On the day Manchester United won a record 19th league title, City fans can finally hold their heads high at the end of a week in which they also secured a place in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time.
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City's fifth FA Cup and first since 1969 was the first tangible reward for Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Al Nahyan, who bought the club in 2008 and has spent around 300 million pounds on new players.
"We won the FA Cup. It is an important trophy. We need to improve more to do another step but it was important to start to win because when you start to win, afterwards everything will be easier," City manager Roberto Mancini told reporters.
Stoke were unrecogisable from the team who thrashed Bolton Wanderers 5-0 on the same ground to reach the final for the first time and when they finally got sight of goal after 62 minutes City keeper Joe Hart blocked Kenwyne Jones's mis-hit close-range shot after a long ball caught out the City defence.
The mighty Ivorian, who also scored the goal which knocked out Manchester United in the semi-finals, put all his considerable power into a sweetly-struck half-volley and the result was surely one of the hardest shots to grace any of the 130 finals in the world's oldest cup competition. Stoke were unable to find a response and will have to settle for a place in the Europa League, a new adventure in itself.
"We've reached a level of performances over the last six or seven weeks," Stoke manager Tony Pulis said. "The greatest disappointment is that today we have not reached that level.
"They are disappointed with themselves for not reaching that level. Manchester City were the better team. They deserved to win the game."
City's long-suffering fans have their eyes on bigger things and will hope Saturday's success and their top-four finish are merely the launchpad for a new golden era to surpass their brief spell in the limelight more than 40 years ago.
"We want to
