Talk:History of Manchester City F.C.

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According to this page, City started off as St. Marks of West Gorton and were also called Gorton. Is this correct, because if it is it should be added to this page.--GingerM 18:10, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

The book I used was Manchester: The Greatest City by Gary James, which IIRC uses West Gorton (St. Marks) for everything prior to 1887. It's the closest any book has been to being an "official" history of the club. I was going to get the book out of my local library tomorrow when it was due back from the current borrower (to sort some issues arising following the peer review of Manchester City F.C.), but looking at the online catalogue is seems to have been renewed. I'll take a look when the book is next available. Oldelpaso 18:28, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

I also found this page which says "Manchester City's original incarnation came about as Gorton Athletic in 1880. In 1887 they amalgamated with West Gorton to become Ardwick FC. 1894 saw the final change to Manchester City." It's frustrating with all the different versions of history, they can't all be accurate! I've searched online a bit more and that seems to be the "history" on many sites so I think it's probably the more accurate one. GingerM 15:36, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

A team was definitely formed in 1880 by St. Marks church in West Gorton, the exact name varies in different sources. This is the West Gorton referred to by the 4thegame page. Gorton Athletic is more unclear, online sources generally state formation in either 1880 or 1884, but nothing more. Something happened in 1884. The book Everything Under the Blue Moon by David Clayton states that West Gorton and Gorton Athletic joined in 1883-84 to form Gorton AFC, which seems the most likely. It has something about the formation of West Gorton which agrees with that in Manchester: The Greatest City, but nothing on the formation of Gorton Athletic. The Manchester City F.C. Official Handbook 1997/98 quotes the year formed as 1887, as Ardwick, but in a "Previous Grounds" list it has

• 1880-81 Clowes Street
• 1881-82 Kirkmanshulme Cricket Ground
• 1882-84 Queens Road
• 1884-87 Pink Bank Lane

West Gorton (St. Marks) played at Clowes Street, I've seen that in more than one independent source. I'm getting into the realms of original research here though. Since Manchester: The Greatest City is by far the most comprehensive publication about the club I'll go with what that says once I get my hands on a copy, with a note that some sources differ. Oldelpaso 19:07, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Finally found what Manchester: The Greatest City says on the subject. The explanation given seems the most likely, I've inserted it into the article. Oldelpaso 19:42, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Subsections

A few edits have created several subsections consisting of one paragraph each. Such short sections are generally frowned upon, so I've merged them. Oldelpaso 18:33, 26 April 2006 (UTC)