Robbie Fowler's missed penalty vs Middlesbrough - did it save us from relegation?

[Zapcity]

Strange old game wasn't it! Not that I've spent too much time thinking about it since but at the time I felt a combination of disappointment at not winning the game and missing out in Europe . Losing SWP to Chelsea probably upset me more though.
There was also a sense of' WTF was that about ? When David James was put upfront I felt I was watching a Sunday League game in my local park where one of the players had to wear his own shorts and socks as there weren't enough for the whole team!
From memory the biggest cheer of the day was for Nicky Weaver when he came on.
Mixed feelings about Robbie Fowler in truth. Obviously he would have been gutted to have missed the penalty too. The City fans at the time were pretty good with Fowler(which in fairness to him he has since acknowledged) Old Blobby's goalscoring record (though obviously nothing like the Vikings one) wasn't that bad but he was out of shape and clearly wasn't happy to be with us, but at least he put a bit more effort in than his pal bloody Mcpointyman!
Looking back apart from the first season at COMS I don't actually remember us being that close to being relegated in our time at our new home. Compared to the period not long before where we were promoted or relegated 6 out of 7 seasons and the recent decade of trophies and brilliant football, that period (on the pitch at least) for a few seasons after the Boro game was a bit non descript/quite forgettable!
As others have said a season in Europe the next season could either have galvanised us or it could have knackered us!

 

[eastmanc]

I was there that day. Bewildered by us playing in our new away shirts instead of our home kit, convinced it would put a curse on us. Hoping against hope that we could beat one of our bogey teams from that era. David James up front. Absolutely devastated as a 10-year-old, watching on as Robbie Fowler missed that last minute penalty that would have sent us to Europe.

But here's the thing. Did it save us from relegation the next year? After that game, the Pearce bubble well and truly burst. We had a good start but as the season dragged on it was obvious he wasn't the man to lead us forward. We dropped from 8th (on 52 points) to 15th (on 43 points). We lost Shauny Wright to Chelsea and with it went our spark. 1 win in our last 10 games, 9 defeats.

So I do sometimes wonder, would we have gone down at the end of the 05-06 season if we'd had to juggle a UEFA Cup campaign with trying to stay in the Premier League with the likes of Samaras expected to save us? There was probably just enough talent in the spine of the squad to keep us afloat (James, Dunne, Distin, Barton, Cole, Vassell) but balancing it across two competitions might have been a step too far.

We finished just 9 points above the drop after Cole's injury fucked us. Luckily we already had points on the board and were 10th as late as March, but I'd argue the UEFA Cup would have knocked 5-8 points off our total across the season, and suddenly we'd have been drifting into a relegation fight in the last weeks of the season with our hopes resting on Samaras after Cole and Vassell's partnership was prematurely ended.

And if you look at Boro's fortunes - they had a stronger squad than we did and made it all the way to the UEFA Cup final, but dropped from 7th to 14th as a result and were relegated by 2009. It was another eight years before they came back to the Premier League, and even then it couldn't be sustained for more than a season. Can't help wondering if we'd have fallen to a similar fate if Fowler had scored that penalty.

No goals at home in the second half of the season. Fucking hell he was a disaster of a manager.

 

[jimharri]

If any one game typified "typical City"™, that has to be at the top of the list. Or, at the very least, in the top 5. If a scriptwriter had handed you a screenplay, beforehand, of how that game actually played out, you'd have laughed it off as ridiculous. The weirdest substitution in our history?

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Hands up who thought he'd miss that penalty.

Hands up who thought he'd miss that penalty.

I never think a left-footer is ever gonna score a pen. Remember that one David Silva took? Jeez, I could have blown it harder. Even when Haaland is addressing the ball I think 'Not yer left foot'! And then there were those away shirts. Thought that was the real jinx.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

No goals at home in the second half of the season. Fucking hell he was a disaster of a manager.

And only ten all season at home! Barely one every other game!

 

[Corky]

No goals at home in the second half of the season. Fucking hell he was a disaster of a manager.

And only ten all season at home! Barely one every other game!

We hit 40 points on 5th March at home to Sunderland with a 2-1 win.

We beat MU at home 3-1 in the second half of that season, failed score in 2 games but season was over after we got knocked out the cup and there was no motivation once we were safe. Scored 26 at home in the league.

We struggled every season we got in Europe, the 16 games under Hughes didn't help in the Uefa cup, but we may have only had 2 European games in 2005/06 so who knows?

 

[Barcon]

One of the last conversations I had with my Dad as he lay in his hospital bed:
Me: Were signing Robbie Fowler from Leeds.
Him: Fuck off. Robbie Fowler.

 

[One Fan Clapping]

I was going to comment how biased the comms seemed then realised it’s Boro’s in house!!

 

[mattcity5]

Strange old game wasn't it! Not that I've spent too much time thinking about it since but at the time I felt a combination of disappointment at not winning the game and missing out in Europe . Losing SWP to Chelsea probably upset me more though.
There was also a sense of' WTF was that about ? When David James was put upfront I felt I was watching a Sunday League game in my local park where one of the players had to wear his own shorts and socks as there weren't enough for the whole team!
From memory the biggest cheer of the day was for Nicky Weaver when he came on.
Mixed feelings about Robbie Fowler in truth. Obviously he would have been gutted to have missed the penalty too. The City fans at the time were pretty good with Fowler(which in fairness to him he has since acknowledged) Old Blobby's goalscoring record (though obviously nothing like the Vikings one) wasn't that bad but he was out of shape and clearly wasn't happy to be with us, but at least he put a bit more effort in than his pal bloody Mcpointyman!
Looking back apart from the first season at COMS I don't actually remember us being that close to being relegated in our time at our new home. Compared to the period not long before where we were promoted or relegated 6 out of 7 seasons and the recent decade of trophies and brilliant football, that period (on the pitch at least) for a few seasons after the Boro game was a bit non descript/quite forgettable!
As others have said a season in Europe the next season could either have galvanised us or it could have knackered us!

Get what you mean generally about Fowler and McManaman, and I think I'm in the minority here but I did see it a bit different.

Too many people thought McManaman was going to be a fast tricky winger, but he had changed in Spain to more of a controlling midfielder who kept things simple. I thought he did okay, but nothing spectacular, which is what many seemed to want from him.

Fowler was dogshit. We were probably the most patient as we'd ever been as fans, putting up with him lumbering around, when he could be arsed. We kept being promised he'd come good if we stuck behind him and he just needed to get fitter, but it never happened. His best efforts were mediocre.

And then for him to score in our derby v united and run off celebrating by showing how many times the scousers had won the European Cup, well that's fuck all to do with us so just fuck off. Can't stand him.

Was a talent until he was about 23 or so, but lost it soon after. The game moved on and he couldn't keep up.

 

[GSW Blue]

Pearce gets a lot of stick and deserves almost all of it but the game was drifting and when James came on it created chaos on and off the pitch. This created the penalty which if Fowler could kick the ball properly would have seen us win the game.