35 years of hurt...your top five low points

[VOOMER]

The last 6 weeks have been the best six weeks in my 35 years of watching the club. When Tevez lifted the cup at Wembley my football life flashed before me a bit, a bit like a drowning man. There was the glory, albeit limited, the famous victories and the resurgance of a club which seemed dead. But there was also those stomach churning lows. Those awful moments were suddenly all part of a tapestry, a road which lead to that day at Wembley and hopefully continues to the Champions League final. I believe that you need to experience those lows to appreciate the highs as a football fan, and that's why the ecstasy on the faces on all those blues in WEmbley, the tears, the dancing, was so much more intense than fans of most successful clubs will ever know.

So I thought I'd reflect on those lows, and give my top five. I actually mean moments, rather than matches, when I felt sick to the stomach, close to tears and even ready to jack it all in.

1) Gillingham go 2-0 up at WEmbley. I can remember it like it was yesterday. The most tense football match I have ever been to bar none. Big Fat Bobby Taylor put them 2-0 up with a few minutes to go. United had won the treble. We had failed to get out of the third division. I sank down in my seat and put my head in my hands. I questioned my love for Manchester City. I thought "I can't put myself through this any more". I said to my dad "It's never ever going to happen for us, ever, is it dad?". He just looked at me with a tear in his eye.

2) Driving back up the M6 after the 5-2 victory at Stoke. There was no actual moment in this game where the reality of our relegation hit home. It kind of slowly seeped over the crowd like mustard gas. And being undercover in the Stoke end sharpened the senses. But as we drove back up the M6, a car full in total silence, the reality of what had happened kicked in and I just felt sick to the core. How had we sunk so low?

3) Full time whistle at the Luton 83 relegation. The wierd thing about this one is that relegation was a total shock. We'd not been in the bottom three all year. We needed a point to be safe. But it was all irrelevant to me, a 13 year old. City didn't play in division 2. This was just a clamactic end to a poor season. Bang, Antic scored out the blue and the crowd was in total shock. We sang "We'll support you ever more" but there was a sense of total disbelief about this one.

4) United come back from the dead. I think this was about 1994, we were 2-0 up and cruising at home to United. At the time we had as good a team as them and it felt like City were finally back. suddenly we sat on the edge of our own box and they started to murder us. When they got it back to 2-2 with a fe wminutes on the clock it was bad, but when they scored that late winner it was worse than a hard kick in the balls. In fact it was a few minutes after that goal was the low. I seem to remember we'd been singing "2-0 up and you fucked it up" at them all game after a defeat to Galatasary and they were singing it right back at us. Ouch.

5) Driving home after losing 1-0 to Bury. This would have been around 97 or 98 I think, when we were blatently not going back to the premier league, we were actually going backwards. The club was in a mess behind the scenes. We lost to Bury and Maine Road was absolutely furious. The stadium shook with ferocious booing at full time. After the game, David Makin rang GMR to basically say that the club was in tatters and it was all down to Franny Lee. For one of our shareholders to do this was just mindblowing and it seemed at this point that City were doomed forever.

So there you go, there's my low points. The only difficulty was selecting the 5 worst - I could have done another 15 easily! I never dreamed during any of these moments we'd be where we are today - ever. But we are. Enjoy it, Blues, because we fucking deserve it.

David, as positive and evenhanded an apprisal of the last 35 years, that I've read.
Excellent.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The $WP sale also helped clear a huge portion of the debt Keegan ran up before we could strengthen the rest of the side.

Not true unfortunately. The bulk went into operational cash flow just to keep us going. No debt was repaid as a result of the SWP sale.

 

[yorkieblue]

To many to mention but here's mine.
1. Losing to wolves in league cup final, I was only a small kid at time, cried my eyes out.
2. The sales of Gary Owen and Peter Barnes to Wba, my 2 heroes.
3. 2 all draw with Liverpool meaning we were relegated.
4. Kinky leaving City when he was about the only good thing at the time.
5. Getting relegated at Stoke.

The Gillingham game almost beat the lot , saved by Dicky.

 

[Petetheblu]

Cracking thread Dave.

All of your five points are so fresh in my mind, absolute devastated!!!

One point I'd like to add was when we sold Gio, I knew it was coming but that lad was my only come back to the gloating nited, Bolton, liverpool and people who didn't even like football....How does that happen, people who don't like football still knew how bad you were??

We were a joke, a total cock-up and several times a day some armchair fan would come out with those haunting words "city fan...Oh your the one then!!"

At times it was like anyone and everyone having a free ticket to insult your dearly loved misunderstood family member, it hurt emotionally and at time Id have to dig really deep to hide my hurt and anger....All this over a football club!!....some days I have to question my sanity!!!..... hahaha!!!

Good thread anyway.....It's about time ;)

 

[peoffrey]

The $WP sale also helped clear a huge portion of the debt Keegan ran up before we could strengthen the rest of the side.

Not true unfortunately. The bulk went into operational cash flow just to keep us going. No debt was repaid as a result of the SWP sale.

Really?! The bastard was lying to me.

 

[Any1aBlue]

add the 81 cup final replay to the top of that list, that was the start of the decline?

Yep,'81 cup final started it - little did I know then just how far down the slippery slope i'd have to follow them...........................

Doncaster Rovers, Away, in League Cup just a few years ago (Pearce was in 'charge'). Lost and got a speeding fine en route home with an angry right foot! Got home late and forgot to set alarm clock so the hell continued next day at work.

Sitting in the Stretford end when we lost 0-5 is my ultimate low point though - im still psychologically damaged from that.

Its stuff like this that made me shed a tear at Wembley....................<br /><br />-- Wed May 25, 2011 2:14 pm --<br /><br />

To many to mention but here's mine.
1. Losing to wolves in league cup final, I was only a small kid at time, cried my eyes out.
2. The sales of Gary Owen and Peter Barnes to Wba, my 2 heroes.
3. 2 all draw with Liverpool meaning we were relegated.
4. Kinky leaving City when he was about the only good thing at the time.
5. Getting relegated at Stoke.

The Gillingham game almost beat the lot , saved by Dicky.

Oh,shit,its all coming back to me! NURSE!!!!!!!

 

[Stretford Born Blue]

As I am 48 I could name a million low points but here are my top 5 which made me somewhat hacked off with life:

1) The managerial merrygo round from 1973 to 2001 saw us rideculed and in complete dissaray at Board level and team level.
Included some real dross, Johnny Hart, Ron Saunders, John Bond (the nearly man!), John Benson (christ!!), Billy McNeill, Jimmy Frizzell, Mel Machin, Howard Kendal (turd although it was starting to look better at one point?!), Alan Ball (knob, Liverpool 2-2!), Steve Coppell (strange that one?!), Phil Neal and Frank Clark.

I've ommitted some such as Asa Hartford, Tony Book, Peter Reid and Malcom Allison (second time round) because it's not right to include them in the dross, Tony Book won us something and was always there to help out on his numerous managerial appointments and Peter Reid tried his best but was not liked by Swales in the end.

2) The Swales and Lee years, as it included most of the above appointments, Swales built the new Kippax and Platt Lane end and although he loved City, he didn't have a clue, Steve Daley, Barry Conlon...........Huge cockups and poor management at team and club level, says it all really.

3) Losses to Halifax and Shrewsbury in the FA Cup first rounds.

4) Relegation in 1983 and 1987 to the old Second Division and in 1996 to the Championship and then Division two in 1998, finally to Championship again in 2001. Complete nightmare period of our history when the other lot took off and we fell into the abyss.

5) Division two years in 1998/99 season.


Thank god we now have stability and growth, lets thank David Bernstein, Thaskin Shinawatra and finally Khaldoon Al Mulbarak who have managed to pull it all together over the last 8 years or so.
At least our disappointments are now only likely to be in the later stages of cup competitions etc.......................I hope?!

 

[Pigeonho]

In no particular order:
Being that shite, thinking a last gasp equalizer v Wimbledon at home on a pissy wet November night was a good result, (95/96 season)

Experiencing my first relegation (95/96 season, last match v Liverpool)

Signing Jason van Blerk

Getting relegated to the THIRD tier of English football

Sitting in the Kippax on a fucking freezing February afternoon, watching our Derby v Macclesfield.

Oh my fucking god we were bad!!!

 

[Cellarite]

great thread. mine are not so much the decisive days but when it's sunk in how shite we have been.

5. forest 1-2 at home in the league cup '93. kernaghan up front when we were chasing the game and sheron sat on the bench. i got piss wet through on the way back home to eccles, walked in and my mam said the classic "there's always next year." i didn't speak to her for 3 days afterwards.

4. west ham at home in the cup quarter final. i knew how much city had hurt me when i couldn't get excited for a quarter final tie at home. they'd broke my spirit so many times that i wasn't even contemplating us going through.

3. qpr 0-3 in '97 at home. one of two occasions where i've walked out early. 2-0 down and i sat in the platt lane and witnessed the ball sail over the head of alan kernaghan, straight to a qpr forward who finished us off. kernaghan didn't look in the least bit bothered. i got up and walked.

2. the united double header in '94-'95. i slept outside maine road for tickets to old trafford for the 5-0. at the home fixture (0-3) i was nervous when city had a corner because i knew they'd break away and score.

1. bury 0-1 in '98. i only had a tenner to my name so got a lift to maine road and bought a ticket off a tout. as i walked away, i looked at it and it was in the bury end. stayed sat down when they scored and got threatened loads for being a blue bastard. told a few of them to fuck off or hit me. they left me alone.

 

[raininspain]

All the shit things that have happened to us are what makes us the supporters today. You see Chelsea, the Scum, Liverpool, Arsenal, they've never had to experience what we've experienced and that is why we're the best supporters in the world bar none!!!

I was trying to be explain this to a pair of rags on the way back to Wembley Central after the semi-final. As you would expect, though (apart from the fact that English was certainly not their mother tongue), they couldn't quite grasp what I was saying.

When you've been through the tough times like we have, it's just so incredible to feel that it has all been worth it. Those who support teams that are not accustomed to losing do not understand how we feel now.

"We were here when we were shit". How many rags can chant that?