Pre-season saw two senior players leave, Ilkay Gundogan moved to Barcelona as a free agent, and after his infamous rape and assault court cases Benjamin Mendy’s contract was not renewed.
Yangel Herrera moved to Girona for £5M after being on loan at several clubs since his £900k move to City in January 2017.
Liam Delap joined Hull on a season long loan.
The Academy showed it’s worth as young keeper James Trafford was sold to Burnley for £15M plus £4M add-ons having never played for City’s senior side, also Shea Charles was sold to Southampton for £10.5M plus £4.5M add-ons, after playing less than an hour in the Premier League.
Mateo Kovacic was Pep’s first major signing of the season, the 29 year old Croatian midfielder joining from Chelsea for a fee of £29M
City’s pre-season started with a tour of Japan as they beat Yokohama F. Marinos 5-3 followed by a 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich.
Riyad Mahrez couldn’t resist the lure of the Saudi ‘Gravy Train’ as he joined Saudi Pro League club Al Ahli for a transfer fee of £30M
The last match of the tour was played in a rain soaked World Cup Stadium in Seoul, City lost 2-1 to Atletico Madrid.
As the team returned to England the second major signing of the season was announced. Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol joining from RB Leipzig for £77M.
City failed to win the Community Shield again as they lost on penalties to Arsenal after a 1-1 full-time draw.
The Blues kicked off the season at Burnley on a Friday night, and easily beat the Clarets 3-0, with Erling Haaland scoring a brace as he did in the first game of last season, however, the bad news was that Kevin De Bruyne left the field after 22 minutes with a serious hamstring injury, which could mean four months on the sidelines
The Blues made their first ever appearance in the UEFA Super Cup, and without unfit De Bruyne, Bernado Silva, John Stones and Ruben Dias, it was going to be a tough Final against Sevilla in Athens. however City battled through to draw 1-1 after 90 minutes and then claim victory, winning 5-4 on penalties.
Back in the League and Pep’s men made it a record making 17th home win on the trot, beating Title contenders Newcastle United 1-0.
The next week saw players in and out at The Etihad, Aymeric Laporte moved to South Arabian side Al Nassr for a fee of £23.5M, then City paid Stade Rennais £55.5M for the exciting 21 year old Belgian winger Jeremy Doku.
Maximo Perrone also joined Spanish La Liga side UD Las Palmas on a season long loan.
City would be without Pep on the touchline for the next two matches, he was back in Spain having surgery on a back problem. Assistant coach, Juanma Lillo would be the man in charge, but with Pep constantly on call if needed.
A tricky away match at Sheffield United ended in a 2-1 victory for the Blues.
More awards were on there way for Erling Haaland as he won the PFA Player of the Year and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Trophy’s in addition Pep won The UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year award.
It was a very busy end to the transfer window as Matheus Nunes joined City for £53M, however leaving on a permanent deal, Cole Palmer signed for Chelsea for £42.5M.
Four more players left on season long loans; Taylor Harwood-Bellis to Southampton, Tommy Doyle to Wolves, James McAtee to Sheffield United and Joao Cancelo to Barcelona.
A first hat-trick of the season for Erling Haaland saw Fulham beaten 5-1 at the Etihad and as the season moved into the first international break City sat proud at the top of the League with four wins out of four, and Haaland already scoring six goals.
After the break City continued their great form in the League winning 3-1 at West Ham, and started their Champions League defence well, beating Red Star Belgrade 3-1 at the Etihad in their first ever match against the famous Serbian club.
In their next home League game The Blues were strolling with a 2-0 haf-time lead against Nottingham Forest, however a minute into the 2nd half Rodri was sent off for violent conduct after putting his hands around Morgan Gibbs-White’s throat, who then ridiulously fell to the floor. The ten men held on well for the rest of the match to their 2-0 lead which gave them a perfect start of 19 points from six matches, however the worrying thing would be Rodri would be missing for the next three domestic games.
The first saw a ‘second team’ take on Newcastle at St James’ Park in the third round of the Carabao Cup, and despite a good performance from a young City side, the Geoerdies won 1-0.
A second defeat followed, this time in the League as The Blues lost 2-1 at Wolves.
Prior to the next Champions League match sad news of the death of legendary City player and Chairman, Francis Lee, was announced.
Rodri returned to the side for the trip to RB Leipzig and his prescence made a great difference as The Blues won 3-1.
Unfortunately City’s World Class holding midfielder had to serve the last match of his domestic ban as Pep’s side visited The Emirates and in a match of few chances Arsenal scored a late deflected goal to win 1-0 and Leapfrog City at the top of the League with another International break on the horizon.
After the second international break City were back to winning ways, beating Brighton 2-1 in the League at The Etihad, then a 3-1 victory in Switzerland against Young Boys in the Champions League.
The Manchester derby at Old Trafford was a ‘walk in the park’ for the Blues, as they put in a brilliant display to beat a very poor United team 3-0.
At The Ballon d’Or awards in Paris City picked up the Men’s Club of the Year award, and Erling Haaland was unlucky to come runner up to Messi in the main Player of the year award, but he did pick up the Gerd Muller Award for top striker.
They then made it 23 home wins on the trot in all competitions, beating Bournemouth 6-1 in the League, and Young Boys 3-0 in the Champions League, a result that meant City had qualified for the knockout stages with two games to play.
The Blues signed off for the third international break with a breathtaking 4-4 draw at Chelsea.
On the return from the break they drew a tough game at the Etihad 1-1 against Liverpool.
On the day of the Champions League tie against RB Leipzig, a fantastic bronze statue was unveiled at The Etihad depicting City’s legendary triumvirate of Bell, Lee and Summerbee. On the pitch the team came back from two down to win 3-2 and guarantee first spot in the group.
In the League City drew their third game on the trot, 3-3 at home to Tottenham, and then, even worse, they lost 1-0 at high-flying Aston Villa. It was certainly going to be a tough ask if the Blues were going to make it four titles on the trot as they slid to fourth in the League, six points behind leaders Arsenal.
It was back to winning ways four days later though with a 2-1 victory at Luton, followed by a 3-2 win at Red Star Belgrade in the final game of their Champions League Qualifying group.
In the last League game before Christmas however, they slipped up again at the Etihad, drawing 2-2 with Crystal Palace.
The team then flew off to Saudi Arabia to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup, and in the semi-final they beat Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 to set up a final against Brazilian Champions Fluminense.
City then made history winning the final 4-0 and clinching the five major trophies in the same year. “It was an incredible year,” said Pep Guardiola. “Today we closed the chapter. We won everything we could. Now time to try again.”
Back to the UK and after Christmas City needed to put together a great run in the League to get themselves back in contention, and they started well beating Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park and then at The Etihad Sheffield United 2-0. Which left them moving into 2024 just two points behind leaders Liverpool in a very competitive top four.
2024 started with the Blues comfortably starting their defence of the FA Cup with a 5-0 victory over Huddersfield, however, a week later at Newcastle it looked like they would slip up again in the League, being 2-1 behind with less than half an hour to go. But having been injured since the first game of the season, Kevin de Bruyne came off the bench to give one of the greatest 25 minute cameos ever to drag City to a 3-2 victory.
A last minute goal at Tottenham saw City win 1-0 in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and then in the League they kept the pressure on Liverpool, beating Burnley 3-1 at The Etihad, then a 3-1 victory at Brentford and 2-0 win at home to Everton.
The Champions League was now down to the knock-out stage and City put up a good performance in Denmark, beating Copenhagen 3-1 in the first leg. Then after eleven wins on the trot The Blues stuttered to a 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea in the League.
However two 1-0 victories on the trot, at home to Brentford and away at Bournemouth, kept the pressure on League leaders Liverpool.
The treble was still on as well, as Haaland scored five goals, and Kevin De Bruyne brilliantly assisted four of them in a 6-2 demolitian of Luton at Kenilworth Road in the 5th round of the FA Cup.
Back in the League it was the Manchester Derby, and despite United opening the scoring, City were in total control and ended up 3-1 winners at the Etihad. The next visitors were Copenhagen in the 2nd leg of the Champions League round of 16, The Danes were beaten 3-1 for a 6-2 victory for the Blues on aggregate. Then a tricky match at Anfield saw Liverpool, the League leaders, held to a 1-1 draw to keep the three horse race for the title wide open with just one point between Liverpool, Arsenal and City with ten games left to play.
Then another dominant display at home in the FA Cup saw a 2-0 quarter final victory over Newcastle, and so City became the first club in the trophy’s history to reach six successive sem-finals.
Following the final international break of the season it was another top of the table clash, this time it was Arsenal at the Etihad and The Gunners disappointingly came with a plan to gain a 0-0 draw and were successful in sucking any entertainment there might have been in the game for a share of the points.
City got back to goalscoring and beat fifth place Aston Villa 4-1 at the Etihad and then Crystal Palace 4-2 at Selhurst Park. With seven games to play City were sat in third, just a point behind Liverpool and Arsenal.
Next up,in what now seems to be an annual event, The Blues meet Real Madrid again in the Champions League, this time in the Quarter Finals, and the first leg is a classic with an entertaining 3-3 draw at The Bernabeu.
The fight for the Premier League title was turned on it’s head the next weekend putting the blues in the driving seat. City beat Luton 5-1 at the Etihad, whilst both Arsenal and Liverpool were defeated.
The prospect of an unprecedented ‘double treble’ disappeared however, a few days later with a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League Quarter Final 2nd leg. The Spaniards were triumphant in the penalty shoot-out.
It was clear the team were suffering from fatigue from the number of games they’d played over the last two years, however, just three days later they put up a great fighting performace to beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
City kept the Premier League title in their own hands, winning comfortably, 4-0 at Brighton, and 2-0 at Nottingham Forest.
It was then announced that Tommy Doyle’s loan at Wolves would be made permanent at the end of the season, with City receiving a fee of just over £4M. It was Wolves next up at The Etihad and were put to the sword 5-1, Erling Haaland scoring four.
Then the first of the season’s accolades for The Blues, as Phil Foden is named the 2024 Football Writers’ Association Men’s Footballer of the Year.
City continued their scoring in the league with a superb 4-0 victory at Fulham.
If City win their last two League matches they will win a history making fourth top flight title in a row. The first was a tough trip to Tottenham Hotspur, where Pep’s men stood up to the task with a well deserved 2-0 victory.
Before the last match of the season, Phil Foden won his second Player of the Season Award, this time from the Premier League.
There was a party atmosphere at The Etihad on the final day of the Premier League season, City needed a win to clinch the title, and they didn’t disappoint, as they beat West Ham 3-1. City were Champions for a fourth season in row. Pep declared: “In terms of numbers, nobody has been better than us. The records, the goals, the points, the four in a row… We have done something unbelievable”.
The Citizens finished top on 91 points, two points ahead of Arsenal.
A very tired City side then turned out at Wembley in a repeat of last years FA Cup Final, unfortunately it was a match too far for the Blues, and Manchester United were the victors, winning 2-1.