Manchester City : Happy 125th Birthday

Today marks the 125th birthday of Manchester City Football Club!

It seems hard to believe but Manchester City were actually formed in 1894. This means City have been a continuous entity for 125 years today! Many football clubs claim a heritage in excess of 125 years, and in many ways City do too, but what is being celebrated today is it is 125 years since the formation of what is still today called Manchester City.

The origins of our Club can be traced further back – to the St Marks Church in Gorton  in the 1870’s, where the creation of sports clubs was perceived to be a way of occupying positively the youth of the surrounding industrial area. This was a bleak industrial landscape in East Manchester during the period where the mills and factories dominated the skyline.

The historian Dr Gary James has written and researched extensively about the origins of football clubs in Manchester in the period and has spent decades tracing some of the original source documentation. This research highlights how St Marks Church in Gorton played a significant early role in the development of our club by getting young people to come together and engage in sport rather than spending evenings in drunken mischief.

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Indeed, part of the Manchester City history celebrated in the Chairman’s Club Hospitality Area of the Etihad Stadium are front doors of the terraced houses in the local area because local “door knockers” from the Church would call at the houses to rouse the young people and bring them to play. From playing for recreation the Church Football team steadily developed and played a first competitive match on 13 November 1880 against opposition from Macclesfield.

This early team went through a succession of changes as they sought to establish themselves. The name changed from St Marks Gorton to West Gorton eventually becoming Ardwick FC. These changes reflected the growth in the club as they moved from representing a small parish to a larger area. The changes in names also coincided with moves to new and larger home grounds.

By the late 1880s the Club had established their base at Hyde Road where a stadium was gradually constructed which was actually used by Manchester City until 1923 when they moved to Maine Road!

In 1892 the Football League Division Two was created and Ardwick FC were founding members, but even at this time of development the Club were thinking about the future. Believing the Club had outgrown the local area and wanting to increase the appeal it was decided to rename and incorporate the club as Manchester City.

Meetings took place in April 1894 to set this in place and on 16 April 1894 at Companies House in London, Manchester City Football Club was formed. The club would compete for the first time in the 1894/95 season making next season our 125th anniversary season!

It is amazing to think that the dedication and effort of a few individuals 140 years ago led to the growth and development of Manchester City Football Club – one of the biggest clubs in the world! The club grew from strong community links and it is a source of pride that these links remain strong with City rejeuvenating swathes of industrial East Manchester and creating opportunities for local people.

City still play within a few miles of St Marks Church in Gorton and their original home at Hyde Road. They remain proudly embedded in the local community and still possess the same drive and ambition as their founding fathers 125 years ago. Happy birthday Manchester City!