1903/04 SEASON REVIEW
Pre-season City brought in defender Sam Ashworth from Stoke and paid Glossop £250 for another defender Herbert Burgess, also joining City’s ranks was forward George Livingstone, who came in from Liverpool, outside left Tom Forman from Nottingham Forest and Joe Moffatt from St Mirren.
Tom Maley’s newly promoted side played one friendly as City drew 1-1 against Glasgow Rangers. Then in the league they got off to a great start beating Stoke 2-1 at The Victoria Ground, Derby 2-1 and Wolves 4-1 at Hyde Road then Notts County 3-0 at Trent Bridge. The early Division 1 table showed City top on maximum points.
The Blues also managed to play two further friendlies in September, losing 6-5 at Liverpool (this was a benefit game for Liverpool’s Jack Cox) and 3-1 at Glossop (arranged as part of the transfer of Burgess).
City couldn’t keep up the momentum in October as they lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield United and 1-0 at Newcastle, and although they beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Hyde Road they were thrashed 6-0 at Middlesbrough.
The club held a ‘behind closed doors’ EGM, and it was reported in the press that the board had discussed making funds available via a controversial share issue for a new ground that could accommodate up to 60,000 fans.
It looked like the result at Ayresome Park was a one off as City went on another great run, they beat Liverpool 3-2 at Hyde Road, then won 3-1 at Bury, 1-0 against Blackburn at home and 3-0 at Nottingham Forest. With a third of the season gone they were in a great position in Division 1, third on 18 points, just two behind leaders Sheffield United.
Despite two draws, 1-1 at Hyde Road against Sheffield Wednesday and 1-1 at Sunderland, The Blues then beat West Brom 6-3 at Hyde Road and Small Heath 3-0 at Muntz Street, moving into, what would be a disappointing Festive period City sat aloft of Division 1.
The Blues lost 3-1 at home to Everton on Boxing Day and two days later they lost 5-3 at new league leaders Sheffield United.
City kept up their title challenge in 1904 as they drew 1-1 against Middlesbrough and 2-2 against Stoke, both games at Maine Road, then beat Derby 3-2 at The Baseball Ground, the next game at Wolves was postponed due to a snowbound pitch, but The Blues kept winning, beating Notts County 3-0 at Hyde Road to be within two points away from league leaders Sheffield United with a game in hand.
The momentum continued in the FA Cup 1st Round as Sunderland were beaten 3-2 and then back in the league they won 1-0 at Aston Villa.
In the FA Cup 2nd Round City were drawn away at Woolwich Arsenal, and beat The Gunners 2-0.
The Blues stayed unbeaten in 1904 with a 2-2 draw at Liverpool, then despite a 0-0 home draw against Middlesbrough in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, in the replay at Middlesbrough City qualified for the semi-finals with a 3-1 victory.
City were in great form with the double still in their sights, they kept up the pressure in the league with a 5-2 win at Blackburn, then at Goodison Park they reached the FA Cup Final beating league leaders Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 in the semi-final, then back in the league they walloped Wolves 6-1 at Molyneux, The Blues were still in second place in the league, two points behind Wednesday with a game in hand.
Unfortunately City lost ground on the leaders as they were beaten at Sheffield Wednesday 1-0. Then Newcastle leapfrogged The Blues into second place as The Geordies won 2-1 at Hyde Road.
With six games to play it now looked unlikely that City would make up a four point gap on Sheffield Wednesday, however they beat Sunderland 2-1 at Hyde Road and then the board ‘gambled’ £800 to buy forward Irvine Thornley from Glossop, with the hope it would be the last peice of the puzzle that would bring The Double to Hyde Road.
Thornley made his debut at relegation threatened West Brom, but City were surprisingly beaten 2-1, then at home to Bury they won 3-0 and so with three league games left The Citizens were back in second place, two points behind The Owls.
in the next home game The Blues disappointedly drew 0-0 against Nottingham Forest, and brought in another player from Glossop, in the guise of Frank Norgrove, and he made his debut in a fine 4-0 win in The Blues’ penultimate game of the season at home to Small Heath and City went top of the table, one point ahead of Wednesday who still had two games to play
The excitement of the forthcoming Cup Final spread through Manchester. Over 16,000 City fans on 30 special trains travelled to London on the Eve of the final, and arriving at Euston early on a rainy Saturday morning they stayed encamped at the Station eating their picnics, until eventually at about 10am the sun appeared and the fans made their way through London to Crystal Palace.
City Directors and friends head to Crystal Palace
The game itself saw City beat Bolton 1-0 through a Billy Meredith goal, and after the game the City players were taken to The Garden Hall at Crystal Palace where they enjoyed a banquet attended by many dignateries and members of the government.
It was then a trip to Merseyside just two days later. Sheffield Wednesday had won their game in hand and so City had take at least a point from their game at Everton to keep their Double dream alive. Unfortunately they were beaten 1-0 and the League went to Wednesday and City finshed second on 44 points.
The Blues sent a strong side to play a post season friendly against a Hyde and District XI on behalf of The Mayor of Hyde’s Distress Fund, Hyde beat the new Cup holders 2-0.
It was reported that Billy Meredith bought each of City’s Cup winning side a new hat to celebrate the historic event.