Manchester City v Burnley

Burnley were already four years into league football before City played their first match.

Burnley had been a founding member of the Football League in 1888. Manchester City, then known as Ardwick, joined the league in 1892, and the two Lancashire clubs began a fixture that would span three centuries. Both drew their support from the industrial heartlands of the North West, and early meetings were fiercely contested affairs played on muddy pitches in front of flat-capped crowds.

A club barely ten years old, yet 61,000 souls watched them lift the Cup.

City beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at Crystal Palace to lift the FA Cup for the first time, watched by over 61,000 spectators. It was a statement of intent from a club barely a decade old in its current form. Burnley, meanwhile, were establishing themselves as a solid First Division outfit. The two clubs would spend much of the early 20th century in the same division, building a rivalry rooted in geographical proximity and shared ambition.

Thirty matches without defeat; for a small-town club, that was a statement no giant could ignore.

The 1920-21 season belonged to Burnley. They went on a remarkable 30-match unbeaten run from September to March, a record that would stand for decades, and claimed the First Division championship. It was the high-water mark of Burnley's early history and proof that a small-town club could compete with the giants. City, by contrast, were yo-yoing between divisions, a pattern that would become uncomfortably familiar.

A town of 80,000 souls outran the industrial giants to lift the First Division title on the final day.

Under Harry Potts, Burnley won the First Division title in 1959-60, pipping Wolverhampton Wanderers on the final day. It was a triumph for a club with a population of just 80,000, competing against the industrial powerhouses of English football. The Clarets also reached the FA Cup final in 1962 and the European Cup quarter-finals. Manchester City, meanwhile, had won the FA Cup in 1956 but were struggling for consistency in the league.

Mercer and Allison's partnership brought City four trophies between 1968 and 1970, a golden era that transformed the club.

The partnership of Joe Mercer as manager and Malcolm Allison as coach transformed Manchester City. They won the First Division title in 1967-68, followed by the FA Cup in 1969, the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970. It was City's golden era. Burnley were still in the top flight but beginning a slow decline that would eventually take them to the bottom of the Football League.

Burnley needed a single win to stay in the Football League; thankfully, they got it.

In 1985, Burnley were relegated to the Fourth Division, the lowest tier of English professional football. On the final day of the 1986-87 season, they needed a result against Orient to avoid dropping out of the Football League entirely. They won 2-1. Manchester City's own humiliation came later: relegated to the third tier in 1998, they found themselves playing at places like Lincoln and Macclesfield. Two proud clubs, both brought to their knees.

Eight decades at Maine Road, then a Commonwealth Games stadium. City's ambitions had outgrown their postcode.

City left Maine Road after 80 years and moved into the City of Manchester Stadium, built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The 48,000-capacity ground (later expanded to over 53,000 and renamed the Etihad Stadium) gave City a modern home befitting their ambitions. Burnley, back in the second tier under Stan Ternent, were rebuilding more modestly at Turf Moor, a ground they had called home since 1883.

Sovereign wealth meets shoestring; Burnley lasted one season before City's millions made the gap plain.

Following the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover of Manchester City in September 2008, the financial landscape shifted dramatically. When Burnley won promotion to the Premier League in 2009 under Owen Coyle, they arrived in a division where City were spending hundreds of millions on players. The fixture became a study in contrasts: one club backed by sovereign wealth, the other running on a shoestring. City won both league meetings that season as Burnley were relegated after a single campaign.

Seventh place and a European campaign, built on a budget City might spend on a single signing.

Under Sean Dyche, Burnley won promotion in 2014, went down, then came straight back up in 2016 and stayed for six seasons. They became the Premier League's great overachievers, finishing seventh in 2017-18 and qualifying for the Europa League on a fraction of City's budget. Trips to the Etihad rarely yielded points, but Dyche's well-organised, combative sides never made it easy. The fixture became a reliable test of City's patience against Burnley's resolve.

The legendary former captain returning to the Etihad as a rival manager is the sort of subplot only football can produce.

In 2022-23, Manchester City won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League to complete a historic Treble. That same season, Vincent Kompany, City's legendary former captain, managed Burnley to the Championship title and promotion back to the Premier League. The 2023-24 season saw Kompany's Burnley face his old club at the Etihad, adding a layer of personal narrative to an already storied fixture. Burnley were relegated that season, but the connection between the two clubs had never felt closer.