The Citizens aren’t entrants on the block. Did you know they existed before many favorite/popular clubs in the most viewed league in the world? I guess you never knew this. It is no doubt that the Citizens, Sky blues or City as they are fondly called are adjudged the most dynamic in the history of British football, a claim attributed to her successful transition from one footballing era to another.
Like many football clubs in Britain, City’s growth and change remained rapid thus making her history unknown to many of her supporters and followers. A quick look down memory lane reveals the rich history of the Citizens. The birthing of City started with St. Mark’s club founded in 1880 at the insight of Arthur Connell and his daughter, Anna, and later transformed into Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and the Citizens finally in 1894; while she gained entry via promotion into the football league in 1899.
Like various top giants in the world of sports, Manchester city have been plagued with various problems with many been trophy-less campaigns spanning into long gloom in the history of the club. In terms of managerial woes, a distant period of decline was met with during the 1970s and was characterized by failure and transfer flops; followed by series of intermittent bouts of relegation in 1980s and 1996.
With regards to achievement, City have won some domestic titles in the leagues and recently won four trophies in the 2018/2019 season positioning them as the first English team (men) to win domestic treble. In terms of documented trophies, they are six-time English champion, five-time FA Cup and six-time League cup winners, also with a Winners’ cup trophy in the books. The team is one of the highest earning brands as it grossed about €527.7 in 2017/18 and sits as the fifth most valuable entity in the world of sports at $2.47 billion.
Tagged the money-bag of England, the club’s expenses in terms of sign on defense only in 2018 rose to a staggering figure of £225 million and was dubbed to be more as compared to budget on defense of more than 52 countries. This new financial state was ascribed to the recent takeover by the Abu Dhabi conglomerate under the headship of billionaire Sheikh Mansour in 2008. The takeover quickly ushered in new change in structure, development and policy; and one that was glaringly evident was the transfer and wage policy as the books of the club indicated that over £500 million have been spent on players following the five year takeover by the Abu Dhabi conglomerate with no intention to stop even with the financial fair play constraint.
Similar to many clubs, the home jerseys are unique and are often in sky blue and white jersey colours at the Etihad stadium, which was and still remains abode to many footballers such as Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Yaya Touré, Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, with Sergio kun Agüero as her current highest goal scorer. Ever knew the Citizens were this rich in history? Guess not! Are you bold enough to test your knowledge of City? If yes, then join the ride.
