When the most modest fans made fun of Manchester City

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Macclesfield and its 1891 stadium are 35 kilometers from Manchester, but light years away in terms of football. However, City went there on September 12, 1998 to play the seventh matchday of the English third category. Never before (or after) had

Citizens

fallen to such a low division and never had Macclesfield Town reached so high. “It is a tiny club [today it competes in the seventh tier], but that day they played as equals. Their fans did not stop booing the City team and telling them that they were a shame, that they were no longer famous... I was very sorry that they endured that ignominy, they did not deserve it. At least they had the last laugh that afternoon because they won at the last minute,” recalls Mark Hodkinson, an English writer and journalist who was commissioned by

The Times

to follow the adventures of Manchester's then poor brother throughout the 1998-99 season. through the depths of British football. His compilation of columns was later captured in the book

Blue Moon

. A trip to the suffering and low City, nothing to do with the current one.

It is 25 years since that episode that marked the worst qualifying point in the history of

citizen

, today a brilliant European champion, and that opened a huge hole between the two teams from the city. While United fascinated the world with the comeback in the Champions League final against Bayern at the Camp Nou, which culminated a historic treble, the City players had to leave the Colchester field dressing room because the kit man had no space to leave the material. While Old Trafford was known as the “Theater of Dreams”, a section of the press described the old

citizen

stadium (Maine Road) as “the theater of comedy”.

"In Manchester, the clubs have probably had the same support for the last half century, although the perception at the time was that it was easy to support United, while following City was a test of loyalty and commitment because the club went through great things. adversities. His followers secretly appreciated this underdog status and that made them more loyal. The United fans had made fun of them, ridiculed them, and that hurt,” explains Hodkinson.

The adjective “masochists” even fell on the fans. “That is, to a large extent, something of the past,” clarifies the British writer. “They have had to completely change their image of themselves and adapt to being the lords of English football, but I think their old qualities of pragmatism and a certain humility will remain for many years because they are in their DNA. In general, they are good, tough and honest football people, who have seen the darker side and are now enjoying the sun while it lasts. At the end of the day, it always ends, especially in England,” notes author Mark Hodkinson with subtle humor.

The 'citizen' fans were even called "masochistic"

Until that descent to the basement, in City's showcases there were only two Leagues (36-37 and 67-68), four FA Cups, two League Cups, three Community Shields and one Cup Winners' Cup. A good run in the late sixties was the best they had produced. Starting in 2008, the purchase of Abu Dhabi and, above all, the leadership of Pep Guardiola lifted them to the top. Since then, seven Premier Leagues, one European Cup, three FA Cups, six League Cups, one European Super Cup, one Mundialito and three Community Shields.

After traveling the secondary roads of English football, that 98-99 season closed with relief in the final of promotion to Second. If United had scored two goals in stoppage time to win the Champions League, four days later City raised the drama of the comeback even more, but against Gillingham (at Wembley) and to escape the pit of the third category. The rival had scored in the 81st and 87th minutes, the public address system had already announced that the opposing goalkeeper (Vince Bartram) was the “Man of the match”, when Kevin Horlock closed the gap and Paul Dickov equalized in the 97th minute. On penalties, he confirmed the turnaround.

City player Paul Dickov against Gillingham's Guy Butters in 1999.David Rawcliffe - EMPICS (PA Images via Getty Images)

“We reached 56 players because each coach was allowed to sign, they fired him, another came in, another bunch of players signed, he was fired…”, recounted Dickov, the hero of the poor times, in a report in

The Guardian

. “That can create a poisonous atmosphere, but Joe [Royle, the coach] managed to get those who wanted to leave, keep those who wanted to leave happy but didn't, and have his squad,” the forward said.

“Following the team was a test of commitment and loyalty”

Mark Hodkinson, writer who chronicled the year in Tercera

Escaped from the catacombs, in the following campaign (2000) they returned to the Premier, although they still had to wait almost a decade for the big leap. They were relegated to the Second Division again in 2001, promoted the following year, in 2003 they moved to the Etihad (they built homes on the Maine Road site), in 2007 the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, bought the club for 121 million euros , and a year later Abu Dhabi acquired it for 250. The beginning of the change.

“The signing of Robinho [43 million to Madrid in 2008] was the moment when everyone realized that City was about to reinvent itself,” says Mark Hodkinson. Two years earlier, 6.5 million had been spent. However, until 2011, with Roberto Mancini on the bench, they did not enter the Champions League.

“City were a very typical club, oscillating between mediocre and reasonably high performance. At first, some fans missed the more home-made version [Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson was the first non-British coach in 2007] and also had reservations about how the money was obtained. But the majority welcomed it with joy. Now, many even find it hard to believe that this is happening after so many years of effort and failure,” concludes Hodkinson, witness and narrator 25 years ago of the sad journey of the current European champion.

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