remembered for City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann continuing to play on after unknowingly breaking his neck.^[13]

1965–2001

After relegation to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965.^[14] In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison was appointed. In the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell.^[15] Two seasons later, in 1967–68, Manchester City claimed the League Championship for the second time, clinching the title on the final day of the season with a 4–3 win at Newcastle United and beating their close neighbours Manchester United into second place.^[16] Further trophies followed: City won the FA Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in Vienna.^[17] City also won the League Cup that season, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy and a domestic trophy in the same season.
The club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing just one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup.^[18] One of the matches from this period that is most fondly remembered by supporters of Manchester City is the final match of the 1973–74 season against arch-rivals Manchester United, who needed to win to have any hope of avoiding relegation. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford and confirm the relegation of their rivals.^[19][20] The final trophy of the club's most successful period was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final.
A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s. Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley.^[21] A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone, the first being John Bond who succeeded Allison in October 1980. Under Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The following season began well and they went top of the league just after Christmas, only to finish mid-table at the end of the season. They were relegated a year later, and reclaimed their top flight status two years afterwards, only to lose it within another two years. They returned to the top flight again in 1989 and finished fifth in 1991 and 1992 under the management of Peter Reid.^[22] However, this was only a temporary respite, and following Reid's departure Manchester City's fortunes continued to fade. City were founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, but after finishing ninth in its first season they endured three seasons of struggle before being relegated in 1996. Two years after that, they were relegated to Division Two – becoming the first former winners of a European trophy to be relegated to the third tier of their domestic league.

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]

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City F.C.

Full name	Manchester City Football Club
Nickname(s)	City, The Citizens, The Sky Blues, The Blues
Founded	1880 as St Mark's (West Gorton). In 1894 the name was changed to Manchester City F.C
Ground	City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (Capacity: 47,726[1])
Owner	Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Chairman	Khaldoon Al Mubarak
Manager	Roberto Mancini
League	Premier League
2010–11	Premier League, 3rd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894. The club has played at the City of Manchester Stadium since 2003, having played at Maine Road from 1923.
The club's most successful period was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they won the League Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup under the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline culminating in relegation to the third tier of English football in 1998 for the first time in their history. The club has since regained top flight status where they have spent the majority of their history. In 2011, Manchester City qualified for the Champions League and won the FA Cup.

• 1 History
  • 1.1 1880–1928
  • 1.2 1928–1965
  • 1.3 1965–2001
  • 1.4 2001–present
• 2 Reserves and Academy
  • 2.1 Reserves
  • 2.2 Academy
• 3 Club badge and colours
• 4 Players
  • 4.1 Current squad
  • 4.2 Out on loan
  • 4.3 Current EDS Players with 1st Team Appearance(s)
  • 4.4 Retired numbers
  • 4.5 Halls of Fame
    • 4.5.1 Manchester City Hall of Fame
    • 4.5.2 National Football Museum Hall of Fame
    • 4.5.3 Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame
  • 4.6 Management team
  • 4.7 Notable managers
• 5 Supporters
• 6 Ownership and finances
• 7 Stadium
• 8 Honours
  • 8.1 League
  • 8.2 Cup
  • 8.3 European
• 9 Club records
• 10 See also
• 11 References
• 12 External links

Quinta del Buitre and seventh European Cup (1980–2000)

By the early 1980s, Real Madrid had lost its grasp on the La Liga title until a new batch of home-grown stars brought domestic success back to the club.^[24] Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias gave to this generation the name La Quinta del Buitre ("Vulture's Cohort"), which was derived from the nickname given to one of its members, Emilio Butragueño. The other four members were Manuel Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.^[25] With La Quinta del Buitre (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for Zaragoza in 1986) and notable players like goalkeeper Francisco Buyo, right-back Miguel Porlán Chendo and Mexican striker Hugo Sánchez, Real Madrid had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning two UEFA Cups, five Spanish championships in a row, one Spanish cup and three Spanish Super Cups.^[25] In the early 1990s, La Quinta del Buitre split up after Martín Vázquez, Emilio Butragueño and Míchel left the club.
In 1996, President Lorenzo Sanz appointed Fabio Capello as coach. Although his tenure lasted only one season, Real Madrid was proclaimed league champion and players like Roberto Carlos, Predrag Mijatović, Davor Šuker and Clarence Seedorf arrived at the club to strengthen a squad that already boasted the likes of Raúl, Fernando Hierro, Iván Zamorano, and Fernando Redondo. As a result, Real Madrid (with the addition of Fernando Morientes in 1997) finally ended its 32-year wait for its seventh European Cup. In 1998, under manager Jupp Heynckes, The Whites defeated Juventus 1–0 in the final thanks to a goal from Predrag Mijatović.^[26]