Wow – is it really 25 years since that epic day in 1999?

Over time, the Division Two play-off final against Gillingham has become the stuff of legend and who could ever have believed that the Kent minnows (with the greatest of respect to GFC), could have weaved ed their way into Manchester City’s DNA in such a huge way?

Mention Gillingham to any City supporter of a certain vintage and chances are they’ll go all misty-eyed and drift away to a game that tested each and every Blue to their very limit.

Our talented team of journalists have done a remarkable job on the official Man City website, finding new stories and people involved that day that have rarely if ever been heard.

That left the City Mag with something of a dilemma.

Were there any more stories to tell?

Were there any new angles left?

Well, it turns out there were, and they are in the pages that follow in this 1999 Play-off Special.

We speak with Nicky Weaver about the science of penalty taking and the data (or lack of) he had to work with ahead of the Gillingham clash.

Skipper Andy Morrison gives us a unique angle of the build-up to the final and also shares his utter despair as we went two goals down and was left contemplating “the worst summer ever”.

Richard Edghill – that most unlikely of penalty takers in the shootout - reveals how he got the gig and the rumoured ramifications for the Club should promotion be missed.

We also look at other stuff, such as what happened to the 23 other clubs who shared Division Two that season and where they are now in the league pyramid.

Plus, what was happening in the world on Sunday May 30, 1999, and former chairman David Bernstein reveals the answer to ‘what if?’ in regards to the Club’s destiny had a second season in the third tier been a reality.

We are delighted to also have a view from the opposition in the shape of the brilliant Joe Wilknson, whose hilarious cameos on Eight Out of 10 Cats and After Life have made him a huge star in the UK.

Joe recalls that day – and the pain of losing in such dramatic fashion with vivid clarity - as does legendary journalist, broadcaster and wine expert Oz Clarke - also a Gills diehard.

As always, there’s plenty more besides with some pictures of the day that have never seen the light of day before, thanks to former Club photographer Roland Cooke.

We’re pretty happy with it – and hopefully, you will be too…

One of the UK’s best-loved comic actors and writers is also a lifelong Gillingham supporter. Who better than the brilliant Joe Wilkinson – best known for his wonderful cameos on 8 out of 10 Cats and his roles in Ricky Gervais’ After Life, The Cockfields and Sex Education – to recount that fateful day in May 1999…

CITY MAG: Joe, thanks for giving the City Magazine your time…

JOE WILKINSON: Not all – it might open up some small wounds but thank you for having me.

CM: So, how did you become a Gillingham fan?

JOE: My dad was a North Londoner and a Spurs fan, but I grew up in Kent and my big brother Rob was a Gillingham fan. I might have had a bit more glory as a Spurs fan and I think I sort of hold it against my brother a bit! Technically, the nearest to my house would have been Charlton, which wouldn’t have been much better, but I just followed my brother, which is the same for many little brothers around the world, and that’s cool.

CM: Do you recall your first game?

JOE: I’m not 100% sure because it was a gradual, slow build. I’d go occasionally when somebody dropped out and my brother would give me a spare ticket and I wasn’t fully invested to begin with and if I’m honest, the first few games were under duress! Then, during my teens, I was pretty much there all the time. It was like, ‘oh, how did that happen?’ I’m a season-ticket holder now as well but can’t attend all the game due to work, but there was a time in my teenage years when I couldn’t imagine life without being at the game each weekend.

CM: So, what was a 20-something Joe doing back in the 1998/99 season?

JOE: I think I was working in Millbank Tower delivering mail in a big tower block – and it doesn’t get any more glamourous than that! I was pushing a little cart around, being ignored by people in suits. It was quite nice actually and was genuinely one of my favourite jobs because it was 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon and then I could do whatever I wanted in-between. That sort of sums up government jobs. I’d go to the local bookies and put what they now call an acca on – a really stupid bet which never came in – for a £1. I don’t really bet but if I do, it’s a £1 here or there and I like to pay in cash in a bookies so there’s no cash-out option and I get real money back if I do win. If I ever put a £5 bet on, I’d need to sit down straight after…

CM: So, where you going regularly during the ‘98/99 campaign?

JOE: I was. I think Walsall and Fulham were doing really well as well as you guys. It’s funny because my first interaction with Man City was in the lower leagues, so to see where you are today it’s like ‘Christ Almighty!’ I saw you just as I did Walsall and Fulham – on a level playing field with us, really.

CM: In the final few weeks of the season as the play-off places were being decided, were you keen to avoid City?

JOE: For me it was all about getting to go to Wembley. I don’t think we’d ever been in the play-offs before or to Wembley ever and I genuinely couldn’t get my head around it. It was like, ‘are we really going to watch Gillingham? At Wembley?’ It was more about that, until the actual day and then I was desperate for us to win. But now we get down to the nitty gritty about being robbed…(laughs). Getting to Wembley, it’s kind of rare isn’t it? And looking back, it was quite cool it was against Man City.

CM: Did you have an issue getting tickets? There were 30-35,000 Gills fans there, that day…

JOE:  It just shows that when push comes to shove, there are a load of us. I’ll be honest, my whole life as a Gills fan is through my brother. He sorts the tickets out, reminds me who we are playing and when and between him and his best mate Graham Saunders, they’ve always sorted me out – and still do – which is embarrassing, but I’m not going to change at 49, am I?

CM: So, on to the painful bit… you go 2-0 up, the game is over and then Kevin Horlock pulls one back on 90 and you see the board go up with five additional minutes – did you fear the worst?

JOE: It was more like eight minutes! Five minutes, though? Really? You just didn’t get five minutes back then and if I was in a Gills pub now, I’d be saying that it felt like things were conspiring against us. It felt really cruel and then Dickov makes it 2-2. I just looked down and didn’t want to see the chaos at the other end… there was just stillness at our end I just knew we would lose from there on. The momentum was all with City.

CM: Then extra time comes – not much happens and it’s a penalty shootout. Did you feel having that at the City end was key to what came next?

JOE: I do, absolutely – it just gives you that edge.100% it felt like a massive advantage. And our penalties… God Almighty. We just capitulated in the penalty shootout.

CM: But what character from the Gills, though, as you would go up via the play-offs – scoring two late goals against Wigan – the following season…

JOE: Yeah it was. I’ve got a lovely picture of me with my dad and brother from that day. I’ve nothing from the year before, funnily enough! It’s funny because Gills fans still say ‘we could have been where Man City are had we won the 1999 play-off final’  and I always say, hang on, we did go up the season after!’

CM: Do Gillingham fans feel a connection with Manchester City fans?  Gillingham will be forever part of the fabric of our DNA, but is it reciprocated in any way?

JOE: I don’t think it’s a connection we particularly enjoy because that memory is so painful. I’ve seen banners at City games saying, ‘From Gillingham to world domination’ and I find it quite funny. I’ll be honest – I’m laissez-faire  about other teams and I can’t hate another club because it’s not in my nature. I don’t look at it like that. We are part of your history which is quite cool, really, and not something I should probably publicly say. It stings but it is in both clubs’ history. I watch Man City now more than any Premier League team because they’re just insane to watch. I’m paying the licence fee to watch Foden, De Bruyne and… Christ Almighty! I’m just glad some of your lads are English with the Euros coming up – Foden, Grealish, Stones, Walker.. yes please! So thanks for that.

CM: Do you think it shows a lot about City and our fans that, despite winning the Champions League and winning the Treble, we still celebrate the day we beat your club rather than pretending we were never down in the third tier?

JOE: I do, but I’d like you to send us some of your younger players on loan! Imagine that… oh my God! I think the City fans from back then can enjoy the success more because you suffered back then. 99% of us never have any glory in a season, so when you do, it’s special. But In think you’ve had your fair share now so.. let’s have some, please!

CM: Do you have any reminders at all about the 1999 play-off final?

JOE: Just one! I had the pleasure of working - and becoming good friends with - Craig Cash, writer, and star of The Royle Family - some years back. He’s obviously a bgi Blue and for my birthday a few years back, he sent me a pin badge with Dickov – ah, I can’t even say the name – in that sliding knee celebration and if it had been anyone other than my hero Craig Cash, I think it would have gone straight in the dustbin, but because it was him, it’s sort of got pride of place in my office.

CM: Joe, it’s been an absolute pleasure and you’re always welcome at the Etihad where there is an open invitation for you and your good lady…

JOE: You know, I might take you up on that as I’ve never been to the Etihad before. I might keep my head down if I’m in the home end… but I guess if any away fan is going to be welcome among City fans is somebody from our lot… and it’s been lovely reminiscing about being robbed!

Pictures: Petra Exton /Interview: David Clayton

Our former skipper highlights the 1998/99 campaign’s pivotal moments…

For many City fans, the bargain signing of Andy Morrison was the 1998/99 season’s most pivotal moment.

Criminally underrated as a footballer, Andy’s no-nonsense approach to defending, plus his passing range and physical presence was exactly what Joe Royle needed to lead his side, and though the captaincy wouldn’t come until later that season, his impact was immediate and what had been a short-term loan move quickly became an £80,000 permanent deal.

Arguably, it was one of the best value for money deals the Club has ever done.

As uncompromising as ‘Mozzer’ was on the pitch, it was matched by his eloquence and intelligence off it. Here was a leader looking for a spiritual home, and he became an instant cult hero with the City fans.

Later, Joe Royle would claim his captain had dragged City “kicking and screaming out of Division Two”.

And he was right.

Just 13 years later, commentator Alistair Mann would utter the memorable line, “Cometh the hour, cometh the captain” as Vincent Kompany headed the goal that beat Manchester United on the way to a first Premier League title for 44 years.

Those words could have been said about Morrison numerous times during what would become an historic, almost seismic campaign in Manchester City’s long proud history.

“The first impression of Manchester City and Maine Road I got was when I walked onto the pitch and it was like, ‘wow’,” said 'Mozzer'.

“I’d been to Maine Road before as a player, but nothing had fazed me or stuck in my mind, but when I arrived as a Manchester City player, it really hit home.

“There was about 25,000 there the day I made my debut against Colchester – I think City had won five of 15 league games and taken 21 points from a possible 45 – and yet the ground was almost full.

“I knew straight away that, with all respect to my last club Huddersfield Town, I was at a huge club and things couldn’t have gone any better because I scored what would be the winning goal in a 2-1 win and for me, it was the perfect start.

“I was aware of the nerves and anxiety surrounding the club, to have started so well on a personal level was as much as I could have asked for.”

That was Halloween 1998 – and for once that season, it was a treat rather than a trick.

Such was Morrison’s impact, that the City fans had been singing “Sign him up, sign him up, sign him up!” within minutes of his home debut and the Blues took that momentum into the next game away to Oldham Athletic.

It was going to get ever better for our new defensive colossus in that game, as he scored the best goal of his career against the Latics to cement his immediate bond with his legion of new admirers.

“I remember Boundary Park was packed to the rafters and about two thirds of them were City fans,” he recalled.

“We were 2-0 up when I headed a pass to the Goat, he headed it back to me and I volleyed the ball into the top corner from about 20 yards – I didn’t get too many goals like that but that was two in two and we won the game 3-0.

“I remember the lads coming up – Kev, Edgy were like, ‘Where did that come from? We thought this guy looks like he’s head of security and then you score a goal like that!’”

Jamie Pollock wore the captain’s armband at that time, but Morrison was born to lead Manchester City.

That immediate fillip in form was followed by a disappointing 1-0 loss at Wycombe and a 0-0 draw with Gillingham at Maine Road.

Mozzer would power home a header in a 1-1 draw with Luton Town to make it three goals in his first five games, but the team was still desperately lacking in confidence, and a 0-0 draw at home to Bristol Rovers was followed by that infamous 2-1 defeat to York City.

Something had to give - and that was making Mozzer captain for the remainder of the season.

“The loss at York didn’t result in any watershed moment where we cleared the air, got physical or anything like that,” he recalled.

“It wasn’t my place at that time. I just needed to make sure I was doing my job and ticking all the boxes of the things I needed to do, but I was still new, and I needed to earn the respect of my team-mates and the staff, first.

“Not long after, Joe (Royle) called me into his office, told me Jamie wasn’t playing at that point, I’d made a great impression, and I had the lads’ respect, so he’d like me to take the captain’s armband.

“I was honoured, and I called Jamie because I wanted everything to be right and he said he completely understood and was fine with it.

“I can’t recall any pivotal moments in the run to the play-offs, and yet everything was pivotal and mattered if that makes sense?

“Fans might have their own opinions as to where the key moments of that season were but for me, it was a gradual build up of momentum in that second half of the campaign and if things hadn’t been right, Joe or Willie (Donachie) would have pulled us all to once side and said as much, so I feel they felt things were going in the right direction.

“For me, there was more of an edge in training, a better focus and determination that was all leading towards that game with Gillingham.”

After Wigan gave the Blues an almighty scare in the play-off semi-final, City booked a place in the final at Wembley with Gillingham.

Mozzer, however, was a huge doubt due to the deterioration of his cartilage and the constant discomfort he was in.

But for a player who once took the field with a broken foot (and a gallon of painkillers) with one of his former clubs, he was never going to allow his damaged knee to stop him leading Manchester City out at Wembley for the first time in 13 years.

“I had an injection in my knee joint which was somewhere between cortisone and a ;pain killer before the game," he said.

“It was just about trying to get through the 90 minutes because I knew I was having an op the week after, so I was just being patched up. That would never happen today, of course, but it did back then.

“Joe and Willie asked me if I was OK to go back out at half-time and I said I was OK.

“The physio – Roy Bailey – said I looked fine and was doing well and neither Carl Asaba or Bob Taylor had caused us any problems, so it felt like we were in control

“I made it to 61 minutes, but Joe noticed I was limping and not moving right, so I came off and went to sit behind our bench and it was a relief in some ways because I didn’t want to make a mistake that lead to us losing. It was about the team, not just me.”

In the skipper’s absence, both Taylor and Asaba scored on 81 and 87 minutes respectively to put the Gills in a seemingly unassailable position.

As some City fans headed for the exits, too upset to see the dying moments, Mozzer knew that was the last thing he could do.

“I knew as captain, I couldn’t walk away from the game even if I’d have wanted to because I needed to go and congratulate the Gillingham players – that was my job – and I knew a few from my Plymouth days as well.

“But as we went 2-0 down, I was completely selfishly thinking about the fact that I wouldn’t get to walk up the steps to collect the trophy as Manchester City captain and that this might be the only chance I’d ever get.

“I was thinking how rubbish  the summer would be, how rubbish life would be after that game – just awful, and the worst summer ever,

“The vision we’d created was winning the game, lifting the trophy, and having a wonderful six weeks or so before we did it all again, but it felt like we were carrying a heavy load and we’d come up short.

“United had just won the treble and we would need to batten down the hatches because the reality was we’d be laughed at and ridiculed – that’s just how it was.

“The burden of having Manchester United as our neighbours was huge, even though were two divisions apart.

“But that feeling didn’t last long, did it?”

Eight minutes, to be exact.

From Gillingham’s second goal to Paul Dickov’s 95th-minute equaliser, eight minutes of agony was endured by City players and 40,000 supporters inside Wembley and thousands more outside and around the world.

A fairly uneventful extra time was followed, and City would go on to win 3-1 on penalties.

As much as Nicky Weaver’s iconic celebration run is remembered by all who saw it, so was the captain wrestling the youngster to the ground that ended it!

“I was limping quite badly, but it was pure adrenaline,” he recalls.

“It was one of the most magical moments of my life when Nicky saved that fourth Gillingham penalty and it’s hard to put into words as a footballer and a human being what it felt like.

“Life just gives you these unforgettable moments and it was almost biblical, going from such a low to such a high in the space of what? 45 minutes? It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Interview: David Clayton

Club legend Shaun Goater recalls that fateful day in May…

If anyone was in doubt how much getting out of Division Two meant to the City fans after we saw off Wigan in the play-off semi-final, they weren’t any longer.

As we sat in the changing room after the 1-0 second leg win at Maine Road, each of us knew there was no way we could lose the final if this was the reaction to winning the semi-final.

Joe Royle said: ‘that’s what it means to them and that’s the expectation you have to live up to.’ He added we hadn’t won a thing yet and to go and rest up for a few days, let our bodies relax and then we’d prepare for the play-off final at Wembley - and my second appearance at the famous old stadium.

Gillingham had seen off Preston and were now all that stood between us and a successful climax to a dramatic season, but nobody had any idea of just how breathtaking the final itself would be.

We prepared for the game by keeping to our usual routine and we stayed in a fairly average London hotel – nothing too expensive, that’s for sure! Then the big day arrived, and all our families were coming to the game. My wife Anita was there and my agent Mark and his son. We left our hotel and I got into my own zone, thinking about my role and the game ahead.

Then we started to see the City fans along the route, and they just seemed to be everywhere – next thing we were pulling up at Wembley, just a few hours from kick off. We checked out the dressing rooms had a walk out on to the pitch. It was a grey, drizzly day but I looked around and the City supporters were all gathered around the tunnel as we walked out, and it seemed like three quarters of the ground were Blues!

It was a fantastic feeling to see that kind of backing.

My mind flashed back to my days back home kicking a ball around the park in Bermuda, dreaming of playing an FA Cup final at Wembley and here I was again for a second time in three years having been there in Football League Trophy with Rotherham United. The only thing I’d learned about playing at Wembley from my previous experience was how sapping the pitch could be and how pre-match nerves and adrenaline could drain your energy away.

I decided I would approach this game differently to conserve energy for the later stages - and I would later be glad I had. I didn’t want to lose a game at Wembley and though I’d won a trophy there with Rotherham, this was a bigger stage and a much bigger crowd, too.

The game itself reminded me of an evenly contested boxing match with both sides slugging away at each other and neither ahead on points. Andy Morrison had to go off injured early on in the second half and Ian Bishop came on and Wembley is perfect for a player of Bish’s quality.

He got us playing in the way he always did. It still 0-0 and seemed to be headed for extra time as we entered the last ten minutes - and then, disaster.

First Robert Taylor put Gillingham 1-0 up and then around five minutes later Carl Asaba made it 2-0. Our promotion dream was in bits, and I was just thinking ‘bloody hell, ref, blow the whistle and get it over with.’ I’d had enough and we figured this just wasn’t happening for us and wanted an end to the pain.

You get days like that in football where you try everything, but it just doesn’t come off, but Gillingham were playing above themselves and we couldn’t really complain about being behind.

As I’m thinking this, the ball falls to Kevin Horlock who drilled a low shot home to make it 1-2 and two or three of us then ran into the net to retrieve the ball. As we jogged back to the centre circle, we heard our fans begin to roar and really get behind us again. I glanced over to the bench to see what the cheers were for and could see the fourth official holding up a board displaying five minutes of injury time. At that point, five minutes felt like half an hour, and I thought, ‘we can pull this back’. Our fans were going crazy shouting encouragement, and we could sense the Gillingham players’ sudden edginess and see it on their faces.

We threw everything at them and were determined to make them pay for all the high fives they were giving each other during the substitutions and congratulatory pats on the back that suggested – understandably – that they had the game won. We pressed constantly, but the five minutes was just about up when the ball fell to me and I took a swing at it, but the defender made a fantastic block tackle and the ball deflected right into Dicky’s path and he gave it all he had – taking the slightest of deflections, I think – and it was like slow motion as we saw it rocket past Vince Bartram in goal and into the back of the net.

That’s when the roar hit us and shook the stadium to its foundations. I thought, ‘that’s my little gem!’ After the game I’d tell Dicky that I’d meant that pass and said ‘Paul, you know I saw you, don’t you?’ After he’d scored, I had nothing left in my legs, but I still chased him! 

The celebrations were ecstatic and the comeback nothing short of a miracle. The whistle blew and the Gillingham players looked as though they were in shock. If I could have put a bet on there and then, I would have put my house on us finishing the job in extra time because as far as I was concerned, there was no way the game was going to penalties.

But we pressed forward to no avail, and they hung on and took it to spot kicks. Even then, I thought this was a done deal. Our comeback had been too dramatic for our name to not be etched on the play-off final trophy.

Kev stepped up to take our first penalty - he’d later tell me that as he walked up to the ball, the goal looked huge, but when he actually got to the spot he couldn’t even see the goal anymore! He put the ball down, tried to remain calm and thought ‘I know where I’m going to put it – to the keeper’s right.’ Then as he looks up he thinks ‘No, I’m going to put it to his left,’ but as he steps back, he thought ‘to hell with it, I’m going to blast it!’ but as he ran up he was still unsure and so just hammered the ball as hard as he could and as he saw it hit the back of the net, he thought ‘thank god for that!’ – or words to that effect! We all did.

We were all on the halfway line with our arms around each other and I was thinking that we’d needed to that – that feeling over togetherness.

Then Weaves saves one and it’s Dicky’s turn. He ran up and we watched in horror as it one post, rolled along the line, hit the other post and then out again! The thing was, he could have missed three penalties in a row after scoring that goal and it would have been a case of ‘it’s all right Paul! Don’t worry about it.’

Adrian Pennock then blasted one wide and Terry Cooke scored to make it 2-0, but Gillingham pulled one back with their next attempt.

Richard Edghill’s penalty was unstoppable, hitting the bar and stanchion on its way into the roof of the net– it was a perfect penalty and made it 3-1. He grabbed the badge and kissed it, and I was really pleased for him because he’d had a bit of stick over the last few years, and he always did his best and never complained.

Gillingham took their fourth penalty at 3-1 down and I was just thinking, ‘Please save this, Weaves’. And he did just that, He’d later say he’d realised I was the fifth penalty taker and so had to save it or we’d had no chance!

It would have been great to step up and score the winning goal, but the truth is, I could live without it and that honour went to Edgy.

We'd done it and were promoted back to Division One We chased Nick and piled on top of him and just went nuts and celebrated with the fans waving flags, joining in songs, and wearing silly wigs.

From the low point of losing at York City and struggling in the first half of the season as every side we came up against treated us as a cup final, to this. What a great way to finish the season and it was so important we did it at the first attempt because it would have been so mentally hard to have to come back the next season and do it all again.

Afterwards, I recall going back to the dressing rooms and popping into the Gillingham side and just saying ‘unlucky, lads’ – not with any malice, just to commiserate with them but even as I opened their door, I could feel a depressed vibe envelope me. It was sapping and I’ll never forget that feeling of what it must have been like to lose a game like that because I felt it momentarily as though it was me who was on the losing side. In theory, it perhaps should have been us because we had no right to have come back from 2-0 down with a minute or normal time to go. We’d swapped shirts with many of the Gills lads, and we later found out some of them sold them on, no doubt back to City fans. It didn’t bother me, and I’ve still got my Gillingham shirt as a memento.

We were staying at a nearby hotel, and it was full of City fans and the atmosphere was electric. It was an amazing experience, but not one I’d like to experience again any time soon!

Shaun Goater

You can imagine how this one pans out…

A game at the very end of the month is a nightmare scenario for any magazine editor and this was the case for my predecessor, Mike Barnett.

There was the all-too real possibility that City could lose against Gillingham and the pages dedicated to the play-off final would be as useful as yesterday’s chip wrappers.

So there was that.

Then there was the deadline...

Getting a new magazine out as quickly as possible means a lot of stars need to align and with digital technology nowhere near the standard of today, there was also the issue of receiving, editing and collating the photography and putting together a celebratory issue.

Basically, you’re left with two flat plans – one if we won, one if we didn’t.

You can imagine how the editor was feeling with 90 minutes almost up and City trailing 2-0 to Gillingham.

Of course, what followed was nothing short of incredible and from what was almost an ultimate low, went to an unprecedented high.

We always tried to mark any big occasion (they were very few and very far between back then) with a City Mag special, and this occasion most certainly was just that.

The end result was a nice keepsake that there probably is a few hundred still left in lofts or cellars up and down the land some 25 years later.

Ultimately, it all turned out well – thank God!

DC

Legendary TV wine aficionado, broadcaster, author and former actor Oz Clarke (he was in Superman 1 and Superman II, no less) took time out from champagne tasting in Reims - as you do! - to recall the day his beloved Gillingham almost achieved what had seemed unlikely at best…

CITY MAG: Oz, how and why Gillingham?

OZ CLARKE: Well, I’m from Kent and there’s only one club in Kent, so I didn’t have a choice – I wish I did! I live near Chelsea now and I’m always getting asked, ‘why aren’t you a Chelsea fan?’ and I say because Gillingham’s my team. Then I’ll get, ‘oh come on follow Chelsea, follow Arsenal etc’ and I’ll say, ‘look, you don’t get it do you? For better or worse, I’m stuck with them, and the North Kent boys are my boys’. It’s not a life of misery exactly, but that’s it – I sometimes wish I’d been born on the East side of Manchester, but I wasn’t!

How often do you get to go to games?

Not as often as I’d like at the moment because of work, but once or twice a season at least. I’ll sit there and I’ll be like, ‘oh come on lads, not another long ball, don’t do that’  or whatever. This season, we were so far adrift at the bottom we were dead men walking. We scored fewer goals between August and January than any other side in England I think – about 20 in 25 games – until a couple of guys from Florida bought us for about £75! Neil Harris tried to turn the team around, but it didn’t work for whatever reason, then Stephen Clemence came in… we’re sort of stuck in that League 2 limbo just now, and we’re a bit indecisive and lacking in confidence. But I absolutely love going to Priestfield and there’s this one seat in the main stand, about six rows up from the manager’s dugout, that always seems to be free, and they always seem to give it to me. I’ll sit there and stare out at some strange characters around me – some good, some bad – all of them cursing and none of whom I’d take home to meet my mum – and just enjoy it for what it is.

You have connections to Manchester Oz, don’t you?

I do. I used to work in Manchester in my early acting days, particularly at the Contact Theatre and up and around Maine Road. I used to go and catch the odd game there, too and I’m quite fond of the city because Manchester was an important part of my young adult life – acting, drinking in the local pubs, and learning how to grow up in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

So, what do you recall of the fateful 1998/99 season…?

Quite a lot, actually as I was going to a lot of games at that time. I remember City beating us 2-0 at Priestfield before the end of the normal season and you were a properly smart team. We managed to get into the play-offs ahead of teams like Stoke and then saw off Preston in the semi-final. We went to Wembley thinking we weren’t going to get a whacking, but more in hope than anything and I took my wife because we felt we were going to have a great day out. The one thing I did notice was that the Gillingham players were knocking the ball around in the warm-up, maybe one would fall over and have a good laugh and the keeper went to the wrong end and it was all good fun. The City warm-up was completely different, and they were having a professional, organised warm-up and they looked a consummate team in the making, and I had that feeling it was going to be men versus boys. We were a nice bunch of lads from Kent up against this focused, well-oiled outfit.

Of course, that wasn’t how it panned out…

No, it wasn’t! It wasn’t the spanking I was expecting – far from it - we were playing at our best and City weren’t quite at it. We had players up front like big Bob Taylor with big head and handsome face, knocking people out of the way and Carl Asaba – a fabulously original, silky player who would make these wonderful diagonal runs and just needed somebody to slide him through because he could finish. And of course, they both scored to put us 2-0 up and we were in a state of suspended disbelief, and you know what? We deserved it. I was thinking, ‘these are my lovely boys from North Kent and Manchester City can’t live with us - we’re going to do this’. Even when Kevin Horlock scored to make it 2-1, I wasn’t nervous because I thought we’d done it. It was when we got so close, around 90+2 minutes that I started worrying and could hardly watch. When Paul Dickov equalised – a lovely bloke who I hated in those few seconds – from that moment, I didn’t believe in us anymore. Extra time was a non-event, but the whole City squad looked like they were re-energised and ramped up, whereas our lads looked crestfallen. When it came down to the final hard yards, Manchester  City showed they were a professional outfit on their way somewhere and we weren’t quite there yet. Once Dickov scored, there was a sense of inevitability about it all.

Do you think Gillingham fans realise what your club means to us and how you’ve become interwoven into the very DNA of Manchester City as a result of this game?

It means an immense amount to us, it really does, and it makes me quite emotional just hearing you say that, because it was a great day of football and there was something about that game between two sides – one who shouldn’t have been there and were trying to get back to where they deserved to be – and one who played out of their skin for 90 minutes, but there was something rather wonderful about the equality of the teams in the pitch that day. There was a lot of respect between the players, and I have to say, after the game, I spent a lot of time among City fans and there wasn’t the merest hint of arrogance or superiority. It was like being at a rugby game because it was such a convivial, pleasant atmosphere between both sets of fans.

Incredibly, the Gills bounced back the season after, didn’t they?

We did! Often teams beaten in the play-off final just sort of fade away, but we didn’t. We’d had Tony Pulis who had done well but taught us to kick lumps out of the opposition and got us close to promotion, but then Peter Taylor came in and taught us how to play football and I think we were the best footballing side in the Second Division in 1999/2000. I think we’d have come straight back down had we gone up against City. I was with the Rainham End lads that season and when  Andrew Thomson scored the winner after 116 minutes in the final against Wigan, we just went berserk.  After, a group of us went to Kettner’s Jazz Club in Soho and drank magnums of champagne – we drank the place dry until Gillingham boys were thrown out at 4am in the morning. We had three years in the Championship after that, and we need to get back up because we’re too big for League 2.

Gillingham will be just as important to City fans as Inter Milan because we’re proud of our past as much as our present, so there will always be a very special link between our two clubs…

Well, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for saying that. It means so much.

Interview: David Clayton

Imagine a parallel universe where City had actually lost to Gillingham – what might that have looked like?

A quarter of a century on, enough time might have passed to consider just where Manchester City would be if it weren’t for the Wembley heroics of '99.

It’s been and remarkable journey from that play-off victory against Gillingham to beating Inter and becoming Champions of Europe and then thrashing Brazilian giants Fluminense at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Some things haven’t changed. Our fans are still incredible and have followed us whether we’ve been from Ipswich to Istanbul and Gillingham to Jeddah.

The passion on the pitch is still the same with Rodrigo’s knee slide in the 2023 Champions League final, reminiscent of Paul Dickov’s 25 years ago.

But would that have been possible had we not won on that day in 1999?

The worst-case scenario that has often been suggested is that the club would have gone out of business, but our then chairman David Bernstein was working hard to get us to work within our means.

Budgets had been cut to protect City’s future, but he says they may have shrunk even further had we remained in the third tier for at least another year.

It’s not a wild thought to consider that we could have been out of the top-flight for a long time, even with our size and support.

“We had to cut costs wherever we could,” Mr Bernstein said. “We were operating very efficiently. There was no spare cash.

“Any transfer deals had to be done very cleverly and creatively. With that, we had the momentum that we had fallen very far but people could see we were on the way back.”

City boss Joe Royle made a number of superb signings in the following months that helped us leap back into the Premier League at the first attempt.

Spencer Prior, arrived from Derby County, and added vital experience to the defence while Leeds left-back Danny Granville, Wimbledon winger Mark Kennedy and Everton midfielder Tony Grant were promising young players.

Not only that, but we were also able to keep hold of a number of key members of the squad who could potentially have attracted interested from clubs higher up the league.

After an impressive campaign, long before his penalty shootout heroics, goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was being tipped as a future England goalkeeper and attracting interest.

Winger Terry Cooke had been excellent in the final run-in and opted for City when he left Manchester United with the chance to play in the second tier.

And heroes Shaun Goater, Paul Dickov and Kevin Horlock were still in their mid-20s and were good enough for the top-flight as we would later discover.

Losing important players would have been a disaster and would have disrupted the feelgood factor that came from seeing City back on the rise.

“Had we not won that match and had another season in the third level of football, the first point is the fans would have been much more unsettled than they were,” Mr Bernstein added.

“One year in that division can be a novelty. Another year would be difficult. I think our credibility with everyone we dealt with would have been affected.

“The effect? We would have survived but we would have had to cut even further.

“And it’s a vicious circle – success is a positive circle and failure is the other way. We would have been in a circle where we would have had to economise even more to the extent where we would have lost some of the advantages of being the big club in that division.”

Our move to the Etihad Stadium would also have been put in doubt.

Despite the magic of our former home at Maine Road, the capacity had been cut following the move to all-seater stadiums and even in the third tier, the 34,000-capacity wasn’t big enough.

A deal had been negotiated ahead of the Commonwealth Games coming to Manchester three years later with City set to move into the venue.

While the city council was very supportive of the move, it was important to see that the club was seen to be going in the right direction.

Promotion made that possible and the City of Manchester Stadium, as it was then called, became one of the best venues in the country - and has got better.

With a modern and sizeable home and stability on the pitch, we were able to attract investment to help the Club and team go even further.

Just over nine years later, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed took over City and ushered in a period of success that seemed almost unthinkable but for that ‘sliding doors’ moment at Wembley.

Words: Jonathan Smith