2009–10 Manchester City F.C. season

Season review

New manager Roberto Mancini began the season with only five months in the job at Eastlands, asking for more time to "mould the team to his own image." In his first few months in the job, after succeeding Mark Hughes in December, the Italian did make some noticeable improvements to the team, such as ironing out its occasional lack of focus and cohesion in defence whilst also improving the overall mentality of the team. Yet by the end of the season it had become obvious that there was much work still to be done to convince some of Mancini's higher-profile players to sign up to his personal ethos.

With a prolific 29 goals in his first season at the club, Carlos Tevez was widely regarded as the club's best and most important player this season. The previous season's fan's favourite and top scorer, Robinho, was less successful, and in January he was loaned out to Brazilian club Santos for the remainder of the season only serving to emphasise the magnitude of his failure to deliver on the pitch anything remotely comparable to what he had already received in his bank account.

The loss in the team's last home game of the season to fellow rivals for landing one of the Premier League's "Top Four" elite slots, Tottenham Hotspur, in what had been dubbed by the media beforehand as the "Champions League play-off" game, was considered by many observers to be the Manchester club's defining moment of the season. Breaking the established stranglehold of the "Big Four" had been one of the ambitions of the club's new wealthy owners. However, one of the positives of the season's campaign was that the club reached its first major semi-final since 1981 before finally succumbing to the eventual trophy winners, Manchester United. The City team also notched up some highly noteworthy victories over the other "Top Four" incumbents, Chelsea and Arsenal.

In fact, Manchester City earned itself the distinction of being the only team to do the "league double" over the team that ultimately achieved the "league and cup double" this season.

Kit

Supplier: Umbro / Sponsor: Etihad Airways

Kit information

For the 2009–10 season, the shirt sponsor for all of the club's kits was Etihad Airways, which replaced the previous season's sponsor, Thomas Cook. There was also a change in the supplier of those kits for this season, with Nike-owned Umbro replacing the previous season's supplier, Le Coq Sportif. As a result of the switch from its prior French kit supplier to the Greater Manchester-based Umbro, all of the club's previous season's team and goalkeeper kits were essentially replaced with new ones for this season. The overall sky blue colour of the first team kit was retained but the style and trim of this strip was significantly changed. Completely new away and third team kits were introduced, while a new all-green goalkeeper strip replaced the previous season's gold and black strip as the primary one for use by the goalkeepers, with a newly styled and trimmed variant of the old gold and black strip which became the secondary strip for use by the goalkeepers in away fixtures.

The new all-black away team kit came with gold vertical shoulder trim on the front that enabled the kit to be colour-coordinated with the gold and black goalkeeper strip, although it was sometimes also used with the all-green goalkeeper strip. This gold and black colour scheme was, according to its designer David Blanch, intended to be symbolic of the globe covered with bees (representing the world, to all parts of which the goods of the city were exported) that was featured on the city of Manchester coat of arms. That was because the Manchester City teams in the past have established the unique tradition of always wearing this crest on their shirts when playing at Wembley (or in a major cup final elsewhere) as a symbol of their pride in representing the city of Manchester at a major sporting event. In heraldic terms, the bee was symbolic of a hive of industry, and even today the Manchester bee was often used all by itself as a shorthand emblem for the city of Manchester.

The red and black diagonal sash across the white shirts of the new third team kit was intended as a nostalgic re-mastering of the original sashed strip worn by the City team in the 1970s, while that original design had, in its turn, been a nod back at the classic red and black striped shirts with black shorts that had originally been introduced by coach Malcolm Allison in imitation of Milan's strip, and which was frequently worn in its cup ties by the successful trophy-winning City team of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Historical league performance

Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

Mid-season

Joan Gamper Trophy

Emirates Foundation Cup

Position in final standings

Updated to games played on 9 May 2010 (end of season).
Source: Premier League 2009–10
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results summary

Last updated: 9 May 2010 (end of season).
Source: Premier League results 2009–10

Results by round

Last updated: 9 May 2010 (end of season).
Source: Premier League results 2009–10
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Playing statistics

Appearances (Apps.) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only including sub appearances
Red card numbers denote: Numbers in parentheses represent red cards overturned for wrongful dismissal.

Goalscorers

Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total goals are equal.

Premier League Player of the Month award

Awarded monthly to the player that was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor

PFA Fans' Player of the Month award

Awarded monthly to four players – one in each of the Premier League plus the three divisions of the Football League – those players being the ones that receive the most votes cast for that league in a poll conducted each month on the PFA's OWS (http://www.givemefootball.com)

LMA Performance of the Week award

Awarded on a weekly basis to the Premier League or Football League team that a five-man LMA adjudication panel deems to have performed in some outstanding manner

Etihad Player of the Month awards

Awarded to the player in each category that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the MCFC OWS