User:AAFCPablo.ie/Ardwick AFC

It is widely accepted that Manchester City F.C. was founded as St. Mark's (West Gorton) in 1880 by Anna Connell and two churchwardens of St. Mark's Church, in Gorton, a district in east Manchester. St Mark's. were one of a number of football sides from east Manchester active in the 1880s. Between 1885 and 1887 they played home games on a field adjacent to the Bulls Head Hotel, on the border of Gorton and Reddish. The landlord of the Bulls Head demanded a rent increase in 1887, so the club sought an alternative venue. The club captain, Kenneth McKenzie, discovered an area of waste ground on Hyde Road, Ardwick, and informed the club committee. Lawrence Furniss, the club secretary, ascertained that the ground was owned by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company. Following an initial letter of enquiry by Gorton player Walter Chew to railway company estate agent Edwin Barker, Furniss and Chew negotiated a seven month lease at a cost of £10, and the club changed its name to "Ardwick A.F.C." to reflect the new location. A few weeks later, using materials provided by the nearby Galloway engineering works, a rudimentary football ground was ready for use. The ground had no changing rooms, and teams changed in a nearby public house, the Hyde Road Hotel, where the football club held business meetings. The ground's first seating area was built in 1888, with 1,000 seats, paid for by Chesters Brewery in return for the right to be the sole provider of alcohol inside the ground. Ardwick were admitted to the Football League in 1892. The first league match held at Hyde Road was a 7–0 Ardwick win against Bootle on 3 September 1892. Financial troubles in the 1893–94 season led to a reorganisation within the club, and Ardwick were reformed as Manchester City F.C.