THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester City

Brand: Reebok

Era: 2004-06 (Used for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Barclaycard Premiership season’s)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: GOOD

Despite the advanced years of the shirt, this article still retains plenty of tact, and is more than suitable for wear or for one’s collection. Regrettably, parts of the felt sponsor and Reebok logo are cracking and there is some pulling and bobbling that one would expect from a shirt that is nearly 20 years old.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: XXL (Extra Extra Large)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 24 inches

Shirt Length: 29 inches 

Made by Reebok in their ‘Official Merchandise’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2004; please review the dimensions of the shirt and gauge the fit accordingly.

DESCRIPTION:

Reebok’s second presentation of Manchester City’s home shirt would take a wholly different take from their debut effort! The stripes were dropped as was the thick white collar, as much more minimalist design would be adorned by ’The Cityzens’ for the next two seasons! The standout feature of this shirt would be the white and black Reebok stylised slashes which join the sleeves to the main body of the shirt, while the main body itself also featured an embossed pattern comprised of the oblong that the Reebok logo is housed in on the shirt. This would also be the first shirt to use the Thomas Cook sponsor, however, this shirt would be best remembered as it worn as City went unbeaten in ¾ of the Manchester Derbies between 2004-06, including the fantastic 3-1 win over United on 14/01/06 and there was also the pair of 1-0 wins over Chelsea and Liverpool in the 2004/05 season; the former being Jose Mourinho’s first defeat as Chelsea manager!

THE SEASON(S):

It was a difficult second season back in the big league’s for Kevin Keegan and Manchester City, however, with just two defeats in the final quarter of the season; City were able to secure a 16^th place finish to secure a 3^rd consecutive season in the Premiership in 2004-05!

The 2004-05 season would begin without a win in each of their first three games of the season, however, results would pick up including the footnote in history of inflicting Jose Mourinho’s first defeat in English football on 16/10/04 and a great run of 3 draws followed by 2 wins in all of November 2004. After a promising start to 2005 where they reached 8^th place after 23 games, the wheels would begin to fall off; culminating with Kevin Keegan being replaced by Stuart Pearce as the club’s manager in March 2005. The former City player would oversee a fantastic end to the season as the club went unbeaten in their final 8 games of the season; splitting 4 wins and 4 draws to finish in 8^th place and just 3 points outside of the UEFA Cup spaces!

Pearce’s fine work since taking over would land him the job on a permanent basis ahead of the 2005-06 season, however, he would be without the club’s starring player – Shaun Wright-Phillips who joined Chelsea in a £21 million deal, meanwhile, veterans: Paul Bosvelt and Jon Macken would also depart the club in the summer of 2005. Including the departure of Nicholas Anelka which took place in January, City’s once bustling attack was now beginning to look thread-bare until transfers were completed for Premier League and England veterans – Andy Cole and Darius Vassell from Fulham and Aston Villa respectively, while Kiki Musampa remained on loan from Atletico Madrid for the whole season after his fine spell on loan from January!

City would pick up from where they left off from the end of the 2004-05 season going unbeaten in their first five games of the season, where they went on a 3 match winning streak – a first in the top flight since November 2002 and held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on 10/09/05! Their great start to the season would paper over the cracks that were beginning to show as the year of 2005 concluded with the club ending the year in 10^th place. After a run of 4 wins, 3 defats, and 1 draw in their opening 8 league games of 2006; City lay in 9^th place and just 4 points behind Arsenal who were in 5^th place; what came next nobody could have predicted however, as they lost 9 of their remaining 10 games of the season! Although they still comfortably avoided relegation, they would stumble to a disappointing 15^th finish.

In 2005-06, Manchester City would enjoy a very fruitful FA Cup run as they defeated: Scunthorpe United, Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa to reach the quarter final where they would be narrowly beaten 2-1 by eventual runners-up – West Ham United. Their quarter final finish would be their farthest foray in the FA Cup since reaching that stage of the competition in the 1992-93 season!

The notable players that season were:

Nicholas Anelka, Darius Vassell, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Antoine Sibierski, Robbie Fowler, Andrew Cole, Albert Riera, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Paulo Wanchope, Jon Macken, Kiki Musampa, Georgios Samaras, Trevor Sinclair, Paul Boslvet, Steve McManaman, Claudio Reyna, Christian Negouai, Joey Barton, Stephen Ireland, Sun Jihai, Ben Thatcher, Nedum Onuoha, Micah Richards, Stephen Jordan, Richard Dunne, Sylvain Distin, Danny Mills, David James, Nicky Weaver, Kasper Schmeichel