Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
On this day (26 September) in 1998 Manchester City drew 2-2 with Northampton Town in ‘new’ Division Two (third tier). City goalscorers were Paul Dickov and Shaun Goater. Twice City had come back from being behind. This is the Manchester Evening News report of the game:
The 1999 Play Off Final was played on Sunday 30 May in 1999 with Manchester City clearly the favourites. According to the media Gillingham were going to be swept aside by Royle’s men. For many Blues the day began with a long journey down to the capital. Some stayed overnight close by – the Wembley Hilton seemed to have City banners and flags hanging from every window.
When the players were brought out on to the pitch for the commencement of play they were greeted by smoke, fireworks, and inflatable Nationwide Building Society men. It all seemed a little surreal, but this was nothing compared to the match itself.
When the action started City were not the great force the media expected, instead they slipped their way across a wet surface and relied on the 20 year old Nicky Weaver to keep Gillingham at bay, particularly in the 9th minute when he palmed away an effort from Galloway. As the game wore on confidence grew and in the 26th minute a downward header from Horlock was superbly saved by Gillingham’s Bartram.
Mixed play followed, although it’s fair to say that City several chances and should have taken the lead, especially in the 75th minute when Goater sidefooted a shot against the post. As the game progressed City fans became nervous, then with only 9 minutes remaining the Blues were dealt a major blow when Asaba toe-poked a shot into the roof of City’s net. Worse was to follow for City as Robert Taylor made it 2-0 in the 86th minute. Two thirds of the stadium fell silent, then many, many Blues decided enough was enough and left for home. Those that remained were in for a treat.
Radio Five commentator Alan Green told his listeners about the plight of the thousands of City fans silent at Wembley adding: “That many fans go to every home game. Why do they do it?” It wasn’t long before he found the answer.
With a mere 17 seconds of normal time remaining Horlock sidefooted a goal, prompting those in the stands to start to believe that an equaliser could be possible. Four and a half minutes into injury time Dickov fired an equaliser into the top corner. For a few seconds the stadium fell silent as City supporters struggled to comprehend the importance of the goal, and then wild celebrations erupted. Outside Wembley those that had left early heard the news and rushed back.
An extremely tense period of extra time followed, and then came penalties. The City players huddled together as a team, showing the unity that previous sides had clearly not enjoyed. This unity helped City win the penalty shoot out 3-1, but this score says nothing about the drama and the excitement of it all. The penalty sequence started with Kevin Horlock scoring the first at the City-filled Players Tunnel end of the stadium. Then Weaver’s legs blocked Gillingham’s first effort by midfielder Paul Smith.
A confident looking Paul Dickov marched forward to take City’s second, but he watched in agony as his attempt bounced off both posts to leave the score at 1-0. Adrian Pennock then shot wide for Gillingham, before Terry Cooke calmly slotted his effort into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
Gillingham’s third penalty was sent clinically into the roof of the net by John Hodge to make the score 2-1, then Richard Edghill sent his spot kick in off the bar. The pressure was at long last on Gillingham. Guy Butters looked a little on edge as he prepared for the eighth penalty, while in the nets Weaver seemed relatively composed. The young City goalkeeper dived the right way and blocked Butters’ effort to give City victory. He immediately went on a rather manic run across Wembley, until he was dragged back to reality by Morrison and the other players.
Wild celebrations followed, with the players bowing to the supporters to show their appreciation of sticking by the club through an extremely difficult period.
Manager Joe Royle was delighted, although it’s fair to say he looked absolutely worn out when he made it into the dressing room after City’s extravagant celebrations. In a rather down to earth manner he told the media: “We’re not getting too excited about this. A club this size should not be too euphoric about getting out of the old Division Three. And even though we won today, I still think the play offs are a joke. After 46 League games it comes down to a lottery.” This was a comment many at Gillingham would have agreed with.
Royle added: “I think we have gone a long way to curing Man City-itis. We can handle the big games now, even though we weren’t at our best today.”
Stats: Division Two Play Off Final. 30th May 1999.
Gillingham 2-2 Manchester City
City won 3-1 on penalties
Scorers – City: Horlock, Dickov
Gillingham: Asaba, R. Taylor
CITY: Weaver, Crooks (Taylor), Edghill, Wiekens, Morrison (Vaughan), Horlock, Brown (Bishop), Jeff Whitley, Dickov, Goater, Cooke
GILLINGHAM: Bartram, Southall, Ashby, Smith, Butters, Pennock, Patterson (Hodge), Hessenthaler, Asaba (Carr), Galloway (Saunders), Taylor
ATTENDANCE: 76,935
REFEREE: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)
GUEST OF HONOUR: Mike Lazenby, Divisional Director of Marketing, Nationwide Building Society
While you’re here why not subscribe and read an indepth article on the 1998-99 season. It saw the Blues reach their all-time low before an incredible fight back. It’s City’s one and only season at that level. The article is almost 8,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? It contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
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DonateToday (3 May) in 1998 saw Manchester City thrash Stoke 5-2. You can see highlights below but this victory was actually a depressing day when, for the first and only time in their history, the Blues were relegated to the third tier of English football. Stoke were also relegated.
The City scorers were Shaun Goater (2; photographed), Lee Bradbury, Paul Dickov and Kevin Horlock. Highlights here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iGEMo2MSGE
You can find out more about this period by reading the following indepth article on the 1997-98 season. The article is almost 9,500 words long – there’s so much to say! Some people write entire football club histories that are shorter than that. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this season and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 9500 word article on that season:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
On 31 October 1998 an influential figure in MCFC history made his debut…
Manchester City’s first ever third tier season had been one of struggle so far prompting manager Joe Royle to search for changes. He brought in loan signings Michael Branch and Andy Morrison and they made impressive debuts at home to Colchester. The game had been goalless at half time – and City had been booed off! – but substitute Ian Bishop brought some drive to the team in the second half. In the 49th minute Horlock netted a penalty and four minutes later his corner was headed home by Morrison for a debut day goal. Colchester scored a consolation via Jason Dozzell but it was Morrison who ended the day the happiest. Royle: “Morrison was strong-willed and proved a good passer. And at least we have someone who talks at the back!” A week later the Blues made Morrison’s move a permanent one, signing him for £80,000.
Morrison continued to impress in the next game, a 3-0 victory over near neighbours Oldham. Kevin Horlock was actually the star man, scoring twice in the first half, with Morrison netting a volley for the third. Royle was happy with the win but not the specifics of the match: “We were nowhere near our best but we scored three terrific goals, had one disallowed, hit the bar and didn’t get a blatant penalty so I can’t be disappointed.”
The Blues were now up to fifth and there was a feeling that a corner had been turned – but the season had many twists to come yet!
Match stats: 31 Oct 1998 Colchester United (H) W 2-1 Horlock (pen), Morrison Attendance 24,820
Today (30 May 2024) is the 25th anniversary of Manchester City’s play off final victory over Gillingham. Rightly, Paul Dickov’s goal in the 1999 Play Off final has often been described as the most important Manchester City goal of all time. However some also forget about the penalty shoot-out and, before either that or the all-important Dickov goal, came the opening City goal scored by Kevin Horlock.
The late 1990s had been a very difficult period for City and Horlock’s goal came at a moment when all hope that the Club could resurrect itself seemed to have vanished. This goal was obviously important as it gave City hope and ultimately that transferred into achievement.
The following article, covering Horlock’s goal and the story of that day, is available for subscribers to the website. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) or £3 per month (cancel anytime) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available. Why not try subscribe on a monthly basis and try it out?
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the opening months of 1999-2000 season. City had been promoted the previous May and the last few months of 1999 saw the Club continue its resurrection. The article is almost 4,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this period and an extraordinary decade? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 4900 word article on that season:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
The series of articles covering Manchester City in the 1990s continues today with an indepth article on the 1998-99 season – yes, that season! It saw the Blues reach their all-time low before an incredible fight back. It’s City’s one and only season at that level. The article is almost 8,000 words long. It’s available to subscribers, so why not subscribe and relive this extraordinary season? As with all these 1990s subscriber features it contains material from interviews I’ve performed with key figures from that time.
Here’s the 4900 word article on that season:
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (cancel anytime) to access everything posted since 1 October 2022 or there’s a special annual rate below which gives greater access and works out much cheaper.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month (above) or £20 a year (here) to access everything posted since the site was created in December 2020. This special rate works out about £1.67 a week and gives access to everything posted, including PDFs of 3 of my books.
This series of articles and features will run throughout March with indepth articles some days and smaller ‘on this day’ style posts on others. There will be flashbacks to great games, players and more. Every day in March will offer something to enjoy.
Subscribers will get access to everything, while some on this day material will be free for all to view.
If you want to know more on this incredible decade for Manchester City Football Club then why not subscribe and read it all? If you’d like to know more about subscribing then see:
Today (22 January) is a reminder of one of those days when a former player who has recently signed for another club faces your team and scores the only goal. Which game am I talking about? This was the Manchester City match at Sheffield United on this day in 2000. Anyone remember who the player was?
It was Michael Brown who in January 2000 signed for Sheffield United and then, sure enough, he has to face City within a short period following his move and he nets the only goal of the match. Ah well! We can remember it now without getting too worked up but these things do have a tendency to occur more frequently than they ought to – or at least it feels that way!
This match report remembers that day.
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DonateOn this day (30 May) in 1999 Manchester City won the Second Division Play Off final at Wembley in a tense, dramatic day. Understandably, Paul Dickov’s goal in that Play Off final has often been described as the most important Manchester City goal of all time. That goal does deserve significant recognition, however it is also important to remember the other contributing factors on that day all those years ago, including the opening City goal scored by Kevin Horlock.
The late 1990s had been a very difficult period for City and Horlock’s goal came at a moment when all hope that the Club could resurrect itself seemed to have vanished. This goal was obviously important as it gave City hope and ultimately that transferred into achievement.
The following article, covering Horlock’s goal and the story of that day, is available for subscribers to the website. It costs £20 a year (it works out £1.67 per month) and you get full access to all articles posted, including PDFs of the out of print Manchester A Football History and my first ever book about Manchester City. There are also audio interviews & more. Do a few searches on past content to see what’s available.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
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.
Gary James' Football Archive 