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

[Big Mac]

Been a City fan since the 90's and the moments that stand out for me in no particular order.

1) Steve Lomas holding the fucking ball at 2-2 against Liverpool, when everybody knew it wasn't enough and getting relegated from the Prem.

2) Watching City on the telly in the pub after playing footy on the Sunday batter Stoke 5-2 and feeling sick as fuck as the game drew to a close knowing it wasn't enough and going to the 3rd tier of English football.

3) When Bob Taylor scored in 1999 to make it 2-0 to Gillingham, it was like the world had ended thinking another season in this league. My mate nearly lost his teeth when he said "Never mind mate, at least you can watch them play Scunthorpe next season"

4)Owen's goal in that 4-3 in Fergie Time. Livid didn't come in to it!

5) Rooney's winner in the CC semi last year. Let my daughter who was 9 then stay up to watch it and seeing her cry her eyes out at the same time you felt like you've been kicked in the bollocks was bloody horrible.

Plenty of others you can mention and have already been mentioned by all you guys. For me though, a few minutes after the final whistle at Wembley went, in the stadium all the low points and the painful moments came flooding back and that's what made this FA Cup win so special, and I not ashamed to admit I was welling up because I was so happy.

 

[noely]

1) Vassels missed pen against united under Pearce. 100% knew he was going to miss didnt anyone have confidence in him

2) last years league cup semi final.Felt bad but thought fuck it I've never seen us that far in cup theres always next year.got home and my birds mum went 'its only a game' went bed and cried

3) Hamburb in europa cup I was adament we were going istanbul. I got caught up in all the atmosphere at shambles and in ground i had 3 grand ready for istanbul walking out after the match was so hurtful

4) Northampton away 98 did I really run on the pitch to celebrate us scrapping a draw against the cobblers?

5) Keegans last few months/Pearce's era fook me we were slow one dimentional and shit

 

[Balti]

Luton relegating us in 83 - we were a big club. This couldn't happen to us! Fucking Luton ffs!

Paul Power going to Everton in 86. Fucking Everton ffs! They won the league. We got relegated.

Hearing the other results when we hammered Stoke in 98. Port Vale again. Fucking Port fucking Vale ffs!

Manchester City playing in the Auto Windscreen Shield. What a fucking travesty. I was in denial and ignored it completely. We were not really there. My worst fear was that we'd win it. I was delighted we lost in the first round. Allegedly. The fucking Auto Windscreen Shield ffs.

Others have plumped for York I'm going for Wycombe. We were not getting out of that division it seemed. An Oxford fan came with me and laughed at how shit City were all night. Fucking Oxford. They were in the division above us ffs! It was a fucking long walk back to the car. Wycombe fucking Wanderers. Shouldn't be allowed on the same pitch ffs.


At Wembley stadium in 99 after their second I told my mate I couldn't do this any more and walked out. Fucking Gillingham ffs! I knew at that moment that my match going days would be history. It was too painful. Much too painful. I'd had enough. I couldn't do it anymore. Little did I know what a journey we were about to set out on. A journey that has far from finished just yet! :-)

 

[Skashion]

1. 2-0 down against Gillingham. I was only eleven but the doom and gloom was etched in people's faces around me - as was the joy at 2-2. ;) It was so important to get out as quickly as we did.

2. Stoke. Wasn't there for this one but it just kept getting worse for me. I'm not from Manchester and the school I went to was mostly divided between Blackburn, Burnley and plastic rags. I was getting it from all sides because Blackburn were not long since Premier League champions and plastic rags loved rubbing it in for the only blue in the school. Thank God for Burnley and their fans. At least they knew how it felt.

3. Alan Ball's moment of football genius, I was even younger and only listening on the radio in my brother's room but I was screaming bloody murder at it because of that idiot.

4. Shrek at Old Trafford in the second leg of the semi. *

5. Spurs at the end of last season. *

* Just washing those two sour memories away this season has been immensely joyous. Beating the rags in the FA Cup (so much better than the League Cup) at Wembley, and the delicious irony of Peter Crouch putting it into his own net, the very same net, as the year before. Wouldn't have it any other way. It's been amazing.

 

[n_mcfc]

Well I was born in 1991, so in many ways I've grown up when City have been at the worst. Luckily for me, I've didn't really have that comparison of the good days, so relegation in 1998 didn't really hurt me as much as it did to other older Blues. Even the next season when we were losing at York, for me, there wasn't any perspective to put it into,

I'd really grown up with City in Division 1, Division 2 just seemed to be 'another league'. I even remember losing away at Lincoln that season, because I'd read it in the paper in Sainsbury's because I didn't even know we'd played the previous night. I got even luckier last season with the 4-3 defeat at Old Trafford as I was moving into Uni accommodation so missed the whole game trying to sort my things out, meeting weirdos etc. and read the score updates on my phone seeing Owen pop up in 97 minutes was horrid. I'm so grateful that I didn't watch that game.

In many ways, I'm lucky my Dad stuck with them during that time because it was that season that I really fell in love with them, I kind of went football mad around then, aged 6-8.

So for me, my low points are a bit different.

1. Foe dying. Cried like a baby.
2. Rooney last season in Carling Cup. Locked myself away all night.
3. Losing 1-0 at home to Bury or Huddersfield (I think, Friday night game) in 1997 and after the game, fans were going mad outside the ground ("You're not fit to wear the shirt." "We're shit and we know we are..") I was 6 so didn't know what was going on, just remember feeling shit and very scared.
4. 4-0 away at Wigan in 2006. Matthew fucking Mills. (Plus the rest of that season, really started to dislike City. I even remember Barton scoring against Spuds at home and I didn't move, didn't celebrate for the first time ever. Knew we were shit.)
5. Losing to Boro then two Thai teams in 2008, knowing the club was disintegrating again and I was old enough to know how much this was going to hurt me.

 

[alib]

the school I went to was mostly divided between Blackburn, Burnley and plastic rags. I was getting it from all sides because Blackburn were not long since Premier League champions and plastic rags loved rubbing it in for the only blue in the school. Thank God for Burnley and their fans. At least they knew how it felt.

you're not from Rossendale are you?

coz that sounds a lot like my childhood!!!

 

[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.

Really?! The bastard was lying to me.

If by "The bastard" you mean Mackintosh, the man was pathologically incapable of telling the truth. Don't take it personal.

 

[bluestevei]

to many,more then bloody 5 thats for sure, but halifax away in fa cup, chelsea beating us in a semifinal cup winners cup game, liverpool winnig the league by a point, shrewsbury away in fa cup game, stoke away to send us down, luton who sent us down ,bolton in a league cup game away ffs i could go on,

BUT NOW THE FUTURE IS BLUE

 

[Anonymous]

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.

If by "The bastard" you mean Mackintosh, the man was pathologically incapable of telling the truth. Don't take it personal.

Is he still stealing a living at Fulham?

 

[another generation]

The constant shifting of managers for as long as I can remember.

York City away, Dec 98. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I'd been amongst the City fans, but I ended up standing in the terrace at the opposite end. I'd psyched myself up to applaud if York scored, and to keep my gob shut every time City scored. Hell's bells. It ended up with the predictable mob of York supporters leaping around me, arms aloft. Felt very small.

Losing to Liverpool at Maine Road in the FA Cup, Jan 03. I knew we were doomed from the moment the teams walked out. We were miles smaller than them. We probably couldn't have done any worse by putting out a side of Diddy Men.

The whole 4-3 fergie time experience, Sep 09. The game went from pure fear at the sheer pressure wave of sound when shrek scored the early goal, through hope at the first two equalisers, then joy at Bellamy's third. Six goals in an away derby - who'd have thought it? But then the end was like behind kicked in the stomach by a horse. I swear fergie danced towards us, waving V-signs and shouting 'F* off, f* off, f* off!' but it was apparently missed by both TV cameras and the FA. All in all, an experience I don't wish to repeat.

The trade-off with living in a remote part of the world, against missing everything that comes with being a Blue in Manchester.