The Last Before The Premier

On 2 May 1992 Manchester City defeated Oldham 5-2 in the last League fixture before the birth of the Premier League. The win gave City a fifth place finish (for the second year running), 12 points behind champions Leeds and six points ahead of 6th placed Liverpool. David White scored a hat trick but this had been a disappointing final placing overall as the Blues had been hoping to mount a serious challenge for honours.

The launch of the Premier League and the actions of the following year or so would have major repercussions for City and the Blues would ultimately lose pace with those clubs they had matched or bettered in recent seasons.

Maybe I’ll do a detailed analysis of how football changed one day but for the time being it’s worth remembering that no one team dominated English football at the beginning of the 1990s but by the end of that decade one did and the financial gap meant traditional giants, like City, Leeds, Newcastle, Everton, Villa and others were unlikely to find League success. It also meant that teams like Oldham would be unable to keep pace with the ‘next’ pack and ultimately they became the first Premier League title to be relegated out of the entire League in 2022.

Highlights of the game here:

White Hot

On this day (23 April) in 1991 a marvellous 5-1 win at Villa Park for Manchester City saw David White become the first City player since the war to score four in an away game. You can watch highlights here:

David White outpacing Comyn & McGrath for his second goal v Aston Villa, 23/4/1991

Mayhem in Manchester

On this day (April 7) in 1992 a Keith Curle penalty, in front of an Old Trafford crowd of 46,781, helped Manchester City to a 1-1 draw in a controversial Manchester derby.  The game was viewed as being highly significant in the title race as only four days earlier the Blues had beaten title-hopefuls Leeds 4-0 at Maine Road. Here’s the story of that game including quotes from an interview I performed with Neil Pointon, who gives his views on a controversial incident that was pivotal to this derby…

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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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Rocastle-White Swap

On this day (22 December) in 1993 David White left Manchester City after years of dedication to the Blue cause. He was transferred to Leeds United in a swap deal for David Rocastle. It was a sad loss for the Blues but it was also a new beginning for Rocastle.

You can read more on the 1993-94 season here:

There are lots of articles on this site that mention David White. Take a look at:

Derby Draw

On this day (16 November) in 1991 the Manchester derby ended goalless at Maine Road but so many, many chances went City’s way! It was a frustrating draw for the Blues and came at a time when neither side had won the League since the 1960s (City in 1967-68 if you want to know). It was felt that momentum was building at Maine Road. This is one of those periods when football history could’ve gone in a different direction.

There was pressure on United boss Alex Ferguson. He had brought the ECWC and FA Cup to United by this time but it was the League that the club craved. City had ended 1990-91 in fifth place and United were 6th. Had City had a bit of fortune around this time they may well have found some success.

Arsenal had won the League in 1991 but no team dominated the League year after year. The birth of the Premier League was coming (1992) and the new riches that came with that meant that the teams that did find League success from then on could potentially dominate in a way no club had before. With United’s title success in 1992-93, United and Arsenal became the two clubs that benefited most from the riches of the Premier League. That created a gap that only strong investment could bridge.

Ah well! Money and football is nothing new. Anyway, here are a few highlights of the derby:

Remember When City Scored Ten!

On this day (7 November) in 1987 Manchester City defeated Huddersfield Town 10-1.  Paul Stewart, Tony Adcock, and David White each scored a hat-trick while the goal spree was started by Neil McNab. You can read the full story of the game; watch highlights and more here….

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Swindon 3 Manchester City 4

Goals from Imre Varadi and Paul Simpson, plus a couple from David White gave Manchester City a memorable 4-3 victory over Swindon Town on this day (31 October) in 1987. You can watch highlights here:

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If you’d like to support my research then why not subscribe? Every subscription directly helps support my research and provides annual subscribers with access to everything posted on this site, including the entire Manchester A Football History and From Maine Men To Banana Citizens books, plus interviews, articles and more. I am not employed by anyone and all my research is self funded or comes from subscriptions to this site.

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You can subscribe at either £20 per year (above) or at £3 per month here (cancel any time). For those subscribing £3 per month you will be able to access all content from October 2022 onwards for as long as you are a subscriber. Those subscribing £20 a year have access to everything posted since December 2020.

David White Double v Liverpool

On this day (21 August) a Wednesday night meeting with Liverpool ended in a 2-1 victory for Manchester City. You can see highlights of the game (and relive the days of night matches on the Kippax/at Maine Rd) including two David White goals here:

Manchester City in the Early 1990s

We hear so much about the Premier League era and how the game has changed, so for today’s feature I’ve decided to take a look at the early 1990s and the birth of the Premier League. It’s almost thirty years since the structure of league football changed forever and during that time some clubs have benefitted from the new structure and others have found life difficult. City have experienced both extremes of course.

The narrative that we often hear about the Blues’ journey over the last thirty years is that they’ve gone from a struggling club to a hugely successful one and, while it is true City are highly successful today and that the Blues entered their lowest ever point in the late 1990s, it is wrong to assume that the position the club found itself in by 1999 was typical of the club’s full history. 

So, here for subscribers, I’m taking a look back at the early 1990s and remind ourselves where the Blues were; who their rivals were; and the state of football at that time:

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