In the modern era of football, the vast majority of clubs have a mascot. They are often linked to the club in some way, especially if the club in question has a tie to an animal or other creature. The entire point of the mascot is to appeal to younger supporters, so they are often ones that look cuddly and cute.
Sometimes, the club doesn’t have a particular thing that the mascot can be based on, so they have to make up their own folklore to explain why the mascots are what they are. That is the case with Manchester City’s alien mascots Moonbeam and Moonchester, as we’ll explain.
Man City’s Moonbeam and Moonchester Explained
Moonchester and Moonbeam get a taste of Hollywood life! 🎥 #cityontour pic.twitter.com/3t2IYmnmIw
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 24, 2017
Although Manchester City as a football club was founded in 1880, the club enjoyed little success over the decades that followed. Constant promotion and relegation between the First and Second Divisions, as well as the Premier League and Championship, was all that the supporters could really look forward to. In the August of 2008, however, the club was taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Abu Dhabi Group as a sports-washing operation in order to improve the reputation of the nation-state that became the club’s new owners, with success following.
In spite of the success, the Cityzens continued to struggle to win over supporters, especially those of a younger age. One of the ways that clubs often manage to attract younger supporters is thanks to a mascot, with the likes of Mighty Red at Liverpool, Buzz and Buzzette at Brentford and Fred the Red at rivals Manchester United all helping to appeal to young fans. The exact time that Moonchester and Moonbeam were introduced isn’t clear, but they have gone on to become crucial parts of the club’s burgeoning folklore and are much-loved by the younger members of the fanbase.
What Are They?
Moonchester & Moonbeam are throwing the shapes 🕺#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/BZgp2vtWsB
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 22, 2023
For some reason, Manchester City have never released any sort of origin story for Moonchester and Moonbeam. The pair are officially aliens, blue in nature, who have large heads with strange eyes. Claiming to be from the planet ‘Blue Moon’, the amorphous blobs have had their names created in a linked fashion. It obviously isn’t hard to see where the male mascot, Moonchester, gets his name from. It is a play on Manchester, changing the ‘Man’ to ‘Moon’ as a reference to the song Blue Moon, which has long been the anthem of the City supporters.
Moonbeam, meanwhile, is the female alien and presumably takes her name from the fact that her male compatriot also has a name starting with ‘Moon’. Without the backstory explaining why it is that they travelled all the way from Blue Moon to the Etihad, perhaps it would be easier to understand their place in the footballing mascot lexicon. Instead, supporters are left wondering why, exactly, they exist other than in some sort of cynical attempt to win over young supporters who might otherwise decide to head off and support another team that has a cuddly mascot.
Controversies
In spite of their place as Manchester City’s beloved mascots, both Moonchester and Moonbeam have been caught up in controversies over the years.
Moonchester Charges £40 for Charity Event
In 2013, for example, Nathan Ashcroft got in touch with the club as he was organising a friendly football match in order to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Having been told by Manchester United that Fred the Red would appear for free, the roofing surveyor was shocked to learn that the Red Devils’ city neighbours wanted £40 an hour for Moonchester to attend the event, in spite of the fact that it was a charity occasion.
Given the fact that the club is owned by the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, who have virtually unlimited wealth at their disposal, Ashcroft was understandably taken aback at the suggestion that he would need to pay to get an appearance from the club mascot. He had already managed to persuade actors from North-West-based soaps such as Hollyoaks and Coronation Street to give up their time, so it came as a shock that one of the richest clubs in the world wanted payment. They said it was for Moonchester’s expenses and that the club didn’t receive any of the money.
Moonbeam’s ‘Whiplash’
In the March of 2025, it was Moonchester’s female companion Moonbean who was the subject of some controversy. Getting ready for a home match, the woman who played the character alleged that she had been ‘given a concussion’ by Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. She claimed that the striker, who stands at six foot four inches, knocked her around the head, giving her ‘whiplash’. When she complained to the club, she reported that she was laughed at and told ‘at least you can say Erling Haaland hit you’. As a result, she took her complaint to the police.
Having been offered the chance to go home, she decided not to but then said that she vomited and suffered pain in her neck and head. The following day, she underwent a CT scan at the accident and emergency of Salford Royal Hospital, but it showed no damage. A probe by the club said that Haaland ‘always does a gentle touch on the back or head of Moonbeam as recognition’, but that he did not cause her any injury. She usually worked in the ticket office and after the incident was told that she’d need to reapply for her job, after which she was informed that she was not successful.