Founded: 1880
Nickname: The Blues, Citizens
Stadium: City of Manchester Stadium
Capacity: 47,405
Although joining the Premier League in 1992, fans betting upon a team from Manchester have naturally chosen city’s rival Manchester United. For years, Man City was in the lower echelon of the Premier League, finishing the highest in ninth place on an infrequent basis. During the early tenure of the club from 1992 to 2000, the Citizens were a mainstay in the basement of the league, having being relegated on numerous occasions.
Conversely by the 2000/2001 campaign when former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan took over the squad, the club had new owners for the third time in eight years. Keegan would coach City for four years guiding the squad to 14th place just narrowly avoiding relegation. One of the first steps Keegan took when becoming Man City manager was to sign French star Nicolas Anelka for 13 million pounds.
This was not enough to save Keegan’s job as by 2005 he was replaced by Stuart Pierce who guided the team to consecutive ninth place finishes. Pierce would be replaced two years later by legendary coach Sven-Goren Eriksson who would then be replaced by Mark Hughes. Hughes would then be replaced by present manager Roberto Mancini in the 2009/2010 season.
As seen by the revolving door of managers, fans betting online for EPL games have a better chance of picking a manager then they do of seeing Man City win the league title. Although this is perceived as the case, aside from getting Mancini as the clubs manager, Man City and their fans caught another break in 2008/2009 as the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased City. This instantly turned the team from a poor team possibly folding to one of the richest in the Premier League. Abu Dhabi furthered their commitment to making City a winner by going out and buying the contracts of former United star Carlos Tevez and Brazilian phenom Robinho.
