1898

As 1898 drew to a close Newton Heath and across town rivals Man City were the top two teams in the 2nd div, with a team called "New Brighton Tower" in third. On boxing day the two teams faced each other the Heathens coming off a 9-0 thrashing of Darwen while City were also coming off a big win against Blackpool (4-2).

Confidence was high but it was City who came out the victors making short work of their neighbors in a 4-0 thrashing, Newton never recovered from this and finished the season in 3rd place 3 points behind Glossop North End and 6 points behind City who won the title and promotion to the first.

Once more they had challenged for promotion only to fall by the wayside. In five seasons in the second division they had never finished lower than sixth.