Manchester City

Manchester City, formed in 1880 as St Marks (West Gorton) was renamed Ardwick AFC when it moved to that part of the city in 1887. The club adopted the moniker Manchester City at the very end of the 1893-94 season.

City won their first honour in 1898-99 when they became second division champions and won promotion to the first division for the first time. Five years later they won their first major honour as the FA Cup was won against Bolton Wanderers at Crystal Palace. Following financial scandal - centred around accusations made by Billy Meredith that City were paying their players more than the £4 a week wages cap imposed by the FA in 1901 - City were heavily penalised and their successful team broken up.

It was not until the thirties that City were able to compete at the highest level and win again. They reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933 before beating Portsmouth 2-1 with two late goals from Fred Tilson after the fantastically named Septimus Rutherford had opened the scoring for Pompey.

City closed out the period before the onset of WWII by creating a somewhat unenviable record. Things started well enough as they won the first division championship, their first, in 1936-37. They won it at a canter - by the relatively wide margin of 3 points from Charlton Athletic, having scored more than 100 goals in the season. The following year City again scored more than any other team, yet suffered relegation to the second division. Thus becoming the only reigning champions to have been relegated in English football.

Another 30 years would pass before City again challenged consistently for any period of time, although they did play two FA Cup finals in the 50s, losing to Newcastle in 1955 before beating Birmingham City in '56. Of course 1956 is the Trautmann Final - so called because City's German goalkeeper Bert Trautmann played the final 17 minutes with a broken neck.

In the late sixties, with the managerial team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison City won, in consecutive seasons, the League Championship (1967-68) followed by the FA Cup (1969) and then the League Cup and Cup Winner's Cup (1970). After winning the League Cup in 1976, City then had to wait until 2011 for their next major honour...