Premier League Champions, Champions League regulars and treble-chaser this season, but do Manchester City fans have none other than Paul Dickov to thank for the footballing riches they enjoy on and off the pitch?
They’re well on the way to becoming one of the biggest clubs in the world, but Manchester City’s current fortunes may well have happened to another club but for one famous game against Gillingham 20 years ago.
Today, Pep Guardiola, arguably the world’s best coach, is at the helm of a star-studded squad and a top-class stadium that’s surrounded by some of the best training facilities you could wish for, nurturing the cream of the crop of youngsters hoping to one day take the step up.
With the vast wealth of Abu Dhabi behind them - the City Football Group owns seven clubs including Man City with teams as far apart as New York and Melbourne giving them a truly global reach - City have become a global giant within the sport.
It’s all a far cry from the Maine Road days of the late 1990s, arguably City’s most turbulent period, where they slipped right down to the third tier of English football into the old Division Two.
Even though they were the giants of the division, automatic promotion eluded them and they needed the dreaded play-offs to try and bounce right back up, yet City being City it was never going to be routine and they amazingly found themselves 2-0 down with 90 minutes on the clock.
Step forward first Kevin Horlock (90) and then Dickov (95) to stun the Gills, force extra time and then penalties where young City keeper Nicky Weaver was the hero as Gillingham missed three spot kicks.
The rest, as they say, is history, as City rose back up the ranks and back into the Premier League and, 20 years later, are now a team capable of dominating English football for years to come.
“To see the difference from then to now is fantastic, not just on the pitch but off the pitch, to see how the club do things, they do it properly to make sure the heart and soul of the club remains,” said Dickov, who is looking to find the shirt he won in that final in his #FindMyShirt mission.
“You talk about the Maine Road days and when I first signed in 1996 there are people still working at the club now that were working back then so the owners have done great keeping that heart and soul.
“One of the things the club is fantastic about is, despite all the success of winning Premier Leagues, playing in the Champions League and breaking all sorts of records, they don’t forget about the club’s history and that game was a big part of it.
“We knew how important it was, we didn’t obviously know what would happen to the club afterwards and where the club would end up. So it’s great to have had even just a small part in taking us on a step towards where the club is now."
Dickov, who now works as a Manchester City ambassador, says he has always been popular with fans who remember the role he played in the club’s history.
“City fans still speak about that game and that goal and I think it’s been magnified now with the success the club has had, competing at the top end of the Champions League and winning the Premier League.
“And it’s easier to look back on that day and get nostalgic about it but I’m just proud to have played for the club as long as I did and obviously very proud to have scored such an important goal.”
And what of the shirt Dickov performed those Wembley heroics in? Well, although it’s been seen so many times in highlights over the years, he has no idea where it is, but would like both him and the club to be reunited with it through his campaign.
“Twenty years on and don’t really know where it is,” Dickov added. “I swapped it after the game stupidly and although I’ve heard a few stories about where it went and who had it I’ve no real idea these days where it is.
“I’ll give them a big hug and say thank you to whoever has it – it’d be great for the club to get it back.”
#FindMyShirt is a campaign from Marathonbet, the Official Global Betting Partner of Manchester City, to help re-unite striker Paul Dickov with his 1998/99 play-off final shirt. Visit @Marathonbet on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and follow the link to leave details of the shirt’s whereabouts.
