1996/97 Season - Memories

[Ric Flair]

With there still no guarantee of any return to the football season, I've been watching a hell of a lot of football from the 90's, I've even started playing CM97/98 again. I'm a sad act.

 

Anyway, I thought it would be good to take a trip down memory lane on here and have a thread for each season. My favourite of the 1990's was without doubt 1996/97, our first season back in the PL under O'Neill after a fairly horrid first attempt in 1994/95 under Little (Judas) and Mark McGhee (Fat Scottish bastard). Winning our first major trophy in a few decades as well was magical.

 

I'll get it started with a memory of reading teletext just a day or so? before the opening game of the season at Roker Park vs Sunderland to see we'd signed Kasey Keller and Spencer Prior, O'Neill in the coming years showed he liked to leave it as late as possible before the start of the season to bring in players and these two were instant successes for us. Keller was immense on his debut in a decent 0-0 draw. Prior I think had been at Norwich with O'Neill the season before too and was a shrewd bit of business.

 

Our opening home game of the season was a Heskey masterclass and got the whole country sitting up and taking notice of him and us. That 2nd goal of his was everything that was special about Heskey, there were very few players like him back then or since. His celebration with the fans for the goals, I always felt at Filbert Street we were so close to the pitch and this showed it.

 

I'll be posting some more memories of this season later but get reminiscing everyone!

[Izzy]

One of my all time favorite season too @Ric Flair 

 

Probably the best away day for me was the League Cup semi second leg v Wimbledon. Kick of delayed because their were about 10,000 of us there and we totally owned the ground that night.

 

 

 

[Rain King]

The favourite years of my life and some of the best City memories.

Loved pretty much everyone in that squad.

[Izzy]

Just now, pds said:

The favourite years of my life and some of the best City memories.

Loved pretty much everyone in that squad.

Yeah, totally this.

 

No wife, kids, mortgage or responsibilities and the freedom to go home and away every week.

 

Great times, great team, great manager.

[StanSP]

Was the first year I started supported us so yeah, this season in general is special on that personal level, even with all the lows in between then and now! 

[StanSP]

33 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

 

I'll be posting some more memories of this season later but get reminiscing everyone!

And just on a side note I've been enjoying the season reviews BT Sport have been airing in past few weeks, and each season's goal montages! 

[Rain King]

23 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Yeah, totally this.

 

No wife, kids, mortgage or responsibilities and the freedom to go home and away every week.

 

Great times, great team, great manager.

I was only 11/12 but everything was brilliant in my eyes. Music/mates/sport and watching City every week was a pleasure. Beating Palace at Wembley in such dramatic fashion followed by 4 years of being a very good team.

[Izzy]

4 minutes ago, pds said:

I was only 11/12 but everything was brilliant in my eyes. Music/mates/sport and watching City every week was a pleasure. Beating Palace at Wembley in such dramatic fashion followed by 4 years of being a very good team.

I was early/mid 20's, disposable income, fit & healthy, happy and single.

 

God I hate my life now compared to back then 

[stripeyfox]

38 minutes ago, Izzy said:

One of my all time favorite season too @Ric Flair 

 

Probably the best away day for me was the League Cup semi second leg v Wimbledon. Kick of delayed because their were about 10,000 of us there and we totally owned the ground that night.

 

 

 

I think I can still feel the very faint remains of my hangover from the morning after this game...

 

[stripeyfox]

5 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I was early/mid 20's, disposable income, fit & healthy, happy and single.

 

God I hate my life now compared to back then 

don't forget conning people into taking out expensive insurance on computers, cameras and tvs....

 

wait - i guess that's where the disposable income came from!!!

Edited 5 May 2020 by stripeyfox

[stripeyfox]

I also remember queing overnight at Filbert Street for the Final tickets. They said on the radio there were a few hundred left which would go on sale the next morning (a Saturday iirc). So we got down there about 7pm on the Friday evening and there were already loads in the queue which snaked around the car park. In the end I think they opened the ticket office up during the evening and we got tickets around midnight I think. 

 

[Ric Flair]

Another great memory was the home game towards the end of the season vs Sheffield Wednesday. We'd recently won the cup but still had business to tidy up in the league to be mathematically safe. The atmosphere in the closing stages of thew game when it was evident we were staying up as well as the cup glory and Europe to look forward to was immense. If I remember rightly Lennon and/or Izzet were unavailable for this game as were a few others and they were all sat in the Carling Stand celebrating with the fans.

 

Special times and memories, it really was pinch yourself stuff even given what we've been through in recent years. I fcukin love everything about the 90's when it comes to football, music and film. I've many books that intertwine all 3 and the feelings of nostalgia reading them is euphoric.

[Ric Flair]

Here we go!

 

 

[Rain King]

9 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Another great memory was the home game towards the end of the season vs Sheffield Wednesday. We'd recently won the cup but still had business to tidy up in the league to be mathematically safe. The atmosphere in the closing stages of thew game when it was evident we were staying up as well as the cup glory and Europe to look forward to was immense. If I remember rightly Lennon and/or Izzet were unavailable for this game as were a few others and they were all sat in the Carling Stand celebrating with the fans.

 

Special times and memories, it really was pinch yourself stuff even given what we've been through in recent years. I fcukin love everything about the 90's when it comes to football, music and film. I've many books that intertwine all 3 and the feelings of nostalgia reading them is euphoric.

Didn't they parade the trophy around the pitch after that match too?

[Ric Flair]

7 minutes ago, pds said:

Didn't they parade the trophy around the pitch after that match too?

Yes I think you're right! It was definitely a great atmosphere that game and probably why I remember it.

[Mint23]

Absolute belting times. I quite often look back with my mates now and say how lucky we were to all be 17-21 that first season back in the prem under MON. Non of us had any responsibilities and the country seemed to be coming out of the dark ages into a new dawn just as Leicester emerged as a force in football. Never a problem getting away tickets, loads of beers before the games, trying to sneak in one last bottle of Becks in the Turnstile at 2:50, get into the Kop, place a bet and still find 4 seats for the 6 of us to balance/stand on in time for kick off! It was past the dangerous/awful hooligan times of the 70’s and 80’s but it was a less sanitised, prawn sandwich brigade international product like we have today. I can honestly say they were the best times of my life. 

[Footballwipe]

34 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Here we go!

 

 

Utter legend, the person who uploaded these 

 

Genuinely though I like these kind of things. My childhood years are made up of watching this tape with the rest. I can recite so many of them. But these years are fascinating to me because of A) the success and B) they were in my formative years.

 

Would love to read people's memories of some of this season. Like in the "Do they mean us" thread, I'm reading back issues of "The Fox" and finding this a genuinely fascinating way of seeing what people were thinking.

 

It was the start of football being properly cool. We came off the back of Euro 96, foreign players were trickling faster into the league with Ravanelli, Berger, Poborksky et al joining. We were back in the big time and never really threatened to drop in the bottom three. It must have been heaven.

[ithuriel]

Used to have a lot of these season reviews on VHS but got rid a decade ago due to lack of room and tapes wearing out.

[Voll Blau]

40 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Here we go!

 

 

Basically spent the whole of my 1997 summer holiday watching and rewinding this. That's a couple of hours of the Bank Holiday sorted then, cheers!

[Bert]

The Newcastle game at home. Won 2-0. Only time I’ve ever been with my grandad. Heskey was a menace and Keller was sensational. Made 3/4 amazing saves from Sir Les. 
 

I have every vhs from 93/94 onwards. 

[Ric Flair]

5 minutes ago, Bert said:

The Newcastle game at home. Won 2-0. Only time I’ve ever been with my grandad. Heskey was a menace and Keller was sensational. Made 3/4 amazing saves from Sir Les. 
 

I have every vhs from 93/94 onwards. 

Heskey was colossal at times, I watch clips back and genuinely can't understand how he wasn't world class. I know there was a lot of times in between these moments where he wasn't that effective but that first season in the PL he was blistering. I think he suffered a lack of confidence eventually as he became well known, lost some of his sparkle.

[Ric Flair]

34 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Utter legend, the person who uploaded these 

 

Genuinely though I like these kind of things. My childhood years are made up of watching this tape with the rest. I can recite so many of them. But these years are fascinating to me because of A) the success and B) they were in my formative years.

 

Would love to read people's memories of some of this season. Like in the "Do they mean us" thread, I'm reading back issues of "The Fox" and finding this a genuinely fascinating way of seeing what people were thinking.

 

It was the start of football being properly cool. We came off the back of Euro 96, foreign players were trickling faster into the league with Ravanelli, Berger, Poborksky et al joining. We were back in the big time and never really threatened to drop in the bottom three. It must have been heaven.

I highly recommend reading " When We Were Lions -  Euro 96 and The Last Great British Summer "

 

One of the best nostalgia books I've read and is more than just a look at a major tournament, there's a lot of other stuff in there about Britain in the 90's and how football and the country changed in the subsequent years. Really, really good book.

[Rain King]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Yes I think you're right! It was definitely a great atmosphere that game and probably why I remember it.

Steve Walsh's testimonial was around that time too. Another really good night, with Gazza popping up in a Leicester shirt.

 

 

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Bert said:

The Newcastle game at home. Won 2-0. Only time I’ve ever been with my grandad. Heskey was a menace and Keller was sensational. Made 3/4 amazing saves from Sir Les. 
 

I have every vhs from 93/94 onwards. 

If you could get them on DVD Rob money waiting for copies

[Bert]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

If you could get them on DVD Rob money waiting for copies

Tried getting them into DVD but £20 per VHS. You can have the videos for nothing by all means, or if I can get them into dvd for reasonable price you can have a copy for nothing.