On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
Category Archives: 2008-09
Dismal Days AFTER the MCFC Takeover
Here’s a flashback to a difficult period on this day (9 November) in 2008…
City conceded twice in three consecutive League games during this period, dropping to 13th after a 2-1 defeat to Spurs on 9 November. It was a difficult time, especially as manager Mark Hughes felt aggrieved with some refereeing decisions. Most notably, Hughes was unhappy that Middlesbrough on 29 October had been awarded a highly debateable penalty by referee Lee Mason. Replays showed that there had been minimal contact between City’s Sturridge and Boro’s Wheater as the player went down outside the area. That goal switched control in the game. Hughes: “Wheater was not in full control of the ball, he was outside the box and the linesman did not give it. The shape of the game changed… All night the referee took it upon himself to make decisions that were quite frankly disappointing.”
After defeats at Bolton and at home to Spurs the media began to speculate that Mark Hughes’ position was in doubt. City, a point above the relegation zone, had suffered seven defeats in 12 League games causing journalist Daniel Taylor to comment: ‘Hughes is now at a club where the high expectation levels make him vulnerable…[Hughes] did not sound entirely convincing as he tried to pass some of the blame for this defeat to the referee Mike Dean for “not taking into account the [rainy] conditions”.’
It should be noted that City had ended the Spurs game with only nine players following the dismissals of Fernandes (26 min) & Dunne (83) and that Tottenham also had a man sent off.
Match Stats:
2008-09
29 Oct Middlesbrough (A) L 0-2 25,731
2 Nov Bolton Wanderers (A) L 0-2 21,095
9 Nov Tottenham Hotspur (H) L 1-2 Robinho 41,893
Home in Barnsley
On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
The 2000s: This Week 2008-09
It’s the final part of the weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ve published here the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. Today we conclude with the largest article on this decade to date. It’s a 11,300 word article on the 2008-09 season (below) – not much happened that year did it? As always, this includes material from exclusive interviews I have performed with various figures associated with the club over the years. The article, like everything else on this site is under copyright and cannot be posted elsewhere without my express permission.
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Monthly subscription costs £3 per month to access everything on the site since 1 October 2022 (cancel anytime). All subscribers access all new material until their subscription ends. Why not give it a try for a month?
Starting Monday: The 2000s
Starting on Monday is a new weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ll be publishing an article here telling the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. The series will start on Monday with an 8,800 word article on 1999-2000 and will end with the 2008-09 season. There will be a new season each week, following on chronologically.
Subscribe to get access – Annual
This series will be for subscribers to my website. It costs £20 a year to access everything on the site since creation in December 2020. That includes articles, history talks, videos, interviews & more. There’s also a monthly option below.
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
This series will be for subscribers to my website. Monthly subscription costs £3 per month to access everything on the site since 1 October 2022 (cancel anytime). All subscribers access all new material until their subscription ends. Why not give it a try for a month?
One Week Today: Free History Talk on Manchester City 2005 to 2009
I’m delighted to say I’ll be performing the next free online History Talk this time next week (Wednesday 29 March at 6pm until 7pm). This talk will be on Manchester City FC between 2005 to 2009. It’ll last about 1 hour and is free to attend but places must be reserved in advance. It will follow a similar format to previous talks I’ve done on the origins of MCFC but this one will specifically focus on the transformational period of 2005 to 2009. I’ll talk about the development of MCFC during the period.
During the 2000s I spent considerable time behind the scenes interviewing and meeting those who played a part in this transformational period. I’ll discuss the development of the club from the dedicated chairmanship of John Wardle, through a season or so of Thaksin Shinawatra and on to Khaldoon Al Mubarak. I will talk about meetings I attended and interviews I performed during this period, including discussions with all three chairmen, plus other significant figures.
This hour will include the opportunity to ask questions as I’m keen to hear your thoughts on these transformational years for the club.
The event will be live on Zoom on 29/3/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably earlier that day). THIS WILL BE EMAILED OUT SEPARATELY AND NOT VIA THE EVENTBRITE WEBSITE.
You can register here:
You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:
The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.
You can see posts about other History Talks here:
Next Free History Talk: Manchester City 2005 to 2009 on 29 March
I’m delighted to say I’ll be performing the next free online History Talk on Wednesday 29 March at 6pm until 7pm. This talk will be on Manchester City FC between 2005 to 2009. It’ll last about 1 hour and is free to attend but places must be reserved in advance. It will follow a similar format to previous talks I’ve done on the origins of MCFC but this one will specifically focus on the transformational period of 2005 to 2009. I’ll talk about the development of MCFC during the period.
During the 2000s I spent considerable time behind the scenes interviewing and meeting those who played a part in this transformational period. I’ll discuss the development of the club from the dedicated chairmanship of John Wardle, through a season or so of Thaksin Shinawatra and on to Khaldoon Al Mubarak. I will talk about meetings I attended and interviews I performed during this period, including discussions with all three chairmen, plus other significant figures.
This hour will include the opportunity to ask questions as I’m keen to hear your thoughts on these transformational years for the club.
The event will be live on Zoom on 29/3/23 at 6pm and a link will be sent to all those who have registered for the event beforehand (probably earlier that day). THIS WILL BE EMAILED OUT SEPARATELY AND NOT VIA THE EVENTBRITE WEBSITE.
You can register here:
You must register here if you want to get involved. If you’d like an example of what the talk will be like take a look at:
The talk will last about 1 hour and will be online on zoom, so you should be able to access it anywhere.
You can see posts about other History Talks here:
Goalscoring Nationalities
Prior to this weekend’s game with Spurs, Manchester City have had players from 41 different nations score for the Blues in the Premier League. Can you remember them all? The following 1200 word article tells the story…
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The Story of Kaká to City!
On this day (13 January) in 2009 Garry Cook and others met with AC Milan supposedly about the possible purchase of goalkeeper Dida but in truth the Manchester City men wanted to talk about Kaká. Here is the story of that day with exclusive quotes from interviews I have performed with some of those there.
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If you would like to read this 1200 word article and would like to support my research & writing then please subscribe. Monthly subscribers (£3 per month, cancel anytime and sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site since 1 October 2022. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.
Home in Barnsley
On this day (31 July) in 2008 Manchester City played a home game at Barnsley. This game made history as it was the first occasion the Blues had played a home European tie outside of Manchester. Previously City had played home European games at Maine Road and at the City Of Manchester Stadium, but work at Eastlands following a concert by Bon Jovi prevented the Club from staging the game at home. The decision was taken to stage the match at Barnsley. Subscribers can read about both legs of the European tie here:
Gary James' Football Archive 