AMONG all the mind-boggling stats which surrounded the recent Abu Dhabi United takeover of Manchester City, my favourite has to be the 1,469 per cent rise in the sales of blue tea towels announced by e-bay.

Clearly, City fans are letting the thought of all those oil dollars go to their head.

It wasn't always that way, though. This tale of two Cities began in the far more prosaic Victorian era when men were men, you got two points for a win and Sky was something you played under.

The teams first met after Manchester City won promotion to the top flight of English football in 1899.

Stoke held the upper hand in the early years, twice running out 3-0 victors. The first was in January 1902 thanks to goals from Sam Higginson, Arty Watkins and Frank 'Tinker' Whitehouse – the genesis of whose nickname remains shrouded in mystery, but makes one wonder if he shared proclivities with the same moniker applied to Claudio Ranieiri, or Russell Hoult.

The second came in December 1906. Jack Chalmers netted twice, while Tom Holford, who six months later would join the opposition, scored the third.

That win couldn't help Stoke's battle against relegation from the First Division, however, and within a year they had folded altogether, only to be reborn via the Birmingham and District League into a league club once again after the First World War.

Throughout the closedown of the league in the War, Stoke and Manchester City met regularly – their close proximity ensuring matches were commonplace.

Both clubs tended to win their home games, which were often close, but Stoke cut loose in one match in April 1917, winning 5-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Howell and goals from Arthur Bridgett and a Bob Whittingham penalty.

Stoke pulled off a famous FA Cup victory in February 1928, winning 1-0 at Maine Road, their first-ever victory at City's home. The goalscorer was Charlie Wilson, who was on his way to setting a club record of 38 goals in the season, which still stands today.

The FA Cup was to prove the battleground again in 1934 when the sides met in the quarter-finals in front of the largest ever British football attendance at a club ground.

More than 84,000 crammed into Maine Road, many of whom were there to see the talent of the young wing wizard Stanley Matthews.

Stan was on something of a goal spree, having netted in seven of Stoke's nine games since the turn of the year, including in all three of the Cup games thus far.

Sadly, the sixth-round tie proved to be Stoke's undoing as, on a bright afternoon, goalkeeper Roy John, blinded by the sunshine, allowed an Eric Brook corner to drift straight into the net for the only goal of the game. Manchester City went on to win the trophy, defeating Portsmouth 2-1 in the final.

Stoke got a revenge of sorts by returning to Maine Road in October 1935 to record a first league win at the old venue, with Jim Westland and Tommy Sale scoring the goals in a 2-1 victory.

Manchester City's time in the top flight came to an end after Stoke won a tight game 3-2 at the Victoria Ground in February 1938. Tommy Ward scored twice in that game, with Stan Matthews netting the winner.

Ward's case was an unusual one. A roaming, itinerant player, he appeared for Crystal Palace, Grimsby and Chatham before pitching up at Port Vale in the late 1930s. Stoke manager Bob McGrory gave him his moment in the spotlight by signing him on loan for a month. In that time, he played five games and scored four goals for the Potters, but strangely he returned to Vale at the end of his spell. Another missed opportunity in the litany in Stoke's history?

Once again, wartime saw the two sides meet regularly. In October 1941, Tommy Sale netted back-to-back hat-tricks as the team faced up on consecutive Saturdays. Stoke lost 3-4 at Maine Road, but triumphed 5-0 the following weekend at the Vic, with Fred Basnett and Syd Peppitt scoring the other goals.

Manchester City won promotion back to the top flight straight after the Second World War and once again hostilities resumed. Stoke began 1949 with a titanic 3-2 home defeat by Manchester City on New Year's Day.

Stoke then won nine out of their next 10 home games against the Blues and only five away over the next decade as they dominated proceedings.

But things got really interesting when Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison produced a wonderful side at Maine Road, which went on to lift the league title in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969 and both League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970.

They may have swept all before them in those three campaigns, but Stoke won four out of the six league games against the Blues.

Alan Bloor, Calvin Palmer and a Harry Burrows penalty gave Stoke a 3-0 victory early in the 1967/68 season, while the Potters did the double in 1969/70. Greenhoff and Ritchie scored at the Vic, while Terry Conroy netted at Maine Road.

But perhaps the greatest game of that era from Stoke's point of view came in September 1972 with a 5-1 home win, featuring Jimmy Greenhoff's first Stoke hat-trick. Further goals from Conroy and Geoff Hurst lit up the Victoria Ground gloom.

Again Stoke held the upper hand in the series. In February 1975, Tony Waddington's team produced one of their most complete performances in disposing of the Sky Blues 4-0 in the Victoria Ground mud, with Alan Hudson running amok. He set up two goals for Ian Moores, one for Hurst and then scored one himself. It was a true master class.

In the 1980s, meetings between the two sides tended to have strange twists to them. For example, in 1981 the sides met in a two-legged League Cup second-round tie. Each of the games ended 2-0 to the home side and, with extra-time goalless, it went to penalties.

In Joe Corrigan and Peter Fox, the teams had excellent goalkeepers, but neither managed to get near most of the spot-kicks. Lee Chapman skied his, while Fox did manage to keep one out. On and on the competition went, reaching 8-8 with either side having missed one.

It was down to the last outfield players. If they both scored, then the two keepers would be next up, but sadly the pressure told on Stoke winger Peter Griffiths, whose shot was parried by Corrigan. Big Joe later admitted he would have probably succumbed to the agony of it all himself and back-heeled his pen if he'd been forced to take it!

It was, at the time, the longest-ever professional penalty shoot-out in British football.

Then, of course, there was the famous 'inflatable banana' game of 1989.

For the uninitiated, this was neither a match played between two teams dressed as ripe Caribbean fruit, or one in which the players were suspended by yellow dirigibles.

Instead, as the inflatable craze of that season took a firm hold, visiting fans sported thousands of yellow blow-up bananas, while Stokies filled the Boothen End with Pink Panthers.

The visitors scored first, through Nigel Gleghorn, who would later serve Stoke with distinction. But the home side, with debutants John Butler and Dave Bamber to the fore, hit back with three second-half goals from Bamber, Chris Kamara and a George Berry penalty to record a famous victory.

The next magical moment came in August 1996 when Richard Forsyth and Mike Sheron netted the goals as Stoke snuffed out pre-season promotion favourites Manchester City 2-1. To add to our delight, everyone's favourite manager, Alan Ball, resigned as manager after the game.

It's best we gloss over the 2-5 home defeat, and the trouble surrounding it, which saw both clubs relegated in May 1998, at the end of Stoke's first season at the Britannia, but because of that ignominy the most recent two meetings of the clubs took place in the third tier of English football almost a decade ago.

Stoke led at half-time thanks to one of the most mysterious goals of the modern era. Not because of anything that happened on the pitch at all, but because Larus Sigurdsson's header from Kevin Keen's cross came when the sole TV cameraman at the game was changing a tape, so is not recorded for posterity.

In the second half, however, the hosts kick-started their season thanks to goals from Paul Dickov and Robert Taylor.

In the return, a month later, Stoke lost 0-1 in front of plenty of cameras as it was live on Sky TV. Defender Phil Robinson earned a red card as the Potters' slump down the table continued, while Man City gained momentum for their run to the play-offs where they would eventually earn promotion.

Since then, the two clubs' stories have taken utterly different paths. Stoke's own foreign takeover went belly up after a bit of early basking in the glory. Could it be the same fate will befall Mark Hughes, Robinho (when he remembers which club he's actually playing for) and the rest of the multi-billionaires from Manchester?

Whatever happens, there is almost never a dull moment when these clubs meet. Expect the unexpected in this one, anything from goals to hat-tricks to sackings and bananas!