Worst season since the takeover?

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K-Bo

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There's a couple of years of competition IMO, though this year definitely contained the worst run.

My top 5, not necessarily in order of shitness but in order of how shit they felt:

1) 2012/13 -2nd place, 78 a decent points total in a bad year. Probably better on paper than a couple of other years, but I still think this season felt the worst to go through on a day to day basis. Maybe because of the incredible high of 2012, and the fast and brutal destruction of the Mancini reign. It was super messy, I feel like he was calling the club out weekly. Not to mention the Final against Wigan. Just a horrible year.

2) 2008/09 - 10th place. 50 points. Hughes got less points and finished lower than sven! What a bust this was lol after the takeover hype. Hughes should have been sacked day 1. Maybe didn't hurt as much because we had no expectations yet, but a really crap season when you think about it.

3) 2024/25 - ??? place. ???? points. I think 4 in a row has helped the medicine go down this year, and if we finished 3rd and had a regular off year then no problem whatsoever, players have earned it. But the amount of massive humiliations and horrible days, not to mention the historically atrocious run in November. it feels like it was worse then it had to be. If we dont win the FA cup it jumps up to second, if we do it drops to 4th.

4) 2015/16 - 4th place. 66 points. This year was awful, pellegrini checked out, players checked out. lucky to get CL at the end of the day with a points total like that. You can be zen and say this season was the price to pay for Pep, but man was it crap. Finished Yaya every week was rough, bit like this year lol. League cup a small redeemer.

5) 16/17 - 3rd. 78 points. Not a bad year in the longer term, and pep was figuring it out. but was def disappointing at the time. i thought pep would come and blow the league away from the jump. lot of awful results in this year. Smashed by everton and leicester etc. Main competition for this spot would be 09/10, missing out on CL to Spurs was pretty brutal.

What do you guys think.
 
With regards to where the 24/25 season ranks, ask me again on May 26. If we finish 4th and win the FA Cup, it'll sit comfortably above 09/10, 12/13, 14/15, 16/17, and even 15/16 under Pellegrini when we finished 4th and won the League Cup against Liverpool. If we get knocked out by Forest and scrape 5th (or miss out on the Champions League altogether) then you can file it alongside the very worst of the Pellegrini years or any time Hughes was in charge.

The very worst has to be the 14/15 season. A comfortable 2nd place finish in the league, a home derby win, and Aguero finally winning the Golden Boot are basically the only highlights in what was ultimately a very abject and depressing year (relative to expectations). Sure, Lampard came on and scored against Chelsea, but they had the last laugh by comfortably strolling away with the league. The collapse from January was embarrassing - that run of games when we dropped leads against Everton and Burnley and drew at home to fucking Hull were the canary in the coal mine for how bad things were going to get under Pellegrini. That home defeat against Arsenal was awful and losing at Turf Moor was pathetic. We were out of both cups in a flash, got battered by United at Old Trafford, and hammered by Barcelona in the Champions League. The 12/13 season got really toxic at points but at least we had two Wembley trips at the end of it and managed to make the FA Cup final, as well as winning at Old Trafford again. The 12/13 season did at least come down to one game where, if the result had gone our way, it would have gone down as a good year. The 14/15 season was just a series of bad decisions and bad performances that left us nowhere near any shot at a trophy. Things only levelled out at the end because of the individual quality we had.

08/09 is probably second worst. It technically counts even if the season had started before the takeover was complete. The initial excitement after signing Robinho faded fast when it turned out he wasn't that good; we were in the bottom three at Christmas; we won two away games all season; we lost both derbies in pretty meagre fashion. Then we went out of the League Cup straight away to lower league opposition and got knocked out of the FA Cup in the most embarrassing upset of that season (Forest 0-3). I couldn't stand Hughes as manager from the day he walked into the club so the idea of going through a full season with him in charge filled me with dread before it had even started. There were highlights: the Europa League run and the home game against Hamburg, the return of Shauny Wright and the form of Stephen Ireland, the wins over Arsenal and Hull that ultimately turned the season around, and the excitement of us splashing the cash for the first time as Bellamy, De Jong, Given, and Bridge came in. But I don't remember it that affectionately outside of a handful of things.

If I was gonna rank the takeover seasons from best to worst (in terms of how affectionately I remember them) I'd say:

1. 22/23 (the greatest season in the club's history; has to be top - I don't think I've enjoyed following City more than those weeks between the 4-1 battering of Arsenal and the mental treble parade in the torrential downpour)

2. 11/12 (17 years old, newly single after leaving a toxic relationship, dedicating every single weekend to football and my mates, City winning 18 of 19 home games, and then winning the league like THAT)

3. 10/11 (I remember having a quiet little cry to myself after the last game against Bolton because I just didn't want that season to end - that run of games from the United semi-final, beating Spurs 1-0 to get into the CL, winning the FA Cup final... magical)

4. 18/19 (domestic treble, won in serious style, making history, and actually feeling like we'd become the proper big dogs who would be remembered as one of the best teams to ever play in this country)

5. 17/18 (Centurions - an achievement which will never be done again - and League Cup winners, living on my own in town and falling in love with my wife-to-be and taking her to games whenever my mum was away, City waltzing away with the league)

6. 21/22 (fantastic team that almost, almost wasn't properly rewarded - the Gundogan goal will go down as one of the greatest in our history and cemented him as a legend even before the FA Cup final volleys)

7. 13/14 (Pellegrini putting an arm around the shoulder of Mancini's squad and letting them fly, started off rocky but that run of games over Christmas when we won something like 19 of 20 in all competitions, with Negredo leading the charge, was absolutely insane)

8. 23/24 (a record fourth title covering up under par performances elsewhere, an absolutely incredible end to the season but I did start to feel a bit disconnected at points during the season and missed more home games because of life stuff than any season beforehand)

9. 20/21 (PL and League Cup double was amazing, and being at the first game back after Covid is a memory I'll hold very very dear for the rest of my life, but no fans being there to see the majority of the season was shite and losing the CL final took a tiny bit of shine off it)

10. 19/20 (miles behind in the league, even if we finished safely in 2nd, and fragile as fuck in defence without Kompany, but still won a cup at Wembley - started the season unable to go to games, feeling very unwell, but finished it in a cleaner bill of health)

11. 16/17 (dodgy first half of the season, those batterings at Everton and Leicester were hard, but a brilliant second half and a good run to Wembley in the FA Cup that showed what was to come; will always remember it for Caballero suddenly becoming a reliable keeper out of absolutely nowhere)

12. 15/16 (yes we won the League Cup and got to the CL semis for the first time, but with a bunch of players I felt nothing towards, a handful of legends aside; Fernando, Mangala, Bony, and Sagna especially; how we scraped 4th I'll never know considering how often we had our arses handed to us)

13. 09/10 (our best season for years at that point but were ultimately held back by Hughes and his mad "tactics"; should have sacked him after the 3-3 against Burnley instead of letting him stink the place out for another six weeks afterwards; disappointing ends to both cup campaigns too)

14. 12/13 (got really toxic at points, the morning after the night before in a way, but still got to Wembley twice - even if there was blue on blue fighting during the FA Cup final after the news about Mancini's inevitable sacking was leaked to the press)

15. 08/09 (as explained above)

16. 14/15 (as explained above)
 
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Different seasons for different reasons.

This season has been the least enjoyable in the stands, and that for me is worse than any season where we don’t win trophies.

As General Patton said, ‘all glory is fleeting’. Success comes and then goes and within days is just in the past. However, being part of something that you live and breathe in the city you and your fellow fans are from is what’s special about football. That’s why fans support all sorts of clubs from down the leagues and not just successful ones at the top of the pyramid (apart from the glory hunter types, of course). Fan culture is as important to me as what goes on, on the pitch.

We’ve only had two or three good atmospheres all season, with Chelsea at home being the only real stand-out top atmosphere (maybe Newcastle and the Rags coming in behind that). Too many of our core fans have disappeared from our support, not enough young men can get season tickets and they can’t justify the price of individual matches, too many tourists dilute our stands, too many away fans are getting tickets, I also think many of our fans are tired with the 115 stuff and many are even jaded with the tourists and away fans situation, then the disappointment that the new NSL2 isn’t going to be a dedicated atmosphere stand with safe standing… for all that, this is the worst season for me.

On the pitch, I was more disappointed with the team with the limp performances against Lyon (CL quarterfinal) and Arsenal (FA Cup semifinal) in 2019-20 than I have been this season because we had a much better team then than now. Especially with them being just three days apart. We did win the EFL Cup and finish second in the PL scoring 102 goals that season, but we had the best team in Europe.

And that was also a shit season, and so was the one where we nearly won a treble the season after, because we couldn’t be there due to lockdowns.
 
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K-Bo said:
There's a couple of years of competition IMO, though this year definitely contained the worst run.

My top 5, not necessarily in order of shitness but in order of how shit they felt:

1) 2012/13 -2nd place, 78 a decent points total in a bad year. Probably better on paper than a couple of other years, but I still think this season felt the worst to go through on a day to day basis. Maybe because of the incredible high of 2012, and the fast and brutal destruction of the Mancini reign. It was super messy, I feel like he was calling the club out weekly. Not to mention the Final against Wigan. Just a horrible year.

2) 2008/09 - 10th place. 50 points. Hughes got less points and finished lower than sven! What a bust this was lol after the takeover hype. Hughes should have been sacked day 1. Maybe didn't hurt as much because we had no expectations yet, but a really crap season when you think about it.

3) 2024/25 - ??? place. ???? points. I think 4 in a row has helped the medicine go down this year, and if we finished 3rd and had a regular off year then no problem whatsoever, players have earned it. But the amount of massive humiliations and horrible days, not to mention the historically atrocious run in November. it feels like it was worse then it had to be. If we dont win the FA cup it jumps up to second, if we do it drops to 4th.

4) 2015/16 - 4th place. 66 points. This year was awful, pellegrini checked out, players checked out. lucky to get CL at the end of the day with a points total like that. You can be zen and say this season was the price to pay for Pep, but man was it crap. Finished Yaya every week was rough, bit like this year lol. League cup a small redeemer.

5) 16/17 - 3rd. 78 points. Not a bad year in the longer term, and pep was figuring it out. but was def disappointing at the time. i thought pep would come and blow the league away from the jump. lot of awful results in this year. Smashed by everton and leicester etc. Main competition for this spot would be 09/10, missing out on CL to Spurs was pretty brutal.

What do you guys think.
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It's not over yet. O'Reilly and Khusanov have pushed us on, so why shouldn't City push on from here.

Post takeover there was a lot of optimism even when we weren't great so it might have felt better than how it feels now when we have taken a big step back.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Different seasons for different reasons.

This season has been the least enjoyable in the stands, and that for me is worse than any season where we don’t win trophies.

As General Patton said, ‘all glory is fleeting’. Success comes and then goes and within days is just in the past. However, being part of something that you live and breathe in the city you and your fellow fans are from is what’s special about football. That’s why fans support all sorts of clubs from down the leagues and not just successful ones at the top of the pyramid (apart from the glory hunter types, of course). Fan culture is as important to me as what goes on, on the pitch.

We’ve only had two or three good atmospheres all season, with Chelsea at home being the only real stand-out top atmosphere (maybe Newcastle and the Rags coming in behind that). Too many of our core fans have disappeared from our support, not enough young men can get season tickets and they can’t justify the price of individual matches, too many tourists dilute our stands, too many away fans are getting tickets, I also think many of our fans are tired with the 115 stuff and many are even jaded with the tourists and away fans situation, then the disappointment that the new NSL2 isn’t going to be a dedicated atmosphere stand with safe standing… for all that, this is the worst season for me.

On the pitch, I was more disappointed with the team with the limp performances against Lyon (CL quarterfinal) and Arsenal (FA Cup semifinal) in 2019-20 than I have been this season because we had a much better team then than now. Especially with them being just three days apart. We did win the EFL Cup and finish second in the PL scoring 102 goals that season, but we had the best team in Europe.

And that was also a shit season, and so was the one where we nearly won a treble the season after, because we couldn’t be there due to lockdowns.
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Loads of young lads DON'T SING! Accept it mate ! Its us FOC who are carrying them!
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
We did win the EFL Cup and finish second in the PL scoring 102 goals that season, but we had the best team in Europe.
Click to expand...

Bayern were brilliant that year. Think they might even have won the treble.

It felt like for us we were seeing the beginning of the end for Silva, Aguero and Fernandinho. Non of them started the CL final the year after with Silva having moved on the year before.
 
youngbob said:
With regards to where the 24/25 season ranks, ask me again on May 26. If we finish 4th and win the FA Cup, it'll sit comfortably above 09/10, 12/13, 14/15, 16/17, and even 15/16 under Pellegrini when we finished 4th and won the League Cup against Liverpool. If we get knocked out by Forest and scrape 5th (or miss out on the Champions League altogether) then you can file it alongside the very worst of the Pellegrini years or any time Hughes was in charge.

The very worst has to be the 14/15 season. A comfortable 2nd place finish in the league, a home derby win, and Aguero finally winning the Golden Boot are basically the only highlights in what was ultimately a very abject and depressing year (relative to expectations). Sure, Lampard came on and scored against Chelsea, but they had the last laugh by comfortably strolling away with the league. The collapse from January was embarrassing - that run of games when we dropped leads against Everton and Burnley and drew at home to fucking Hull were the canary in the coal mine for how bad things were going to get under Pellegrini. That home defeat against Arsenal was awful and losing at Turf Moor was pathetic. We were out of both cups in a flash, got battered by United at Old Trafford, and hammered by Barcelona in the Champions League. The 12/13 season got really toxic at points but at least we had two Wembley trips at the end of it and managed to make the FA Cup final, as well as winning at Old Trafford again. The 12/13 season did at least come down to one game where, if the result had gone our way, it would have gone down as a good year. The 14/15 season was just a series of bad decisions and bad performances that left us nowhere near any shot at a trophy. Things only levelled out at the end because of the individual quality we had.

08/09 is probably second worst. It technically counts even if the season had started before the takeover was complete. The initial excitement after signing Robinho faded fast when it turned out he wasn't that good; we were in the bottom three at Christmas; we won two away games all season; we lost both derbies in pretty meagre fashion. Then we went out of the League Cup straight away to lower league opposition and got knocked out of the FA Cup in the most embarrassing upset of that season (Forest 0-3). I couldn't stand Hughes as manager from the day he walked into the club so the idea of going through a full season with him in charge filled me with dread before it had even started. There were highlights: the Europa League run and the home game against Hamburg, the return of Shauny Wright and the form of Stephen Ireland, the wins over Arsenal and Hull that ultimately turned the season around, and the excitement of us splashing the cash for the first time as Bellamy, De Jong, Given, and Bridge came in. But I don't remember it that affectionately outside of a handful of things.

If I was gonna rank the takeover seasons from best to worst (in terms of how affectionately I remember them) I'd say:

1. 22/23 (the greatest season in the club's history; has to be top - I don't think I've enjoyed following City more than those weeks between the 4-1 battering of Arsenal and the mental treble parade in the torrential downpour)

2. 11/12 (17 years old, newly single after leaving a toxic relationship, dedicating every single weekend to football and my mates, City winning 18 of 19 home games, and then winning the league like THAT)

3. 10/11 (I remember having a quiet little cry to myself after the last game against Bolton because I just didn't want that season to end - that run of games from the United semi-final, beating Spurs 1-0 to get into the CL, winning the FA Cup final... magical)

4. 18/19 (domestic treble, won in serious style, making history, and actually feeling like we'd become the proper big dogs who would be remembered as one of the best teams to ever play in this country)

5. 17/18 (Centurions - an achievement which will never be done again - and League Cup winners, living on my own in town and falling in love with my wife-to-be and taking her to games whenever my mum was away, City waltzing away with the league)

6. 21/22 (fantastic team that almost, almost wasn't properly rewarded - the Gundogan goal will go down as one of the greatest in our history and cemented him as a legend even before the FA Cup final volleys)

7. 13/14 (Pellegrini putting an arm around the shoulder of Mancini's squad and letting them fly, started off rocky but that run of games over Christmas when we won something like 19 of 20 in all competitions, with Negredo leading the charge, was absolutely insane)

8. 23/24 (a record fourth title covering up under par performances elsewhere, an absolutely incredible end to the season but I did start to feel a bit disconnected at points during the season and missed more home games because of life stuff than any season beforehand)

9. 20/21 (PL and League Cup double was amazing, and being at the first game back after Covid is a memory I'll hold very very dear for the rest of my life, but no fans being there to see the majority of the season was shite and losing the CL final took a tiny bit of shine off it)

10. 19/20 (miles behind in the league, even if we finished safely in 2nd, and fragile as fuck in defence without Kompany, but still won a cup at Wembley - started the season unable to go to games, feeling very unwell, but finished it in a cleaner bill of health)

11. 16/17 (dodgy first half of the season, those batterings at Everton and Leicester were hard, but a brilliant second half and a good run to Wembley in the FA Cup that showed what was to come; will always remember it for Caballero suddenly becoming a reliable keeper out of absolutely nowhere)

12. 15/16 (yes we won the League Cup and got to the CL semis for the first time, but with a bunch of players I felt nothing towards, a handful of legends aside; Fernando, Mangala, Bony, and Sagna especially; how we scraped 4th I'll never know considering how often we had our arses handed to us)

13. 09/10 (our best season for years at that point but were ultimately held back by Hughes and his mad "tactics"; should have sacked him after the 3-3 against Burnley instead of letting him stink the place out for another six weeks afterwards; disappointing ends to both cup campaigns too)

14. 12/13 (got really toxic at points, the morning after the night before in a way, but still got to Wembley twice - even if there was blue on blue fighting during the FA Cup final after the news about Mancini's inevitable sacking was leaked to the press)

15. 08/09 (as explained above)

16. 14/15 (as explained above)
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Robinho might not have been all that, but he did score 15 goals from the wing. What would we give for that this season!!
 
Only two qualify for me. Mancini's and Pellegrini's last seasons. It is only that 'put this out of its misery' feeling that makes a difference, when it creeps in, when it becomes clear the manager can do nothing more, and enduring that frustration. Anything other than that, i.e poor results, runs, finishing lower than would hope for, missing out on trophies or competitions - I accept that, as just part of footballing disappointment. Hughes final season was different, think we always expected him to go anyway.
 
Similarly to above, the worst thing for me this season has not been the bad run, hitting as low as 6th place in the table or dropping out of competitions, but seeing all these daft Pep Out comments. Luckily that heeling hasn't shown up anywhere else or that actually matters, and even the media were astute enough of its absence not to try tease it in any way.
 
Some interesting points! agree the FA cup will put a gloss on this year and probably make it easier to forget the worst parts. RE 15/16, one of the things that made that easier I guess was it was clear we were getting Pep, it was easy to just write it off without too much emotional distress because you could be excited about the following year.
 
If we get CL and an FA Cup it can't go down as the worst season. This year has been bad at times though, setting losing records etc, that simply cannot happen to a team like ours, having a dip and a year not overly being competitive can of course happen, the size of our drop off has been hard to take.

If we don't win the fa cup then this year will be a contender, maybe Mancini sacked season is the winner currently. You can't lose an FA Cup to a relegated Wigan
 
Mancini’s last season was grim.

The last Pellegrini season was too but we won the carabao didn’t we, so it can’t be as bad.

This year could actually end up topping the lot though.
 
Pellegrini's last season was a tough watch. We scraped 4th on goal difference in a bang average league in which Leicester won it, Spurs came 3rd despite being the title contender and a rubbish Arsenal team came 2nd.

Chelsea the previous seasons winners ended up finishing 7th.

A lot of the fanbase wanted Pellegrini gone after his second season because they could foresee what was going to happen that season, but it was obvious in the end he was only kept on to keep the seat warm for Pep.

The fact is we had by far the best team in the league during his tenure and should have won at least another title under him. 4 years from Manuels first and only to Peps first was terrible.

Mancini's final season was more frustrating than bad, the whole team dynamic unravelled before our eyes. The club didn't help Roberto though, they gave him an utterly shocking window to work with. Despite this we still got to an FA Cup final (of which I think the players threw in the towel) and we came 2nd in the league. Defensively we were decent that season but it was Van Persie's goals that swung it for United. We ended up with too many draws.
 
14/15 was absolute dogshit. Easily the worst for me.

Thumped in the Charity Shield.
Mangala debut followed by him getting booked, scoring an own goal, and giving away a penalty the week after.
Second.
Out of the league cup at home v Newcastle.
Scraped past Sheff Wednesday in the FA Cup only to get dumped out by Boro three weeks later.
Being 1 up at the shithole and then being 4-1 down an hour later.
Bony.
 
Coatigan said:
Only two qualify for me. Mancini's and Pellegrini's last seasons. It is only that 'put this out of its misery' feeling that makes a difference, when it creeps in, when it becomes clear the manager can do nothing more, and enduring that frustration. Anything other than that, i.e poor results, runs, finishing lower than would hope for, missing out on trophies or competitions - I accept that, as just part of footballing disappointment. Hughes final season was different, think we always expected him to go anyway.
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Definitely agree with that. Hughes was very disappointing but it felt we would get a decent manager and take off - as we did. Pep’s first season was disappointing but he had too much old baggage in the team to fight for the title (sound familiar?) but again optimism was there that a great time was coming. It was the real disappointment and comedown that Mancini’s and Peller’s final season(s) brought that were so awful.

At least with Pellegrini we knew that Pep was coming, this year we know that there will be big squad changes and hopefully there will be great progression. Mancini’s final season had nothing good and little hope of anything better to come (despite the ensuing PL and league cup double). Add in the fall from champions - and 93:20 at that - to gifting baconface another PL title as well as gifting Wigan an FA cup win. The atmosphere in the rain before that FA cup final, at the roundabout singing, you can stick your pellegrini up your arse. The players downing tools on the pitch because they hated Mancini. Not getting a manager we wanted. It seemed so fucking bleak.

When you win four (not five) league titles in a row, you do not win the league in the fifth year. We didn’t make it 3 in a row when the scousers last won. Look what happened after. I can take this year.
 
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