| 2007 to 2008 |
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2007 to 2008  A new season and new regime in place. Ex Primeminister of Thailand, Thaksin Shiniwatra has taken up the challenge of leading City into a new future. After City's pre-season hunt for a new owner, billionaire, Thaksin's offer was gladly accepted by the board. And with just a few weeks until the start of the campaign Sven-Goren Eriksson was announced as City's new manager to bring some success to City with Thaksin's 3 year plan.
Sven's first game was a pre-season win in a friendly at Doncaster followed by a short tour of Sweden which saw wins against Orgryte IS and Carlstad United before moving on to Belgium and a 2-0 defeat by Charleroi. Back to the UK and a 2-0 win at Shrewsbury , followed by the final friendly before the season as the new look City were beaten 1-0 by Valencia in The Thomas Cook Trophy Final. During this period Sven had been very active in the transfer market spending over £40 million on 8 Players, Rolando Bianchi, Martin Petrov, Geovanni, Gelson Fernandes, Vedran Corluka, JavierGarrido, Elano Blumer and Valeri Bojinov.
And so to the start of the new Premier season and Sven's team faced their first test at West Ham with 5 new signings making their debuts plus Kasper Schmeichel making it 6 . The blues gave a very impressive performance winning 2-0 and were second in the table come the end of Saturday's games. And so it moved on to Eastlands, could City keep up the form they had shown at Upton Park and above all could they score their first Premier League goal since New Years Day 2007. The answer was yes to both as City defeated Derby 1-0 in a very impressive second half display. And so with 6 points from a possible 6 it was a real test for City as Manchester United visited COMs only to be put to the sword by a brilliant defensive display by Micah Richards and Richard Dunne. The only down side to the game was news of a cruciate injury to Valeri Bojinov that will see him miss most of the season. The fourth league game of the season saw a visit to the Emirates where Arsenal dealt City there first defeat of the season, however with 9 points from 12, City were now in 2nd place just behind Chelsea. It was time to shuffle the pack as Sven made 8 changes when The Blues visited Bristol City easing through to the Carling Cup 3rd Rd with a 2-1 win setting up a home tie against Norwich on 25th September. And so back to the league and it was a 2nd consecutive 1-0 defeat this time at the hands of Blackburn at Ewood Park.
With all players back fit from their International duties it was back to winning ways in the Premier League as City saw off an in form Aston Villa outfit with a 1-0 victory. This was to kick off a 6 game unbeaten run. The blues earned a draw in a six goal thriller at Fulham and then in a team which contained 8 changes City marched on to the fourth round of the Carling Cup with another 1-0 home victory over a brave Norwich side. City had been playing some very attractive football at home with Elano the man pulling the strings in midfield, and although there had been plenty of chances made it was extraordinary that the Blues had only managed 4 goals in total in their 4 home victories. Newcastle United were the unlucky team to concede more than one goal at the COMs as City put up their beat display of the season so far with a 3-1 win on the last Saturday of September, with the blues standing 3rd in the league. Middlesbrough were the next team to face the wrath of Elano as he scored 2 sensational goals in another 3-1 victory. With another 2 week International break some of the players looked a little jaded on their return and although it wasn;t the best performance of the season City made it 7 wins out of 7 at Eastlands as they beat a hard working Birmingham team 1-0. This was the best start to a season by City since 1971 and they had 22 points from 10 games, the fans were starting to talk of a top six place as the minimum to gain from the season. Who could have imagined then that a week later City travelled to Stamford Bridge and were swept away in a disastrous 6-0 defeat by Chelsea .. Not the best preperation for the Carling Cup 4th Round tie at The Reebok, however a shell-shocked City side pulled it back together with a 1-0 win over Bolton setting up a Quarter Final clash with Tottenham. City got back to winning form in the league as well as they beat Sunderland 1-0 although probably the least impressive home game of the season the Blues were still in 3rd position on 25 points as they entered November. An impressive display against top six side Portsmouth saw City gain a good away point in a goalless draw, then it was back to Eastlands and City kept themselves in the top four with a 2-1 win over Steve Coppell's Reading keeping up City's 100% record at home. There were still concerns over City's away form and they faced a tough match at Wigan next without injured Brazilian ace Elano. A Wigan side inspired by new boss Steve Bruce almost took all the points and City were happy to go home with a point in a 1-1 draw. They were not as lucky when they visited White Hart Lane a week later when they were beaten 2-1 by Tottenham Hotspur. However at home the Blues were setting new records as they made it 10 wins out of 10 in all competitions with a 4-2 win over Bolton .
The Blues were unbeaten over the Christmas period as they drew 1-1 at Aston Villa . 2-2 at Eastlands against Blackburn and then put up a great defensive dispaly again at Eastlands to hold off Liverpool in a 0-0 stalemate. City had not won away in the league since the first day of the season however all that changed in the first game of 2008 as they travelled to St James' Park and completed a double over Newcastle with a 2-0 win. The Blues made it three clean sheets on the run three dys later as they earned a replay in the F.A. Cup 3rd round drawing 0-0 at West Ham. City then met an Everton side challenging them for one of the end of season European spots and it was Everton who came out on top winning 1-0 at Goodison Park. City now sat in 7th place in the Premiership however they and the 3 teams above them all had 39 points. West Ham travelled to Eastlands four days later for the F.A. Cup 3rd Round Replay and a single goal from Elano saw City in to the fourth round however there was some bad news as Castillo making his home debut fell awkwardly in the first half and cracked a small bone in his shoulder meaning he will be out of action for approximately six weeks. The Hammers were back at Eastlands four days later for a League game and an under performing City side were lucky to gain a point against West Ham in a 1-1 draw leaving City seventh in the Premiership. A trip to Sheffield United in the FA Cup 5th Round saw City dumped out in contraversial style with a goal which owed more to balloons on the pitch than players. City then travelled to Derby and young Daniel Sturridge scored his second goal in two games rescuing a point at Derby in a 1-1 draw. On the day of the transfer deadline City were involved in an on-off deal to bring Mwaruwari Benjani from Portsmouth. At midnight it seemed City had bought the strker for £9 Million however it soon came to light that certain papers had not been lodged with the FA in time. After days of deliberation the FA agreed that the deal could be ratified but City could re-negotiate the transfer and with Portsmouth anxcious for the deal to go through City agreed a fee of just £3.87 Million rising by approximately another £2 million dependant on appearances. Other deals which went through included the signing of another striker, 19-year-old Ecuadorian international striker Felipe Caicedo from FC Basel for a fee of over £5 million. Moves away from the club saw Georgios Samaras move to Celtic on loan, Rolando Bianchi on loan to Lazio, Paul Dickov on loan to Blackpool, Ishmael Miller moved permanently to West Brom in a deal that could see his fee rising to £1.5 Million, finally Ousamane Dabo moved on a free to Lazio. The Benjani deal was not completed in time for Arsenal's visit to Eastlands and City were put to the sword losing 3-1 and in 7th Place.
Two weeks after the great win at Old Trafford City were brought back to earth as they were beaten 2-0 at home to European challengers Everton , then they failed to score again at home dropping another two points in a 0-0 draw against Wigan before seemingly putting themselves out of a spot for Europe by going down 2-0 at relegation threatened Reading . And so City lay in 9th position with only the top 5 places automatically qualifying clubs for Europe and 6th place giving a further chance in the Inter Toto Cup it seemed City would have to look to next season for a European place. So with 9 games left City gained there first home win in five games as they beat an in form Tottenham 2-1 moving them within two points of the elusive sixth place the Blue's fans were still hoping was achievable. European hopes were soon checked as City failed to Beat relegation threatened Bolton at the Reebok in a turgid goal-less draw. And then worse to come as a trip to another club fighting relegation ended in a 3-1 defeat to Birmingham . City put up a better display at home to Chelsea but were still beaten 2-0, however another good team performance saw the blues win 2-1 at relegation threatened Sunderland . Away from the first team City's youngsters made the headlines as Jim Cassell's Under 18s team beat Chelsea in the 2nd leg of the FA Youth Cup Final 3-1 to take the trophy 4-1 on aggreagate. Back to the senior team and with just four games left City boosted their UEFA Cup qualifying hopes with a very entertaining home win over a Portsmouth side which clearly had one eye on their end of season FA Cup final appearance.
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