ARDWICK 1893-94 Season
Ardwick finished the season in thirteenth position in the Second Division with eight wins, two draws and eighteen defeats. The club had struggled throughout the season and after the first few matches, the highest position, which they had reached in the table was tenth. If Ardwick had managed a draw in the league match at Hyde Road on 7th April 1894 against Crewe Alexandra, Ardwick would have finished in twelfth position and outside the re-election places. City were the fifth best supported team in the Second Division after Woolwich Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United and Walsall Town Swifts.
The management of the club had been poor with the committee failing to keep proper financial control. Ardwick could not continue for the club had debts which could not be repaid by the members of the committee who were responsible for them. The club’s financial position had deteriorated when the club lost the financial backing of Stephen Chester Thompson. Although the club had been reasonably successful in the 1892-93 season, the club still had debts of several hundreds of pounds, which had been carried forward to the current season. The club had not played well in 1893-94 season and had lost a lot of support. When financial statements were issued in January 1894, it was clear that the club’s weekly wage bill of £34 could not be met from the gate receipts. Another problem was that Ardwick only had three league matches at Hyde Road in 1894, two of them being at the end of the season. The club’s financial difficulties resulted in most of the best players leaving the club between December 1893 and January 1894.
It seemed from the report in the Umpire on 8th April 1894 that the Ardwick committee had not met during the period from mid-October 1893 until the beginning of April 1894. The committee had been prepared to leave Joshua Parlby to run the club until the end of the season and the club would then have been allowed to die. Parlby resigned from the Ardwick Committee in early April. When steps were being taken to form Manchester City, John Allison, Lawrence Furniss and other members of the Ardwick committee held meetings at the beginning of April to make some effort to continue Ardwick. Following a meeting on 10th April 1894, an application was made by Furniss, on behalf of the Ardwick committee, to the Lancashire Football Association on 11th April to delay Manchester City’s application for affiliation. However, City’s application was granted subject to evidence that they had a ground. (M/c. Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Co. granted a lease of the Hyde Road ground to Chesters Brewery on 17th April and Chesters agreed to sub-let the ground to City). Ardwick’s debts and the club’s difficulty in obtaining a new tenancy of the Hyde Road ground prevented any further action.
Ardwick was defunct and did not apply for re-election to the Second Division. It was sad to see the demise of Ardwick. Gorton was formed in October 1884 and the name of the club was changed to Ardwick when the club moved to the Hyde Road Ground in 1887. The club had grown rapidly from the time Lawrence Furniss and John Allison had gone to Scotland in the summer of 1890 to recruit players, but the financial support provided by the president, Stephen Chesters Thompson, through Chesters Brewery Company Limited, ended in 1892. The club lacked capital and did not have sufficient income to meet expenditure. Support dwindled with poor results. The members of the Ardwick committee were responsible for the club’s debts. Lawrence Furniss was secretary up to 1893 and personally met some of Ardwick’s debts amounting to seventy pounds. Joshua Parlby, when he was secretary in 1893-94, gave some personal guarantees. On Wednesday, 12th September 1894, Manchester City played a friendly match against Burnley at Hyde Road with the proceeds to be used to pay off the debts of Ardwick, which were guaranteed by Joshua Parlby and a few other members of the committee. Joshua Parlby already had a court judgment against him for a debt of £18. There was criticism of the supporters when only about £20 was collected at the gate for Joshua Parlby had worked very hard to keep Ardwick alive until the end of the season.
2. MANCHESTER CITY Formation - April/ May1894
Manchester City was formed as a limited company on 16th April 1894. Joshua Parlby, the last secretary/ manager of Ardwick in 1893-94, persuaded John Chapman to be the leading promoter in the formation of City and the club’s first chairman. Chapman and Parlby were supported by some of the Ardwick season ticket holders. Parlby was appointed the first secretary/ manager of City. He was elected a member of the Football League’s Management Committee and his considerable influence and skill was instrumental in City being elected to the Second Division on 21st May 1894 even though the club had no players at that time. Parlby quickly got together a new team which included 3 former Ardwick players (Dyer, Bowman and Milarvie). 4 other Ardwick players joined City between August 1894 and November 1895 (Ferguson, Robson, Davies and Morris).
The connection between Ardwick and City was very strong, not only in the formation of City, but 3 former committee members of the Ardwick committee became directors of City (Parlby, Furniss and Allison). City are the direct successors to Ardwick and there are direct links from St. Mark’s first known match against Macclesfield Baptists on 13th November 1880 to Manchester City.
3. ARDWICK’S Last Matches
Ardwick played 2 matches after City was formed but before City had signed any players. On 18th April 1894 Ardwick lost 2-0 to Sheffield United at Hyde Road before a poor attendance of 200 spectators in a match held “to help the Ardwick Committee meet some of their heavy financial liabilities.” Ardwick’s last match was a scoreless draw away against Stockport County on 28th April 1894.
