Manchester City FC

Manchester City's pre-takeover history is a story of wild oscillation between brilliance and despair. The club won their first league title in 1937 and the FA Cup in 1956 with the legendary Bert Trautmann playing the final with a broken neck. The late 1960s and early 1970s brought a golden era under Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison: the league title in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969, and the European Cup Winners' Cup and League Cup in 1970.

But the decades that followed were defined by decline. Relegation in 1996 was bad enough; relegation to the third tier in 1998 was almost existential. City spent a season in what is now League One before beginning a slow climb back. Promotion to the Premier League came in 2002, but the club remained a mid-table presence for years, defined more by its loyal and self-deprecating supporters than by any on-pitch achievements. The move from Maine Road to the City of Manchester Stadium (now the Etihad) in 2003 provided a modern home, but it was not until the Abu Dhabi takeover that the club's trajectory truly changed.

The purchase of Manchester City by the Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008 transformed the club overnight. Sheikh Mansour's investment was vast and immediate: Robinho was signed from Real Madrid on deadline day for a British record fee, and the spending continued at an extraordinary pace.

Roberto Mancini delivered the FA Cup in 2011 - City's first trophy in 35 years - and then the Premier League title in 2012 in the most dramatic circumstances imaginable. Trailing 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers with injury time ticking away, Edin Dzeko equalised before Sergio Aguero's last-gasp winner triggered Martin Tyler's immortal commentary: "Agueroooo!" The goal clinched the title on goal difference from Manchester United and remains the single most iconic moment in Premier League history.

Manuel Pellegrini added another league title in 2014, but it was the appointment of Pep Guardiola in 2016 that would take City to an entirely different level.