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Since their inception in 1880 by Rev. Arthur Connell and William Beastow as ''St. Mark's (West Gorton)'', Manchester City F.C. have developed a loyal, passionate and dedicated following. Evolving from a cricket team which aimed to unite the community in industrial east Manchester, St. Mark's changed to ''Ardwick F.C.'' before settling on Manchester City F.C. on 16 April 1894. Despite finishing fifth in English football's top division, the club were the third best supported team in English football by average league attendance in the 2009–10 season and have the second longest-supporting fans in the Premier League. In the 2010–11 season, they were one of only five Premier League clubs to sell out their 36,000 season ticket allocation, the maximum allocation permitted in proportion to Eastlands' capacity. Manchester City supporters are distinguishable by their sky blue, a colour which is only used by a handful of professional football clubs in England. The City supporters' song of choice is a rendition "Blue Moon" and are famous for their inflatables, normally yellow bananas which are still occasionally seen today at various games, often when City are on a cup run. The inflatables were initially started as a humorous laugh by numerous City fans after a City player Imre Varadi was nicknamed ''banana'' hence the inflatable bananas. Other inflatables soon followed aimed at putting goodwill back into football during the dark days of English football hooliganism and stadium riots and the craze soon caught on with other clubs following suit and even dressing up the inflatable bananas.〔 The club have been previously branded as "everyone's second favourite club"〔 due to their reputation as being one of the most tumultuous and unpredictable teams in English football with an innate ability 'to do things the hard way'.〔 Supporters refer to inconsistent results and unexpected events as "Typical City", or "City-itis" and media often refer to City as a "soap opera" club. Historical events and results labelled as "Typical City" include being the only team to score and concede 100 league goals in one season (1957-58) and the only reigning champions in English football to be relegated. However, despite anguish, many City fans regard success and failure as part of being a loyal and real football supporter and specifically what it means to be a Manchester City supporter. Manchester City still retain the highest home attendance of any club in English football history, as 84,569 fans packed Maine Road for a sixth round FA Cup tie against Stoke City in 1934 (City went on to win the FA Cup that season). The ground was packed two and a half hours before kick-off, as supporters sat down on the touchline only yards from goalkeeper Frank Swift and the magnitude of the crowd caused a crush barrier to collapse causing a few injuries. Since then, the club has moved to the Eastlands (also known as the Etihad Stadium) near to where the club was formed in 1880. It has gradually gained a reputation as a modern atmospheric stadium despite fans initial reservations about moving from the famous Maine Road which although atmospheric was considered to be in a dilapidated state. ==Demographics== In a 2007 Premier League survey, Manchester City fans had the second greatest proportion of long-serving supporters after Everton with 55% of those Manchester City fans questioned having attended games at City for 25 years or more (versus Everton's 57%), both above the Premier League average of 44%.〔 Despite the club's wealth, Manchester City have very strong working class roots which still remains today. A 2002 report by a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University found that while it was true that a higher proportion of City season ticket holders came from Manchester postcode areas (40% compared to United's 29%), there were more United season ticket holders, the lower percentage being due to United's higher overall number of season ticket holders (27,667 compared to City's 16,481). However, the report warned that since the compiling of data in 2001, the number of both City and United season ticket holders had risen hugely; expansion of United's ground and City's move to the City of Manchester Stadium have caused season ticket sales to increase further. The 2002 report has lost most of its validity as both clubs season tickets sales have fluctuated further as of 2010, with United selling 52,000 season tickets and City selling out all of its allocated 36,000 season tickets. A 2012 survey by local newspaper the ''Manchester Evening News'' aimed to establish the spread of Manchester City and Manchester United in Greater Manchester, which consists of ten metropolitan boroughs with a combined population of 2.6 million. The survey found that Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Salford and Trafford had a majority of United fans while Stockport, Tameside, Oldham and Wigan were found to have a small majority of City fans. The survey demonstrated that there is a general east-south support for Manchester City and north-west support for Manchester United which correlates with the location of both clubs respective stadiums. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Manchester City F.C. supporters」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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