1983 and 2026 - Is there a similar vibe?

[Prestwich_Blue]

I was thinking about one particular similarity between the 1982/83 season and this one earlier. Obviously the outcome of the two seasons was completely different, with relegation in 1983 whereas this season was, by any standard, successful with our domestic cup double and 2nd place finish. But both felt like the sun was setting on a golden age.

I still remember thinking after that horrible Luton game that we'd seen the end of an era that lasted from 1966 through to 1983. We'd seen so many great players in that era - Book, Pardoe, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Watson, Oakes, Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Young, Marsh, Corrigan, Barnes, Owen, Tueart, Kidd, Power, Hartford, Royle and others. We'd seen success in all competitions (bar the European Cup). Only Power, Hartford & Kenny Clements from that group played in the 2nd Division in 1983/84.

And with Stones & Bernardo, plus probably players like Ake, departing this summer, alongside the absolute legends we've seen since 2008 -Vinny, Barry, Yaya, Hart, Ederson, Merlin, Sergio, Fernandinho, Sterling, Sané, KDB etc. The only ones left even from the Treble season are Rodri, Dias, Foden and Haaland, and there's an argument that the first three of this seem to have lost the spark that made them so great for us.

We're far better placed now of course, with Khaldoon as chairman rather than Peter Swales. Our finances mean we're one of the leading global teams, and we have a reasonable expectation of further successes. But there seems to be a similar fin de siècle feel somehow.

 

[Gordyola]

We're far better placed now of course, with Khaldoon as chairman rather than Peter Swales

This

 

[RobH]

Thankful for the older blues who can provide this historic perspective. There are highs and lows as we all should know, and success isn’t guaranteed.

 

[East Level 2]

Khaldoon may well be a slightly better chairman that Swales, but the majority of replacements for Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Pardoe, Doyle, Oakes etc were downgrades, certainly by 1983. Tueart, Barnes, Watson and Hartford might have been OK but many more weren't.
We now have a situation where we're starting from a much higher point but it's clear most of the replacements for Sergio, David, Vince, and many, many others, including Raz, just aren't up to snuff. They aren't crap, useless, utter shite or any of the other descriptions found in the match-day and post-match threads, they simply aren't good enough, or consistent enough to play for a team that is looking to challenge for the PL and CL on a regular basis.
Part of the problem is that we have the best striker in the world but have forgotten how to feed him.

 

[KS55]

I was thinking about one particular similarity between the 1982/83 season and this one earlier. Obviously the outcome of the two seasons was completely different, with relegation in 1983 whereas this season was, by any standard, successful with our domestic cup double and 2nd place finish. But both felt like the sun was setting on a golden age.

I still remember thinking after that horrible Luton game that we'd seen the end of an era that lasted from 1966 through to 1983. We'd seen so many great players in that era - Book, Pardoe, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Watson, Oakes, Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Young, Marsh, Corrigan, Barnes, Owen, Tueart, Kidd, Power, Hartford, Royle and others. We'd seen success in all competitions (bar the European Cup). Only Power, Hartford & Kenny Clements from that group played in the 2nd Division in 1983/84.

And with Stones & Bernardo, plus probably players like Ake, departing this summer, alongside the absolute legends we've seen since 2008 -Vinny, Barry, Yaya, Hart, Ederson, Merlin, Sergio, Fernandinho, Sterling, Sané, KDB etc. The only ones left even from the Treble season are Rodri, Dias, Foden and Haaland, and there's an argument that the first three of this seem to have lost the spark that made them so great for us.

We're far better placed now of course, with Khaldoon as chairman rather than Peter Swales. Our finances mean we're one of the leading global teams, and we have a reasonable expectation of further successes. But there seems to be a similar fin de siècle feel somehow.

Yes, the feeing is similar. But but but we have the money now to jump back to the top quite quickly.

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

I was thinking about one particular similarity between the 1982/83 season and this one earlier. Obviously the outcome of the two seasons was completely different, with relegation in 1983 whereas this season was, by any standard, successful with our domestic cup double and 2nd place finish. But both felt like the sun was setting on a golden age.

I still remember thinking after that horrible Luton game that we'd seen the end of an era that lasted from 1966 through to 1983. We'd seen so many great players in that era - Book, Pardoe, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Watson, Oakes, Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Young, Marsh, Corrigan, Barnes, Owen, Tueart, Kidd, Power, Hartford, Royle and others. We'd seen success in all competitions (bar the European Cup). Only Power, Hartford & Kenny Clements from that group played in the 2nd Division in 1983/84.

And with Stones & Bernardo, plus probably players like Ake, departing this summer, alongside the absolute legends we've seen since 2008 -Vinny, Barry, Yaya, Hart, Ederson, Merlin, Sergio, Fernandinho, Sterling, Sané, KDB etc. The only ones left even from the Treble season are Rodri, Dias, Foden and Haaland, and there's an argument that the first three of this seem to have lost the spark that made them so great for us.

We're far better placed now of course, with Khaldoon as chairman rather than Peter Swales. Our finances mean we're one of the leading global teams, and we have a reasonable expectation of further successes. But there seems to be a similar fin de siècle feel somehow.

I'll tell you another thing that's the same, I feel as down today as I did after that Luton game. Different context though, as you say.

 

[Ban-jani]

One accusation they can’t throw at you Colin, is you’re a proper Bert. Negative until the end and I respect it.

 

[NPBlue]

I don't see much of a comparison myself.

We have a team and sructure in place at the top of the club now that has delivered success over the last 15 years with the recruitment of players and managers.

In 1983 we had Swales in charge, who delivered nothing other than a downward trend since he took office.

We opened a new stand today as part of a development costing £300M, that, from my seat in the Colin Bell stand, impoved the atmosphere considerably. They were a noisy lot in there today.

Swales sold our best player to fund a new roof on the main stand at Maine Road. He had grand plans for the future of Maine Road, the new roof being just the start, and, well, we know what happened after that.

Today was the end of an era, a phenomenal 10 years of achievents that probably won't be repeated. We did OK before Pep arrived with the appointments of Mancini and Pellegrini.

We'll be OK with whoever is brought in. We'll probably not win 20 trophies in 10 years, but we'll there or there abouts over the coming seasons, which is a far cry from the situation we faced in 1983.

 

[69FACUPfinal]

I'll tell you another thing that's the same, I feel as down today as I did after that Luton game. Different context though, as you say.

This ×100.

 

[The Norfolk Blue]

I'll tell you another thing that's the same, I feel as down today as I did after that Luton game. Different context though, as you say.

I had tears in my eyes watching Pep’s speech and my missus was furious. You never show that much emotion where I’m concerned she moaned.

Just like 43 years ago, part of me is kinda dreading what comes next?

 

[Ballosteve]

I had tears in my eyes watching Pep’s speech and my missus was furious. You never show that much emotion where I’m concerned she moaned.

Just like 43 years, part of me is kinda dreading what comes next?

Divorce ?

 

[waspish]

For me we would have done fine when we went back up in what was it 87 under Mel Machin with our youngish team with few of our youth Team players! Sacked in 89 by the person who ruined our club Swales!

 

[Gingers Dad]

I can't see any link between 1983 and 2026 and hopefully it stays that way. City is a totally different club to any other period since I started going to matches in 1973. A lot of people might not like the change. Personally think this version of City is brilliant.

 

[J.G.Blue.]

I cant really see any comparison myself, When Luton put us down I just remember being sort of out of it for days, just a numb, weird feeling that we had gone down?
Pep is obviously a legend with a record that can never be replicated but I trust our owners / people in charge to appoint and support the right people & I have a feeling we will be fine.

 

[.db.]

Feels like the end of an era.

We got to see a side as good as our 2017-2019 team, the best ever English football team, playing the best football ever seen in this country. I doubt we’ll see a team as good as that in this country in our lifetimes, and I don’t just mean at City.

Then we went even further, nearly won a treble in 2021, the amazing Gündoğan comeback game (the most mental five minutes I’ve ever seen on a football pitch) and won a treble and four league titles in a row in ’23 and ’24.

I must admit, I’m a little bit disappointed we only won one CL. We had the best team in Europe for about 7 years (2017-2024) and only won that one. But maybe that’s being spoilt.

Like @Prestwich_Blue listed those greats above, we’ve seen Ederson Walker Otamendi Kompany Laporte Stones Fernandinho DavidSilva DeBruyne BernardoSilva Gündoğan Sterling Sané Mahrez Agüero all leave with Aké and Rodri not having long left.

It’s been fucking magic following City under Pep. We’ll never see owt like it again. But in a way, I think a few years not being as good (we’ve already got a worse team, there aren’t loads of great players out there in the sport at the moment to bring in, and what manager can follow the greatest?) will actually make this era stand on its own and make us appreciate it as special as it deserves to be.

One good thing is that we won’t disappear into midtable obscurity as we have men at the helm who won’t allow that, we have a revenue that will keep us going, Pep Txiki and Viana have left us with a younger and better squad that Fergie left the Rags with and we may well win at a rate we saw between 2011-2016 before Pep came (although there’s no guarantees of winning trophies in football).

But it does feel like the end of an era.

 

[CC1]

I was thinking about one particular similarity between the 1982/83 season and this one earlier. Obviously the outcome of the two seasons was completely different, with relegation in 1983 whereas this season was, by any standard, successful with our domestic cup double and 2nd place finish. But both felt like the sun was setting on a golden age.

I

I can’t see the relationship between these two events. One was a dire relegation & one is the celebration of a domestic double ?

The only “era” that has ended is Pep’s reign but the club is going from strength to strength & to be honest whilst Pep is a genius, some of his team selections have been costly. So a lesser genius who will now look at the things that have not worked (hopefully) such as corners - defending & attacking- throw ins; playing players in their best positions rather than trying to prove they can play any role….

This is no criticism of Pep. Just a positive way of looking forward

 

[Bluesince1979]

Khaldoon may well be a slightly better chairman that Swales, but the majority of replacements for Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Pardoe, Doyle, Oakes etc were downgrades, certainly by 1983. Tueart, Barnes, Watson and Hartford might have been OK but many more weren't.
We now have a situation where we're starting from a much higher point but it's clear most of the replacements for Sergio, David, Vince, and many, many others, including Raz, just aren't up to snuff. They aren't crap, useless, utter shite or any of the other descriptions found in the match-day and post-match threads, they simply aren't good enough, or consistent enough to play for a team that is looking to challenge for the PL and CL on a regular basis.
Part of the problem is that we have the best striker in the world but have forgotten how to feed him.

I think this pretty much sums it up.
We can go through a huge chunk of even the treble squad (without going as far back as aguero etc) and those that have gone have been replaced by inferior players.

The janury 25 window was strange. Utter panic buys with only khus looking like he’ll make it.

 

[Bluesince1979]

I was thinking about one particular similarity between the 1982/83 season and this one earlier. Obviously the outcome of the two seasons was completely different, with relegation in 1983 whereas this season was, by any standard, successful with our domestic cup double and 2nd place finish. But both felt like the sun was setting on a golden age.

I still remember thinking after that horrible Luton game that we'd seen the end of an era that lasted from 1966 through to 1983. We'd seen so many great players in that era - Book, Pardoe, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Watson, Oakes, Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Young, Marsh, Corrigan, Barnes, Owen, Tueart, Kidd, Power, Hartford, Royle and others. We'd seen success in all competitions (bar the European Cup). Only Power, Hartford & Kenny Clements from that group played in the 2nd Division in 1983/84.

And with Stones & Bernardo, plus probably players like Ake, departing this summer, alongside the absolute legends we've seen since 2008 -Vinny, Barry, Yaya, Hart, Ederson, Merlin, Sergio, Fernandinho, Sterling, Sané, KDB etc. The only ones left even from the Treble season are Rodri, Dias, Foden and Haaland, and there's an argument that the first three of this seem to have lost the spark that made them so great for us.

We're far better placed now of course, with Khaldoon as chairman rather than Peter Swales. Our finances mean we're one of the leading global teams, and we have a reasonable expectation of further successes. But there seems to be a similar fin de siècle feel somehow.

As a 9 year old in 83, sat in thr platt lane with dad and watching luton sending us down and being in utter shock as dad had been so optimistic that there is no way we werent staying up, and going home and lying on the sofa and crying my eyes out, that summer actually felt very optimistic!

When billy mac came in, brought in tolmie, parlane and mcnab, i saw absolutely no reason why werent winning div2, then div 1, then the european cup!!

 

[surprisedbygrass]

No . Only similarity is seeing grown men crying ( Kippax and SS3 ). Loss with gratitude Vs loss with utter disbelief.

Given the magnitude of Pep's achievements I think we can expect a period of churn but think on : back then we had Peter Swales at the helm

 

[percypawpaw]

This is nothing like 1983 that was relegation like so many we suffered, today its the loss of a great manager we have to look forward and not backward. I look forward to seeing our new manager with the anticipation of more success, we are a completely a different club than in the past, I believe we have a very bright future and we will carry on being successful.