Questa non riguarda la vittoria del campionato, ma la retrocessione del Manchester City nel campionato di Premier League 1995-1996.
E' sempre campionato inglese, esito altrettanto importante e dai contorni incredibili, per cui credo valga bene.
Va raccontata, perchè rappresenta qualcosa di surreale.
Cosi per ricordarci di quanto fossero sfigati prima degli sceicchi, DNA che ogni tanto emerge pure adesso che hanno palate di milioni per completare la squadra ( per poi essere esclusi dalle coppe
)
Allora il Manchester City si presenta all' ultima giornata con l' obbligo di evitare la retrocessione in una situazione apparentemente sfavorevole.
Anche una vittoria infatti potrebbe non bastare loro per salvarsi.
Southampton e Coventry City, le due avversarie per evitare l' ultimo posto retrocessione, sono infatti si' a pari punti con i Citizens ma con una differenza reti migliore.
Tuttavia, una vittoria sarebbe stata davvero sufficiente. I Saints infatti hanno pareggiato a Wimbledon, e stesso ha fatto il Coventry City a Leeds.
Accade però qualcosa di incredibile.
Allo stadio girano voci false, che parlano di un Wimbledon che si è portato in vantaggio nei confronti del Southampton. Messa cosi, al City potrebbe bastare un pareggio.
Di fatto, credendo per davvero alla notizia della sconfitta dei Saints, il City rinuncia ad attaccare, perdono tempo in difesa del pari e deciidono di fare scorrere i minuti perdendo tempo sulla bandierina del calcio d'angolo.
Quando si materializza la verità , è troppo tardi.
Niall Quinn, sostituto da un po' di minuti, urla a Lomas di muoversi perchè nulla di quello che si è creduto è vero , il City aveva bisogno di una vittoria per salvarsi !
Era oramai troppo tardi.
Nel 1996 il Manchester City è retrocesso a causa di questa " farsa".
"I am confident we will stay up, because we have prepared well and we are ready." That was Alan Ball, the day before his Manchester City side went into battle at Maine Road against Liverpool, desperate to retain their Premier League status. Even a win would not guarantee their survival. Wins for their fellow strugglers Southampton and Coventry City, on equal points but with better goal difference, and a draw for Sheffield Wednesday, two points ahead and also with a healthier balance in the goals column, would have done for City, even if Bally's boys spanked Roy Evans's FA Cup finalists. But in all statistical likelihood, a win would have been enough.
And a win would indeed have been enough. Saints drew 0-0 with Wimbledon, while Coventry held Leeds in another goalless encounter. But City were fed some bogus information – Wimbledon, they had been told, had scored a late goal at the Dell – and so a most Cityesque denouement to the season unfolded.
City looked to have been down and out, Steve Lomas clumsily deflecting Steve McManaman's cross into his own net after six minutes. Just before half-time, Ian Rush marked his last game for Liverpool with a deflected drive to make it 2-0. But with 19 minutes to go, Neil Ruddock clattered Georgi Kinkladze like some sort of lumbering oaf, Uwe Rösler slotting home the penalty. Seven minutes later, Kit Symons equalised. And so as the sands of time ran out, with Southampton "losing", the diktat was delivered: keep the ball in the corner, to secure the draw that would keep City in the big league.
Oh dear. Poor Lomas, whose day had began so badly, held the ball by the flag. As the clock ticked down on the pitch, the sorry truth was beginning to be realised off it. City might have prepared professionally, but their in-game information management wasn't quite up to speed. Wimbledon hadn't scored at all. As things stood, Saints were safe. Niall Quinn, long substituted and now demobbed in his shirt and breeks, sprinted from the stands to the touchline, screaming to Lomas to get moving. The midfielder went in search of the goal City were suddenly so desperate for, but it was too late. "This is the greatest disappointment of my career," sobbed Ball after the match.
Another would be coming a few months later, as he was sacked, his "three-year plan" to get City back to the top of English football in sorry tatters.
