THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester City

Brand: Umbro

Era: 2010-11 (Used for the 2010-11 Premier League season, and as the third shirt for the 2011-12 season)

Name/Number: Kolarov - #13

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt is still in very good condition despite coming close to 15 years of age at the time of writing! There is however some fading to the felt Premier League badges on the sleeves and some cracking to the name print.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: 36

Pit to Pit Measurement: 17.5 inches

Shirt Length: 29.0 inches

Made by Umbro as part of their ‘Tailored by Umbro in England’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2010; the dimensions of this shirt suggest that it could fit as either a size extra small or small.

DESCRIPTION: 

After Umbro made the 2010-11 season home shirt for Manchester City a virtual successor to the previous season’s debut effort; the away shirt, dubbed – ‘the dark side of the moon’ on the club’s website was a dark navy effort supplemented with sky blue accents with the stand out feature being the sky blue thin t-shape collar – was also not too far removed from the black and yellow home shirt that was used twelve months previously. This ensemble would be worn for the first time in the victory over Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League on 16^th September 2010 and would also be worn in the away fixtures against: Fulham, Blackburn Rovers and Dynamo Kyiv. This shirt was also worn as the club’s third shirt in the 2011-12 season when they beat Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park on 4^th February 2012.

The 2010-11 season was a watershed season in the club’s history as a legendary transfer window that saw club legends: Yaya Toure and David Silva arrive as well as the likes of: James Milner, Mario Balotelli, Aleksandr Kolarov, Jerome Boateng and Edin Dzeko; Roberto Mancini’s side would earn their highest ever Premier League finish when they finished 3^rd to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time and would end the season by winning the FA Cup – their first piece of top-tier silverware since winning the League Cup in 1969-70!

THE SEASON: 

Although there would be a mid-season managerial switch; Manchester City made huge strides in their ambitious project in 2009-10 when they narrowly missed out on a 4^th place finish and place in the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League Play-Off. Still, there would be another European adventure to look forward to for ‘The Cityzens’ in 2010-11 as well as another stab at moving into those coveted Champions League places. Huge things were expected of Manchester City after a £116 million summer spend that saw the likes of: James Milner, Mario Balotelli, David Silva, Aleksandr Kolarov, Jerome Boateng and Yaya Toure all arrive at Eastlands!

City would be involved in the 2010-11 Premier League season curtain raiser – fittingly the game came against Tottenham Hotspur of whom they were pipped to for 4^th place at the end of the previous season. Three months after Spurs defeated them 1-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium; a goalless draw would play out between the two teams at White Hart Lane on 14^th August. Trying to embed so many new players would prove to be challenging in the early games of the season as they won just once in their opening four games; however, City would win in each of their next four games – achieving this feat for only the third in their history in the Premier League era! Although their were defeats against Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton; Roberto Mancini’s side enjoyed a fantastic 2010 portion of the season as they racked up 11 wins from their 20 games including wins over: Livepool, Chelsea and Aston Villa to end the year in 3^rd place and just 5 points adrift of 1^st place!

New Year’s Day of 2011 saw City claim three more points when they defeated Blackpool 1-0, however, January would be an inconsistent month as points were dropped against Arsenal and Aston Villa. This hot and cold form would become synonymous with the team in 2011 as they would not win back to back games in the league again until 1^st May when they defeated West Ham and Blackburn in succession. The victory of West Ham would ensure Manchester City would finish in the top-4 with four games to spare, and a fine season would end with three wins in a row to finish in 3^rd place and only missing on 2^nd place due to goal difference in what was the club’s highest ever finish in the Premier League era!

After getting to semi-final of the league cup in 2009-10; Manchester City would disappointingly fall in the 3^rd Round of the competition against West Bromwich Albion. The FA Cup however, was a different story entirely…

After drawing Leicester City in the 3^rd Round; they would need the benefit of a replay to win 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium. Up next would be the fixture for the romantics as Notts County welcomed the uber-riche City to Meadow Lane on 30^th January 2011. The two sides would battle to a 1-1 draw before City crushed them 5-0 in the replay on 20^th February. City would ensure they bettered their 5^th Round finish in 2009-10 when they beat Aston Villa 3-0 to take on Reading in the quarter final.

Micah Richards scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory to take their place in the semi-final for the first time since 1981 – standing in front of them however was a Manchester United side who had their sights on winning the treble for the second time. City would enjoy one of the finest afternoons of their club’s history on 16^th April when they ended their neighbours and rival’s treble dreams with another 1-0 win, and more importantly, they would place in the FA Cup Final for the first time again since 1981 when they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur. Their opponents at Wembley Stadium on 14^th May would be Stoke City and Yaya Toure would again score the decisive goal as he did in the semi-final as City prevailed 1-0 and won their first major honour of the Sheikh Mansour era!

Lastly, Manchester City would return to the Group Stage of the UEFA Cup/Europa League when they defied Timisoara home and away in the Play Off’s. City would then go on to finish 1^st in a group that also featured – Lech Poznan, Red Bull Salzburg and Juventus. Aris would be vanquished in the Round of 32, however, the challenge of Dynamo Kyiv would be a step too far as they were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate at the Round of 32.

The notable players that season were:

Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko, Roque Santa Cruz, Jo, Shaun Wright-Philips, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong, Patrick Vieira, Yaya Toure, James Milner, Vincent Kompany, Jerome Boateng, Micah Richards, Dedryck Boyata, Joleon Lescott, Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandr Kolarov, Wayne Bridge, Joe Hart, Stuart Taylor