Manchester City Won Their First FA Cup Final 115 Years Ago Today

It may be hard for many of our Premier League rivals to understand but City won their first major trophy 115 years ago today!

April 1904: The Manchester City team line up with the FA Cup trophy that they won with a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Crystal Palace. From the back row, and from left to right are : Frost, Gillespie, McMahon, Hynds, Hillman, Ashworth, Burgess, Livingstone, Meredith, Turnbull, Booth. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) /

April 1904: F A Cup final fans gather on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral whilst waiting to go to the match at Crystal Palace to watch Manchester City play Bolton Wanderers. Manchester City won 1-0. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) /

Manchester City were formed as company 125 years ago but did not win their first major trophy until 1904. In the 1903/4 season City were deep in the hunt for a domestic trophy double, contending for both the old fashioned first division and the FA Cup.

A run in the FA Cup had seen them beat Woolwich Arsenal, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday. These victories set up the first all Lancashire Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers which took place at Crystal Palace on 23 April 1904.

More from Domestic Cups

This game was the 32nd FA Cup final and the 10th to be held at Crystal Palace. The match was played out before an impressive crowd of some 61000 supporters. These crowds had travelled to London in droves from Lancashire by train, many supporters sleeping on the platforms at London Euston Railway Station.

The match was played before many important celebrities of the period including famous cricketers WG Grace and CB Fry. The trophy was to be presented by the British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour.

Tickets for the game were costing up to 5 shillings which was probably pretty expensive for the time. Proving that the FA have always had high ticket prices!

At the time of the game City were flying high but Bolton Wanderers were the underdogs, being a mid table Division Two side. The media and book makers had City as clear favourites for the match, but the result was more difficult to achieve than expected.

https://twitter.com/footieonthisday/status/1120764911058132992

Famous player and City Captain, Billy Meredith scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the 20th minute. There was some dispute as to whether he was offside and the Bolton press were critical afterwards.

Winning the FA Cup was a huge achievement for Manchester City and marked the journey which had begun almost 35 years before with the creation of the first St Mark’s Church side in Manchester from which City grew. Unfortunately City’s quest for the First Division title came undone in the days following the FA Cup Final.

However there was a victory parade in Manchester for the returning Cup heroes which travelled through the City ending down Deansgate. The papers reported that more than five times the numbers of Mancunians turned up for the parade as who had turned up to welcome The Prince Of Wales just weeks earlier!

dark. Next. VAR: A Manchester City Fan Perspective

Of course the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that City won the FA Cup Final therefore before Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal. Not bad for a team which they say has no history!

Home/Man City News