115 things you need to know about Manchester City
Maybe Orient and City have more in common than many realise?
It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that a circus is coming to town this weekend. Here’s our handy guide to help you make sense of it all.
We haven’t played Manchester City at all in any competition since May 1966, 5 years before Josep “Pep” Guardiola was even born. At that point, City were en route to the div 2 title, and Orient were about to leave the division in the other direction. Fewer people (6,109) watched that match than will be in the stadium on Saturday.
The previous season, City attracted a crowd of just 8,015 to Maine Road for a Division Two match against Swindon. Orient were in the same division, and averaged 10,359 that season.
Speaking of relegation from the second tier, in April 1998 Jamie Pollock scored one of the most incredible own goals ever seen in English football, pushing City to the very edge of the precipice in the process.
Which should remind readers that City have spent time in the third tier (the very same that Orient currently find themselves in, which some consider our “natural home”) relatively recently. You only need to be in your mid-30s to remember it.
Pollock’s goal was scored in a game against QPR. The “Aguerooooo” moment against the same opposition has become associated with them finally landing the title after a 43 year gap – but what is often forgotten is that the goal was only possible because their opponents (who had done a fantastic job of frustrating them until that point) had downed tools moments earlier on learning that Bolton had failed to beat Stoke, thus ensuring QPR’s survival irrespective of their own match.
Oh yeah - when Aguero joined Barcelona in 2021 after ten years at City he said that he was now joining the world's biggest club and claimed his move to Spain from Manchester was a 'step forward'. Ouch.
City might be considered a big deal by some people these days (particularly by themselves) but for a spell in the late 1990s, Stockport County were actually Manchester’s second team, finishing above City in the league on more than one occasion.
They weren’t a big deal off the pitch then either, with just 3,007 turning up for a Cup tie at Maine Road against Mansfield in December 1998.
Maintaining this tradition, their current stadium is sometimes referred to as “The Emptyhad” because of the relative shallowness of their support base, and the fact that (rather like neighbours Salford City) the Club’s growth has been anything but organic.
above: Kevin De Bruyne celebrates a goal in front of a “sell out” crowd
And in their first few years in their new stadium, it became widely known as “The Boo Camp” because their fans got on the team’s back so often.
In fact, City were the inspiration for West Ham’s own misguided dreams of becoming a genuinely big club, when they ponced a brand new stadium that had been built for an athletics event and now needed a permanent resident to stop it becoming a massive white elephant.
West Ham and City really do have a lot in common when you stop to think about it (press play on the video below to understand why).
If you’ve been disappointed by missing out on a ticket for this weekend’s match, take some comfort from the fact that in the latter stages of the Champions League, tickets for City games often go on general sale
In 2022, City failed to sell out their allocation for the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Massive.
Although it looks like they have enough points this season to stay out of trouble, City are the only English team to have won the League (1937) and then be relegated immediately the following season (1938).
Leyton Orient scored more goals than any other fourth division side in 88/89, and Manchester City scored more goals than any other first division side in 37/38. But while Orient were promoted in 1989, City somehow managed to be relegated in 1938.
Clearly there are certain Icarus like qualities about this football club, evident in the 2001 relegation which immediately followed their return to the top flight, and what might be about to be visited upon them after the Premier League delivers its verdict on their many breaches of financial fair play rules.
Doubtless Manchester City have some decent fans, but as a football club they embody so many of the terrible things that bedevil our beautfiul game.
In 1996, while drawing 2-2 at home to Liverpool, they started time-wasting in the belief that the draw would keep them up. They were badly, and hilariously, wrong.
If some of the modern hair transplants at Orient raise an eyebrow (and hair from other parts of the head), consider how far things have moved on since the days of Peter Swales, City’s Chairman from 1973 until 1996.
When winning competitions, football clubs are typically awarded trophies. Manchester City really are different, because they are also awarded asterisks.
Leyton Orient has only beaten City once before, prevailing 4-3 in a Division Two match at Brisbane Road in August 1964
However, Clapton Orient also beat City too – in September 1909, in the first ever meeting between the clubs (3-2 at Millfields Road, also in Division Two).
The last time the two clubs met in the FA Cup was in the 6th Round in 1926. You can read all about that here!
Before Oasis became briefly fashionable in the mid 1990s, City’s most glamourous celebrity fan was Kevin Kennedy, better known as Coronation Street’s “Curly Watts”. Today’s youngsters might sneer, but he was a real household name in those pre-internet days.
In 2006, after nearly half a century of living under their neighbour United’s shadow, City fans started demanding that blue ketchup be served at matches.
Derby days have often been a lot of fun for City, providing many moments like Keith Curle giving instructions to devoted family man Ryan Giggs and then seeming disappointed when those instructions were carried out perfectly.
City fans have an interested point of view on cultural appropriation, often getting the hump when other fans “do the Poznan” which is – as the very name shows – not an original idea
In yet another “Keep Football Out Of Politics” fail, the new hard-right President of Georgia (elected in very questionable circumstances) is actually a former City striker.
City have a long, difficult, and complicated relationship with local rivals United (that’s Richard Wellens’ team, in case you didn’t know), going all the way back to 1906 when they were relegated for financial irregularities (they have form for this!) and star player Billy Meredith immediately decamped for United.
In fact City have been relegated a total of 9 times in their history, so they really should be used to it by now.
Let’s take another look at David Pleat’s lovely suit as he danced onto the Maine Road pitch when his Luton side relegated City in 1983.
While polite traditionalists refer to City through their old nickname “The Citizens” other less charitable types (especially in the red half of Manchester) prefer “Bitters”, “Divs”, “Berties”, “Liars”, or “Blue Moonies”.
In 1997, City added three stars to their badge, not because they’d won anything (it had been over 20 years since they had) but because “it looked continental”
While managing City, Stuart Pearce kept a “lucky horse” (Beanie) beside him on the touchline.
Stuart Pearce’s brother Dennis once stood as a candidate for the BNP (hey, every club has them!)
Which brings us to weirdo superfan (yes, every Club has those too) “Pete The Badge” who was recently pictured in an official Club campaign in his home with a BNP poster positioned on the wall behind him, right next to picture of the Queen Mother (gawdbless ‘er!)
When City first became nu-money in 2008, they broke the British transfer record to sign Brazilian striker Robinho, although it seems he only agreed to join because he thought he was moving to United
Around the same time, Garry Cook was appointed City’s CEO. We’ve become accustomed to cringe-inducing Americans and embarrassing CEOs in the years since, but it was more of a novelty then. Visionary or clown? You can decide, but what did for him in the end set a unfortunate precedent for others, including at Orient and other Clubs at our level.
If you thought some Orient fans were guilty of peculiar cap-doffing, bowing and scraping, then get a load of City fans creating a massive banner in honour of their legal team.
Or wearing tea towels around their heads to celebrate being taken over by the Emiratis
Of course we also have “Manchester thanks you, Sheikh Mansour” which is a bit rum given at least half the city clearly doesn’t. But it reminds us that many football fans will gladly put their dignity and morality aside if it means their Club can win a few pots.
But what should Manchester thank Sheikh Mansour for? You do wonder whether Waltham Forest might get bent over by foreign developers in the coming years. Still, at least the USA isn’t a plutocracy with a murky attitude to human rights and the rule of law these days eh? Eh? Eh!?
Everyone associates Oasis, and specifically the Gallagher brothers, with City – but it is well known around Manchester that in March 1993 a pre-fame Noel was offered a ticket for City v Spurs in the FA Cup and replied with “I’m not paying to watch that shit”. He identified as a Celtic fan at the time.
More recently he’s admitted to being closeted Arsenal.
In 2005, they played David James up front when they had to win to qualify for Europe. Let’s just say he was no Josh Keeley.
In the last minute of the same game, celebrity slumlord Robbie Fowler missed a penalty to confirm their failure.
Of course, all this pathos is here to remind us that they have much more in common with the Os than many might realise – such as being relegated twice in three seasons in recent times (them 1996 & 1998, us 2015 & 2017).
We also share a connection through Frank Clark - a man who survived being relegated with Orient in 1985 to make good the damage four years later, but who was dismissed as City Manager after saving them from relegation, and only finding out that he’d been sacked when he heard it on the radio while at home. Stay classy, City!
One of the stands at their new ground was very nearly named after their greatest ever player: Colin Bell. Bell was understandably thrilled by this honour, and equally dismayed when the club reneged on its promise to christen part of its brand new home “The Bell End”.
There aren’t many players who have featured for both Orient and City. Perhaps the most successful was Ian Bowyer, who won boat loads of medals at City and later on at Forest, but nada in his two years at the Os. Ho hum.
Yaya Toure doesn’t really count, unfortunately.
Teddie Lamb might one day, but are we really happy to live in a world where City can casually spaff £1.5m on an untried 15-year old, while that same amount can be season-defining for a Club in League One?
Of course there’s also Barry Silkman, Carl Griffiths, and Paul Beesley…
Spurs really have been very very Spursy this season, to the point of being mocked by Managers in League One. But even they managed to win 4-0 at City, so there must be hope for us.
Long before the teatowels and the crazy backwards jumping up and down, City were briefly famous for their inflatable bananas. Zany!
Of course, their first visit to Brisbane Road in nearly 60 years has the potential to be a banana skin for them. City have slipped on these before, including a 1-0 defeat at Halifax in 1980 in the 3rd Round, when there was three divisions between the two clubs.
Bury also knocked them out of the League Cup in 1972 – there were three divisions between them at the time too!
More recently, City were knocked out in the 5th Round of the FA Cup by Wigan in 2018. Very much in the modern era, and Wigan were in League One just as we are now.
Never mind the “typical Orient” affliction that Mr Wellens is currently striving to rid us of, one of the most “typical City” moments was when two months after they became the only team to beat Chelsea in the latter's record-breaking 2004/05 Premier League campaign, they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Oldham, then of the third tier.
Vincent Kompany once gave £300,000 from his testimonial to a council backed homeless charity. How kind! Although the council subsequently ruled that he didn’t have to include affordable housing in his property development. You scratch our back, we’ll massage yours?
Saturday’s match is the first time that Orient will ever be broadcast live on the BBC. MASSIVE!
Some older readers will remember that Erling Haaland’s old man also played for City. He once claimed that his career was ended by a tackle he received from Roy Keane, even though it was an injury to the other knee that led to his retirement. Perhaps he thought no-one would notice the difference?
Haaland Jnr recently signed an astonishing 9.5yr long contract extension with City – which is almost exactly 115 months long, fact fans. This could prove rather difficult to untangle should City be relegated to the National League as a result of the commission currently considering their malpractice.
Mind you, they have indicated that if they are censured and/or reigned in by the new Regulator, then they’ll take their ball home with them and set up a breakaway Global competition. Don’t forget they have tried this before.
So it’s pretty clear that the people running City think they’re bigger than the sport in this country, that the rules we adhere to don’t apply to them, and they are the real enemy of everything we hold dear.
Since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, City have spent over £2 billion on transfer fees alone – and that’s just the money we know about.
Indeed, their net transfer spend since the inception of the Premier League is second only to Chelsea, who came into money from a highly dubious foreign source 5 years before them.
This is part of the reason why, for a long time, their matches against Chelsea were referred to by some mischievous types as El Plastico.
In spite of all their extravagance, City claim to have made a £74 million pre-tax profit last season. Shape up Mr Devlin! Now that American democracy is under attack, surely there’s some murky deals to be done with “partners” over there? Tarriffs permitting, of course.
In completely unrelated matters, massive props should go to the Man City commercial team who in 2022 derived more than half of their global commercial income from Etihad, Visit Abu Dhabi, Nexen (partners with the UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund), ExPo 2020 Dubai, Wega, Socios (“a blockchain-based platform for sports and entertainment organizations to monetize their fan bases”), and Emirates Palace. How DO they do it? Incredible!
Your reminder that four of their top ten sponsors are linked to the UAE, including the stadium and shirt sponsor Etihad. Sheikh Mansour is the current Deputy Prime Minster and Vice President of the UAE, and a member of that nation’s ruling family – no, it is not a democracy.
To be fair, the Club itself has admitted that just 1% of its fanbase is actually based in the UK. So much for United not being from Manchester eh?
The current owners of City have build a shady global network, owning clubs in every continent except for Africa (hmm). Aside from City, they also own New York City FC in the US, Melbourne City FC in Australia, Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Montevideo City Torque in Uruguay, Girona in Spain, Sichuan Jiuniu in China, Mumbai City FC in India, Lommel SK in Belgium, Troyes in France, Palermo in Italy, and EC Bahia in Brazil. Bolivia’s Club Bolivar is also part of the family but are listed as a partner club. Don’t get any daft ideas Coley!
Mind you, while City are apparently making annual profits of more than £70million, the wider City Football Group make losses of £112million. How curious!
They really do have some terrible luck when it comes to their choice of official partners. Birds of a feather? You might say that, we couldn’t possibly comment.
But every now and again though, the Club does display some disarming self-awareness.
When, in 2023, Jude Bellingham was considering his next move, he supposedly rejected overtures from City because he regarded them as a “plastic club”
The City fanbase was so unappealing to Emmanuel Adebayor when he was playing for them that he once ran the entire length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the away fans instead.
Our neighbours at West Ham were obviously watching closely when City used their lovely new gifted stadium to attract new ownership. In 2007 Thaksin Shinawatra was an early prototype for lots of questionable foreign money, laundering and sportswashing that has followed.
City’s final game under Shinawatra’s ownership saw them lose 8-1 to Middlesbrough, which was a fitting end to his time there, and a sequel to the coup which overthrew his regime in Thailand.
There’s no 'si' sound in Japanese, so “Manchester City” in Japan is known as “Manchester Shitty”.
If you think some of Orient’s recruitment has been sketchy over recent years, think on this: City paid £42m for Kalvin Phillips, gave him a 6 year contract, and he only got his first league start in the final fixture of his first season. 6 months later he was sent on loan to W*** H** and hasn’t played for City since. More money than sense, some people.
They’ve a long tradition of this. In 2002, they signed Matias Vuoso for £3.5m, who complained that Manager Kevin Keegan never spoke to him, and didn’t play a single minute during his only season at the club.
City are the only team to both score and concede over 100 goals in the same season (1957-58).
The country remained strangely unmoved when City won the Treble, as everyone knew it was a bit of a sham. Technical perfection on the pitch may excite professionals, but it leaves a lot of ordinary punters cold – especially when they understand what it’s been built on, and what it means for the game in general.
Jonathan Liew understood this, writing earlier that season that “the overwhelming sensation here for the neutral is indifference, a shrug at the inexorable inevitability of hard power. Everybody in this sport is tainted a little, and even on this unlevel playing field City fans have earned their moment of consummate triumph. By the same token, nobody else is obliged to feel anything about it whatsoever.”
It is well known that Pep Guardiola is currently going through a divorce. Which begs they question – who cheated? Her? Him? Or the entire football club? The Premier League is likely to adjudicate before the divorce court.
Dave Dodd and his team at the Supporters Club will be relieved that Orient has a proper Manager who understands fan culture. Unlike at City.
Of course, there are far bigger wrong ‘uns with links to City, such as mega-nonce Barry Bennell
They had a few problems with Benjamin Mendy too.
And it’s not just blokes who are menaces at City either.
City are past masters of inflating attendances and making numbers do strange things to tell stories, providing inspiration to everyone from Donald Trump to Leyton Orient.
They make official Club announcements when they sign up teenage American Fortnite players.
As recently as 2023, even after all their trophies, Hollywood superstars still knew City’s real place in the pecking order. Even “Pep” knows it to be true.
above: those seats look a bit… red?
Denis Law, who died recently, is more well-known for his time at United – but he did have a couple of spells at City. He famously scored for them against United in 1974, though this was not in fact the reason United took a trip to Brisbane Road a few months later, as they had already been relegated thanks to results elsewhere.
This weekend will be the first time that we’ve played the reigning Champions since 1972, when we faced Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
In the FA Cup, 45% of the gate receipts are paid to the away team. So City will be making around £100,000 from the tickets that we have bought for this match, and have not offered to donate any of this to the lower division side, as bigger Clubs have been known to do. Obviously they desperately need the coin.
Keep Politics Out Of Football alert!! City opportunistically took advantage of Rishi Sunak calling a surprise election last year (which temporarily derailed the establishment of a Football Regulator) to launch an aggressive counter-claim against the Premier League, claiming “persecution”. This was a factor in further delays to the financial settlement that was being negotiated. Yes, this has affected Orient directly.
In their counter-claim against the Premier League, City say the rules penalise clubs who have “lower-profile sporting histories”. Freudian admission there?
Are City the most unfairly persecuted Club in the world? They certainly seem to think so. Maybe Donald Trump could be their next celebrity fan – it seems a good fit.
Oh yeah, celebrity fans – let’s not forget Syd Little and Eddie Large. Syd was last seen by Orient fans waiting tables in his restaurant in Fleetwood. Now that’s the real City.
True Blues understand that all the changes the Club has been through have caused a lot to be lost: last year Liam Gallagher said “I don’t go and watch them anymore. I don’t really like the Etihad. I don’t dig it man, it’s like going and watching the fucking opera. The last time I seen City I got told to be quiet by some fucking donut who was too busy looking at his menu. I was jumping up and down and he went, ‘Can you be fucking quiet?’ It must have been interfering, like messing with his brain; he didn’t know whether to have the prawns or the fucking caviar"
Of course, not everything was better in the old days. Professional racist bigot Bernard Manning was once one of their highest profile celebrity supporters – and what a “brand” he was. Mind you, he had a decent line in City jokes tbf [WARNING: OFFENSIVE CONTENT]
Some of Manning’s humour was so vile, he’d fallen out of favour even by the 1980s. You‘ll find no better example of the real dynamic in Manchester than when Manning was interviewed by Mrs Merton (Caroline Aherne) in 1998: “hands up who’d like Bernard more if he wasn’t racist?”
Last one, we promise – but this is quite funny (no co-incidence that some of his advocates on this were massive wrong ‘uns too)
Including Stuart Hall, who also happened to be a City fan.
Rui Pinto – a key whistleblower in the case against City remains in a witness protection programme due to the threats made against his life.
City say that they have “irrefutable” evidence that will clear them, and are “looking forward to putting the matter to rest”. Indeed, they are so convinced of their innocence that they fought tooth and nail to avoid having the hearing in the first place, disputing the jurisdiction of the Premier League’s arbitrators and refusing requests to disclose information — and then they went to the High Court to try to prevent the public from finding out about their reticence. Totally normal behaviour for those with a clear conscience. Or any sort of conscience.
While Orient spent the second half of 2024 trying to squeeze extra pennies out of every last atom of the club, it was also a record year for spending on litigation by the Premier League. Football really does seem to have its priorities all wrong.
A recent study claimed that City have the fewest pubs (two) within a mile of their stadium of any Premier League club. The data looks a bit iffy, but our own research confirmed that this is one metric on which Orient are well ahead.
When European teams come to Manchester to play City, United's museum and stadium tour is always very busy with those same fans on the day of the game.
In a more meritocratic age, players with talismanic qualities could eventually go on to become the Chairman of the Club that they played for. Francis Lee did precisely this at City, after making millions of pounds by manufacturing bog roll. We expect Theo Archibald to do something a bit more creative.
Finally - a question. In this age of oligarchy – can Abu Dhabi use their astounding wealth to distort our national game to their own ends, or can the legal power of our state preserve some of what’s good for it? Time will tell, but the next battle between the forces of good and evil takes place tomorrow at Brisbane Road…
pictured above: Ferran Soriano’s inbox, earlier today
Didn't see Syd in Fleetwood but the owner of the chip shop we had lunch in had a gold disc on the wall as he co-wrote Agadoo.
Brilliant! Up the 'Ear and Up the Os!