Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
Today (22 February) in 1997 forward Chris Greenacre made his debut for Manchester City when he came on as substitute for Paul Dickov in the 3-0 victory over Swindon Town. The game also saw the first City goal of Kevin Horlock’s career. You can see that and other highlights here:
City’s scorers were Horlock, Uwe Rosler and Nicky Summerbee.
Due to the general downward trajectory of Manchester City during the late 1990s the 1996-97 season often gets overlooked but it is important to remember that, even in the darkest of seasons, there can be positive moments, experiences and wonderful performances by talented players. Even at the bleakest of times a young fan may be experiencing their club for the first time and, no doubt, in 1996-97 the magic of watching Manchester City for the first time was experienced by Blues who, as adults today have enjoyed some of the greatest football ever seen. Today (25 January) is the anniversary of one positive moment in the dreadful 1996-97 season: City’s FA Cup victory over Brentford. You can read about that game and the season’s FA Cup run below.
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On this day (30 December) in 1996 Frank Clark became the Manchester City manager. I don’t really want to say anything else about that! There’s more on Frank Clark elsewhere on the site, such as:
On this day (27 November) in 1996 two penalties from Gio Kinkladze helped Manchester City defeat West Bromwich Albion 3-2. Use Rosler netted the other City goal. This was the first victory of caretaker manager Phil Neal’s reign at City and you can read more on that season here:
On this day (19 October) in 1996 goals from Paul Dickov and Nigel Clough helped Manchester City to a 2-1 win over Norwich City. Clough’s was the last of 4 League goals he scored for the Blues. This image is of Dickov and Clough celebrating Clough’s goal.
Previous Season
The Blues were relegated from the Premier League at the end of 1995-96.
Manager
The season started with Alan Ball as manager, but ended with Frank Clark. In between Steve Coppell had been appointed (7 October) but resigned (8 November) while Asa Hartford and Phil Neal both had long spells – or at least longer than Coppell’s permanent period – as caretaker managers.
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