The Manchester City team with the trophy – from itv.com
article by Giovanni Manenti
It’s easy nowadays, “fill your mouth” when, when talking about football, we talk about the Manchester City, one of the strongest clubs on the international scene, and that in the last 15 years – since the property passed into the hands of Sheikh Khaldun al-Mubarak – it has won 7 Premier League titles, three editions of the FA Cup and six of the League Cupwhile internationally completed in 2023 the trio of successes consisting of the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
But all this”God’s sake” represents the vast majority of trophies that City has conquered in its more than one hundred year history dating back to 1894 – that is, since the old Ardwick FC club, founded in 1880, assumed its current name –, forced for many years to play the role of “second team of Manchester”, compared to the undisputed superiority and popularity of United’s city rivals.
All this also with bitter disappointments for the supporters of the “Citizens“, who also had to experience the shame of several relegations, reaching rock bottom in the last decade of the 20th century, when, after esser sceso in First Division (second level of the English championship, following the establishment of the Premier League) in 1996, City collapsed into the Second Division two years later.
Fortunately, from the lowest point in their footballing history, Manchester City find the momentum to get back up and, after the immediate rise to the First Division the following year, manages to stabilize in the Premier League with the advent of the new Millenniumuntil he rose to the top when the company took over the share package.Abu Dhabi United Group” in 2008.
Described as the lowest point in the club’s life, Manchester City has also experienced some “moments of glory”, especially during the 1930s, which saw him win the 1934 edition of the FA Cup by beating Portsmouth 2-1 in the final and therefore, three years later, winning his first English championship title with three points (57 to 54) ahead of Charlton.
However, 30 years must pass before City is talked about in positive terms again – with the exception of one other success in the 1956 FA Cup finalwhere Birmingham lost 3-1 this time – a period coinciding with the domination of both Manchester clubs, i.e. the end of the 1960s.
To the glories of United by the famous trio of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton – who won the title in 1965 and 1967, as well as becoming the first English team to lift the European Cup in 1968 –, City countered a three-year period that saw him win the title in 1968 and the FA Cup the following year and then combine with the success in the League Cup in 1970, the conquered the Cup Winners’ Cup by beating Polish side Gornik Zabrze 2-1 in the final, for what remains the club’s only European triumph until, in fact, the trio of victories in 2023.
It’s this one, a cohesive formation made up of players who have made the club’s historyas certified by the fact that they head the relevant “all time ranking” for attendance with “Citizens”, with at the top Alan Oakes with 676 appearances, followed by Joe Corrigan with 602 and Mike Doyle with 563while they are also part of the “top ten” Also Colin Bell (498), Tommy Booth (487) e Mike Summerbee con 449the latter also a close friend of the “rival” George Best.
Having made this long introduction to frame the events of what its fans today like to call the “former second Manchester team” (having reference to recent victories), however, it comes naturally to ask when Manchester City won their first trophyand the writer’s curiosity led him to discover that it occurs precisely in this year the 120th anniversary of that circumstancetherefore dated 1904.
At the dawn of the 20th century it was common for more or less recently founded companies to experience seasons of “tall and bassi” and City does not escape this rule, given that, after being admitted to the Second Division, achieved his first promotion to the elite of English football in 1899only to experience the bitterness of relegation in 1902, only to redeem himself immediately the following year, when dominates the Second Division tournament, finishing in first place with 54 points95 goals scored and only 29 conceded, with Billie Gillespie protagonist with his 30 hits, well supported by the “legendary” Billy Meredithwhich hits the target 23 times.
“Team that wins cannot be touched“, says an old adage which also applies to City who, the following year in the First Division, competes for the title at The Wednesday until the last day – forerunner of what later became the current Sheffield Wednesday –, so much so that at the end of the program on April 16th, he is in command of the standings with 44 points and only one match to play, with the narrow margin of just one point over their rivals who however have a game less.
An arrival at the sprint in which however Manchester City has an extra burden to shoulder, namely the FA Cup final scheduled for 23 April 1904 atCrystal Palace” from Londonsame day in which The Wednesday play at home against Aston Villa for the penultimate of the championship.
A goal that City reaches after having made his debut on 6 February in front of his fans against Sunderland, an obstacle overcome not without difficulty with a 3-2 on which Sandy Turnbull puts his signature with a brace, together with a high note from Gillespie, for then going to conquer the “Manor Ground” London in the round of 16, home ground of Woolwich Arsenalat the time playing in the Second Division.
I am Frank Booth and Turnbull were the authors of the goals that opened the door to the quarterfinals for Cityin a turn which, on the contrary, sees the exit of the United, humiliated on The Wednesday pitch with an embarrassing 6-0with the pairings proposing the match against Tottenham for the latter, while the “Citizens” the draw offers the home match against Middlesbrough.
Per both rivals fighting for the championship, a replay is necessary to access the semi-finalswith the difference that The Wednesday, after a 1-1 draw in London, prevailed 2-0 in the replay in front of a friendly crowd, while City, after a 0-0 draw in the first match, achieved qualification thanks to a 3-1 away win, words and music from Gillespie and Turnbullnets interspersed with the seal of George Livingstone.
On the other hand, Sheffield United are out of the picture (so as to avoid a possible derby in the final), defeated 0-2 at home by Bolton militant in Second Division, as well as Blackburn, who lost 2-1 at Derby Countyso that the two semi-finals, scheduled for 19 April 1904 on a neutral pitch, propose the challenges Bolton-Derby al “Molineux Ground” di Wolverhampton e Manchester City-The Wednesday al “Goodison Park” in Liverpoolplaying ground of Everton, third force in the championship.
During the season, the two contenders for the title were already there faced twice, with the outcome set by a 1-1 draw in Manchester and a 1-0 victory for The Wednesday in Sheffieldbut that March 19th is a completely different story, with the attacking trio of Gillespie, Meredith and Turnbull to score for a 3-0 which certifies City’s first final appearancewhere he is waiting for him Bolton, 1-0 winner over Derby Countyand that, on the contrary, he had already achieved such a goal exactly 10 years earlier, only to be defeated 1-4 by Notts Countyfirst Second Division club to secure the trophy.
Obviously, on the side of the “Wanderers“We hope that history will repeat itself this time in our favor when the two teams line up in midfield on April 23, 1904 in front of over 61 thousand (!!!) spectators that fill the stands of the “Crystal Palace” for the direction of the match by referee AJ Baker, who kicks off at 3.20 pm.
As always happens, the first phases are study, with the balance breaking at half-time thanks to 30-year-old City captain Billy Meredith – at the club for 10 years, wearing the colors in 338 matches with 147 goals to his credit, as well as having worn the Scottish national team shirt on 48 occasions, scoring 11 times – and who, having received the ball from Livingstone, he dribbles free from Bob Struthers and then passes the opposing goalkeeper Dai Davies with a precise diagonal to the corner opposite to that of the shot.
With the two teams going into the break at 1-0, the second half begins Bolton constantly looking for an equaliserwell contained by the City defense in which he excels the full-back Herbert Burgess, author of an excellent performanceso that the best opportunity to rebalance the outcome of the match falls on the feet of Walter White with a few minutes to go, but his shot goes just wideso that at the final whistle Manchester can celebrate its first triumph and Meredith lift the trophy.
At the same time, in Sheffield The Wednesday beat Aston Villa 4-2 to regain the top of the table with a one point margin, but the mathematical certainty of winning the title occurs without playing, as City, called to play their last match just two days after the Cup final, lost 0-1 against Evertoncuriously on the same ground that had seen him “destroy” The Wednesday in the FA Cup semi-final.
And, perhaps, that’s right, with the two main protagonists of the season to share the two trophieseven if at Manchester City to be able to conquer the “double” (i.e. title and FA Cup) it will take 115 years, when the team led by Pep Guardiola “exaggerates“, that means achieving a feat so far unique in the panorama of English football, namely achieving in 2019 the “Treble”consisting of the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.
Other timesundoubtedly…