Manchester City’s Embarrassing Christmas: The Festive Season in the Bottom 3

Manchester City supporters aren’t easily embarrassed.

Down the years, they’ve developed a phrase to cover all eventualities. Whether they’re being relegated as champions, losing games after hitting the woodwork five times, or holding the ball by the corner flag to preserve a result that wasn’t enough to avoid relegation, the saying “typical City” sums it all up.

It became a defence mechanism to hide the shame; a go-to phrase that supporters wore as a bizarre badge of honour.

All of those events happened, too. In 1938, City were relegated from the top flight despite being champions—a feat that could be matched by Leicester City this season, though Manchester City fans will be hoping they stay up because there’s something perversely satisfying about their club being the only ones to have failed so badly.

Bolton Wanderers took a 1-0 victory from the City of Manchester Stadium in 2005, after the home side had hit the post or crossbar five times—six, if you count Antoine Sibierski’s header that struck the bar twice before dropping behind.

In 1996, City’s players wrongly believed results elsewhere had saved them from relegation in the closing stages of their 2-2 draw with Liverpool, and they began to waste time by holding the ball by the corner flag. It was misinformation—their rivals were all drawing, too, meaning the result changed nothing and City finished in the bottom three.

But it’s in the relegation zone where City fans have been most embarrassed in recent years. In 2008, supporters had their season filled with hope after a frankly horrible end to the campaign before.

Sven-Goran Eriksson had given some brief respite from the shocking performances of that era, but the end of his 2007-08 season saw a return to uninspiring football and poor results.

When it was announced the next September—under new boss Mark Hughes—that controversial owner Thaksin Shinawatra had sold the club to Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group, there was sudden delirium.

City were dubbed the richest club in world football. They could hand blank cheques to anyone and everyone for whichever player they desired.

On that summer transfer deadline day in 2008, they snatched Real Madrid’s Robinho from under the noses of Chelsea—and were also reported to be throwing money around for the likes of Dimitar Berbatov or Fernando Torres, though they would later turn out to be unfounded.

It was all very exciting and …

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