Every saint has a past: how man at heart of City’s first scandal became a United hero

Billy Meredith (second row, centre) captained Manchester City and scored the only goal in the 1904 FA Cup final, the club’s first major title. Photograph: PA

When the Manchester City decision finally dropped, the Guardian’s verdict was damning. “FOOTBALL SENSATION – MANCHESTER CITY’S GRAVE OFFENCES – HEAVY PUNISHMENTS”, the headline read. “It is now proved that the club had for years systematically broken the rules of the Football Association by very unscrupulous means.”

But these words weren’t written last Friday. Instead they were penned more than 120 years ago, at the culmination of English football’s first big illicit payments scandal.