Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the seventh chapter of the book (a 10,500 word section). This focuses on football as a business (yes, it was a business even then!), the move into league football for Manchester’s clubs and the relaunch of them as Manchester City and Manchester United.
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Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the sixth chapter of the book (a 10,000 word section). This focuses on the earliest Manchester entrants in the FA Cup, as well as Ardwick AFC and Newton Heath.
Subscribing costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) or you could sign up for a year at the discounted price of £20 per year. Every subscriber gets access to everything posted on the site.
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Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Every Monday I’m posting a section from my book ‘The Emergence of Footballing Cultures: Manchester 1840-1919’. It tells the story of the origins of men’s football in Manchester and discusses the birth of both City and United plus the clubs that predated them such as Hulme Athenaeum, Manchester AFC, Birch etc. Today’s section is the fifth chapter of the book (a 8,200 word section). This focuses on the establishment of clubs in the 1870s and 1880s, including City and United’s predecessors.
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On this day (31 August) in 1948 the death was announced of Walter Chew, a man associated with the first known season of St Mark’s (though there are serious doubts on whether the 16 year old played in the earliest known game based on his own comments). St Mark’s is vital in the development of Manchester City. Chew was a key figure in the club’s formative years but there are some myths out there about him and that time. His obituary above is from August 1948 which says he was 84 at the time of his death. You can find out more about Chew and the latest research below:
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Identity is important to any aspiring football team and in 1884 the fledgling Gorton Association Football Club chose to wear a distinctive kit consisting of black shirts with a white cross pattée emblazoned across the left breast. The smart new kit set the tone for what the players hoped would be a successful period in the club’s development and from the moment it was first worn in 1884 the club progressed and grew, becoming Ardwick in 1887, before re-launching as Manchester City in 1894.
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If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
Following on from yesterday’s Ardwick AFC feature, here’s another one. This focuses on the Manchester Cup… As football in Manchester developed, so did Ardwick’s desire to become one of the regions elite clubs. The Manchester Cup had been established in 1884-5 and this was quickly perceived by the majority of Mancunians as the most prestigious competition around. The Football League was not in existence until 1888 and even then Manchester failed to have any representatives, while the FA Cup had been established since the 1860s but was not seen in a positive light by Manchester’s sides. Entry into the Cup required great expense as games could be played anywhere in the United Kingdom – during the 1880s sides from Ireland competed in the FA Cup, while Scottish sides had been amongst the earliest supporters of the competition. The cost of travel clearly limited Ardwick’s ability to play beyond the Manchester region.
In April 1891 Ardwick reached the Manchester Cup final for the first time in their history. This was a major landmark and it was also the first major meeting with Newton Heath, present day Manchester United. Newton Heath had previously played in every final of the competition since it was created in 1884-5 and so this was seen as a real test for the Ardwick players.
Despite the fact that Newton Heath were the more experienced side, Ardwick took the lead thanks to a seventh minute goal from the influential captain Davie Weir. Reports simply stated that “Weir scored with a long shot”, however they did give a little information before that to suggest that the goal owed much to the earlier persistence of Bob Milarvie. Milarvie had challenged the Newton Heath goal a couple of times and had clearly surprised the Heathens. Then, after gaining the ball following a Newton Heath attack, Milarvie “got on a splendid run but was badly fouled.” From the resulting free kick Ardwick attacked and Weir netted the goal.
Ardwick did actually have another goal disallowed – they were awarded an indirect free kick and the taker blasted the ball straight into the Heathens goal without any other player touching it – but the trophy was won by the Hyde Road side for the first time.
Success in the trophy perhaps went a little to their heads when at the 1891 Football League AGM Ardwick – along with Darwen, Newton Heath, Nottingham Forest, Stoke, and Sunderland Albion – applied to join the newly expanded Football League. All the applicants, with the exception of Ardwick, were members of the Football Alliance – a league originally set up to rival the Football League. Not surprisingly, Ardwick failed to gain admittance, with the new places were filled by Stoke, who had won the Alliance, and Darwen. There was a consolation prize however and Ardwick were admitted to the Alliance League for the 1891-2 season.
The Manchester Cup had proved to be the Club’s major breakthrough and it had also proved the Ardwick were already perceived as Manchester’s club. Although Newton Heath had been the more successful club so far, Ardwick were perhaps seen as being more progressive and were already the better supported of the two. The Hyde Road derby in the Alliance League attracted a crowd of over 10,000, whereas the Heathens home game at North Road was watched by around 4,000. Even the Hyde Road derby attendance was bettered by Ardwick on two other occasions in the Alliance that season.
As well as their large support, Ardwick managed to prove their ability to live with the best when they won the Manchester Cup again. This time they convincingly defeated Football League side Bolton Wanderers 4-1. The dream of playing League football was getting closer and the Manchester Cup successes had helped that dream. One man who was proud of this achievement was Walter Chew (image below), who was with St. Mark’s in their first season of 1880-81. In 1888 he joined the Manchester FA Committee and remained an influential figure there until his death in 1949.
Continuing here: the story of Manchester City’s origins. Today’s feature is a 3,300+ word feature on the earliest known game, played in November 1880. Have a look elsewhere on the site for other content on this period.
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Already this website tells the story of Manchester City with seasonal articles on every season from 1890-91 (Ardwick) through to 2009-10 and throughout February I’ll be adding the history of the Club prior to 1890. Starting with material from the 1850s and the establishment of an organisation that was to play a major part in the establishment of the Club, I’ll be telling via a series of articles the story of key individuals/origins/moments that contributed to the establishment of a football club. The series starts tomorrow with the first feature on the 1850s. Watch this space!
Subscribe to get access
These articles will be available to subscribers to this site. It costs £3 per month (cancel any time) or sign up for a year for the discounted price of £20 per year (works out about £1.67 a month to access every article on this site). To date in excess of 1,500 articles/features have been posted including interviews, talks and more.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
As promised yesterday, here for the next 24 hours (9 February 2026 noon to 10 February 2026 noon) is a video of my presentation on the origins of Manchester City FC, focusing on St Mark’s & the club’s development prior to its re-birth as Ardwick AFC for you to enjoy. It lasts about 1 hour and was recorded on 1 February 2023. There are lots of myths out there, but I focused on the facts and my latest research:
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Discover the role William Chew (that’s right William!) played in the birth of the club and the story of Belle Vue Rangers, an often overlooked part of Manchester City history.
The presentation was filmed on 1 February 2023 and is all about the origins prior to 1887. This talk is available for 24 hours and then will be available to subscribers (see below for details of how to subscribe).
If you enjoyed that then the next one in the series is available for subscribers here:
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It’s now almost 40 years since I first started detailed research into the history of Manchester City and its origins, and it’s an area that is still fascinating. I still keep being asked about the origins of Manchester City, particularly the period prior to 1894 and I love the fact so many are interested in the steps that led to the establishment of what has become a major, global footballing power. I’ve posted much about those early years on this site but I know it’s often in a scattered style making it difficult to find, so here for those interested, are links to past articles on key figures and moments in the St Mark’s, West Gorton, Gorton AFC, Ardwick & associated clubs’ history. Tomorrow from noon for 24 hours I’ll be giving free access to a video I did a while back on the origins (details of the video lower down this page).
Firstly, the earliest known game (note: not necessarily the first game!):
Walter Chew, a man occasionally described as ‘The Father of Manchester City’ (though he himself tells a different story and in a 1920s interview told his eye witness story of who the actual founder was):
A man every Blue should know about, Lawrence Furniss. A player with Gorton, Ardwick secretary-manager, MCFC director, chairman responsible for move to Maine Road, Life President when City won the title in 1937. He saw it all and was involved from the 1880s through to 1940s when he died:
The facts not the fiction…. There are so many myths, assumptions, exaggerations etc. doing the rounds so hopefully this piece I wrote a few years back helps to explain:
On 1 February 2023 I performed an online talk on the latest research into the origins of City, focusing on the period prior to 1887 when the club was based in the West Gorton and Gorton areas. Tomorrow from noon I’ll post this for all to see for free for 24 hours, but if you can’t wait or miss it then it is already available here for subscribers to the site:
There are still many gaps in our knowledge even though material has been rediscovered in recent years. There are some things we won’t know but over the coming weeks I’ll post more on the early years. Some will be available to all, some to subscribers but I’m sure there’ll be lots out there to enjoy.
In the meantime why not search the website or use the tags to see articles on the period prior to 1894. Every season of the 1890s for example has a detailed article written about it while individual games, players and related stories are also included within the thousands of posts on this site. Here’s a link to the 1890-91 season for example:
The origins of Manchester City, like many other clubs, have been misunderstood or incorrectly reported over the years and there are many areas of ongoing research that will fill the gaps over the coming years. It takes time and effort to research at the level needed. When I first started researching there were some stories that had been passed down for years that have since been challenged and corrected but there are many other areas to reflect on. There are, of course, many other areas where further research is still needed.
For years I’ve worked with a variety of people on the origins of City (one of the key elements of my PhD research was on the origins of men’s and women’s football in Manchester and my research into this continues). In the 2010s MCFC set up a research group called Project Blue which I willingly helped and explained the myths that exist and what we still don’t know. The following slide was part of a lengthy presentation I performed on 14 December 2011 on that where I explained how we got where we were at the time and those who had worked together on uncovering the club’s early history.
One of my slides presented to the history research group Project Blue on research into Manchester City’s origins on 14 December 2011
I was always grateful to Dennis Chapman, John Maddocks and Ray Goble who welcomed me into their ‘club’ of research and others, such as Dave Masey who, like me, was a member of the Association of Football Statisticians. Dave continues to help my research. Thanks to these guys and others when I was starting out I have tried to ensure I help and support others researching. The more we research and share, the greater our collective knowledge.
There is still much to be done and sadly lots we will never know.
Whatever research is uncovered over the coming years one thing is clear and that is the history and origins of Manchester City are wrapped up in community initiatives and a desire by some to use football as a positive, community building enterprise. People like William Sumner, Walter & William Chew, Lawrence Furniss and Joshua Parlby should always be remembered for their part in the formative years of football in our city.
There is much research still to be done. If you’d like to support this research then please subscribe to the site and you’ll have access to hundreds of articles, interviews, talks etc. You could join for a month and see what you think.
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Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022 and can cancel anytime. All subscribers access everything posted during their subscription too.
If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.
