My own personal best years following us home and away by far.
Yes the current success is off the scale and the team incredible to watch but following us then home and away was something else it really was.
Kind of agree with you really. The atmosphere at the first and last home games (Blackpool and Wigan play off semi)were 2 of the best I can remember at Maine Road. Blackpool for the 'we're shit and we're getting worse, but fuck you we're still here' attitude and Wigan for the frenzied, almost manic atmosphere brought on by the absolute desperation to get out of that division.
As you say, a totally different experience watching City 25 years ago to the wonderful football and brilliant players we are used to seeing now.
There were also some real 'shockers' that season for sure. The defeat at Fulham was certainly a wake up call, and though I was (one of the few!) not at York ,I did the defeat at Lincoln (on a bloody shitty Tuesday night too) which was a truly abysmal ! The support was pretty toxic at times too, as others have pointed out on here. This was mainly aimed at what was happening on the pitch but there did seem quite a bond amongst most of our supporters ,especially at away games.
From my point of view I had some bloody goid piss ups too.
That season ofcourse gave us arguably the most important match in our history (certainly in my 50 odd years of supporting City.) Obviously not the best or most glamorous or most enjoyable for the most part, but certainly in terms of how much it meant to the future of the club the most vital. That penalty shoot out at Wembley was without doubt the most nervous I've ever been at a City match.
That season was just as an important part of being a City fan as was the fantastic one we had the pleasure of witnessing last season. In a strange way I hated and loved that 1998/99 season in equal measures!!