When we think about our Manchester City heroes or legends different fans will pick different players depending upon many things such as their age group. The older fans may pick the famous names from the past like Bell, Lee and Summerbee. While the younger fans will probably pick the likes of Aguero, Silva and Toure. And it’s obvious that all have contributed to what the club is today.
But when I think about City legends I can’t help but think back to 1999 and the season that culminated in the magical win at Wembley against Gillingham. In my opinion players like Shaun Goater, Paul Dickov and Andy Morrison also fall into this legends category.
After relegation to the old Division 2 in 1998 over 30,000 fans descended on Maine Road in August to see City beat Blackpool with a convincing 3-0 win. Despite this good start though results didn’t go that smoothly in the first half of the season with City stumbling around in mid-table. And one of the memories and probably the lowest point for any City fan came during this particular season when the team lost to Mansfield at Maine Road in the Auto Windscreens Cup in front of a paltry crowd of around 3,000 people – much to the amusement of the media. I am pretty sure that on the same night United were actually playing in the Champions League or maybe the old European Cup as it was then. It was hard to think at this point that things could possibly get any worse and the relationship between players and fans was on a downward spiral. I’d say this was probably the lowest point for me and I wondered if we would ever get back to the Championship, never mind the Premier League.
At this point, Joe Royle had clearly seen a lack of leadership in the team and had brought in Andy Morrison from Huddersfield, initially on loan and then for a bargain £80,000 fee shortly after. In addition, Gareth Taylor, Terry Cooke and Ian Bishop were all recruited and results improved significantly after Christmas. A 10 match unbeaten run followed although City were still 13 points away from the pace-setters.
In typical City style, the results in the second half of the season were fantastic and the team closed the group on the leading teams. Andy Morrison led the team from the front making a real difference, Terry Cooke on loan from United provided City with width and Shaun Goater couldn’t stop scoring. But it wouldn’t be City without a last minute slip-up. After clawing back the points difference with Walsall who were second to runaway leaders Fulham, the Blues then lost 2-1 at home to Wycombe meaning that promotion was going to have to be via the play-offs if it was going to be achieved.
An away 1-1 draw away to 6th place Wigan put City in the driving seat for the home leg. But a nervy night and a dubious goal from Shaun Goater saw the blues reach Wembley.
I don’t need to remind everyone what happened at Wembley. But I dread to think what the impact of another season in Division 2 would have had on City.
So when people think about heroes and the Aguero’s, Toure’s and Bell’s of this world, it’s important that we don’t forget where we would be now if we hadn’t beaten Gillingham at Wembley on that special day and that the Goater’s, Dickov’s and Morrison’s have played just as an important role in building the platform for what the club is achieving now. And if the club hadn’t won promotion that day, where would we be now?
