PART 1: The decade when everything changed…
10 years of trophies, goals and glory…
It was Roberto Mancini who led City into the new decade having replaced Mark Hughes a few days before Christmas. Mancini won the final two games of 2009 to give the Blues some momentum going into the New Year and a 1-0 FA Cup win at Middlesbrough, courtesy of a 45th-minute goal from Benjani, saw us start the new year positively.
Mancini had inherited a strong squad, but he quickly identified the areas he believed he needed to strengthen and his formation and tactics gave the team a more solid look.
By the time Blackburn were beaten 4-1 at the then-called City of Manchester Stadium, the Italian had won four games in succession.
There was a feeling around the Club that something special was beginning to evolve and that maybe, just maybe, the silverware that had eluded City for more than three decades could finally be on the horizon.
In fact, Hughes had already guided us to the Carling Cup semi-final and Mancini had the opportunity of ending the 35-year wait just a few months into his tenure – only a two-legged semi-final with Manchester United stood in the way of a first League Cup final since 1976.
It proved to be an explosive meeting of the Manchester giants with Sir Alex Ferguson’s description of City as ‘noisy neighbours’ astute to say the least.
Former United striker Carlos Tevez’s acrimonious move from Old Trafford the previous summer had resulted in a series of city centre billboards featuring Tevez with the strapline ‘Welcome to Manchester’ and the Argentine certainly had a point to prove against the Reds.
Tevez put City ahead and then sprinted to the centre circle with an obvious celebration aimed at the United bench.
City won the game 2-1, but United scored a late goal in the return leg to complete a 3-1 victory that saw them progress 4-3 on aggregate. It had been close - City had pushed United hard - but the wait for a trophy would have to continue another year.
Patrick Vieira had joined City on a free transfer with Mancini keen to have another experienced voice in the dressing room and a winner on the pitch and there would be several highs in the months that remained of the campaign.
In February, the best display of the season – a 4-2 win away to Premier League champions-elect Chelsea - restored hopes of a top-four finish and Champions League qualification for the first time.
City ended March and moved into April in top gear, easily beating Wigan 3-0, thrashing Burnley 6-1 and then destroying Birmingham City 5-1 to set up a clash with Manchester United at the City of Manchester Stadium. With Spurs and Aston Villa right on City’s coattails, nothing but a win would do against the Reds, but for the third time of the season, United scored with virtually the last kick of the game with Paul Scholes grabbing the only goal of the game. With Spurs then losing at United, a 0-0 draw at Arsenal meant that wins over Aston Villa and Spurs in the last two home games of the season would guarantee City finish fourth and win a place in the Champions League.
In a dramatic winner-takes-all clash with Harry Redknapp’s Spurs in the penultimate game of the campaign, Peter Crouch grabbed an 82nd-minute winner to clinch the final Champions League berth and end a season of so near, yet so far moments for a Club hungry for success.
During the summer, Mancini signed the players he believed would take City from nearly men to winners and the arrivals of cultured Spaniard David Silva from Valencia and Yaya Toure from Barcelona were huge statements of intent from the Club’s owners.
Jerome Boateng, Aleksandr Kolarov, James Milner and the enigmatic Mario Balotelli were also signed as Mancini shaped a squad in his image. He also brought Joe Hart back from a season-long loan spell at Birmingham City where he had been voted the club’s player of the year. It proved to be a wise move.
The 2010/11 season began at White Hart Lane with a game against one of the teams many people believed could be a surprise challenger for the Premier League title – Tottenham. City’s record against Spurs in recent years wasn’t good and we had to rely on a Joe Hart wonder show to leave with a precious 0-0 draw. Had he not been at his brilliant best, Mancini’s side could easily have left with a heavy defeat and the season ahead could have taken on a different look.
As it was, confidence was high going into the first home game of the campaign and City brushed aside Liverpool with ease, winning 3-0 with goals from Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez (2) putting the Blues fourth in the table.
Next up were Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and City were by far the better team for the first hour or so, but a dreadful miss by Tevez in the first-half made the travelling fans wonder if it might be ‘one of those days’. It was. Deep into injury time, Micah Richards was adjudged to have pushed Darren Bent as he went for a header and the ref gave a penalty – which Bent scored to give Sunderland a 1-0 win.
Things didn’t improve much for the next game, either. Blackburn Rovers were expected to be beaten easily at the City of Manchester Stadium, but a mix-up between Hart and Kolo Toure allowed Rovers to take a shock lead and only a Patrick Vieira goal saved City’s blushes by earning a 1-1 draw.
Mancini’s side then made the short journey up the motorway to play Wigan Athletic and almost 5,000 City fans left happy having seen a terrific goal by Tevez and Yaya Toure’s first for the club give us a well-deserved 2-0 win.
There was better to come, too. Following a disappointing Carling Cup exit at West Brom in midweek, City bounced back in style to beat Chelsea 1-0 courtesy of a Tevez special – a win that proved the Blues were more than a match for the best.
David Silva and Yaya Toure hadn’t quite settled into their stride and there had been one or two disappointing performances. Another side tipped for relegation, Blackpool, also gave Mancini’s side a tough afternoon with City unable to dominate in the way most had expected. In a see-saw game, two goals from Tevez and a late third from Silva – his first for the club – proved just enough to beat Ian Holloway’s entertainers 3-2 – a win that put City second in the table. A week later, the Blues came back to earth with a crash. Despite dominating the opening minutes against Arsenal, a mistimed tackle by Dedryck Boyata saw the young defender shown a red card and City face almost 80 minutes with just ten men. Eventually, the visitors made the extra man count and ran out convincing 3-0 winners.
Then the Blues lost again, throwing a 1-0 lead at Wolves away to lose 2-1. Silva won a penalty midway through the first half and Emmanuel Adebayor tucked home the spot-kick, but Wolves came back strongly to level before the break and win the game with another in the second half.
November proved to be a mixed month in many ways. It started well with a clinical 2-0 win at West Brom thanks to two Mario Balotelli goals, but the fiery Italian was then sent off leaving his team-mates to battle most of the second half without him.
Then followed a disappointing midweek home derby against Manchester United – one of the dullest for years – with neither team looking as though they were willing to risk losing by going for the win and the 0-0 draw was no more than either side deserved.
At least Birmingham at home a few days later offered City the chance to get back to winning ways, but the visitors put up a dogged display and left with a well-earned 0-0 draw – a result that had the City fans booing their side off and questioning Mancini’s ability to take the Club forward.
Things had to improve away to Fulham in the next game where City were taking on former manager Mark Hughes. There wasn’t a hint of caution as Mancini took the handbrake off and let his side play with freedom and he was rewarded with a blistering performance to go in 3-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Tevez, Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Toure. Another Tevez goal just after half-time sealed the points and a 4-1 win for a team many believed couldn’t play fast, attacking football.
City clicked into gear in December with 12 points out of a possible 15 moving Mancini’s side into second in the Premier League by the start of the New Year with festive wins over Newcastle and Aston Villa completing a memorable calendar year in second position in the table.
City went into the New Year brimming with confidence and after seeing Leicester City off in the FA Cup third round, Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko joined the Club from Wolfsburg where he had been a prolific scorer, and his first goal in blue was a crucial late equaliser away to Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Notts County to keep us in the FA Cup.
By the end of February, City were still within touching distance of leaders United and had reached the last 16 of both the FA Cup and Europa League, but there were to be one or two set-backs in March that effectively ended any lingering hopes of winning the title.
Dynamo Kyiv would kill off our chances of European silverware, too, with Balotelli the villain in the return leg in Manchester. Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Balotelli’s petulant red card made City’s task all the harder, and though Kolarov’s goal halved the deficit, 10-man City couldn’t find another to force extra time.
The FA Cup was a different story, however, and wins over Aston Villa and Reading had taken City to Wembley and a mouth-watering semi-final against Manchester United in April.
There was still work to be done in the league, however, but the season’s biggest victory would be followed by the biggest loss. After thrashing Sunderland 5-0, an out-of-sorts City were brushed aside by Liverpool at Anfield and were 3-0 down by half-time, with Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll causing the City defence problems all evening. Losing skipper Tevez early on with a hamstring injury only made matters worse on a night to forget for the Blues with the talisman striker ruled out of the Wembley derby a few days later.
The FA Cup semi-final proved to be a thrilling encounter and when Yaya Toure pounced on Michael Carrick’s error to drill home on 52 minutes, there were ecstatic celebrations from the 30,000 or so City fans. With Scholes sent off for a wild tackle on Pablo Zabaleta late in the game, we held out to win the game 1-0. It was a victory that not only broke the spell United had held over City for so many years, but also suggested the Reds’ domestic and city dominance could be coming to an end.
The game had felt like a final, though there was no trophy in the cabinet just yet.
Back in the league, City travelled to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers with Tottenham just a few points behind and gathering momentum in a repeat of the previous season’s battle for the final Champions League spot, but with the game seemingly heading for a 0-0 draw and Blackburn looking the likelier side to snatch a later winner, Edin Dzeko climbed off the bench to score a dramatic 75th-minute goal that gave the Blues vital breathing space in the battle to finish in the top four.
A narrow 2-1 win over West Ham and Mancini’s third loss against Everton as City manager meant a win over Harry Redknapp’s team a few days later would guarantee Champions League football for City. In a tense, exciting game, there was to be an incredible twist of irony as James Milner’s low cross was turned in by Peter Crouch – the same player who had ended City’s hopes of a top-four finish the season before – to give the Blues a vital 1-0 win. There was now no way Spurs or Liverpool could catch City. What better way to go into a first FA Cup final since 1981, where Tony Pulis’ Stoke awaited?
For Pulis, it was a chance to avenge the 1999 play-off final defeat he had suffered with Gillingham, but City started the game as strong favourites and there was a feeling of destiny about the occasion. Nothing was going to stop Mancini’s side that day and when Yaya Toure slammed home what proved to be the only goal of the game on 74 minutes, the 35-year wait for a trophy was finally over.
There were emotional scenes as a generation of City supporters celebrated a moment they thought would never come and the memorable campaign just kept getting better as third-placed Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa and suddenly maximum points from the final two games would mean City finishing third and not having to play a qualifying game to go into the Champions League group stages.
City took on a deflated Stoke again in a re-arranged game just three days after the final and two Tevez crackers and a Lescott header gave the Blues a 3-0 win that meant leap-frogging Arsenal and with just one game left, as long as City matched the Gunners’ result or bettered it, third place was guaranteed. Bolton away was never going to be an easy game, but a bizarre Lescott goal just before half-time and another from Dzeko meant the Blues got their reward for a magnificent end to a fantastic campaign.
The big question was, could City take the momentum into the 2011/12 season?
Mancini wasn’t about to rest on his laurels and the capture of Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid and Samir Nasri from Arsenal were to prove the final pieces of his jigsaw.
Both David Silva and Yaya Toure were starting to show their true potential and Aguero climbed off the bench to score twice on his debut as City kicked off the season with a 4-0 win over Swansea.
In many ways, the Blues never looked back. There were some blistering performances, including the 5-1 humbling of Tottenham at White Hart Lane where City were simply sensational. The best, though, was still to come.
City made the short trip to Old Trafford having taken 22 from a possible 24 points, but many believed taking on the Reds on their own patch was ultimate test of a side hoping to end a 44-year wait for a top-flight title. What transpired was a derby day demolition that started with a Balotelli goal and ‘Why always me?’ t-shirt celebration and ended with three goals in the final four minutes as City ran amok, recording an astonishing 6-1 victory.
The noisy neighbours were now, it seemed, in need of a restraining order.
Our first Champions League campaign ended at the group stage, despite City accumulating 10 points – Napoli and Bayern Munich instead progressed and Mancini’s side went into the Europa League. But the Premier League was the prize City fans wanted more than anything else and as the campaign progressed, those hopes increased game by game.
We remained unbeaten until December, when Chelsea triumphed 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, and there would be single goal losses to Sunderland, Swansea and Everton as the months rolled by. But Manchester United, their nose well and truly put out of place, had recovered and gone a winning run of their own, so by the time Mikel Arteta scored a late winner for Arsenal at the Emirates, City had fallen eight points behind the Reds.
With only six games remaining, it meant United – still to visit the Etihad – would have to drop points in three of their remaining six matches. It looked unlikely in the extreme, but City were given a lifeline just a few days later when Wigan Athletic shocked United winning 1-0 in a midweek game while the Blues beat West Brom 4-0.
City then travelled to Norwich, thrashing the Canaries 6-1 to overhaul the Reds’ goal difference. Just five points adrift going into the game away to Wolves, City fans watched United take on Everton before the game at Molineux and saw the Toffees come back from 4-2 down to score twice late on and draw 4-4 – suddenly, a win over Wolves would put City within three points of the Reds with the Manchester derby to come.
City didn’t disappoint, winning 2-0 to set up perhaps the biggest City v United clash of all time. If United won, they would be six clear with two games remaining. If City won, it meant that wins over Newcastle and QPR would almost certainly be enough…
The tension was unbearable with the stakes so high, but when David Silva’s corner came in and skipper Vincent Kompany rose above everyone to thump a header home, it felt like destiny was playing a hand in proceedings.
City deservedly won 1-0, and then travelled to Newcastle where two Yaya Toure goals settled an edgy contest and set up a final day decider against QPR.
Of course, so much has been written and said of that fateful day in May 2012, but many felt City won the title in a way only this football club could – by taking supporters to the edge of despair and then somehow rewriting history as City led 1-0, trailed 2-1, then scored twice in added time in one of sport’s greatest finales ever seen.
Dzeko had levelled before Aguero played a one-two with Balotelli before feigning a shot then burying the ball under Paddy Kenny. The celebrations were indescribable. City were Premier League champions and, after 44 years without a league title, the wait was finally over.
How do you follow that?
In honest terms, you don’t.
City started the 2012/13 well, but United were determined to show their cross-city rivals a thing or two and when the teams met at the Etihad at the start of December, we went into the game unbeaten. From the 15 games played, City had won nine and drawn six, but had again dipped out of the Champions League at the group stage.
City fought back from 2-0 down to level 2-2, only for an added time winner from Robin van Persie to steal the points for the Reds. It was to prove a pivotal moment in the title race and one that, in many ways, City and Mancini would never quite recover from.
The Reds had the title wrapped up by the end of April and despite City reaching the FA Cup final, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
City took on Wigan Athletic at Wembley, but it proved to be a flat performance and when Ben Watson headed home a 90th-minute winner for the Latics, Mancini’s time as City boss was over. The Italian was sacked with two games still to play and City ended the campaign as runners-up, some nine points behind United.
Whether it was a title hangover or not, failure to progress in the Champions League meant a change of direction was needed, though Mancini’s place in the Club’s history was assured regardless of the slightly disappointing end to his tenure.
Former Real Madrid boss Manuel Pellegrini was installed as the new manager in time for the 2013/14 campaign and he added Fernandinho, Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas to his squad, with his first game in charge a sparkling 4-0 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad. It was the start of what would be a goal-filled, entertaining and very successful season.
But it wouldn’t all be roses – in fact, it was a relatively rocky start for the Chilean boss with just six wins in the first 11 games looked anything but title firm, even though that start included a 4-1 win over United and a 7-0 victory over Norwich, so there were flashes of what was to come.
In fact, after a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland, City turned on the afterburners with some of the best football ever seen in the Premier League. It began with a 6-0 thrashing of Spurs and was part of a 12 game-run that saw City rack up 11 wins and a score a phenomenal 40 goals along the way.
Pellegrini’s team had also reached the last 16 of the Champions League and had a League Cup final against Sunderland to come. And City had become the first club to score 100 goals in all competitions before the end of January.
A 3-1 win over Sunderland secured a third major trophy in four years, but the title race was set to be another white-knuckle affair, with Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool gradually pulling ahead and after a 3-2 win at Anfield in April, the Merseysiders raced seven points clear of Pellegrini’s side.
The one caveat in the equation was City’s two games in hand – though Liverpool knew that if they won their remaining four games, the title was theirs. And when City dropped two crucial points against Sunderland at the Etihad, the Blues went into their next fixture trailing Liverpool by nine points – a win over West Brom reduced the gap to six and when Chelsea triumphed 2-0 at Anfield in the early kick-off, City were suddenly back in with a real chance of denying Liverpool the title. A 2-0 win at Palace cranked up the pressure on Liverpool again and in a tension-filled game at Goodison Park, the Blues secured a thrilling 3-2 win over Everton to move level on points at the top with two games remaining.
But there was more incredible drama to come as Liverpool slipped again in their penultimate game, throwing a 3-0 lead at Crystal Palace away in the last 10 minutes to draw 3-3. That meant a win over Aston Villa would leave City needing a draw against West Ham in the final day of the season to secure a second title in three years.
Though it took 65 minutes to break Villa down, City went on to win 4-0 and finished the job with a 2-0 win over the Hammers. It seemed that any title win needed to carry a public health warning for City fans!
