1896/97 SEASON REVIEW

Two players were brought in at the start of the season, defenders Dick Ray from Macclesfield and Billy Holmes from Chesterfield.
City played one pre-season friendly, losing 1-0 at home to Preston.
On the opening day of the season The Blues earned a creditable 1-1 draw against Woolwich Arsenal at Hyde Road, before another 1-0 defeat at home in a friendly against Everton.
Back to the bread and butter of Division 2 and 1-1 draw at Gainsborough Trinity then two games at Hyde Road saw a 4-1 win over Darwen and a 3-0 victory against Lincoln.
City finished September unbeaten, drawing 2-2 at Blackpool. The early Division 2 table showed The Blues third five points behind leaders Newton Heath with two games in hand.
October was slightly different as they failed to win a game, first drawing 0-0 at home to top of the table Newton Heath then a 3-3 draw at Notts County. The Blues first loss of the season was a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle.
Two further defeats followed, 3-1 at Grimsby and 4-1 against new league leaders Notts County at Hyde Road, where new signing from Bolton, John Gunn, made his debut for the Blues. City had now slipped to ninth with a third of the season gone.
Entering November City got back to winning ways at Hyde Road with a 4-2 victory over Blackpool and Burton Swifts were beaten 3-1, however then lost 3-2 at Walsall.
To bolster the squad Fred Williams moved to Hyde Road from South Shore, and he scored on his debut as Burton Wanderers were beaten 2-1 in Manchester.
December started with a break from league football with two friendlies at Hyde Road, South Shore were beaten 6-0 and Sheffield United won 3-1.
Back in the league City beat Grimsby 3-1 at home to move into the Festive fixtures fifth in Division 2 with 17 points from 15 games, 9 points behind leaders Notts County.
Unfortunately Christmas wasn’t full of good tidings for City as they lost 2-1 at Newton Heath on Christmas Day and 5-0 at Burton Swifts on Boxing Day.
New Years Day 1987 saw City beat Small Heath Alliance 3-0 and then the next day they beat Dresden United 3-0 in a friendly and William Gillespie scored a brace in first game for City on the day he was transferred from Lincoln, both games were played at Hyde Road.
Walsall were then beaten 5-0 again in Manchester, but Darwen beat City 3-1 at Barley Bank, both league games.
The final game in January saw The Blues dumped out of the FA Cup in the first round as Preston thrashed them 6-0 at Deepdale.
City played just three league games in February, losing 3-0 at Newcastle, then winning 1-0 at Lincoln and 4-1 at home to Gainsborough Trinity.
March saw just another three league games; a 1-1 draw at Burton Wanderers, a 4-0 victory at home to Leicester Fosse, and a 2-0 defeat at Loughborough Town. City also beat Sunderland 2-1 in a friendly at Hyde Road.
April started with three further friendlies, a 4-1 defeat at Stockport was followed by a 5-0 win over West Manchester in the semi-final of the friendly Manchester & Salford Cup, and finally a 2-0 defeat at Oldham.
With three league games left to play City had nothing to play for as they entered the congested Easter period.
On Good Friday City drew 1-1 at home to Loughborough Town, then in a friendly on Easter Saturday The Blues lost 2-1 at Blackpool and in the penultimate league game of the season The Blues lost 3-1 at Small Heath Alliance on Easter Bank Holiday Monday.
A return friendly against Blackpool at Hyde Road ended in a 2-1 victory for The Tangerines and in the last league game of the season City won 2-1 at Woolwich Arsenal to finish tenth in Division 2 with 30 points from 30 games.
The last game of the season was the friendly Manchester & Salford Cup Final as Newton Heath beat City 5-2 at Hyde Road.