Continuing the weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ll be publishing here the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. Today we have a 6,300 word article on the 2002-03 season (below) which was City’s last at Maine Road.
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Continuing the weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ll be publishing here the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. Today we have a 5,400 word article on the 2001-02 season (below) which saw City win the old League Championship trophy. City’s manager was Kevin Keegan.
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On this day (21 April) in 2002 Manchester City defeated Portsmouth 3-1 to record their 31st League win of the season. At the time this was a new record for the club and also marked the 19th home League win of the season (which equalled the record established in 1920-21).
Since 2002 the most wins record has been beaten and it currently stands at 32 which was achieved both in 2017–18 and 2018–19. This is a national record too and was achieved in a 38 game League season. A remarkable achievement.
Subscribers can read more on the City-Portsmouth game of 2002 below:
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Continuing the new weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ll be publishing here the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. Today it’s an article on 2000-01 (below) which became a season of struggle.
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Starting today is a new weekly series on Manchester City’s seasons from 1999-2000 through to 2008-09. Each week I’ll be publishing here the story of a different season of that remarkable ten-year period. The series starts with an 8,800 word article on 1999-2000 (below) which was the first season after promotion (hence the Weaver image) from the third tier of English football. City’s manager was Joe Royle and the club was still based at Maine Road.
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On this day (1 April) in 2000 Manchester City won 2-0 at Swindon Town. The game was watched by 12,397 and the goals came from the now dependable (there had been concern amongst fans earlier in his City career) Shaun Goater – his 27th of the campaign – and Mark Kennedy.
Manager Joe Royle was delighted, although concerned by City’s first half performance: ‘I am delighted with the victory and I thought we fully deserved the points. It wasn’t the best game in the first half, but Shaun Goater did well for the first goal, and we always looked comfortable after the half-time interval and more dangerous after we changed things around.’
The game had not been a good one for 25-year-old midfielder Tony Grant who had made his first start since January. He was replaced by Ian Bishop early in the second half and from that point on the game came alive. Despite the result the Swindon directors were pleased with the match. The Wiltshire club had allowed City fans to occupy both ends of their tiny ground, and it was reported that over half of the 12,397 crowd were supporting the Blues. At £17 per ticket it was calculated the additional gate money was worth over £100,000 to the relegation bound club.
In the table, City had a game in hand over most clubs, and now lay third on 72 points. The near invincible Charlton (87 points) still headed the League while Barnsley (74 points) were second. Ipswich were fourth – one point behind City after the same number of matches – while Birmingham were fifth on 69 points.
On this day (9 February) in 2003 Shaun Goater went down in history for a remarkable appearance as substitute. The Goat came on and scored for City a mere 9 seconds after coming on to the field. The story of this game was written up a couple of years ago for an update of my 1991 book The Pride Of Manchester (co-written with Steve Cawley). Sadly, that book was never updated, though Steve and I put considerable effort into creating all the content.
Here, exclusively for subscribers, is the story of that game as drafted to appear in the updated but aborted Pride Of Manchester.
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On 27 January 2002 Manchester City’s fourth round FA Cup tie at Ipswich saw Kevin Keegan’s side thrill live on TV. City impressed the nation with their spectacular 4-1 fourth round cup demolition of Premier League side Ipswich Town. It is worth remembering that City were in the second tier at the time, hoping for promotion. Many of us felt that the Blues were not only good enough to find success in the League but also stood a genuine chance of FA Cup success (mind you, some of us felt that every season – nine years later it finally happened!).
The City scorers against Ipswich were Eyal Berkovic, Shaun Goater (2) and Darren Huckerby.
After the Ipswich match Keegan said: “Our fans know we can play but I think we showed the rest of the country that we are a good team. I believe the FA Cup needed a game like our tie with Ipswich where the atmosphere was tremendous and both sides picked their strongest available sides and really set out to win.”
In the fifth round, Keegan’s Blues travelled to Newcastle for another thrilling performance against the manager’s old club. The media hype focused on Keegan, but the match ended with national recognition that the Blues were clearly a force. Although City lost the match 1-0 after Richard Dunne had been sent off, the general view was that ten-man City were more than a match for the Geordies. City impressed the nation once again.
The Newcastle tie, like the Ipswich game, came at a time when many were questioning the status of the FA Cup. City’s performance in both ties were seen as major boosts for the competition. According to Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph: “Keegan returned with his magnificent Manchester City side whose spirited, defiant football sent the heart rate soaring among Newcastle’s nervy support. Making light of Richard Dunne’s dismissal and Nolberto Solano’s goal, City scared the black-and-white life out of those who still cherish Keegan’s name. Shaun Wright-Phillips was marvellous, Eyal Berkovic and Kevin Horlock not far behind with outstanding displays as City narrowly lost a Cup-tie but won countless admirers. If they build on this, they will surely keep the Blue Moon rising and head back to the Premiership, where their noisy supporters belong.”
Here are highlights of the Ipswich tie:
Manchester City’s owner Sheikh Mansour has bought the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy at auction. The trophy, which was the first major trophy won by Bury, City and United, will be on display at the National Football Museum. To understand more of that trophy’s significance to Manchester check out my earlier posts:
This was a brief sample of the content available on GJFootballArchive.com. If you would like to view the much longer articles and everything else on this site then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, here) or £3 a month (below) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time.
This was a brief sample of the content available on GJFootballArchive.com. If you would like to view the much longer articles and everything else on this site then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month (here) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Why not sign up for a month, see what’s here and then cancel if you don’t think it’s appropriate for you?
On this day (6 January) in 2001 goals from Andy Morrison, Darren Huckerby and a penalty from Shaun Goater brought Manchester City a 3-2 FA Cup third round win over Birmingham City. City had raced to a three goal lead and seemed comfortable but then things started to go horribly wrong. Fortunately, the Blues held on for the victory though. Phew! It was one of those games. Here’s a contemporary match report of the game:
I was sat in the ‘new’ Platt Lane Stand that day. Were you also at this match? If you were why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?
On this day (11 August) in 2001 new Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan guided the Blues to a 3-0 victory against Watford at Maine Road. You can watch highlights of that win here (and relive the season):
Gary James' Football Archive 