Manchester City

England · one of the fourteen clubs in the Normal pool

No club in the Normal pool has had a stranger journey. Manchester City were champions of England in 1968, playing in the third tier thirty years later, and in 2023 won the treble. In the game, that history shows up as one of the widest gaps between a club's best and worst decades.

The story in brief

1965–1976: Mercer and Allison

Joe Mercer, with Malcolm Allison as his coach, took over a Second Division club in 1965 and built a side round the midfielder Colin Bell, the forward Francis Lee and the winger Mike Summerbee. City won the league in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969, and both the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, beating Górnik Zabrze in Vienna. A League Cup in 1976 was the last major trophy for thirty-five years.

The 1980s and 1990s: the fall

City spent the 1980s moving between the top two divisions and in 1998 were relegated to the third tier for the first time in their history. They came back up through the 1999 play-off final against Gillingham, scoring twice in stoppage time to force extra time and winning on penalties.

2008 to now: Abu Dhabi and Guardiola

The Abu Dhabi United Group bought the club in 2008. The FA Cup came in 2011 and the league in 2012, decided by Sergio Agüero's goal in the last minute of stoppage time on the final day against QPR. Pep Guardiola arrived in 2016; his side won the league with 100 points in 2017–18, all three English trophies in 2018–19, four titles in a row from 2021 to 2024, and in 2023 the treble, with Erling Haaland scoring the goals and Rodri winning the Champions League final against Inter. Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Agüero are the other names of the era.

City in Treble Winner

City are in the Normal pool but not in Easy. On Normal they come up in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s; the Mercer-Allison 1960s and 1970s are Hard only.

Manchester City in the game's pool, decade by decade.
Decade	Players	Best-XI rating	Rank	First on	Highest rated in the game
1960s	79	76.5	78	Hard	Bert Trautmann, Colin Bell, Francis Lee
1970s	85	74.5	184	Hard	Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell
1980s	121	72.6	511	Normal	Joe Corrigan, Tommy Booth, Ian Brightwell
1990s	139	72.8	459	Normal	Shaun Goater, Niall Quinn, Ian Brightwell
2000s	203	74.5	183	Normal	Carlos Tevez, Vincent Kompany, Shaun Goater
2010s	187	80.6	17	Normal	Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne
2020s	78	80.2	23	Normal	Erling Haaland, Ederson Moraes, Ruben Dias

The game rates the 2010s and 2020s as City's best decades, nearly level and both among the stronger cells in the pool. Then the floor drops away. The 1980s and 1990s are not only City's weakest decades but two of the three weakest cells in the whole Normal pool — and Normal can land on both.

Drafting tips

Check the decade before you celebrate. "Manchester City" on the club reel means very different things depending on the era reel. In the 1980s or 1990s, an era re-spin is often the right call.
Agüero is in two decades, the 2010s and the 2020s, and so are several of the Guardiola side.
The 1960s side is worth knowing on Hard. Bell and Lee are both rated well, and Bert Trautmann, the former prisoner of war who became one of the best goalkeepers in England, is in the same cell.