From Balti Pies to the Biggest Prize E-Book

Steve Mingle

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The story so far. Manchester City end the 2003-04 season relieved at having narrowly escaped relegation. There've been highs and lows, but the lows have been desperate and the highs restricted to minor triumphs of promotions and occasional derby wins. Meaningful silverware hasn't been delivered since 1976. Kevin Keegan looks like he's lost the will to live, let alone manage City, and the transfer kitty is bare. Eight years later, they've won the Premier League in the final seconds of the most dramatic match in the history of football. From Balti Pies to The Biggest Prize relives the journey from perpetual also-rans to champions, from laughing stocks to a team to be feared, fuelled by the injection of unimaginable finance. The money has changed the calibre of the team on the field but how much has it changed its fanbase, its culture, its soul? Steve Mingle's book gives a unique perspective on exactly how it feels to be City today.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title Page

The Story So Far …

2004/05: His Ever Changing Moods

2005/06: Just An Illusion

2006/07: Being Boring

2007/08: The Bogus Man

2008/09: Welcome To My Nightmare

2009/10: Beginning To See The Light

2010/11: Rip It Up

2011/12: Football Is Really Fantastic

2012/13: The Man Who Fell To Earth

Postscript

Copyright

The Story So Far …

Thirty-seven years of City. It all started so well. League title. FA Cup. League Cup. Cup-Winners’ Cup. When you’re 12, you think the days of glory will never end, that it’s the way things are ordained. By the time you’re approaching 50, you can’t remember what it felt like to see your team win anything.

City have spent most of the last twenty-five years as football’s premier cock-up merchants, both on and off the pitch. Occasional glimmers of hope have been smothered by long spells of disappointment, depression and disaster – Big Mal’s second coming, thirteen years without a derby win, Alan Ball, third tier football. And, of course, no trophies whatsoever. Periodic glimpses of the light at the end of the tunnel have invariably turned out to be an oncoming train.

Arriving in 2001, Kevin Keegan has threatened as much as anyone to change things. Promotion back to the Premiership was achieved with a rare swagger, holding packed Maine Road crowds in thrall week after week. Some of it carried over to the top flight, with Maine Road’s final season embellished by a magnificent win in the derby and the chance to watch players of genuine class.

2003’s move to a shiny new home at Eastlands brought much anticipation, but the first season there ended up with yet another relegation flirtation. The trophyless year ticker climbed up to twenty-eight and there seemed no realistic prospect of it ever being reset.

Unless…

2004/05

HIS EVER CHANGING MOODS

Dedicated Follower Of Fashion

16 OCTOBER 2004, PREMIER LEAGUE: CITY 1 CHELSEA 0

City’s brush with relegation didn’t bode well for the new season, and the summer signings weren’t exactly the stuff of dreams, nor what we would have expected from Keegan – Danny Mills and Ben Thatcher. As brutal a combination of full-backs as even Sam Allardyce could have wished for, at least those in the front row seats could look forward to welcoming a few blood-splattered wingers.

A noticeably trimmer Robbie Fowler scored a beauty to put us ahead in our opening game against Fulham, only for us to concede a sloppy equaliser and finish with just a point. It took another three games to add to that tally, but we did so in some style with a 4-0 hammering of Charlton. The goals truly spanned the sublime to the ridiculous, with two superb Nicolas Anelka strikes supplemented by a comic cuts goal from Trevor Sinclair, as Dean Kiely witlessly hoofed a clearance against his backside right in the centre of the goalmouth. The star of the show, however, was Shaun Wright-Phillips, who produced some glorious wing play, a magnificent run and through ball to set Anelka up for his second and, to top it all, an effortless twenty-five-yarder which arrowed into Kiely’s top corner. Shaun was getting better and better, and the media clamour for an England call-up intensified.

A dreary home defeat to Everton was followed by a trip to the godforsaken Selhurst Park, and press speculation on Keegan’s future was mounting. He was notoriously capable of reaching breaking point on a whim, and the consequences of defeat to a Crystal Palace side odds-on for the drop could be very significant. Instead, City produced an accomplished display, fully deserving our first away win of the season, and Keegan was adamant that he wouldn’t be walking away under any circumstances, nor indeed that he ever had. Not quite how most of us remembered things, but maybe we shouldn’t believe everything we read …

By mid-October, we’d mustered just two wins from eight, all set for another season of mediocrity at best. The next game brought unbeaten Chelsea to Eastlands, and no one cared much for our chances. Always a highly anticipated fixture, if seldom one to bring us any joy, there was significant extra spice brought about by the prospect of our first sighting of the new superstar of British football.

José Mourinho had arrived in England to an unprecedented fanfare of publicity and hype, mostly of his own making. Proclaiming himself as ‘The Special One’, you wouldn’t put modesty at the top of his list of attributes, although at least initially it seemed that much of his bluster was delivered tongue in cheek and with a glint in the eye. There was almost universal agreement that this guy was a breath of fresh air, and in particular someone who wouldn’t be cowed when it came to taking on Ferguson. Indeed, he’d already seen United off when at Porto, his inflammatory celebration along the Old Trafford touchline instantly endearing him to right-minded football lovers everywhere.

On a drizzly Saturday teatime, City set about trying to become the first team to inflict defeat on Mourinho, indeed the first home team to score a goal against them. We got the chance to achieve the latter when Anelka was dragged down by Ferreira’s clumsy challenge for an obvious penalty, even if Howard Webb’s failure to bring out the red card was a big disappointment. Anelka stayed calm to bury the spot kick and instil a cup-tie atmosphere around the ground.

Despite the loss of Sun Jihai with a season-ending injury, City defended manfully in the face of increasing pressure, and restricted Chelsea to long range efforts from Frank Lampard. He was denied by David James and the woodwork, as an increasingly animated Mourinho, all brooding looks, stylish coat, designer stubble and chewing gum, watched on from the touchline. Rousing renditions of ‘that coat’s from Matalan’ echoed around the ground, although if truth be told I suspect it probably wasn’t.

Dunne and Distin both performed heroically to subdue Kezman and Gudjohnsen, illustrating that when the chips were down and they were both fully focussed, they were a central defensive pairing to match any in the division. The big problem for both of them was concentration; so often, a momentary lapse in an otherwise accomplished display would result in a fatal concession, and more points down the drain.

No chance of that today, though. City held out for a famous victory, the first English team to bloody Mourinho’s nose, and the on-pitch celebrations reflected how scarce these occasions appeared likely to be. The bounce in Keegan’s step had returned as he skipped gleefully into the tunnel, doubtless sensing that a corner had been turned. Surely he’d been at City long enough to know better?

Talk Of The Town

4 JANUARY 2005, PREMIER LEAGUE: ARSENAL 1 CITY 1

Shaun Wright-Phillips had made an inspired start to the season, and was rapidly reaching the status of a player you’d pay to go to see on his own. Against Barnsley in the Carling Cup, he’d produced an extraordinary performance, providing no fewer than four assists together with a wonderful dinked finish for a goal of his own. He’d won his first England cap, coming on as sub against Ukraine at St James’s Park, and marked the occasion with a trademark goal, drilled low across the keeper from just inside the box. A couple of weeks later he was back there as City faced a Newcastle team seemingly in disarray, the primary movers in the latest dust-up being Craig Bellamy and manager Graeme Souness. Why any club would want to entertain Bellamy heaven only knows, the epitome of a man who’d start an argument with himself in an empty room.

Shaun again excelled, and his two superb goals looked likely to bring us a point, with the score at 3-3 with just a few minutes to go. In contrast, Bellamy had made little impact on the match, until he prodded a late chance goalwards with little force or conviction. James dived to his left for a routine save, but the ball somehow passed between his hands to nestle agonisingly in the back of the net. Calamity James was back in town, and Bellamy’s redemption with the home faithful was instant. Football fans will forgive most things in return for a win. Even Alice bands.

Undeterred, Shaun continued in a rich vein of form, giving Portsmouth the complete runaround on their own turf, then clinching the points against Villa with a twenty-yard left-footer that went in like a shell. But although he was now clearly the main man, we still had plenty of other players capable of providing memorable moments, even if not always in the conventional sense.

Our Boxing Day trip to Goodison ultimately proved fruitless, but produced another classic goal celebration from Robbie Fowler. Taunted as ever by Evertonians about alleged substance abuse, he powered in a great header then ran away from the scene repeatedly patting the top of his head. Those who’d spent the previous evening honing their skills at Charades would instantly have bellowed ‘smackhead!’ If not quite as spectacular as his inspired touchline-sniffing antics a few years earlier, it was still a splendidly witty riposte which predictably caused the next day’s tabloids to explode in a frenzy of moral outrage. Tossers.

Two days later, it was Richard Dunne’s turn to step into the spotlight. West Bromwich Albion had proved to be ideally supine opponents, having mustered not a single threat on David James’s goal as we moved towards full-time 1-0 up. When a long ball was punted towards the City goal, James had the situation well covered. Dunne moved across, just to be on the safe side, with Robert Earnshaw the only Baggie in the vicinity. As the back-pedalling Dunne glanced across to check on James’s position, the ball clipped the outside of his foot and sped past the onrushing keeper towards the net. The connection was perfect; made deliberately by a striker it would have been feted as a piece of consummate skill. In Dunne’s case, it could only be described as an act of abject buffoonery. Earnshaw sprinted as never before in a futile bid to get a touch before the ball crossed the line; West Brom had thus salvaged a 1-1 draw from a game in which they’d not had a single shot on target.

Although results continued to be erratic, there was always a very real prospect that you’d go home from a City game talking about a flash of brilliance from SWP. A mazy dribble and ferocious thirty-yard daisy-cutter against Southampton sealed an important home win to bring in the New Year. Three days later, we travelled to Highbury to face our most testing fixture of the season, against champions Arsenal. By now, Shaun was receiving the media coverage his exploits merited and there was an extra element of intrigue in his visit to his stepdad’s old club.

Midway through the first half, Barton’s robust challenge allowed him to find Wright-Phillips, almost thirty yards out. A little touch to set himself, then he cut across the ball to deliver a majestic, swerving shot into Almunia’s top-right corner. Just stunning. The goal served as an inspiration for the whole team, and we produced the most accomplished performance I’d ever seen from a City side at Highbury. Arsenal pressed ever more strongly, but every City player was contributing and, as we moved into the final ten minutes, a moment of history – for me at least – beckoned. I’d never seen us win at Highbury.

Alas, Arsenal’s forward players were always capable of producing something out of the ordinary, and when Thierry Henry’s acrobatic overhead kick resurrected an attack which we’d looked to have snuffed out, Freddie Ljungberg was on hand to head home. Eight minutes left and, as they’d done to so many teams, Arsenal went for the throat. This time, though, we held on for a richly deserved point.

Normally, I’d have had mixed feelings about the result, since Arsenal were United’s main rivals for the title; with us stuck in mid-table, Arsenal’s two dropped points were more valuable to United than our point was to us. But our performance had been such that defeat would have been a real injustice, and I left the stadium beaming with pride at the way we’d played. Central to this was SWP, and not just for the goal. He’d been absolutely magnificent, and even now in my mind’s eye I can see him wriggling around then sprinting away from Patrick Vieira, to gasps from the home supporters.

On the tube journey back, we were surrounded by Gooners, and there was only one topic of conversation – Ian Wright’s lad. ‘What a player! We gotta sign this kid, surely Wrighty can have a word in his ear, what’s the point in staying at a dead end club like City?’ I smiled to myself, delighted at this rare acclaim for one of our players and also at their presumptuousness. Shaun was City through and through, his newfound status would see him on a healthy package, so why would he move? But as I thought about it more, and the way he’d fit into Arsenal’s fluid style of play and penchant for the swift counter-attack, together with the prospect of untold silverware, it became more a case of why wouldn’t he move? We just had to hope that his loyalty to City would reflect the years we’d spent nurturing his talents and, in the meantime, be grateful that we’d got an asset that top clubs coveted so dearly.

Arsenal’s dropped points appeared less significant when news came through that Spurs had held United at Old Trafford, but delight at this result soon turned to disgust when the facts became known. Roy Carroll had clawed back a shot from Pedro Mendes from so far over the line that it had virtually hit the netting, yet the officials had declined to give a goal. Cheating fucking bastards. When I saw the TV highlights, I could scarcely believe my eyes. It was shameful and inexcusable. I made a mental note of the referee’s name. A young guy called Clattenburg. Let’s hope he gets drummed out of the game before he can do any more damage …

Man Out Of Time

28 FEBRUARY 2005, PREMIER LEAGUE: NORWICH 2 CITY 3

FA Cup third round day fell just three days after the Arsenal game, and sentenced City to a local derby at Oldham Athletic. Not so long ago, these had been our league derbies as well, and much as I’ll always have an affection for Boundary Park, it wasn’t a trip I was looking forward to. The ground had changed beyond recognition – the one constant being that it was still bloody freezing – and after expending such energy at Highbury, we were ripe for a serious comedown.

Oldham had been in dismal form, but who wasn’t aware that form counts for nothing in the FA Cup? This was their biggest game since their golden age under Joe Royle a decade ago, and they’d be throwing everything at us. I shivered my way down Sheepfoot Lane with a sense of foreboding.

Latics were under new management, another ominous sign, and we conceded a sloppy early set-piece goal. Only as we entered the final stages did we begin to pose any real threat. It wasn’t enough. A few close shaves, some heroic saves, and once again we were foremost in the Saturday teatime headlines as stories of the day’s giant killings were trotted out with the usual sadistic glee.

This was a severe blow. The end of the first week in January, and our season was over. Too good to go down, too inconsistent to challenge for Europe, there was nothing to look forward to other than the hope of putting one over United and some more fireworks from SWP. And even that might be counterproductive, as it would cement the resolve of the likes of Arsenal to prise him away from us.

Games already had an end-of-season feel, and even the Eastlands derby was a strangely flat affair. United took the points courtesy of two Richard Dunne own goals, and Keegan’s body language had become ever more ‘can’t be bothered’. Hardly surprising with the team having so little to play for.

Unlike some of our opponents. Our Monday Night Football on Sky visit to Norwich City saw us face a team desperately striving to retain their place in the big time. They’d have regarded our visit as a must-win, and after twenty minutes it looked like they must win it, goals from Ashton and McKenzie giving them the perfect start. Keegan was shrivelled away in his Michelin Man coat on the touchline, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

Norwich, however, weren’t accustomed to the dizzy heights of a two-goal lead. A clumsy foul allowed Sibierski to convert a penalty, then some dazzling play from SWP produced a cut-back which Fowler dispatched with the aplomb of days of yore. We reached half-time all-square, with Sky viewers having enjoyed a thoroughly entertaining spectacle. And this was only the warm-up act. Coming back after a brief interlude, Marcus Buckland could hardly contain his mirth as he told viewers that there’d been some strange goings on while we’d been away.

We were then treated to the sight of Delia Smith in the centre circle, yellow and green scarf to the fore, microphone in hand. Clearly unstable and thoroughly lashed up, Delia launched into a passionate and barely coherent speech to her fellow Canaries, urging them to get behind the team. ‘This is a message to the best fussball suppoters in the world …We need a twelfth man here! …Where are you? … Where are you? … Less be havin’ you! … Come on!’ At least the folk in the posh seats now realised why tonight’s trifle hadn’t had the usual kick.

It was great stuff, but served only to cause the home support to be convulsed in laughter rather than inspiring their team to new heights, and the second half ambled along as if the players knew that nothing could upstage Delia’s majestic cameo. Then, two minutes from time, SWP picked up the ball on the right and fired a low cross towards the far post. Fowler, two yards out, moved in for the kill, but got his feet into a right old tangle, managing only to make almost accidental contact with the ball. The inadvertent disguise completely flummoxed Rob Green, who could only watch in anguish as the ball trickled slowly towards and over the line, with barely enough pace to reach the netting. A cruel blow for Norwich, an unexpected lift for us, and all seemed well in Keegan’s world as he chatted freely in post-match interviews.

A week later, Bolton were the visitors for a match inexplicably chosen for Sky coverage. City with nothing to play for, Allardyce’s gruesome team the epitome of what my dearly departed grandmother would have summed up with: ‘If they were playing in me back yard, I’d draw t’curtains.’ It was hard to see anyone but the totally committed tuning in. The game fully lived down to expectations, won with a single goal by the despicable Diouf, and Keegan’s demeanour afterwards was that of a man due to be executed the following morning who’d just been told that his final appeal had failed.

Despite his promise never to walk away, few, if any, City fans would have been surprised to hear the news of his resignation the following morning. The Cup defeat at Oldham had been a killer, sentencing us to four months of games that didn’t really matter. The body language of this most heart on the sleeve character was far more eloquent than the man himself; he knew he’d taken us as far as he could, and that it was time for someone else to have a go.

I suspect most of us agreed with him. Nonetheless, I’ll always have a certain affection for the Keegan years, based primarily on the wonderful football we’d played in his first season, when Benarbia and Berkovic enabled us to produce a brand of football which the English second tier had never seen before. One or two teams – and only one or two – might have scored more goals or accumulated more points in gaining promotion, but none can have come close to delivering the thrilling, sophisticated, stylish play that this team produced week in, week out. We’d also had some great days in the final season at Maine Road, not least the epic derby triumph.

Keegan’s downfall came with the strategy of recruiting past-their-best wasters like McManaman, Sinclair, Seaman and – even if his form this year had been much improved – Fowler. And his massively over-sensitive nature always made it likely that he’d throw in the towel once the flak started to pour in. Still, three and a half seasons was a pretty decent stint – both for him and for us – and we’ve certainly had plenty worse.

Call Me The Tumbling Dice

15 MAY 2005, PREMIER LEAGUE: CITY 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1

Keegan’s forlorn departure left little practical alternative other than to let Stuart Pearce take the reins, at least until the end of the season. There was nothing material to play for, the fans were behind him, and with eight games to go it would be a perfect audition to assess his suitability for a permanent appointment.

Pearce’s reign began with a narrow defeat at Spurs, but a credible and spirited performance at least suggested a squad of players behind the new man. A week later at The Valley, a vibrant attacking display reminiscent of Keegan’s team in its pomp saw us storm ahead, only for a sloppy equaliser to give Charlton a last-gasp point.

The Eastlands’ crowd’s first chance to express its support for our new leader came at home to Liverpool, a forbidding fixture against a team we hadn’t beaten for ten years. The game became increasingly compelling as City fought tooth and nail to get the goal our dominance merited, but of equal note were the antics of Pearce on the touchline. Every pass, tackle and shot was greeted with an exaggeratedly animated response, as Psycho’s demeanour made Martin O’Neill look like Jim Royle on sedatives. The crowd were well entertained, but something about it didn’t quite ring true. By all means get excited when a shot screams just wide of the post, but surely a ten-yard ball knocked square to a teammate in your own half can be allowed to pass without reaction?

On the pitch, City’s energy almost matched that of their new manager but, as the game neared its conclusion, it looked like all we’d get was a point. Then, some smart play down the right allowed Lee Croft some space to pick out a cross, and he pulled it back to the advancing Kiki Musampa. Without breaking stride, an airborne Musampa struck a first-time volley cleanly into the corner for a magnificent and well-deserved winner, celebrated with more gusto than any other goal at the ground all season. The Psycho regime had lift-off.

A four-game sequence of winning at home and drawing away saw us cement our place in the top half, with Fowler belatedly getting close to his Anfield form after two misfiring years. Week after week brought instinctive polished finishing and link-up play, a reminder of what a terrific player he’d been in his heyday. No coincidence that he’d flourished with the departure of Anelka?

With teams above us faltering a little, there was even an outside chance of sneaking into the UEFA Cup if we could win our last two games, both against sides with similar ambitions. The first took us to Villa Park, and a blistering start saw us virtually settle the game within the first ten minutes. The extraordinary Wright-Phillips fastened on to the ball forty yards out, weaved inside two defenders, outside another, then fired a crisp low cross-shot into the far corner for a simply sublime goal. What a magnificent player he’d become. He was one of those rare players that fans of almost all opposing clubs also admired, embodying everything good about the game – enthusiasm, skill, bravery, complete commitment – and showing no inclination towards the dark arts. No diving, no feigning injury, no badgering officials. He looked like a guy who loved playing football so much that he’d do it for nothing.

We’d just about got our breath back when we scored another one almost as good, a lovely build up culminating in Musampa slamming a first-time left-footer into the top corner. Villa never looked like getting more than a consolation goal, and City almost made it a hat-trick of spectacular goals when a brilliant sequence of play ended with Musampa driving against the post.

The jog back to the car was particularly enjoyable, not just reflecting on our 2-1 win but also that other results had very much gone our way; and the evil Palace had conceded a last-gasp goal to put themselves in prime position for relegation. Who’d have thought that happy days would be here again so soon? Once the arithmetic was done, the position was pretty simple. Win our final game and we’d be in Europe next season.

When the season’s fixtures come out, one of the most eagerly scrutinised is the final match, with its scope for countless what-ifs. What if we need to win to avoid the drop? To get into Europe? To send someone down? To stop them winning the title? Ideally, you want a ‘winnable’ game, just in case there’s something important riding on it. Or a glamour game, a finale to remember throughout the long close season.

This year’s final fixture was not what anyone would call a glamour game. Middlesbrough at home. The only thing less glamorous would have been Middlesbrough away. Despite the Ravanelli and Juninho interlude, Middlesbrough would always be a byword for grey, dull and dreary football played by grey, dull and dreary footballers led by grey, dull and dreary managers. Not a prospect to set the pulse racing.

As it turned out, we couldn’t have hoped for anything more dramatic. Our direct rivals for the last UEFA Cup spot were Middlesbrough themselves. It would be a final-day shootout. A match which, even a month ago, looked certain to be a meaningless, anti-climactic end to the season, witnessed by a crowd attending more out of a sense of duty rather than with any excitement or anticipation, would now be our most important single game since returning to the top flight three years ago.

The build-up was punctuated by the expected announcement of a permanent contract for Pearce. He could hardly have started more impressively, and his demeanour in post-match interviews, always respectful and never critical of officials, brought a welcome contrast with the increasing tetchiness of Keegan as his enthusiasm for the job had waned. Just one more win and he’d already have cemented his place in City managerial folklore – it would be our first European qualification on merit for over twenty-five years.

A full house assembled at Eastlands incorporating, uniquely in my experience, a full quota from the smog-ridden wastelands. The atmosphere beforehand befitted the occasion, enhanced by the sheer unexpectedness of it all. Who’d have thought that we’d in this position?

The teams came out to a huge fanfare, Pearce picking up his Manager of the Month award – oh shit! – but someone, somewhere had had the bright idea of using this game to advertise our new away kit for next season. Come on guys, this is just not on. We’re at home. We play in Sky Blue. That’s that. The crass gesture of trying to eke out a few extra summer sales from people who’d have bought it anyway was exacerbated by the fact that the kit was bloody horrible, an ugly, tasteless dark blue abomination.

As expected, Boro are set up to retain what they started with – the point that would see them into Europe. We create a few openings, most notably when Wright-Phillips bursts through in trademark style, but toe-ends the ball just wide as Schwarzer advances. A great chance squandered. But Boro hold on, and the game develops a more attritional feel which certainly suits them more than it does us.

Ten minutes before half-time, they get a free kick some thirty-five yards out. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink looks like he fancies it. I’m worried. In all my years watching the game, I’ve never seen anyone hit the ball as hard as this guy does. And with either foot. With a short run-up and minimal back-lift, he strikes the dead ball with savage ferocity and it sears past the wall, beyond James, and crashes against the underside of the bar. It bounces down and back up to bulge the roof of the net. James saw it all the way and had not an earthly. No one in the world could have stopped it.

We go in at half-time 1-0 down but, within a minute of the restart, a cracking finish from Musampa gets us level. The volume all around is cranked up as the momentum shifts. Boro seldom mount an attack worthy of the name but defend for all they’re worth, and the closest we come is when Thatcher’s header is cleared off the line. We’re heading towards added time, chances are drying up, and we need inspiration.

Pearce provides it. On the far side we see Nicky Weaver being prepared to come on as a sub. Has Jamo hurt himself? No, he hasn’t, because the board shows Claudio Reyna’s number. In the words so often chanted at a succession of hapless City managers over the years: ‘What the fuck is going on?’ It soon becomes clear. James comes to the touchline to don an outfield shirt and makes his way upfield. If the definition of a tactical masterstroke is doing something your opponents least expect and would least want, then this certainly fits the bill. We’ve posed little aerial threat all game; suddenly they’ve got a 6ft 5in monster of a man to deal with, and there’ll be no shortage of balls launched into the box.

The crowd, progressively more frustrated as Boro stifled our attacks with increasing comfort, are now lifted, all smiling and laughing as they roar encouragement to our new striker. Three minutes plus added time remain, and everyone’s mood is buoyant and expectant.

James gets his head to a couple of crosses, and also gets the chance to show his skills on the ground, twisting and turning in an attempt to create space for a shot. He resembles a one-man threshing machine, accidentally but brutally scything down a Boro defender as the ball runs out of reach.

Boro are totally unsettled, hacking the ball away desperately and, for the first time, looking disorganised. The crowd by now are in a complete frenzy, everyone on their feet, as City pour forward. Suddenly, we’re caught on the break, but Weaver makes his solitary contribution to the season by saving Downing’s shot. It could be crucial. We’re straight up the other end and Barton fires in a cross towards James at the far post. It gets deflected behind, but the crowd are looking for something more than just a corner. All eyes are on referee Rob Styles. He points to the spot. Quedrue has handled.

This is incredible. It’s pretty much the last kick of the season, and everything rests on it. As Robbie Fowler strides up, City fans behind the goal already have their heads in their hands, squinting at the scene through sweaty fingers. I hope Robbie’s not looking at them.

He goes for a conventional run up rather than his usual wait for the keeper to make a move technique, and side-foots it to Schwarzer’s left. The keeper’s gone a fraction early and guessed right. The ball’s a foot off the ground, neither struck firmly enough nor right in the corner. It’s a comfortable save. Schwarzer is mobbed, Fowler distraught, the fans disbelieving. Just a couple of minutes remain, time for James to cause more mayhem and wipe out another couple of Boro defenders with a sprawling agricultural lunge. An outfield player would have been sent off by now. We can’t muster that one final chance, and Rob Styles’s whistle sees Schwarzer mobbed and Boro fans dancing in jubilation.

Despite the sickening disappointment, ‘Blue Moon’ rings round the stadium with as much resonance as it has all season. Yes, it’s failure, but glorious, all guns blazing failure. And celebration of a magnificent finish to the season, with a boldly imaginative tactical move which so nearly came off. As I’ve always said, games don’t come much more exciting than Middlesbrough at home.

The next day, Pearce gets some stick for his unconventional substitution. I can’t believe it. It had a huge impact on the game, lifted the crowd and the team, visibly rattled a Boro side previously in the comfort zone and got us to within a missed penalty of Europe. It was an inspirational bit of thinking which augured well for the season ahead and for the way in which Pearce would be approaching the job. We might not have too much money in the coffers, but if we could maintain this momentum – and keep SWP away from his big-money suitors – there was still plenty to look forward to.

2005/06

JUST AN ILLUSION

I Don’t Like Cricket …

18 SEPTEMBER 2005, PREMIER LEAGUE: CITY 0 BOLTON 1

Even City fans couldn’t have failed to carry a real sense of optimism through the close season. The resurgence under Pearce had been startling. Yet, by the time the big kick-off arrived, fewer than 43,000 turned up to watch the opening match. Yes, the opposition, West Brom, was hardly the most attractive, but there were other forces at work.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, who’d enjoyed such a stellar season, had buggered off to Chelsea in less than satisfactory circumstances. Just a couple of days after allegedly pledging his future to City, there he was, gone. Romantically, you wanted to think that staying at a club where he was truly loved, where he was guaranteed a starting position every week, where he’d figuratively if not physically grown up, where he’d broken into the England team, would carry some weight. He’d struggle to nail down a regular place at Chelsea with Robben and Duff as competition, but the unimaginable increase in wages and the very real prospect of winning medals clearly held sway. Could anyone blame him?

The financial realities of life were something that a club of our relatively modest means would just have to accept. The trade-off for the privilege of enjoying an outstanding performer at his best would always be that someone would eventually make us an offer we couldn’t refuse. We got a whopping £21 million for him, but how would the money be spent? The little man had left a huge hole to fill, and Pearce’s close season signings of Andy Cole – who even for a United player had always seemed contemptibly arrogant and possessed of a monstrously inflated opinion of his own abilities – and Darius Vassell – lightning quick but not really all that good – weren’t exactly the stuff of dreams.

As we moved towards the season’s opener, the normal fanfare was noticeably absent. Usually, in a year with no World Cup or Euros to bridge the summer gap, we’re chomping at the bit to get back in the swing. This year, the build-up to the big kick-off had been so muted that you’d hardly have noticed that football was imminent. We just weren’t ready for it. For the first time in living memory, we were a nation obsessed with cricket.

I’ve always loved cricket, following Lancashire as well as the England Test team but, when the football season started, City invariably took priority. Not this time. The 2005 Ashes series had already developed into something very special, a gripping saga of heroic deeds, ferocious competitiveness, wonderful sportsmanship and unbearable drama. And by the time the season kicked off, we were only halfway through it.

The day before, I’d been at the real Old Trafford to see England take a grip on the Third Test, the reverse swing of our fearsome four-pronged pace attack and the under-estimated spin of Ashley Giles putting us into an unassailable position. I was present and correct at Eastlands for the big kick-off, but my mind was hardly on the game at all. Not that there was much distraction in a flat, dreary, goalless draw, even though Cole and Vassell immediately demonstrated encouraging signs of possessing an intuitive partnership.

Two days later, the Test produced another extraordinary finish, and seemingly every office worker sloped off to their local pub to watch the final session. In a packed to the gills bar at London Bridge, I witnessed Australia’s last pair survive 24 balls to secure an unlikely draw, leaving the series level at 1-1 with two to play. The tension was so gripping that football hardly entered my head at all.

City had secured a couple of tidy away wins by the time we went on holiday for a couple of weeks, and it looked as though there’d be plenty of promise for the season when I was ready to embrace it fully. But much of the holiday was spent trying to find out was happening at the end of the Trent Bridge Test and the start of the final encounter at The Oval. We weren’t quite yet in the era of mobile phone internet access – or I wasn’t anyway – so internet cafes in the south of France were very much the order of the day.

England secured a dramatic win at Trent Bridge, just about managing to withstand Brett Lee’s speed-of-light bowling, and when we arrived back home, the final Test was well underway. We needed a draw to bring back the Ashes after an eighteen-year wait. I’d got a ticket for the Sunday, with Australia looking to overhaul England’s decent, but not impregnable, first-innings total. A truly heroic spell of bowling from Andrew Flintoff – well on his way to cementing his place in British sporting folklore – saw us secure a miniscule lead. It wasn’t the brightest of days, and when the light closed in, England were quick to accept the umpires’ offer to come off, with the crowd roaring its approval. For the first time in my life, I found myself having paid good money to watch a sporting event but wanting it to be rained off. Thousands felt the same way.

We went into the final day only needing to avoid being skittled out cheaply. At 126/5 it looked a bit dicey, but an incredible Kevin Pietersen innings saw him announce himself on the world stage and secure a 2-1 series victory. I’ve been a fanatical sports follower since I was eight years old and this series, without doubt, was the greatest sporting event I’d seen in my life. Its impact on the British public was illustrated by the almost instant awarding of MBEs to every member of the England squad. I didn’t expect to witness anything as memorable, that I’d want to watch over and over, that I’d never tire of seeing, ever again. I couldn’t imagine it ever being surpassed. On 13 May 2012 it would be. But more of that later.

I’m still coming down from Ashes euphoria as I drive to Eastlands for what feels like the first game of the season. Now we can properly concentrate on the football. Beneath the radar, City have started the season superbly, unbeaten in five games and sitting third in the table. We’d been second going into the previous game, at Old Trafford, but were held to a draw by our plucky little opponents.

Today’s visitors, Bolton Wanderers, aren’t a particularly frightening proposition, and the Blues are in great voice as Andrew Flintoff is introduced to the crowd, looking remarkably well for a man who’s just smashed the UK all-comers’ binge-drinking record. Stuart Pearce picks up the Manager of the Month award – his second of the three for which he’s been eligible – and we try to forget what a bad omen that usually turns out to be.

City start like a train, and a tremendous diving header from Sibierski rattles the bar, goes twenty feet up into the air and descends flush on to the bar again. When he puts in a superb header from Mills’s cross shortly afterwards, Jääskeläinen makes a blinding save, tipping the header on to the bar.

Second half, and Barton hammers in a left-footer which powers past the keeper but comes back off the post. Claudio Reyna is denied by a toe-end save, then Musampa’s searing half-volley clatters on to the crossbar. Five times we’ve hit the woodwork. Some teams don’t do that in a whole season. It’s still 0-0. It can’t carry on like this.

Pearce introduces young Stephen Ireland for his first-team debut. We’ve heard lots of good things about this lad and he soon shows us why, a crisp half-volleyed snapshot bringing yet another stunning save from Jääskeläinen. He then beautifully plays in Mills for a cross which Musampa blasts inches past the far post. It looks like being one of those days. Then, with just a couple of minutes left, Sun Jihai cuts in from the left and smashes a terrific shot past the keeper … and flush on to the crossbar again.

Bolton have hardly been in our half but, as we approach added time, Henrik Pedersen is released into the inside left channel. Dunne comes across to cover, Pedersen flicks the ball over his head and Biffer clearly and carelessly swipes the ball away with his arm. You can’t not give teams penalties just because they’ll lead to a criminal travesty of justice, and Mike Dean does what he has to do. So does Gary Speed, blasting the ball past Jamo to give Bolton all three points.

Is there any other game where this happens? Where one team is utterly superior to the other, yet ends up losing? We couldn’t have done more. It’s not as if we missed any sitters; every attempt that hit the woodwork was superbly struck and Jääskeläinen had had one of those ‘man possessed’ days. Frustrated at the injustice as we all were, all anyone could do was leave the stadium with a wry smile. And much as we’re all behind Psycho, would he mind just falling short of winning Manager of the Month awards in future?

If You Were Me, Would You Walk Out In Style?

14 JANUARY 2006, PREMIER LEAGUE: CITY 3 MANCHESTER UNITED 1

Cole and Vassell in the early part of the season had produced moments of genuine class. The form of both of them was a pleasant surprise, most notably Cole, from whom I’d expected next to nothing. The arrogant, selfish, surly individual of Old Trafford had been miraculously transformed into a real team player, a smile on his face, eager to pass on his knowledge to our younger players. It made me wonder how many more of them might morph into decent human beings if they made the trip across from the dark side. Can’t imagine it’s too many …

Successive home games against West Ham and Villa both brought some sublime interplay between our new strike-force; intelligent, energetic, selfless movement and exquisite finishing. This wasn’t what I’d anticipated at all. An even bigger surprise came in the next home game, in which Everton, as usual, snuffed the life out of the match, leaving those who’d made the effort to get here for the unfathomably early 11.15 a.m. kick-off wishing they’d stayed in bed. With about twenty minutes of an incident-free encounter remaining, Danny Mills picked up the ball on the right, and from thirty yards unleashed a thunderous drive that flew into the far top corner. Fantastic goal. Total fluke.

Next up was a trip to The Valley, just an hour’s drive away from home, but even on the morning of the match I wasn’t sure whether I’d make it. I was moving house the following day, and still had plenty of packing and cleaning up to do. Early afternoon was make-your-mind-up time, culminating in the inevitable decision to take a few hours off and leave myself with the prospect of clearing up into the early hours of Monday morning. This had better be worth it …

City started outstandingly, totally dominating the game. Vassell showed superb control to pull down a long ball, weave past a couple of defenders and slip the onrushing Cole through on goal. A cool finish put us one up. Calamitous defending gave Darren Bent the chance to equalise shortly afterwards, but Cole then set up Sinclair for a rare clean strike to send us into the interval ahead.

Barton was lucky to see his feeble penalty parried back out, allowing him to increase our lead, before a screamer from Bothroyd embarrassed James at his near post. Cole then produced another beautiful assist for Vassell to finish cleanly, before following up a poor back-pass to slot home a fifth. He and Vassell had again produced an exemplary display of movement and finishing and, as in all good partnerships, the whole was much greater than the sum of the parts.

City’s 5-2 win had given me a perfect send-off from twenty-seven years in Kent, and six days later I hoped for an equally rewarding welcome to Berkshire as I set off on the trip to The Hawthorns. Typically, we fell to a defeat as limp as the previous week’s performance had been vibrant.

Pearce hadn’t yet been able to eradicate our ingrained inconsistency, but then he was hardly the first, and results overall had been more than acceptable. He still seemed almost unnaturally enthusiastic about the job, his touchline antics often making him the centre of attention. Wigan boss Paul Jewell, when questioned about his own relatively passive touchline demeanour, threw in a comment to the effect that you didn’t have to dance around and gesticulate all the time in order to be passionate about the game, clearly intimating that the antics of the likes of Pearce and Martin O’Neill were as much about attention-seeking as being engrossed in proceedings on the pitch. I had to admit that the thought had crossed my mind.

The ups and downs continued, a comprehensive 4-1 win over Birmingham City followed by a 4-3 defeat at Wigan, in which two late goals gave the scoreline a respectability our efforts hadn’t merited. Difficult holiday fixtures produced just a point from three games, and for the first time in Pearce’s brief reign, we were on a difficult run. Hardly ideal preparation for a visit from the neighbours.

United arrived well off the pace being set by Chelsea, and defeat today would leave them so far adrift that they could forget the title. Roared on by a crowd determined to ram Ferguson’s pre-match jibe down his throat – so we’re always really quiet, are we? – City tore into them, and a clever little ball from the classy Stephen Ireland allowed Sinclair to swivel and fire home a sweet finish.

Things soon got even better, as Vassell latched on to Cole’s flick, manipulated the ball around Silvestre and calmly slotted beneath van der Sar. Half-time, 2-0, a rousing send-off and a real chance to put another one over them. Hold on here, and we’ll have our third home win in four derbies.

Victory looked assured when a flying two-footed lunge from a frustrated Ronaldo saw referee Steve Bennett produce a red card. Typically, City looked less effective for a spell thereafter, and van Nistelrooy took advantage of some slack defending to pull a goal back.

Cole had by now given way to Fowler, whose comeback from injury had begun with a League Cup hat-trick against Scunthorpe United. Now, he made the most of his little time on the pitch by sealing the points with a glorious angled strike, before celebrating provocatively in front of the United fans. No one enjoys scoring against this lot more than Robbie Fowler. It was also celebrated with real gusto by Pearce, who allowed himself to be engulfed by the delirious crowd as he savoured his first derby win. And a thoroughly deserved one, with top performances all over the pitch.

Fowler’s goal would be his final act as a City player, and he’d certainly had his moments. Unfortunately, moments were all they’d been, rather than consistent displays of the striking prowess which had seen him so revered at Anfield. And the moment above all others for which he’ll be remembered is missing the penalty which would have taken us into Europe. Anyone can miss a penalty, but it seemed somehow symbolic that this once great predator’s nerve would fail him when we needed it most.

Ultimately I’ll always see him as the signing that signalled the start of the decline in our momentum after promotion the previous year, sparking the breakdown in the relationship between Keegan and David Bernstein. Keegan had seemed besotted, playing Fowler even when patently unfit, unable to recognise or accept that the magic had gone. Still, there’s a lot to be said for going out on a high …

And Just To Make It Interesting, We’ll Have A Shilling On The Side

19 FEBRUARY 2006, FA CUP FIFTH ROUND: ASTON VILLA 1 CITY 1

The derby win reignited optimism of a tilt at a UEFA Cup place, and Pearce moved to reinforce our striking options with a big-money purchase. Georgios Samaras was snapped up from Dutch side Heerenveen for a cool £6 million and announced his arrival with a classic header in a 3-2 win against Charlton. Lanky and lank-haired, he wasn’t exactly a picture of elegance, combining the looks of Freddie Mercury with the gait of Paulo Wanchope. First impressions were that, like both of them, he’d deliver occasional moments of brilliance amid heaps of dross.

Next up was the FA Cup, where a narrow win over Wigan put us into the fifth round draw. Villa away, while not exactly what we’d have hoped for, at least felt winnable. Unfortunately, we’d already arranged a holiday over fifth round weekend, hardly anticipating that City could reach the dizzy heights of the last sixteen. So, I’d be resigned to watching it on the telly – assuming we could find somewhere showing the game.

Madeira was a pleasant surprise. Good food and wine, delightful scenery and no lager louts – well, apart from me, and I’m more of a white Burgundy lout these days – all made for a thoroughly relaxing week. With one exception.

One of the main tourist drags sported a sign, pointing down a side road, to the Prince Albert. ‘Pub grub and Live Sport’. This is what we want. I sloped off for a quick reccy, reminding Lindsey of the warnings we’d received about this being a notorious spot for timeshare peddlers, and not to engage in conversations with strangers. Fat chance. She’s a Scouser.

The pub was easily located, and the board advertising the forthcoming televisual attractions contained the magical words ‘Aston Villa v Man City’. Fantastic. I dashed back to give Lindsey the glad tidings, only to find her in deep conversation with some smiley young chap.

‘Would you believe it, this guy’s from Jersey!’

‘Oh really?’

‘Yes, he knows all the bars we go in.’

Hardly surprising. It’s not exactly a heaving metropolis. But what’s he doing in Madeira? Need I ask.