The Verdict: How’d Andy do?

Our esteemed former skipper and Matchday Live regular Andy Morrison kindly agreed to predict the scores of all City’s games for the magazine for 2021/22.

We began the first month with just results (win/draw/loss) and then included the score predictions. It was a tough task!

Andy has recently taken over as national team boss for Sri Lanka, so everyone at the club is wishing him nothing but success – but now he’s out of the country, it’s safe to check over his first season as our resident ‘Lawro’!

Deadlines etcetera means we didn’t get all the 57 games in this season, but here are the 53 matches we did cover with BOLD meaning home – City’s score will always be first…

RESULTS:
36 results correct -17 results wrong

Andy went for 46 City wins, seven draws and no losses.

CORRECT SCORES:
47 attempts, 2 correct

VERDICT:
Andy’s correct score predictions hit the target - roughly one in every 23 games – but the result predictions were roughly two from every three.

It’s hard predicting the outcome of games like the Southampton clashes (two draws) and the games against Crystal Palace (one loss, one draw).

Overall, we think... not too bad – but all being well, Andy will be back next season and looking to increase his success rate.

As the latest season of Fantasy Premier League draws to a close, we take a look back at which City stars have come out on top in a number of different statistics in the popular game.

From the best points per match ratio through to which player has figured in the Team of the Week the most times, enjoy our very own FPL End of Season awards ceremony below…

Most points

1-Joao Cancelo
2-Kevin De Bruyne
3-Raheem Sterling

With 201 points to his name, Joao Cancelo takes the crown as the City player to earn the most points in FPL this season.

The defender ranks fifth among all Premier League players in the game this season, with his 2021/22 haul the best he has achieved in his three years at the Club.

Cancelo just pips Kevin De Bruyne to the post, with the Belgian finishing five points behind the defender, while Raheem Sterling also gets on the podium with an impressive 163 to his name.

Times in FPL Dream Team

1-Joao Cancelo
2-Raheem Sterling
3-Kevin De Bruyne

Cancelo once again comes out on top in our FPL End of Season awards, with his six features in FPL’s team of the week more than any other City player across 2021/22.

The most of any Premier League defender this season, only Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Heung-min Son have been included more frequently than the 27-year-old.

He just edges out Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne who have made the cut on five and four occasions respectively.

The trio, along with Gabriel Jesus and ex-forward Ferran Torres, are the only players to finish as King of the Gameweek while playing for City this season.

Of the 38 FPL Gameweeks, a member of Pep Guardiola’s squad has featured in the Dream Team on an incredible 24 occasions – an average of just under two in every three matches. 

ICT index

1-Kevin De Bruyne
2-Bernardo Silva
3-Raheem Sterling

The ICT index combines a player’s Influence (impact on the match), Creativity (producing goal-scoring opportunities for teammates) and Threat (likelihood of converting chances) to generate an overall FPL score.

With De Bruyne topping the charts in the first two of those categories, the Belgian once again takes home the prize with an incredible total of 296.8.

Bernardo, however, is the only City player to rank in the top three of each rating, with his final score coming in at an impressive 253.5

Sterling completes the top three, with his overall score of 248.4 boosted significantly by having the best Threat index of Pep Guardiola’s squad.

Bonus points

1-Kevin De Bruyne
2-Joao Cancelo
3-Gabriel Jesus

The three best performing players at the end of each match according to FPL indicators receive additional bonus points, with De Bruyne, Cancelo and Jesus finishing as City’s top three.

De Bruyne has earned an astonishing 33 extra points this season as part of this metric, the most of any Premier League player across 2021/22, while Cancelo’s 27 puts him fifth in the overall list.

Jesus completes the top three with an impressive total of 16

Points per match

1-Kevin De Bruyne
2-Joao Cancelo
3-Raheem Sterling

Another accolade for De Bruyne, whose average of 6.5 points per match puts him top of the leaderboard once again for players to have featured over ten times in the Premier League this season.

Incredibly, 131 of his 196 points were earned after the turn of the year, with his 2022 average standing at an astonishing 8.2 per match.

Cancelo, who has missed just two Premier League matches this season, sits second in the list with an average of 5.6 per, while Sterling is hot on the Portuguese’s heels with a rating of 5.4.

Price rise

1-Joao Cancelo
2-Aymeric Laporte
3-Ederson / Ruben Dias

Cancelo’s incredible displays across the campaign have seen his value rise by 12 – the highest growth of any player in the Premier League alongside Heung-min Son.

The defender began the season with a value of £6.0 but finished 2021/22 as the third-most expensive defender in the game, with his price of £7.2 behind only Andy Robertson (£7.3) and Trent Alexander Arnold (£8.4).

Having started the season with a price tag of £5.5, Laporte’s rise to a £6.0 defender puts him second in the list.

Meanwhile, Ederson’s consistent displays between the sticks see him tie with Ruben Dias in third, with both of their values rising from £6.0 to £6.2 over the course of the campaign.

‘Consistency’ (noun): the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly in quality over time.

In football, consistency key – on an individual basis as well as a collective one. With a challenging start to City’s 2021/22 FA Women’s Super League campaign, it was a concept that was proving elusive for Gareth Taylor’s side, who suffered the effects of a minimal pre-season and the aftermath of the Olympic Games with an astonishing number of injuries.

As a result, the squad battled through but struggled to build rhythm until December, when the team’s fortunes brightened, kicking off a sensational run of form which saw the second half of the season yield 21 wins in 24 games and a fourth Continental Cup trophy.

It was a true ‘season of two halves’ but throughout the topsy-turvy campaign, there was one dependable: Alex Greenwood.

The Champions League winner, who joined the Club in the summer of 2020 from Olympique Lyonnais, completed her second season in sky blue as our highest appearance maker, featuring in all 38 of our games and starting all bar one.

Captaining the side in Steph Houghton’s absence, she truly led by example under difficult circumstances, lining up alongside a variety of defensive partners – some of whom were not natural defenders, as goalkeeper and best pal Ellie Roebuck explains.

"I was a proper street kid in Liverpool, I played football all the time with the boys in the streets. Any chance we could get, we put two jumpers down for goalposts and played knock-outs!"

“Alex has really held up the back, especially with a lot of absentees,” said the shot-stopper.

“She’s had a lot of different partnerships: a lot of people playing on her left and right, behind her and in front of her, and she’s maintained that consistency with the solid performances we’ve needed.

“She’s really given us that security at the back and I think her distribution has really blossomed this year.”

Driven, focused and dedicated, Greenwood coped admirably with the challenge and even managed to contribute at the sharp end of the pitch with 10 goal involvements: five goals and five assists for our number five.

Her efforts received deserved acclaim from her teammates and manager, as well as fans and media outside the Club. In addition to making the shortlist for City’s Player of the Season, she was also nominated for the FA WSL’s prize and clinched February’s PFA Vertu Motors Fans’ Player of the Month.

Though regarded as a big personality in the dressing room and a key influence on the pitch, Greenwood is remarkably humble. A former Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United star, she is often the subject of comments from opposition fans but prefers to let her football do the talking.

Regardless of the colour of her shirt, she has always given everything for the badge, which quickly enamoured her to the City faithful, and says she is very much enjoying her football at the Academy Stadium – in particular, our attack-minded, possession-based playing style.

That isn’t to say she doesn’t like to get stuck in – her bravery and dedication are some of her best qualities; traits she had to pick up quickly in her youth.

“I was a proper street kid in Liverpool,” Greenwood laughs. “I played football all the time with the boys in the streets. Any chance we could get, we put two jumpers down for goalposts and played knock-outs!

“You don’t get away with shying out of a tackle in Liverpool – if you don’t put a tackle in, you’re not getting in the team!

“I think very much the way I grew up is similar to the way I play. Of course, the games are a bit different – better… and the pitches are better too!

“It’s definitely a result of where I’ve been brought up – how I’ve been told to act and play: tough, putting your head in where it hurts, putting in a tackle and playing street football really.”

While manager Gareth Taylor told press this season he ‘could not speak highly enough’ of Greenwood, she has also earned plenty more praise from her peers. The dressing room DJ always carries herself with the utmost professionalism – her love of the beautiful game shining through for all to see.

"It’s definitely a result of where I’ve been brought up – how I’ve been told to act and play: tough, putting your head in where it hurts, putting in a tackle and playing street football really."

In her spare time, she watches football analysis, ever eager to grow her knowledge and understanding, and better herself – and her conduct has positively rubbed off on the younger players.

Chloe Kelly believes the defender’s influence has been pivotal for Ruby Mace’s development, in particular.

“Ruby is learning from the best in Alex Greenwood,” she declared. “She’s been brilliant for us this season and I think she’s been the Player of the Season for her consistency.

“She’s kept the team together during difficult moments and her performances have been brilliant.”

Jess Park, who says Greenwood is her best friend in the squad with the England star having taken the youngster under her wing, agreed: “She’s had a fantastic season.

"When you get a bit older and you are in a successful team or a few different teams, you realise they don’t come around often."

“She’s always got my back and she’s always there for me, and she’s definitely someone to look up to in terms of her defensive positioning – she’s so aggressive to win the ball and sometimes I can take that into the pressing.”

So, what is the best piece of advice Greenwood could give to a budding footballer…?

“Good question…” she ponders. “I think for me, it would be: ‘Enjoy the big moments.’

“When you get a bit older and you are in a successful team or a few different teams, you realise they don’t come around often.

“It’s something you should be really proud of and a moment you should remember. Also: ‘have no regrets.’

“I’ve always made decisions based on being successful and what I thought was right in the moment, and I have no regrets about any decisions I’ve made. So far, so good!”

Elite Development Squad lead coach Brian Barry-Murphy believes the ‘priceless’ first-team training exposure afforded to a host of his players proved one of the defining aspects of a memorable 2021/22 campaign.

Having been appointed to the role last summer, Barry-Murphy guided City to a second successive PL2 title with our Under-23s again hugely impressive thanks to the players’ attacking verve and sublime technical quality.

Along the course of another magnificent season, several of our EDS youngsters were also handed first-team debuts by City manager Pep Guardiola.

Meanwhile the bulk of the squad were also given the opportunity to further their development by training in the first team set-up on regular occasions.

And, as he reflected on a wonderful first year at the helm, Barry-Murphy believes the way his young charges were afford those many opportunities to further learn and develop with Pep and his coaching team proved fundamental both individually and collectively.

“I feel as if we’re in a pretty significant situation in terms of the amount of opportunities many of the guys get to be with such an esteemed manager and such an esteemed environment with players that you only dream of training with,” Barry-Murphy pointed out.

“We have situations where we look to focus on different aspects of our play.

“So, if we are looking to work with our defensive players, they are getting the chance to work one on one with Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden during the week.

“It is virtually impossible to quantify how beneficial this kind of stuff it is. In my mind I’m so conscious that this can’t be taken for granted.

“That the players have to understand how much of an opportunity this is.

“When every day they go over there to the first team environment, they have to try and impress the manager in terms of how focused they are and how intent they are to make an impression and deliver what he needs.

“And I think if they do it, I think the knock-on effects for the rest of the group is just seamless when they come back to the Academy.”

Further reflecting on his first season in charge, the former Irish Under-21 international said he took huge pride in the manner of our route to another PL2 title allied to the continuing development of our outstanding crop of young talent.

"It is virtually impossible to quantify how beneficial this kind of stuff it is. In my mind I’m so conscious that this can’t be taken for granted."

And Barry-Murphy said the attitude, mindset and culture engendered within the whole EDS group had helped coalesce to make the season even more memorable.

“It’s been a great experience for me just being so incessantly focused on the players improving all the time,” the former Preston, Bury and Rochdale midfielder reflected.

“The players at this club understand that they have to play a certain way and that there is an expectancy that we win a lot of games and challenge at the top of the table.

“So, for me, it’s been a great challenge to get that balance right of never neglecting those traits that the first team staff want to see displayed all the time.

“I’ve always been convinced that if you are so focused on the players improving and developing all sides of their game and consistency on all aspects of their games then everyone wins.

“And to see the results on the pitch culminating in the league title has been great.

“It helps the players understand that winning is great and being top of the table is great but at this club we have to do it in a certain manner and because of that the skill level has to be so high and the behaviour and way we conduct ourselves is probably even more important.”

Academy Overview 2021/22

Under-18s lead coach Ben Wilkinson says City’s superb achievement in securing the Premier League National title to go alongside our defence of the Northern Division was a fitting way to round off a memorable season...

In the showpiece final against Southampton held in front of more than 13,000 fans at St Mary’s Stadium, City fought back from falling behind early on to secure a 2-1 triumph and so lift the national crown for the third season in a row.

Goals from Tai Sodje and Dire Mebude ensured that City made it a hat-trick of national title wins and added to our collection of silverware with the Under-17 Premier League Cup and Under-16 PL title also secured.

And for Wilkinson, securing this latest title away from home in front of a sizeable Saints crowd was also a fitting testament to the ability and mindset of his young charges.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have won the National title. It was a great way to finish the season,” said Wilkinson.

“I think we have deserved it over the course of the season, and we have steadily got better as it went on.

"This is what we want to give them as many development opportunities that replicate what they might get at senior level and to see how they stand up when they get in these environments."

“To come down to Southampton and go 1-0 down early on was a test of character - especially as we didn’t start the game that well.

“But I’m proud of the boys and everyone in the Academy.

“It was an unbelievable experience for the players.

“When we conceded early on, we were all quite calm. We stick to the process whether its positive or negative as if you stick to the process, you’ll probably get what you want and deserve.

“Southampton put on a great occasion and St Mary’s is a fantastic ground.

“I think it’s fantastic (to have played in front of such a big crowd) and if we can continue getting fans in grounds on first team stadiums it can only be good for the development of the players.”

"What we’ve done well in recent years is create a winning culture"

Wilkinson also believes the Under-18s’ latest achievement will also both resonate and inspire the younger members of the Academy as they look to make their own mark on the Club.

“What we’ve done well in recent years is create a winning culture,” the lead coach added.

“The younger boys are always looking up – many of this squad were Under 16s last season looking up and thinking can we go and do the same.

“So the environment is healthy in that respect – we’ve got another great group coming up next year and that will be the challenge at the start of the season for sure, to kick on and repeat what we have achieved.”

The John Rylands Library in Manchester has recently acquired several popular culture archives for their permanent collection. If that sounds a bit fusty and dry, here’s why it isn’t.

Over the years, I’ve written about my collection of Manchester City collectibles and memorabilia, much of which has recently been acquired by the Club for their own archive - with a view to exhibiting it - and other rare stuff - at a future date.

Now, John Rylands has taken my popular culture collection to exhibit occasionally, and to hold for research for teaching and learning.

This archive consists of hundreds of pop/rock badges, tickets, backstage passes, set lists from gigs and so on. Fanzines and lots of early Punk magazines, too. It also includes letter/postcards/ notes from musicians. All my press cuttings, NME front covers, books my work has appeared in, artworks that my work has inspired and a few hundred Manchester City match programmes and magazines, where, regular readers will know, I’ve written (sometimes amusingly) about photo sessions with musicians and other celebrities.

But, not only my collection is on show. Ian Curtis’ hand-written lyrics are available to view as is Johnny Marr’s Gretsch Super Axe guitar, which he used to record some of the early Smiths classic songs.

To keep the City fan theme going, they’ve also acquired the archive of Rob Gretton - former Joy Division and New Order manager. Rob was as bad- or as good - as me, for keeping everything connected with his work - as well as saving a large amount of notebooks too (which doubled as his diaries).

Add to all this the archive of another City fan, Andy Spinoza, who was a founder of City Life in the 80s - and has kept lots of the artwork from early issues - and a complete collection of the magazine, too.

They’re also in the process of adding the Tony Wilson collection and they have the archive of Terence Pepper, who was the curator at the National Portrait Gallery, and I’m sure you’ll agree it makes for a fascinating addition to the heritage of our great city.

We had a small launch party for it last week where all the great and good of Manchester Rock ’n’ Pop turned up and a good time was had by all.

An exhibition of many items is showing now until 15 January 2023 and is free to view. Look out for my early David Bowie Fan Club Membership Card. It’s a work of art.

More information is available here: https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/visit/events/british-pop-archive/