Dubbed the world's richest club after being taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi in 2008, City have spent more than 300 million pounds building a team but trophies did not arrive immediately.
Supporters may have expected a Premier League title challenge given the amount of money splashed on the likes of Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko but on Tuesday they could at least cheer their side to a Champions League play-off spot.
Their somewhat sombre sounding club song "Blue Moon" was drifting its way across modest third division grounds just over 10 years ago as one of English football's sleeping giants plumbed new depths before re-awakening with a bang.
The blue half of the city are not quite there yet but beating United in the semi-final was a sweet moment for a club so long in the shadow of the Old Trafford powerhouse who could rather steal City's thunder by capturing a record 19th league title just before kickoff at Wembley.
"It will not be easy to prepare for the final. We used up a lot of energy against Tottenham," he told reporters.
"Saturday will be a very, very hard game. Stoke are a difficult team and it is important that we recover very well. If we think it will be an easy game, that will be a big mistake. If we concentrate, maybe we can win."
"GREATEST DAY"
Tony Pulis's side, who like City boast some of English football's most vociferous supporters, are an impressive eighth in the Premier League despite limited funds and overwhelmed Arsenal 3-1 on Sunday with the coach managing to keep his team's mind off the final.
"It may be the greatest day in the club's history next weekend," Pulis said.
