Warning! The following 600 word article is the story of Manchester City’s final game of the 1997-98 season. It was against Stoke on 3 May and, well, let’s just say it was a 5-2 easy victory but the consequences were grave for the club. If you have no idea what I’m on about then have a read – or if you want to relive a painful memory then carry on. Fortunately, I’ve made this article available to subscribers only so people won’t just catch site of our misery just by passing! If you can then enjoy looking back and remembering those days!
Subscribe to get access – Monthly
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £3 per month or £20 for an annual subscription.
Annual subscribers get access to everything (all the books, articles, videos, interviews etc.) posted since the site was created in December 2020. Monthly subscribers get access to everything since 1 October 2022. All subscribers access everything posted throughout their subscription. Why not give it a try for a month and see what you think?
On this day (16 March) in 1996 Georgi Kinkladze scored a brilliant goal for Manchester City when they defeated Southampton 2-1 at Maine Road. He actually scored two that day. Subscribers to this site can relive that game and day here:
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.
Subscribe to get access – Annual
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year or £3 per month (see below). Annual subscribers get access to all content posted since December 2020 plus everything posted during their subscription.
Read more of this content when you subscribe today. It costs £20 a year (see above) or £3 per month. Monthly subscribers get access to all content posted since 1 October 2022 plus everything posted during their subscription. Cancel anytime. So why not try it for a month?
On this day (23 December) in 1995 there was a great deal of speculation that Manchester City would be the first team to field four ‘foreign players’ which wound PFA chief Gordon Taylor up considerably. There had been a rule in place limiting the number of foreign players to three but this had been challenged by English clubs, following the historic Bosman judgement in the European Court of Justice.
Basically, before Bosman challenged the restrictive trade practices UEFA insisted that a maximum of three foreign players could appear for clubs. The Bosman judgement was immediately considered by Premier League clubs who felt it meant they could play as many players from the European Union as they wanted (though the maximum of 3 from outside the EU was still a limit).
The Premier League, supported by the FA, said the ruling meant that City and other clubs could play as many EU players as they wanted. At Maine Road Alan Ball had brought Danish under-21 international Ronnie Ekelund on loan and together with Eike Immel, Uwe Rosler and Georgi Kinkladze it was suggested he would play against Chelsea on 23 December 1995.
In the end Ekelund came on as substitute for Rosler, so 4 ‘foreign players’ had appeared that day but only 3 at any one time (though there’s a whole other discussion to be had about players from other United Kingdom countries and Ireland and whether they should count as that day the Republic of Ireland’s Niall Quinn played, as did Gerry Creaney from Scotland and Welsh international Kit Symons!).
As for the game… City lost 1-0 to Chelsea!
Ekelund had a brief up and down career at City, making only 6 (plus 3 as sub) appearances and he was soon off to Barcelona, while the change to the ‘foreign player’ rule was to have a massive impact on the development of football in England, paving the way for the multitude of talented players at City today.
Subscribe to get access
If you have enjoyed this piece and would like to support my writing while also accessing further great content, then why not subscribe? Those who subscribe on an annual basis get access to everything posted on this site since December 2020 (including PDFs of 2 out of print books, and audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc.). Those subscribing on a monthly basis get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022. It’s £20 a year (subscribe here) or £3 per month (subscribe below). Why not try it for a month?
If you have enjoyed this piece and would like to support my writing while also accessing further great content, then why not subscribe? Those subscribing on a monthly basis get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022. It’s £20 a year (subscribe above) or £3 per month (subscribe here). Why not try it for a month?
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:
One of the best goals of Maine Road’s final couple of decades saw the brilliant Georgiou Kinkladze at his best. Kinkladze was a major star – some would say Manchester City’s biggest during the mid 1990s – and livened up many dull days for City fans. This goal was obviously popular with Maine Road regulars but, thanks to television and the game’s appearance on Match of the Day, many neutrals recognised the quality of this Golden Goal.
The idea of this ‘GOLDEN GOALS’ feature is to remember a significant or spectacular Manchester City goal from yesteryear. My hope is that supporters who were not around back then will learn more about these goals while those who were here will hopefully be reminded of them. If you would like to nominate a goal for possible use in a future feature then please comment at the end of this piece or email me with details of game, goal scorer and date.
This article, covering Kinkladze’s goal is available for subscribers to the website below. 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.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
Gary James' Football Archive 