Happy 25th Anniversary of Paul Dickov Day

[cyan]

I wasn't able to go to Wembley as I was working in the morning and then going on holiday in the afternoon. So I was listening on the car radio. As Gillingham scored their two I was trying to strap some bikes on the roof rack, I was so upset I just couldn't get the straps to go where I wanted - my fingers just didn't work. I remember my wife coming out to see how I was getting on and I was just shaking my head mumbling losing 2-0. Moments later Horlock scored - but I can't remember reacting, I just sat by the car listening. Moments later the Dickov moments and I'm bouncing around the front garden. By the time the penalties were happening we were on the M65 and I was struggling to drive and listen at the same time - just so nervous. My daughter still only remembers Edghill by my cry of fright when they said he was going to take one - so glad he proved me wrong. That final Gillingham penalty just brought sheer joy - and the ability to concentrate on driving again! I listened to Radio Manchester for as long as I could as I travelled north just letting the moment soak in.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

It’s hard to explain how sickening being 2-0 down was at Wembley. This game was not the turning point. The turning point was 5 months earlier, beating stoke on Boxing Day. We’d spent the spring in real hope but had watched Man United win their treble in the background. We were massive favourites to win that play off final.

To sit there at 2-0, after all the hope, all the excitement and all the tension of that game, thinking “they’ve let me down again”. I swear it was the lowest of all the lows for me. Worse than the relegations that preceded it.

And the joy when hope was reborn, when it had been lost. The magic of the way we did it. Wow it was something to experience. But if you weren’t a part of it, if you hadn’t invested yourself in the 4 or 5 years before this game, as Man United rose and we fell…you’d never understand what that game, distilled in that moment of magic, meant.

 

[bitterfuse]

Saw that, still not having it.

If not us then who would have taken on COMS?

We were getting 30k in Division 2.

I hardly think Paul Dickov secured the Commonwealth Games for Manchester!

I see your point but there's also the possibility that if we didn't get promoted in 1999 then we might have failed to secure the agreement & financing needed to takeover COMS after the 2002 Commonwealth Games (back in 1999 negotiations were probably at a delicate stage with the games only 3 years away) Subsequently if the agreement wasn't reached the Commonwealth Games could have then been hosted in a temporary stadium on the Eastlands Site and then cleared and sold to a property developer after the Commonwealth Games with City remaining at Maine Rd instead? Who knows?

 

[ctidcarl]

Same as another poster on here wrote, I wasn't at the QPR/93:20 game so this is the most dramatic game I've attended in the flesh.

Ticketless, decided to go down on my own (from Norwich) in the hope of getting in.

Luckily on my train there were a couple of Blues in the same group as about 4 Gills fans - asked the 2 City fans if they had any tickets spare, of course they didn't so hoped to pick one up at Wembley.

About 30 minutes into the journey, one of the lads came to see me saying his brother had a spare, I'd have to meet him on wembley Way, as long as I didn't mind hanging out with the 2 Blues and their Gills friends......of course I didn't mind that, as it was early and we were all gonna have a few scoops.

The guy said his brother wanted £50 for an £18 ticket - I'd been prepared to [ay up to £100 as I thought this could be the only chance we'd get to see City at Wembley!!

Anyway, collected the ticket, the match - well, we all know the story - but my most vivid memory was the lad I stood beside in the ground had his arm in a sling and had his young son on his shoulders for a large part of the game.......when Dickov equalised, we all embraced, his son hugging me too!!

I've never seen them before or since, but they are etched in my memory.

The other thing that has always stuck with me waas the booing for the Gills penalties.........that was f**kin loud!!!!

 

[ysmsa]

You probably would say that to face as he's a bit of a nutter. But I do agree haha.

Ha ha, he's a Blue but needs to "man up"

We're not Rags and you should remind him ;-)

 

[bluefrom78]

As a student in Nottingham at the time my Dad had manged to get tickets for himeslf, me and my brother. As others have said, at 2 down with about 4 min to go we thought it was done. My Dad said he'd never seen me or my brother looking as down as we did at that point and he knew right then that we felt it just as much as he did having been a fan for at least 30 odd years by that point.
Pretty much everything's been said as far as the rest of the game goes but one of the main things I remember is that during the shootout just how loud we were when Gillingham came to take their kicks, I'd never heard anything that loud in my life at that point.
We also managed to get a recording of the Sky coverage of the day and at the end of the credits, with "Good Riddance" (Time of your life) by Green Day playing over it there's a fan on camera who says something like "We're like a phoenix from the flames, the Blue Moon is rising and those Reds are finished."
Took us a few years but he was right :D

One of my favourite recollections of the day from a whole host of contributions here and here is this

But then it happened.

With 12 seconds to go the ball was blasted by Dickov into the Gillingham net.

Unless you experienced it there simply is no way that I can describe what happened next in a way that will even come close to how it was.

Quite simply Wembley exploded. I have never, and doubt I ever will again, experience anything like it. Bodies tumbled into each other, as we crashed around in the craziest of celebrations; those that didn’t scream and cheer were numbed by the enormity of what we had witnessed. Rivers of tears cascaded across the Wembley concrete as we were swept along in an unending tide of emotion, elation and thanksgiving."

the contributor then finishes their piece with the following

Finally: if there is anyone from the club reading this, please don’t ever, ever do that to us again.

Little did they know that a scant 13 years later something very similar would happen, but for much higher stakes.

Was reminiscing with my Dad last night and we said that if you'd have told us then what we'd see City do in the next 25 years we'd have thought you were on something. Now, both me and my brother have been fortunate to be with my Dad at some great (and some not so great) City games during a period of time when we've all been able to see City lift everything available to us in the game when 25 years ago we'd thought even one trophy would be stretching the limits of possibility.

 

[Inter Me Nan]

Goater shots blocked in lead up to both goals, for some reason I never remember that and I was there!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

As a student in Nottingham at the time my Dad had manged to get tickets for himeslf, me and my brother. As others have said, at 2 down with about 4 min to go we thought it was done. My Dad said he'd never seen me or my brother looking as down as we did at that point and he knew right then that we felt it just as much as he did having been a fan for at least 30 odd years by that point.
Pretty much everything's been said as far as the rest of the game goes but one of the main things I remember is that during the shootout just how loud we were when Gillingham came to take their kicks, I'd never heard anything that loud in my life at that point.
We also managed to get a recording of the Sky coverage of the day and at the end of the credits, with "Good Riddance" (Time of your life) by Green Day playing over it there's a fan on camera who says something like "We're like a phoenix from the flames, the Blue Moon is rising and those Reds are finished."
Took us a few years but he was right :D

One of my favourite recollections of the day from a whole host of contributions here and here is this


the contributor then finishes their piece with the following


Little did they know that a scant 13 years later something very similar would happen, but for much higher stakes.

Was reminiscing with my Dad last night and we said that if you'd have told us then what we'd see City do in the next 25 years we'd have thought you were on something. Now, both me and my brother have been fortunate to be with my Dad at some great (and some not so great) City games during a period of time when we've all been able to see City lift everything available to us in the game when 25 years ago we'd thought even one trophy would be stretching the limits of possibility.

My Mum had to cover her ears during the Gillingham penalties. As it says in the wonderful "Blue Moon - Down Amongst The DEad Men with Manchester City" book, suddely City were able to field their most consistent performer of the season - their fanatical support (as an aside, that's how everyone viewed us back then).

Which leads me to the next point: some of those MCIVTA quotes are in that book too and make for emotional reading, partocularly given what's happened.

 

[elbearos]

I seem to remember, both teams should have had a penalty

 

[PPT]

It’s hard to explain how sickening being 2-0 down was at Wembley. This game was not the turning point. The turning point was 5 months earlier, beating stoke on Boxing Day. We’d spent the spring in real hope but had watched Man United win their treble in the background. We were massive favourites to win that play off final.

To sit there at 2-0, after all the hope, all the excitement and all the tension of that game, thinking “they’ve let me down again”. I swear it was the lowest of all the lows for me. Worse than the relegations that preceded it.

And the joy when hope was reborn, when it had been lost. The magic of the way we did it. Wow it was something to experience. But if you weren’t a part of it, if you hadn’t invested yourself in the 4 or 5 years before this game, as Man United rose and we fell…you’d never understand what that game, distilled in that moment of magic, meant.

‘The Miracle of Maine Road’ was that Stoke game. It was like a switch was flicked at the start of the second half. The team and the fans became one. An amazing 45 minutes and it rolled and rolled into an amazing run.