The final day of the season is always one pencilled in the diaries for obvious reasons. It has a tendency to serve up plenty of drama and twists.
Here are five memorable final day clashes for the Blues…
Newcastle United (A) 1967/68
Going into the final game of this season, Joe Mercer’s City side were in the driving seat and a 4-3 win at Newcastle secured the club’s second league title, having finished two points ahead of arch-rivals Manchester United.
United were still in with a chance of retaining their title but a thrilling win for the Blues and a home defeat for United against Alan Brown’s Sunderland side meant the title was going to the blue half of Manchester.
This league title marked a shift in power and City went on to win three more trophies under the tutelage of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison.
Liverpool (H) 1995/96
One of the most strangest, comical and embarrassing days in the history of Manchester City. Alan Ball’s City side went in their final day encounter against Liverpool knowing that even victory would not guarantee Premier League football for the next season.
But with the way things panned out, a win would have been enough but a stroke of Cityitis occured.
City were two-nil down but staged a late comeback to get back on level terms, through goals from Uwe Rosler and Kit Symons.
Some dodgy information filtered into the ground that Wimbledon had scored against Southampton and the Blues kept the ball in the corner for a long period – thinking that they only needed a point. Niall Quinn hurried the City players from the bench as it soon emerged that Wimbledon hadn’t scored at all, but it wasn’t enough.
City were relegated and Alan Ball was dismissed from the job.
Blackburn Rovers (A) 1999/2000
A memorable away day for City fans as Joe Royle guided the Blues back to the Premier League.
City only needed a point from the game at Ewood Park but Blackburn dominated the first half and Jansen put them ahead before half-time.
Promotion rivals Ipswich, who hosted Walsall, had their noses up through Johnson.
Shaun Goater equalised for City in the 60th minute though, putting City back in control.
Christian Dailly put through his own net for Rovers before Mark Kennedy and Paul Dickov made it a dream away day for the thousands that packed into the away end at Ewood park, as well as they many who travelled down without access to the ground.
A truly historic day in the club’s history and one that paved the way for future success.
Charlton Athletic (H) 1984/85
City recorded an emphatic win at home to Charlton Athletic to pip Portsmouth and seal promotion to Division One.
A packed crowd of 47,285 crammed into Maine Road to witness a thrilling City victory. Going into the curtain-closer, Billy McNeill’s men were level on points with Portsmouth but had a five-goal swing in their favour.
City were thoroughly professional and made easy work of Charlton. Goals from Andy May, David Phillips (2), Paul Simpson and Jim Melrose meant they were the one’s celebrating as Portsmouth only managed a 2-o win a Huddersfield.
A Maine Road memory to treasure.
Queens Park Rangers (H) 2011/12
The most dramatic ending to a Premier League season we have, and probably will ever see.
City made hard work of what looked a fairly straightforward task and snatched the title from the hands of United, who recorded a routine 1-0 win at Sunderland.
City were cruising at half-time after Zabaleta pounced following lots of City probing and the job looked simple…
Joleon Lescott came up with a calamitous error to gift Djibril Cisse a goal for relegation-threatened QPR, and soon the unthinkable happened as Mackie rose highest on a rare QPR breakaway to head home.
It looked to be slipping away from City’s grasp but Dzeko gave City fans a glimmer of home when he nodded home from Silva’s corner in stoppage time.
Then it happened. De Jong to Aguero. Aguero jinked inside, to Balotelli, who fell under a defensive challenge but squeezed the ball to his strike partner. The Argentine skipped past the last-ditch attempt from QPR’s Taiwo and drove the ball in at the near post.
Pure elation for City fans as the Etihad erupted. What a way to end a 44-year wait to taste League glory.
