The 25 most defining games in our history

[cibaman]

1904 - Manchester City 1-0 Bolton Wanderers (Crystal Palace)
1923 - Manchester City 2-1 Sheffield United (Maine Road)
1934 - Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City (Maine Road)
1956 - Manchester City 3-1 Birmingham City (Wembley Stadium)
1967 - Manchester City 4-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Maine Road)
1968 - Newcastle United 3-4 Manchester City (St James' Park)
1969 - Manchester City 1-0 Leicester City (Wembley Stadium)
1970 - Manchester City 2-1 Gornik Zabrze (Prater Stadium)
1976 - Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United (Wembley Stadium)
1981 - Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Manchester City (Wembley Stadium)
1989 - Manchester City 5-1 Manchester United (Maine Road)
1998 - York City 2-1 Manchester City (Bootham Crescent)
1999 - Manchester City 2-2 Gillingham (3-1 on Penalties) (Wembley Stadium)
2000 - Blackburn Rovers 1-4 Manchester City (Ewood Park)
2003 - Manchester City 5-0 Total Network Solutions (City of Manchester Stadium)
2004 - Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United (City of Manchester Stadium)
2008 - Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City (Old Trafford)
2009 - Manchester City 2-1 Hamburg (3-4 on aggregate) (City of Manchester Stadium)
2011 - Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (City of Manchester Stadium)
2011 - Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City (Wembley Stadium (New))
2011 - Manchester City 1-1 Napoli (Etihad Stadium)
2011 - Manchester United 1-6 Manchester City (Old Trafford)
2012 - Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United (Etihad Stadium)
2012 - Manchester City 3-2 Queens Park Rangers (Etihad Stadium)
2014 - Manchester City 2-0 West Ham United (Etihad Stadium)

Excellent list but needs a couple of "typical City" games to give the right overall flavour. eg City v Liverpool 1996

 

[Leyther]

There is only one game that you need to truly define City - QPR.
The expectation before kick off, the joy of going one up, the resignation in their equaliser, despair when they took the lead, mortal dread as ninety mins approached, then desperate hope when Edin scored and near orgasmic delight as Kun scored followed by nervous seconds thinking "don't fuck this up City"
Thirty seven years of being a blue in 94 minutes.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Newcastle away and I think Middlesborough away wins under Pearce saved us from almost certain relegation that season. Mpenza to the rescue. Had we gone down that season it is possible these last 4 years would not have happened.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

What am I missing about the 2004 Newcastle home game? What was defining about that one?

 

[panzer1311]

How can the semi against Utd be bigger than the final??
beating the Reds was good , but if we hadn't gone on to win our first trophy in 35 years , the semi would have meant nothing . Winning trophies is everything !

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

What am I missing about the 2004 Newcastle home game? What was defining about that one?

Think a Wanchope goal won us the game 1-0. Had we lost that one I think we would have been in deep shit relegation wise which one year after going to the new stadium wouldn't have been good.

 

[aguero93:20]

How can the semi against Utd be bigger than the final??
beating the Reds was good , but if we hadn't gone on to win our first trophy in 35 years , the semi would have meant nothing . Winning trophies is everything !

I have them about level. After losing the LC semi the season before we had to prove we could beat the rags when it counted, for them that match was about 'keeping us in our place' and they failed.

 

[baildon blue]

What am I missing about the 2004 Newcastle home game? What was defining about that one?

Think a Wanchope goal won us the game 1-0. Had we lost that one I think we would have been in deep shit relegation wise which one year after going to the new stadium wouldn't have been good.

I agree .
We would have been deep in poo if we had lost that game .

 

[jimharri]

How can the semi against Utd be bigger than the final??
beating the Reds was good , but if we hadn't gone on to win our first trophy in 35 years , the semi would have meant nothing . Winning trophies is everything !

You need to look at the bigger picture. Given the amount of money we'd spent, it was almost inevitable that we were going win something eventually. However; we'd been living in the vermins' shadow for so long, and it always appeared that we were almost beaten before we went out on the pitch to play them. That win put down a serious marker to them (and the rest of football) that we had arrived. Also, if we hadn't beat them , we wouldn't have ''gone on to win our first trophy in 35 years'' (your words).

 

[Lucky Toma]

There have been many games with Spurs that have occured at Pivotal moments in our history.

- Ballet on Ice
- 1981 FA Cup Final
- 1993 FA Cup Quarter Final (marred by crowd trouble)
- 4-3 in the FA cup down to 10 men
- The decider for the top 4 (twice)
- Balotelli's late penalty

However, missing from those obvious candidates is a trip to White Hart Lane in the 2009/10 season, the same campaign which saw us lose out to Spurs for Champions League qualification.

The game ended in a 3-0 defeat and it was an abysmal performance by the blues. Pivotal for the reason that it was at this game that Sheikh Mansour, KAM & Garry Cook finally lost patience with Mark Hughes and decided to call up Roberto Mancini. Two key memories from that game; Sylvinho getting absolutely ripped to shreds by Aaron Lennon, and the substitution of Robinho who following another inept display, trudged straight down the White Hart Lane tunnel, the clearest sign perhaps that buying big name megastars was not going to achieve ultimate success.

For me an under-emphasised but still hugely defining moment in City's history.

Great shout.