Once upon a time, Man City were shite...
These days, Man City and Liverpool are two of the biggest clubs in world football - and matches between the pair have become one of the Premier League's glittering showpiece fixtures, games that are watched by millions around the world.
But it wasn't always like this.
Back in 1996, Liverpool travelled to City's beloved but disintegrating Maine Road on the final day of the season with all to play for. But for Alan Ball's faltering team, it was the issue of survival or relegation that needed to be settled, with City starting the day in the bottom three on goal difference and staring into the abyss.
The mission was simple - or so it seemed: the Blues had to better the result of their manager's old club Southampton, who hosted Wimbledon at the Dell.
Liverpool raced into an early two goal lead, seemingly consigning the blue half of Manchester to relegation (while neighbours United celebrated another title triumph).
But the unlikely suddenly looked possible when Uwe Rosler and Kit Symons clawed City back into the reckoning.
And here is where the chaos ensues.
As the clocked ticked towards 90 minutes, Southampton and Wimbledon remained goalless, meaning City needed a winner to avoid the drop.
Remember, these were the days before smartphones and the kind of instant communications we all take for granted now. Instead, fans clasped pocket radios to their ears for score updates - and it was one such supporter, seated close to the City bench, who got his maths horribly wrong, shouting to manager Ball that a point would do.
The hapless Steve Lomas, who had already steered in an own goal earlier in the afternoon, was promptly ordered by his boss to get the ball and keep it near the corner flag.
"Alan Ball called me over and said, 'We're up, kill this game off, just do whatever you can'", captain Lomas recalled.
The loyal midfielder did just that, gallantly wasting time to save his precious City.
The only problem was his team needed a third goal. Niall Quinn, who had just been subbed off, was by now watching events on television. As he realised what was happening, he sprinted from the dressing room to warn Lomas of the materialising cluster fuck.
But it was too late.
City were down. And they'd managed it by wasting precious minutes that they could have used trying to score.
How they ended up
16 Coventry City - 38 (−18 GD)
17 Southampton - 38 (−18)
18 Manchester City (R) - 38 (-25)
19 Queens Park Rangers (R) – 33 (-19)
20 Bolton Wanderers (R) – 29 (-32)
Speaking afterwards, Niall Quinn - who looked like he'd just witnessed a war crime - described the atmosphere in the City dressing room as "terrible".
"When you start your football career, nobody ever prepares you for a day like this," said the big Irishman.
"I had gone off after about an hour and was watching it on TV, so I knew what the situation was,” Quinn later recalled.
"I had to run up the tunnel and get the message on that we needed another."
A funny old game
These days, midfielder Lomas can see the funny side.
"If it wasn’t so serious there was great comic value in seeing big Niall running half-dressed down the touchline to say a draw wasn't enough.
"It's the quickest I had ever seen Niall run! He told us we needed to win so it was just crazy.
"Alan had received false information because he thought Southampton were losing and I was taking the ball into the corner flag to kill time."
"It's fair to say I don't have good memories of last-day scenarios,” Lomas added.
“The situation with City was just one of those things. Relegation is hard enough anyway but under those circumstances it was so hard to take.
"I'd been at the club from the age of 12 so it was particularly hard on me."
For City, relegation to the second tier was only the start of their problems, as they soon after plunged into the old third division.
Those days probably feel like a lifetime ago to City fans - although any who were in Maine Road that May afternoon will forever wince when they remember their team timewasting their way to relegation.
Who played for Man City that day?
These days, City's team is a collection of world-class superstars. Back on that May afternoon in 1996 though, their side was, errr, fairly industrial.
There was some sparkle though - Georgi Kinkladze, the little Georgian maestro, was a special talent, who had scored one of the season's best goals just two months earlier, jinking past most of the Southampton team before lifting the ball over Dave Beasant in the Saints goal.
- Eike Immel (German)
- Kit Symons (Welsh)
- Keith Curle (English)
- Ian Brightwell (English)
- Nigel Clough (English)
- Michael Brown (English)
- Nicky Summerbee (English)
- Steve Lomas (Northern Irish)
- Georgi Kinkladze (Georgian)
- Uwe Rosler (German)
- Niall Quinn (Irish)
They also wore a bloody lovely shirt that day, peak 90s Umbro. You can say what you like about City but they almost always have great kits.
What happened next?
Manager Alan Ball admitted after the game that “this is the greatest disappointment of my career” but kept his job as City dropped into Division One. However he resigned just three games into the following season after a defeat to Stoke City.
And just when City fans thought things couldn't get any worse... they did. The Maine Road faithful were hopeful of an immediate return to the Premier League - but the team could only finish 14th. And in 1997/98, it got even bleaker, with City relegated to the third tier.
The rollercoaster continued though - back-to-back promotions (which included that play-off triumph over Gillingham) to the Premier League followed, before yet another relegation to the First Division in 2001.
Kevin Keegan then arrived and hauled City back into the Prem in 2002 - and they've remained there ever since.
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