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

Corky said:
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?
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I thought it was Newcastle.
 
I was there. Fowler's missed penalty summed up his performances at City. Totally underwhelming. He always looked over weight and was clearly not the player he was in his prime.

Whether we'd have got relegated the following season if we'd been in the UEFA Cup is anyone's guess. Quite possibly. However, would we have been able to strengthen on the back of potential revenue from the UEFA Cup. If so, we may have survived.

Back to Fowler. I blame Keegan for signing him. Keegan lost the plot after his second season. Some very dubious signings. Fowler was a complete waste of money.
 
Citizen Green said:
I remember being absolutely delighted when we signed Fowler, in hindsight it just didn’t work out and did serious damage to what had been a club in an upward trajectory prior to his signing. @petrusha kindly pointed out on one of my posts on the subject, that Keegan had threatened to resign if the deal wasn’t signed due to Bernstein’s (correct) apprehension over the fee & wages involved, given his obvious fitness issues. Not withstanding he clearly wanted to stay at Leeds having initially rejected us. Shaun Goater was forming a fine partnership with Anelka just prior to his arrival.

Ultimately, it led to Bernstein resigning and a policy of the club committing large wages to what were essentially washed up players Fowler, McManaman, Bosvelt (did okay) & so on, as we had no transfer kitty & were living on a shoestring. Contrast that with the likes of Distin, Anelka, Foe who came in during the summer of 2002, it’s night and day.

To your broader point though, yes, I think we could well have been relegated. Pearce secured the job full time following a good run that got us to the UEFA Cup show down with Boro, and if we’d of gone on a long-run having lost SWP & being skint, we’d of gone under imo. That 2005/06 season fell apart when Pearce lost the dressing room after going out of the FA Cup QF to West Ham in March. Adding a European run to that would of been terminal.
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Signings in 2002 such as Anelka, Distin, Foe even though he was on loan seemed better long term options than
Bez said:
I was there. Fowler's missed penalty summed up his performances at City. Totally underwhelming. He always looked over weight and was clearly not the player he was in his prime.

Whether we'd have got relegated the following season if we'd been in the UEFA Cup is anyone's guess. Quite possibly. However, would we have been able to strengthen on the back of potential revenue from the UEFA Cup. If so, we may have survived.

Back to Fowler. I blame Keegan for signing him. Keegan lost the plot after his second season. Some very dubious signings. Fowler was a complete waste of money.
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Agree with the signings after KK second season. In summer 2002 we'd signed players like Anelka and Distin who could theoretically have lengthy spells with us, most of the signings the year after were heading towards or at the veteran stage of their careers and there seemed to be little long term planning.
 
I was at a pub in London watching the game on a small screen while on a first date with my future wife.
I sat her at a table underneath the TV so I could keep tabs on the game without it being too obvious.

I got busted when the pen was awarded.
My dismay when Fowler missed gave her a clear warning what it was going to be like dating a City fan!!

Still happily married btw...
 
I’ve just left a thread where people were saying that the media were obsessed by the past……….
 
I think there is a common misconception among City fans looking back that Fowler was too old and past his best when we signed him. That's often my first thought when looking back. But in actual fact he was still only 27 when he came to us. He still should have been very much at his peak.

I remember reading his book(which came out while he was still playing for us) and the words he used were "when I went to City the fans fucking hated me" and while he said a few nice things about us, the whole book is written like a Liverpool fanzine and he basically gives the impression that they are all he cares about and he basically wasn't arsed while playing for any other club and was just taking his wages.

I wonder why we fucking hated you Robbie?
 
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