...will go down as the most eventful so far in the history of our great club. 3 relegations from the PL, two promotions to the the PL, a FAC final and the Europa League. For many fans, the ownership of the club and their divisive style continues to overshadow whatever happens on the pitch. With this in mind, feel free to list your five highs and five lows, trying to avoid the obvious ones of the last ten years. For me: 1) Seeing us win at Bramall Lane 2) Hull City reaching the Cup Final and making it the best final of the decade 3) Mo Diame's class silencing 50.000 hooting owls at Wembley 4) Travelling from Lokeren to Ghent around midnight on a trainful of City fans in August 2014. Felt like we'd arrived at the next level. 5) Beating Liverpool 3 times in a row at the KC. Local plastics in meltdown On the down side: 1) The decline in our fan base and squandering of the hard-earned goodwill in this fickle city, thereby gifting the local RL clubs their next generation of fans. 2) Poor turnouts at Old Trafford for the LC SF, SUFC in the FACSF and against SWFC in 2016. 3) Hamfisted and misguided attempts to rebrand our club to appeal to an inexistent imaginary fanbase. 4) Seeing our young stars sold at bargain prices, and the clubs who bought them being praised for their expertise in spotting them ffs. 5) Killing the atmosphere by continually tinkering with seating arrangements. Plenty more positives and negatives, restricted to five of each,
Straight off the top of my nut 5 Highs 1. Got to be Cup final 2. Steve Bruce coming in 3. Dominating Leeds and Colin W in a Boxing day cracker 4. The tension of the Cardiff game...with one eye on the Watford-Leeds game 5. Nick Barmby's brief period, played some good stuff. 5 lows 1. Not kicking on after FA Cup final 2. Losing Snodgrass 1st game for the season 3. Gruesome twosome going ape-**** 4 Losing Bruce to be replaced by Phelan 5. Not getting Silva soon enough
Highs: 1. The first 10 minutes of the FA Cup Final. Actually, despite the result, the fact we were there was ****ing incredible enough. 2. The last day of the 2012/13 season. What the actual **** was that? Not sure I've felt such a varied mix of emotions in such a quick amount of time. 3. Barmby's winner off the bench against Cardiff. His last game, as player-manager as well. In hindsight, a moment that needs more eyes upon it. 4. Leeds 2-0. Such a dominant performance and one that deserved a Fulham-esque scoreline. Even Colin said we were the dogs bollocks. 5. A great disturbance in South Yorkshire - as if trillions of Owls suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, thanks to Diame. Lows 1. The Allams. Sorry, but it has to be. They spent a good chunk of the decade as heroes, and ****ing threw it away, destroying the fanbase and the club, the greedy despicable ****s. 2. The name change. No other explanation needed. 3. The horrific mess that was summer 2016. Not enough players to even fill the bench and Brucey understandably walks. 4. Going down in 2017. That team was way too good to go down and they ****ed it. 5. Europa. Love Bruce, but mate, you ****ed that up big time. Also, to quote NWA, **** the (Belgian) Police. Probably forgotten loads.
Can’t argue with any of that. 100% this.... it was a great period, shame we didn’t build on it & push on
I dispise Sheffield Utd , so that day at Wembley when we deprived them from getting to the final was my highlight . Beating Liverpool in the League for the 1 st. time in our history and following it with another 2 victories would be a close second . The 6 goals we scored in one half against Fulham in the premier League . My 3 downs are :- Finding blood on my shoes after a City match in Belgium. Why was Gibbs on the line when Bruce junior headed the ball goalwards at Wembley. The snigger from Lineker when Hull Tigers was made national news . I have indulged in to many G and T 's so it's only 3 of each from me
1. Continuing to see a new generation of kids following, and proud of, their local team (while it lasted). 2. (nicked) "The last day of the 2012/13 season. What the actual **** was that? Not sure I've felt such a varied mix of emotions in such a quick amount of time". We live & breathe football for days like that. It was incredible, utterly ridiculous. 3. (nicked) "The first 10 minutes of the FA Cup Final. Actually, despite the result, the fact we were there was ****ing incredible enough" 4. Seeing players in City shirts that we would only have ever dreamed of in decades earlier. 5. Yorkshire's number 1, albeit on and off, for years. Never thought I would witness it. Lows: 1. The Allams. .
Highs 1. two promotions to Premier League 2 FA Cup Final 3 Europe 4 some great signings 5 the FA telling the Allams to **** off Lows 1.. Brucie ****ing about giving his useless son game time and an extended contract 2...not getting rid of Bruce when we should have done - totally ****ed up season 2 in the Prem and Europe 3 Brucie defending the Allams and telling the fans to stop protesting 4. the fans getting ****ed about with stand moves and giving the away payments to the opposition fans 5 the Allams still being here
Only three things in this life are certain. Death, taxes, and Charon complaining about the Bruces. They really ****ing hurt you, didn't they?
Wasn't a friend of yours heavily involved in the fans getting shifted to the north stand??? Had a word with him about it? Not getting rid??? You'd have sacked the manager who retained our position in the PL and just taken us to an FA Cup Final for the first Time in our history!!!? ****ed even for you.
My absolute stand-out moment was the Cardiff match at the end of 2012/13 season - it was absolutely crazy but of course with a brilliant ending. The FA Cup final and semi-final obviously, (semi-final was such a brilliant game of football). I'm also finding I reminisce fondly about several last minute winners even though they probably did not mean much in the grand scheme of things: - The 3-2 Boxing Day win at Bramall Lane; - Koren's injury time winner against Leicester just after Nigel Pearson returned to them, (justice served after the most negative display from an opposition team ever). - Proschwitz's last minute against Ipswich after we'd battered them all game yet were down at half-time and only drawing going into injury time. Negatives have pretty much all been said although I do think relegation in 2014/15 was when the rot really started to set in. That season was a great chance to properly consolidate and establish ourselves in the Premier League.
It is crazy looking back on the decade as my first full decade supporting City, to see where we were at the start and at the finish. This might get a bit rambly but bear with me. There are a few different ways to view the progression of the club over the course of the decade, the most obviously being on the field. We began the decade in the PL but with a terribly constructed squad that fell apart almost the instant we slipped out the league (with the remnants swept out over the next 2-3 years). The players in that squad (excluding those that had carried us into the division) have barely gone on to amount to anything, and sums up that second PL season unfortunately (with the exception probably of Hunt). The state the club was in following that relegation was a scary thing, and for that the credit does, reluctantly, have to go to the Allams for doing what they did, although it seems they didn't fully know what they were getting themselves into financially. To then see the squad gradually assembled under first Pearson then Bruce - Chester, Brady, Hobbs, Rosenior, Koren, Evans being the 'original' core, then Meyler, Elmo, Bruce, and others pushing us up to the promised land a second time under Bruce, the sense was that this squad had much more stable foundations for a prolonged PL push. The signings that first season were top class and I couldn't believe the funds we made available in January to bring in Jelavic and Long. Something unraveled in that following summer which saw a drop to the Championship, but unlike 2010 this felt different and we were able to bounce back up. I think if nothing else the Allams need to be given that credit for retaining and building on the squad to bounce back. Subsequently everything completely fell apart but I'll get into that in the off-field. On the field I think the club is in a strong position, we have a great Academy now producing first team players with seeming regularity, and when we do have to dip into the U23s to pad out the bench or come in in Cup games, they can more than hold their own. I'm full of optimism for where this squad can go, and starting this Decade on the brink of the Play Offs is a great position to be in. Bowen has to be one of the most talented youngsters I've seen pull on a City shirt other than I suppose.. Robertson? Off the field is a different story of course. The owners who brought us that initial stability in the decade have cut off their own nose on a number of instances. Their behaviour between 2014-18 cannot be excused nor can it (largely) be forgiven. The damage they did to the fanbase may take many years to undo, and even with their ticketing decisions in the last few months, it is evident there is a long way to go. I do have faith that whether or not the club is sold, we are at least in a reasonably stable position. Our scouting network seems to be quite strong now despite some glaring misses, and profitable players are coming through the club regularly - even though each seems to be the last ("Oh well when Maguire goes that's the end of the gravy train" "Oh when Bowen goes" "Oh when KLP goes.."?) Our wage structure also gives me confidence that we are not gambling our future in the same way some clubs seem to be doing. Another element that this decade has provided is the way in which I can follow the club. I began the decade (in England) watching Soccer Saturday which was fun enough, but when I returned to Aus, I initially relied on the BBC Flash website, which is crazy to think back on, that I'd sit on the train watching the flash commentary update. Then came my immersion in Twitter for more instant commentary from Rick and others, but the big leap forward was Tigers TV. This cannot be understated for its importance over here. For years, if you fell out of the PL you were well and truly in the wilderness. Our final game of our second Championship season (I think) under Barmby was Garcia's last game, and we only managed to watch it because a West Ham supporter at Fox put the game between us and the Hammers on somehow. These days I can watch any and all of our league games and it makes for a massive difference in retaining supporters and engaging those of us on this side of the world. So this decade has had a lot of ups and downs, but watching City in three different periods (2010, 2013/14 and 2019) was magical, getting to visit Hull and immerse myself in the culture was brilliant, and I managed to see some memorable games - 3-1 over Pool, 6-0 over Fulham, 2-0 over Southend in THAT Cup run, met legends of the club like Windass, former players like Chester, Jelavic, Dudgeon, and Brady, and more recently got to meet Irvine. The Tigers Down Under podcast is now running consistently and has managed to interview Garcia, Irvine and Elder, and I love being able to give a bit back to the supporter base in that way, and long may it continue. All in all it's been a pretty great decade to be a City fan, and I'll take the bad with the good we got any time.
Really good read. Didn't someone say something like "it was the best of times. it was the worst of times"? Sorry, I know, same old chesnut .... "The state the club was in following that relegation was a scary thing, and for that the credit does, reluctantly, have to go to the Allams for doing what they did". I can't help but struggle to give them any credit. Reason being their motives, or more correctly their lies about about their motives. And their continuing lies since. Please anyone help me to see their initial motives, and them generally, in a better light if you can. The improved state and recent products of our Academy does bring hope, coupled with the relative finanical stability (if we can choose to ignore the little matter of £50 mill supposed debt). It's not that the Academy is somehow now outstanding, it's probably just got to the level of reasonable for a Championship club after decades of neglect, and that we are seeing some promising youngsters bloodied early due to need rather than some sort of cleverly crafted planned progression. But there are some promising youngsters for sure, at last, and that is great; even better that at least some of them are local. I would happily take another couple of promotions to the PL and an FAC final in this next decade #daretodream
Yes I did try to clarify that their involvement was almost unintentional as they didn't know how bad it was but once they bought the club they were essentially stuck with it and were basically forced to sink money in.
See them in a good light or the worst possible light- what does it matter? It happened. New decade, look forward not backward on stuff that you can't fix.
My top and bottom five have pretty much been covered apart from the eviction from E2 and the spiteful way it was managed. Immediately after the euphoria of the cup final, we learnt we were to be moved. Not only that, but had a riddiculously small window to choose our new seats and we had to go to the ground to ensure we could sit together. that was the beginning of the end for the majority of our group, the match day experience was never going to be the same again. I have absolutely no doubt that the main motivation for this action was to break up those E1/E2 'No Voters'.
You could say exactly the same for every 'new' owner who has taken over the club. I cannot remember any of them taking over and immediately calling a press conference saying what great shape the club was in. The difference being that the Allams did put their own money in and like them or not, there are not many who have done that.
As John Bond said, “As we all know, history is about tomorrows , not yesterdays ”. Those old enough to remember his managerial days will know that wasn’t the daftest thing he said.
