Hello again Bonnyville! It's been a while since I've sat and jotted my thoughts down on paper, but unfortunately for me something happened this weekend that forced me to break my brief column-writing hiatus.
As I'm sure not many of you know, 10:30 on Saturday morning was a special time for people in England and specifically for people from the blue side of Manchester. For the second time in three years, Manchester City took to the field at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup final, where City would face lowly relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic in what many predicted would be one of the most one-sided finales in recent memory.
And while the match itself was one sided, it was the team everyone expected to buckle and take a beating that took control. And if I'm perfectly honest, it didn't surprise me one bit.
After a scrappy game in which City's multi-million dollar team failed to turn up, Wigan Athletic midfielder Ben Watson rose highest to meet a Shaun Maloney corner and nod the ball beyond the despairing dive of goalkeeper Joe Hart – sending the Latics fans into euphoria.
And who could begrudge them the late winner? After all, the team easily defended against City's slow, boring build up play that wouldn't have looked out of place at an old folks home. They dominated the midfield that contained arguably the best, most powerful box-to-box man in the game in Yaya Toure and continuously ripped apart what has been the best defense in the Premier League for the past three years.
The result, and most importantly the performance, really summed up Manchester City's season to a tee. This time last year, I was running around my front yard, back yard and the highway in front of my house in ecstasy after Roberto Mancini had guided his team to its first Premier League title in 44 years. Fast-forward 12 months and the man responsible for putting so many smiles on peoples' faces last May was handed his P45.
Sure, it would be a shame; especially considering he's been our most successful manager in years but that's the way football is nowadays. It's just ridiculous how big a step backwards the club has taken since last season's last-gasp title win. It's certainly been a year to forget for us City fans, almost falling back into the old adage of ‘Typical City'. Here's hoping those days are well and truly behind us.
Look out for my next column where I'll be dissecting the season as a whole and reflecting on the end of the near four-year tenure of our once brilliant manager Roberto Mancini.
