Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is a football club based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Having been formed in 1880 as West Gorton Saint Marks, it went on to become Ardwick A.F.C. in 1887 and moved to Hyde Road, before finally becoming Manchester City F.C. in 1894. The club has won the League Championship twice, the F.A. Cup four times, the League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners Cup once. They currently play in the FA Premier League, and have spent the majority of their history in the top division.

Supporters

Manchester City supporters consider themselves to have great wit and loyalty. When Arsenal F.C. played some of the best football ever seen at Maine Road and scored four goals in the first twenty-five minutes, the stoic City fans responded with a chant of "boring, boring Arsenal". Manchester City will never face that accusation.

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2 Years later when they played the same team and found themselves 5-0 down with a minute to spare, City scored a goal to make it 5-1. City fans responded with a chant of "You're not singing anymore" to the buoyant Arsenal fans. Furthermore, upon being relegated to the third tier of English football (then Division Two, now Football League One) on the final day of the 1997-98 season, some City fans chanted 'Are you watching, Macclesfield?' - Macclesfield Town F.C., near-neighbours of Manchester City, had just been promoted to this division (only a few years earlier, the teams were four divisions apart).

Related Topics:
Football League One - Macclesfield Town F.C.

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The fans are also renowned for their loyalty. Despite being relegated twice in three seasons to the first and second divisions in the late nineties, attendances actually increased until by the end of their one and (so far) only season in the third tier of English football, their home attendances were in the region of 30,000; in subsequent seasons sellout matches have been commonplace, even after the move to a much larger stadium. Manchester City fans are by no means the only supporters who claim to be loyal in adversity, and such claims form the basis of much debate with fans of other well supported clubs, such as Leeds and Sunderland.

Related Topics:
Leeds - Sunderland

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The City fan's song of choice is a rendition of "Blue Moon", which despite its melancholic theme is belted out with gusto as though it were a heroic anthem.

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In the late 1980s, City fans started a craze of bringing inflatable objects to matches, primarily bananas. The craze had its origins in a match against WBA when chants from fans calling for the introduction of Imre Varadi as a substitute mutated into "Imre Banana". Terraces packed with inflatable wielding supporters became a common sight in the 1988/89 season as the craze spread to other clubs, with the phenomenon reaching a peak at City's match at Stoke City on December 26, 1988, a match declared by fanzines as a fancy dress party.

Related Topics:
1980s - WBA - Imre Varadi - 1988 - 89 - Stoke City - December 26 - Fanzines

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Oasis are known to be huge supporters of Manchester City whilst fellow rock music acts; Doves and Badly Drawn Boy are season ticket holders. Badly Drawn Boy and Doves played at Maine Road after the final match against Southampton to mark the move to the new City of Manchester stadium whilst Oasis have played massive gigs at both Maine Road and more recently at the CoMS in front of a combined total of 180,000 fans over three nights. Broadcasters Mark Radcliffe, Marc Riley aka Lard, and Stuart Hall are also life long fans together with comedians Eddie Large and Bernard Manning.

Related Topics:
Oasis - Mark Radcliffe - Marc Riley - Stuart Hall

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Boxer Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton is also a huge supporter of Manchester City; his father was a former player for the club. Hatton always wears a Manchester City club crest on his robes, and his shorts bear the City colours. He also enters the ring to the club tune of Blue Moon.

Related Topics:
Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton - Blue Moon

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