That game was on my birthday and I had been taken in hospitality ‘as a treat’. It was every bit as grim as you recall. Think Horlock also broke his leg or picked up another serious injury just to round off a thoroughly miserable afternoon?I think that every City fan has had that moment where the frustration just boils over the top and you question why the fuck you're spending your money/weekend following these bunch of fucking wankers around who constantly let you down.
I remember mine down to the very day - it's the only game I've ever walked out of in disgust. Charlton at home on the day before New Years Eve 2000. By the time I walked out, I probably should have turned off the lights based on the remaining attendance. There were worse games we played and worse performances that we'd had but maybe due to the optimism of the preceding seasons, I really bought into us as a team that was going places against my own experience and common sense.
The game was terrible. We were 2-0 down in about the first 15 minutes against a Charlton that weren't exactly world beaters themselves but still looked like they had a brighter future than what we had. One of the goals was a corner that was whipped in and the ball was at Howey's feet for long enough that I probably could have walked onto the pitch from my seat, picked it up in my hands and threw it away for the amount of time he had to clear it and he still failed to defend it. There was another one where Weaver had a goal kick and he just casually kicked the ball directly to their winger for a free one on one. Goater missed an absolute sitter where all he had to do was literally stand still and let the ball bounce off him and he put it right over the bar. Then there was the icing on the cake - Dunne attempted to clear the ball while 30 yards out by just twatting it at the Charlton player who got an odd connection and it looped all the way over Weaver's head. From 30 yards. We could get Messi to try that 600 times now and it would never come off again. Summed up City entirely - equal measures of bad luck, incompetence and frustration.
There were worse games in City's history and the stuff in the lower leagues was awful to watch but that game was my personal boiling point. You know, we were shit and that from 95ish onwards but after the double promotion you thought that maybe we'd turn a corner and get back to the early 90s form. We'd just signed George Weah FFS, things were on the up. 2000/01 was a fucker of a season because it took all of that new dawn optimism and crushed it. We didn't start the season well but I remember thinking that it was an adjustment and we'd played some really big teams so maybe we'd be alright. Then we lost to Ipswich at home in what might have been the most disgusting first half performance I'd ever seen from City but the optimism was still fighting against the oncoming storm of reality and I thought maybe it was just a blip. The Charlton game was the wakeup that this was not a blip, that we weren't unlucky with the fixtures, that this "too good for the lower league but not good enough to not be embarrassed in the PL" stage was what the immediate future held and the raging frustration just kicked in all at once. If I had to walk past the bench to get out, I might have even become one of those raving lunatics who runs on the pitch and throws their season ticket at them.
There's a few times in life where you really remember not just the events that happened around you but also exactly how you felt. Your own personal store of this emotion that's kept in a barrel in a storeroom that you can open when you need it; like remembering how you felt on the birth of your kids or your wedding day when you need a bit of a lift. My barrel of whatever that emotion can be called where you mix contempt, frustration, rage, disappointment and disillusionment together has a label saying Charlton 2000 (h) on it. It's also why I can't ever be a flapper in whether we sign Haaland or if Pep plays a DM in the CL Final or whatever the latest drama is. Because as soon as I feel myself getting really frustrated, I go to my barrel, peek under the lid and remember watching Claus Jensen's goal fly over Weaver's head and think to myself "you know what, we got through that so we'll probably get through this too".
This should be posted on every match thread.I think that every City fan has had that moment where the frustration just boils over the top and you question why the fuck you're spending your money/weekend following these bunch of fucking wankers around who constantly let you down.
I remember mine down to the very day - it's the only game I've ever walked out of in disgust. Charlton at home on the day before New Years Eve 2000. By the time I walked out, I probably should have turned off the lights based on the remaining attendance. There were worse games we played and worse performances that we'd had but maybe due to the optimism of the preceding seasons, I really bought into us as a team that was going places against my own experience and common sense.
The game was terrible. We were 2-0 down in about the first 15 minutes against a Charlton that weren't exactly world beaters themselves but still looked like they had a brighter future than what we had. One of the goals was a corner that was whipped in and the ball was at Howey's feet for long enough that I probably could have walked onto the pitch from my seat, picked it up in my hands and threw it away for the amount of time he had to clear it and he still failed to defend it. There was another one where Weaver had a goal kick and he just casually kicked the ball directly to their winger for a free one on one. Goater missed an absolute sitter where all he had to do was literally stand still and let the ball bounce off him and he put it right over the bar. Then there was the icing on the cake - Dunne attempted to clear the ball while 30 yards out by just twatting it at the Charlton player who got an odd connection and it looped all the way over Weaver's head. From 30 yards. We could get Messi to try that 600 times now and it would never come off again. Summed up City entirely - equal measures of bad luck, incompetence and frustration.
There were worse games in City's history and the stuff in the lower leagues was awful to watch but that game was my personal boiling point. You know, we were shit and that from 95ish onwards but after the double promotion you thought that maybe we'd turn a corner and get back to the early 90s form. We'd just signed George Weah FFS, things were on the up. 2000/01 was a fucker of a season because it took all of that new dawn optimism and crushed it. We didn't start the season well but I remember thinking that it was an adjustment and we'd played some really big teams so maybe we'd be alright. Then we lost to Ipswich at home in what might have been the most disgusting first half performance I'd ever seen from City but the optimism was still fighting against the oncoming storm of reality and I thought maybe it was just a blip. The Charlton game was the wakeup that this was not a blip, that we weren't unlucky with the fixtures, that this "too good for the lower league but not good enough to not be embarrassed in the PL" stage was what the immediate future held and the raging frustration just kicked in all at once. If I had to walk past the bench to get out, I might have even become one of those raving lunatics who runs on the pitch and throws their season ticket at them.
There's a few times in life where you really remember not just the events that happened around you but also exactly how you felt. Your own personal store of this emotion that's kept in a barrel in a storeroom that you can open when you need it; like remembering how you felt on the birth of your kids or your wedding day when you need a bit of a lift. My barrel of whatever that emotion can be called where you mix contempt, frustration, rage, disappointment and disillusionment together has a label saying Charlton 2000 (h) on it. It's also why I can't ever be a flapper in whether we sign Haaland or if Pep plays a DM in the CL Final or whatever the latest drama is. Because as soon as I feel myself getting really frustrated, I go to my barrel, peek under the lid and remember watching Claus Jensen's goal fly over Weaver's head and think to myself "you know what, we got through that so we'll probably get through this too".
Quality post…..in fact THE best ever…..well played Sir *doffs cap*We haven’t really been particularly shit for much of our history.
We were supposedly very poor in the early 1960s. Even our ever loyal supporters fucked us off back then with crowds at their lowest ever in our history.
Then from about 1983 to 1988 we were very poor. But had a really good side in the early 90s; we finished above United in 1991 in 5th and above Liverpool in 1992 in 5th (in years they both won trophies).
Then we were proper shit from about 1995 onwards that saw us spiral down to the third tier. I thought that Frank Clark side was the worst ever. We were in huge debt yet we spent £3m on Lee Bradbury?. Joe Royle came in and saying the squad was ridiculously big, the Platt Lane training ground was worse than what some school teams facilities were like, we were proper shit then!
But I really liked our team under Joe Royle. I still love Nicky Weaver, Andy Morrison, Gerrard Weikens, Kevin Horlock, Shaun Goater, and Paul Dickov today. Royle’s a fucking legend for what he did! And again under Keegan with Stuart Pearce, Richard Dunne, Eyal Berkovic, Ali Benarbia, Darren Huckerbee, Paolo Wanchope, Marc Vivien-Foe, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Nicolas Anelka… the last year at Maine Road, the first year at the CoMS… they were great years!
Then we took a nose-dive again under Pearce where we were terrible at home, not scoring for half a season and only scoring 10 all season. But that was very short lived and we still got 40,000 every week!
Outside that we’ve always been a decent First Division/Premier League club. That’s why we’ve always been up there in the all-time league table; United only ever overtook us for the first time in that in 1983. And we’re right up there for most seasons in the top flight; only one place and a few years lower than United.
I think we overegg the shitness of Manchester City Football Club. All that “never forget where we’ve come from” shit is a load of bollocks. Apart from a few eras, for the most part of football history, we’ve been a proper decent club in English football.
Played a fantastic pass to put The Goat through at Springfield Park for the league game.Gary Mason got a game ....and looked good compared to the rest !
driving round York hopelessly lost before the match, everyone we asked for directions were wearing skunk shirts - and none of them had a clue where Bootham Crescent was.He had 10,000 men, but they’re Newcastle fans now.
"Blue Moon, you got promoted too soon"... wankstains.Their fans and manager George Burley were absolute bitter twats that we beat them to promotion and revelled in sending us down.
One of my all time favourite away trips was watching Keegan’s City wipe the floor with them, live on national TV, as they slid towards relegation and we pissed promotion