Gillingham v Manchester City 1999

I queued for nine hours in and out of Maine Road for the two tickets I was entitled to as a season ticket holder. The queue began outside the ticket office, went past the outside of the north stand, round and past the Kippax until we were shepherded into the entrance of the Kippax at the Platt Lane end which was about half way around the ground.

I followed the same route back but inside the concourses of the Kippax and North stands until finally arriving at the ticket office at about 7 pm. They had kept the ticket office open due to the demand. I remember seeing some graffiti on the wall just before I exited the North stand concourse that said "City till I died" which kind of kept me going.

I don't honestly remember much of the match other than having this dreadful feeling that we had blown it. I think their scorers were Carl Asaba and Fat Bob but I can't remember too clearly.

I do know that I didn't leave with 2 minutes of normal time left, and when Horlock and Dickov got it to 2-2, I was certain that we would go on to win it in extra time. But again, typical City prevailed and kept us waiting.

Luckily the penalties were taken at our end of the old stadium and after they missed a couple it was in the bag until Dickov missed one.

Then Nicky Weaver made that save and the pure relief ran through my entire body.

When we walked back down Wembley Way there was no singing or celebrating- everyone was just emotionally spent.

What a day and what a result after the rags had just won the European Cup.

And Noel Gallagher and Goldie managed to get their photo with me before the game.
 
bluke said:
should send one copy with a dedication to Tony Pulis. He must have some fond memories of that day

My editor kept telling me to ring Palace and see if he'd do an interview.

Thought it best not to, to be honest. ;)
 
What a night that was. I'm in Oz, so stayed up until 2am in a City chat room with guys all around the World shooting the breeze. The numbers had been steadily increasing over the weeks, until it culminated with the Wembley Final. I couldn't believe it when Fat Bob scored the second, and I will admit I couldn't take it anymore and shut down and went to bed feeling sick to the stomach. Had to be up at 6am for work, so after a couple of hours sleep signed on to the computer quickly before leaving home, on the Sporting Life website there was a pic of Nicky Weaver with a big fat grin holding the trophy aloft, I nearly blew all over the screen!!!

How your emotions can be completely transformed in a split second!!! It was appreciated all the more when I managed to get a video of the game, I basically wore two parts of the tape out watching the last five minutes, then the penalty shoot out.<br /><br />-- Fri May 02, 2014 8:05 am --<br /><br />I also ordered a copy, so cannot wait for it to arrive over here for a read.
 
colesy said:
What a night that was. I'm in Oz, so stayed up until 2am in a City chat room with guys all around the World shooting the breeze. The numbers had been steadily increasing over the weeks, until it culminated with the Wembley Final. I couldn't believe it when Fat Bob scored the second, and I will admit I couldn't take it anymore and shut down and went to bed feeling sick to the stomach. Had to be up at 6am for work, so after a couple of hours sleep signed on to the computer quickly before leaving home, on the Sporting Life website there was a pic of Nicky Weaver with a big fat grin holding the trophy aloft, I nearly blew all over the screen!!!

How your emotions can be completely transformed in a split second!!! It was appreciated all the more when I managed to get a video of the game, I basically wore two parts of the tape out watching the last five minutes, then the penalty shoot out.

-- Fri May 02, 2014 8:05 am --

I also ordered a copy, so cannot wait for it to arrive over here for a read.

Cheers! Hopefully, it will be dispatched to pre-orders to be there before the 26th. :o)
 
It rained all morning after a lovely day in London the day before. Got expensive tickets from a tout outside the Greyhound for the Gillingham end but left sick as a dog when they got their second and saw the second half of extra time & penalties in a pub. Remember a long line of City supporters going into Wembley Central singing "You can stick your f***ing treble up your arse." Then emotional exhaustion set in.
 
BlueMooney said:
colesy said:
What a night that was. I'm in Oz, so stayed up until 2am in a City chat room with guys all around the World shooting the breeze. The numbers had been steadily increasing over the weeks, until it culminated with the Wembley Final. I couldn't believe it when Fat Bob scored the second, and I will admit I couldn't take it anymore and shut down and went to bed feeling sick to the stomach. Had to be up at 6am for work, so after a couple of hours sleep signed on to the computer quickly before leaving home, on the Sporting Life website there was a pic of Nicky Weaver with a big fat grin holding the trophy aloft, I nearly blew all over the screen!!!

How your emotions can be completely transformed in a split second!!! It was appreciated all the more when I managed to get a video of the game, I basically wore two parts of the tape out watching the last five minutes, then the penalty shoot out.

-- Fri May 02, 2014 8:05 am --

I also ordered a copy, so cannot wait for it to arrive over here for a read.

Cheers! Hopefully, it will be dispatched to pre-orders to be there before the 26th. :o)

Thanks BlueMooney, it's appreciated, I'm looking forward to read it.
 
bluefrom78 said:
manchester blue said:
pride in battle said:
Cracked the face of my watch when Dickov scored, it's since then been my 'lucky' watch....it stopped on the 13-05-2012 at 4.56.....the exact time of Aguero's goal....

Is this true, made me shiver reading that!

BM, I'll get this, great day and such a roller coaster game, typical City. Some of the stories on here about fans leaving and missing the goal interest me, do you cover this at all?

There's a whole load of fans stories in the MCIVTA newsletters from around that time:

http://mcivta.com/mcivta/5/05.html 31st May issue
http://mcivta.com/mcivta/5/06.html 3rd June issue
http://mcivta.com/mcivta/5/07.html there's even some more stuff in the 7th June issue.

I've occasionally had a re-read of these over the years, still doesn't seem like it was 15 years ago...

One of the main things that stands out from that game (apart from the obvious :) ) was the sheer amount of noise we made when the Gillingham players came up to take their penalties. I've not heard anything that loud in a footy stadium before or since (wasn't lucky enough to have a ticket for the QPR game).

I also remember watching a repeat of the match on Sky, at least I think it was the match rather than a highlights package was a City fan going up to the camera at the end outside Wembley and saying something like "This is the phoenix from the flames lads, mark my words them reds are finished!".

By far the loudest crowd i've ever been in.
 
manchester blue said:
pride in battle said:
Cracked the face of my watch when Dickov scored, it's since then been my 'lucky' watch....it stopped on the 13-05-2012 at 4.56.....the exact time of Aguero's goal....

Is this true, made me shiver reading that!

BM, I'll get this, great day and such a roller coaster game, typical City. Some of the stories on here about fans leaving and missing the goal interest me, do you cover this at all?

It's true....I still wear my 'lucky' watch but I will never have it repaired, stuck for ever on the Aguerooooo goal.....
 
colesy said:
BlueMooney said:
colesy said:
What a night that was. I'm in Oz, so stayed up until 2am in a City chat room with guys all around the World shooting the breeze. The numbers had been steadily increasing over the weeks, until it culminated with the Wembley Final. I couldn't believe it when Fat Bob scored the second, and I will admit I couldn't take it anymore and shut down and went to bed feeling sick to the stomach. Had to be up at 6am for work, so after a couple of hours sleep signed on to the computer quickly before leaving home, on the Sporting Life website there was a pic of Nicky Weaver with a big fat grin holding the trophy aloft, I nearly blew all over the screen!!!

How your emotions can be completely transformed in a split second!!! It was appreciated all the more when I managed to get a video of the game, I basically wore two parts of the tape out watching the last five minutes, then the penalty shoot out.

-- Fri May 02, 2014 8:05 am --

I also ordered a copy, so cannot wait for it to arrive over here for a read.

Cheers! Hopefully, it will be dispatched to pre-orders to be there before the 26th. :o)

Thanks BlueMooney, it's appreciated, I'm looking forward to read it.

All being well, the publisher should have them in to have them dispatched before release. :)
 

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