<P> Members of St. Mark's Church of England, West Gorton, Manchester, founded the football club that would become known as Manchester City, for largely humanitarian purposes . Two church wardens sought to curb local gang violence and alcoholism by instituting new activities for local men, whilst high unemployment plagued East Manchester, specifically Gorton . All men were welcome to join, regardless of religion . </P> <P> A church cricket club had been formed in 1875, but no equivalent for the winter months existed . To rectify this, and as part of Rector Arthur Connell's general push to intervene in social ills, church wardens William Beastow and Thomas Goodbehere started a church football team called St Mark's (West Gorton) (sometimes written as West Gorton (St Mark's)) in the winter of 1880 . </P> <P> The team's first recorded match occurred on 13 November 1880, against a church team from Macclesfield . St. Marks lost the match 2--1, and only won one match during their inaugural 1880--81 season, with a victory over Stalybridge Clarence in March 1881 . </P> <P> City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division . They went on to claim their first major honour on 23 April 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers 1--0 at Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup; City narrowly missed out on a League and Cup double that season after finishing runners - up in the League but City became the first club in Manchester to win a major honour . In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1906, including captain Billy Meredith, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United . A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to their new purpose - built stadium at Maine Road in Moss Side . </P>

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