Manchester City guide for Newbies

Have you just arrived as fan of the wonderful Manchester City Football Club and want a quick and dirty guide that bring you up to speed about the most important facts and history of the club. This is the MCIVTA 10 point guide to Manchester City for newbies.

1. Manchester City Football Club was founded in 1880 as St. Mark’s (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894.
2. Manchester City is owned by Sheikh Mansour, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, minister of presidential affairs and member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi.
3. The club is nicknamed “the Blues” or “the Citizens“, the latter mostly by foreign fans.
4. The base colour in the City kit is “Sky blue” with white shorts and blue socks. A sky blue shorts was introduced in the 1970’s. The away or reserve kit often has colours based on white, yellow, maroon, or black.
5. The eagle crest was introduced in 1997 and has inherited the badge, ship and three rivers (Medlock, Irwell, Irk) from the City Coat of Arms. It was later replaced by the current circular crest in 2015. The design based on the ship, the three rivers and the rose were all elements voted for by the majority of the fans.
6. Manchester City’s merits go back to 1904, and the club has won the Premier League four times (2011-12, 2013-14, 2017-18 and 2018-19), and the 1st Division (highest level before Premier League) twice (1936-37 and 1967-68). City have won the FA Cup 6 times and the League Cup 7 times. City is also the latest club to have won a European cup final with an all-english team (the European Cup Winners Cup in 1970).
7. “Kippax” was the name of the principal stand at the old Stadium Maine Road, the home of MCFC from 1923 to 2003. This is where the most faithful of the fans would get together and where the chants would be started.
8. “Blue Moon” is the main hymn associated with MCFC and is always sung at the end of each half. You should definitely learn the lyrics.
9. “Guvnors” was what the group of hooligans connected with MCFC were called before camera surveillance and electronic ID made the stands a safer place during the 1990’s.
10. Fans of Manchester United are called “Rags” which is a reference to the period after WWII when United had to borrow Maine Road (homeless) due to the bombing of Old Trafford. It’s also believed that the term originally stems from their own fans since United were so poor at the time that they had to play in (2nd hand) kits which after a while started to look like “rags”. Needless to say they weren’t too happy with other fans using the expression on them.
11. The most popular former player among the fans is Colin Bell. He was nicknamed “Nijinski” after the race horse because of his incredible stamina and running power. Bell played 578 games and scored 177 goals for City. He was voted MCFC Player of the Year in 1968 and has a stand at the Etihad named after him.

Need more facts about Manchester City? Check out our Histroy page.

Essential reading:

• Blue Blood: The Mike Doyle story (2003) by David Clayton
• Guvnors: The Autobiography of a Football Hooligan Gang Leader (1997) by Michael Francis
• Manchester City the complete record 1880-2006 (2012) by Gary James
• The worst of friends. Malcolm Allison, Joe Mercer and Manchester City (2010) by Colin Schindler