The 2008–09 season was Manchester City Football Club's seventh consecutive season playing in the Premier League, the top division of English football, and its twelfth season since the Premier League was first created with Manchester City as one of its original 22 founding member clubs. Overall, it was the team's 117th season playing in a division of English football, the majority of which have been spent in the top-flight.
Changes in ownership The club started the season under the private ownership of UK Sports Investments Limited (UKSIL), a company controlled by former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but it was announced on the morning of Monday 1 September 2008 (the last day of the summer transfer window) that Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited (ADUG) had completed a takeover of Manchester City in a deal worth a reported £200 million. This transaction made Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan the new owner of the club, although initially he kept a very low profile and Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim, who was the board member of ADUG that had presided over the signing of the deal at the Emirates Palace Hotel, was widely believed to be the new owner and potential chairman of the club. However, before the takeover was finally completed, wealthy backer Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan became more prominent and it was eventually made clear that Al-Fahim would not be joining the board at Manchester City, with Khaldoon Al Mubarak being appointed as the club's new chairman.
The last-minute takeover of the club on transfer "deadline-day" was further capped, mere minutes before the summer transfer window closed, with the news that the club had beaten Chelsea to the signing of Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record transfer fee of £32.5 million.
Kits Supplier: Le Coq Sportif / Sponsor: Thomas Cook
Kit information For this season the shirt sponsor for all of the club's kits continued to be the previous season's sponsor, Thomas Cook, while the team kits were produced by the previous season's supplier, Le Coq Sportif. The home and away kits were unveiled by the club on 27 June 2008, with the new away kit representing a more modern rendition of the club's highly popular red and black striped shirts and black shorts that had first been introduced as a club kit by Malcolm Allison back in 1968 in imitation of A.C. Milan's classic colors. A striking new "blaze orange"/navy third kit completed the collection of kits, while the team's main home strip shed the previous season's thin white vertical stripes from the shirts and returned to the solid sky blue shirts that are more traditionally associated with the team. As well as all three of the team kits being new this season, the previous season's two-tone green goalkeeper strip was also replaced with two new strips for the goalkeepers. The main goalkeeper strip, intended primarily for use with the home team colours, sported an all gold shirt trimmed with black on the shoulders and sides with matching all black shorts and socks, whilst the second mint-green strip, with the shirts similarly trimmed in black, was introduced to supplement it on both home and away fixtures.
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).
Friendly games
Pre-season
Thomas Cook Trophy
Competitive games
Premier League
Position in final standings
Results summary
Points breakdown
Points at home: 39 Points away from home: 11
Points against "Big Four" teams: 4 Points against promoted teams: 10
6 points: Sunderland 4 points: Blackburn Rovers, Hull City, Newcastle United 3 points: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Stoke City, West Brom., West Ham United, Wigan Athletic 1 point: Fulham, Liverpool 0 points: Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Biggest & smallest Biggest home win: 6–0 vs. Portsmouth, 21 September 2008 Biggest home defeats: 1–3 vs. Chelsea, 13 September 2008 & vs. Fulham, 12 April 2009 Biggest away win: 0–3 vs. Sunderland, 31 August 2008 Biggest away defeats: 4–2 vs. Aston Villa, 17 August 2008 2–0 vs. Middlesbrough, 29 October 2008 & vs. Bolton Wanderers, 2 November 2008 & vs. Portsmouth, 14 February 2009 & vs. Arsenal, 4 April 2009 & vs. Manchester United, 10 May 2009 Biggest home attendance: 47,331 vs. Chelsea, 13 September 2008 Smallest home attendance: 36,635 vs. West Ham United, 24 August 2008 Biggest away attendance: 75,464 vs. Manchester United, 10 May 2009 Smallest away attendance: 18,214 vs. Wigan Athletic, 28 September 2008
Results by round
Individual match reports
UEFA Cup
Qualifying phase
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
First round
Group phase
Group A standingsPld W D L GF GA GD Pts Manchester City421165+17 Twente420258−36 Paris Saint-Germain412175+25 Racing Santander412165+15 Schalke 04411256−14
Group A results MC PSG RdS S04 FCT Manchester City– 0–0–– 3–2 Paris Saint-Germain–– 2–2– 4–0 Racing Santander 3–1–– 1–1– Schalke 04 0–2 3–1––– FC Twente–– 1–0 2–1–
Final phase
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-final
League Cup
Second round
FA Cup
Third round
Playing statistics
Starting XI
Last updated: 21 August 2011Source: Appearance and Starting Formations.Only competitive matches.Using the most used Starting Formation.Sorted by position on pitch (from back right to front left).
Appearances (Apps.) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only Apps. numbers denote: "Total no. of games played (No. of games played as a substitute)" Red card numbers denote: "No. of second yellow cards / No. of straight red cards" Yellow and red cards for the 2 domestic cups only accounted for in the TOTALS columns *** indicates 3-match ban for violent conduct towards Rory Delap in PL game against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on 31 January 2009
No. Pos. Player Premier League UEFA Cup FA Cup League Cup TOTALSAll CompetitionsApps.Apps.Apps.Apps.Apps.1GK Joe Hart 23(0) 9(0) 1(0) 33(0) 2DF Micah Richards 34(1) 1 2 15(0) 3 1(0) 50(1) 1 5 3DF Michael Ball 8(0) 4(1) 1(0) 1(0) 14(1) 4DF Nedum Onuoha 23(3) 1 1 7(0) 1 30(3) 2 1 SoldDF Vedran Ćorluka 3(0) 1 3(0) 1 6(0) 1 1 5DF Pablo Zabaleta 29(3) 1 3 -/1 11(0) 2 1(0) 1(0) 42(3) 1 5 -/16MF Michael Johnson 3(0) 4(0) 1 1(0) 8(0) 1 7MF Stephen Ireland 35(1) 9 8 14(1) 3 1 1(0) 1 50(2) 13 9 8MF Shaun Wright-Phillips 27(0) 5 3 9(0) 3 1 1(0) 37(0) 8 4 ***9FW Valeri Bojinov 8(6) 1 1 1(1) 9(7) 1 1 10FW Robinho 31(1) 14 3 10(0) 1 1 41(1) 15 4 11MF Elano 28(7) 6 3 12(3) 2 3 1(0) 1(1) 42 (11) 8 6 12FW Darius Vassell 8(2) 1 6(0) 1 1(1) 15(3) 1 1 14FW Jô 9(3) 1 7(1) 2 1(1) 1(0) 18(5) 3 15DF Javier Garrido 13(2) 1 1 8(2) 1 21(4) 1 2 16GK Kasper Schmeichel 1(1) 1(0) 1(0) 3(1) 17MF Martin Petrov 9(5) 5(1) 2 14(6) 2 19MF Gelson Fernandes 17 (14) 1 3 1/- 8(4) 1 1(0) 1(0) 1 27 (18) 2 4 1/-20FW Felipe Caicedo 17(7) 5 2 6(3) 3 1(0) 1(1) 25 (11) 8 2 21MF Dietmar Hamann 9(4) 8(5) 1 1 1(1) 18 (10) 1 1 22DF Richard Dunne (c) 31(0) 1 4 -/2 14(0) 1 1/- 1(0) 1(0) 47(0) 1 6 1/224FW Ched Evans 16 (13) 1 1 8(6) 1(1) 25 (20) 1 1 25DF Wayne Bridge 16(0) 6(0) 22(0) 26DF Tal Ben Haim 9(1) 2 5(0) 3 1(0) 15(1) 5 27FW Benjani 8(1) 1 4(3) 2 12(4) 3 28FW Daniel Sturridge 16(13) 4 8(3) 1(0) 1(0) 26 (16) 4 29MF Kelvin Etuhu 4(2) 3(3) 7(5) 30DF Shaleum Logan 1(0) 1(0) 33MF Vincent Kompany 34(0) 1 8 9(1) 3 1(0) 1(0) 45(1) 1 11 34MF Nigel de Jong 16(0) 3 16(0) 3 36DF Gláuber 1(1) 1(1) 37GK Shay Given 15(0) 6(0) 1 21(0) 1 39FW Craig Bellamy 8(1) 3 1 3(0) 2 2 11(1) 5 3 40MF Vladimír Weiss 1(1) 1(1) TOTALS 58 50 1/3 23 26 1/- 2 83 77 2/3 Information current as of 24 May 2009 (end of season)
Goal scorers
All competitions ScorerGoals Robinho15 Stephen Ireland13 Felipe Caicedo8 Elano Shaun Wright-Phillips Craig Bellamy5 Daniel Sturridge4 Benjani3 Jô Gélson Fernandes2 Nedum Onuoha Martin Petrov Valeri Bojinov1 Vedran Ćorluka Richard Dunne Ched Evans Javier Garrido Dietmar Hamann Vincent Kompany Micah Richards Darius Vassell Pablo Zabaleta
Premier League ScorerGoals Robinho14 Stephen Ireland9 Elano6 Felipe Caicedo5 Shaun Wright-Phillips Daniel Sturridge4 Craig Bellamy3 Benjani1 Valeri Bojinov Vedran Ćorluka Richard Dunne Ched Evans Gélson Fernandes Javier Garrido Jô Vincent Kompany Nedum Onuoha Micah Richards Pablo Zabaleta
UEFA Cup ScorerGoals Felipe Caicedo3 Stephen Ireland Shaun Wright-Phillips Craig Bellamy2 Benjani Elano Jô Martin Petrov Dietmar Hamann1 Nedum Onuoha Robinho Darius Vassell
League Cup and FA Cup ScorerGoals Gélson Fernandes1 Stephen Ireland
Information current as of 24 May 2009 (end of season)
Awards
Thomas Cook 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 MonthFirst TeamReserve TeamAcademy August Stephen Ireland Adam Clayton Andrew Tutte September Shaun Wright-Phillips Clayton McDonald Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely October Robinho Clayton McDonald Dedryck Boyata November Stephen Ireland Donal McDermott Andrew Tutte December Vincent Kompany Paul Marshallnot announced January Pablo Zabaleta Ryan McGivern February Craig Bellamy David Ball March Nedum Onuoha Ben Mee Dedryck Boyata April Elano Vladimír Weiss Greg Cunningham May Nedum Onuoha Vladimír Weiss Kieran Trippier
Official Supporters Club awards Player Season 2008–09 awards Stephen Ireland Player of the Year Daniel Sturridge Young Player of the Year
Transfers and loans
Transfers in
First team Date Pos. Player From club Transfer fee 2 July 2008 FW Jô CSKA Moscow £18M 30 July 2008 DF Tal Ben Haim Chelsea £5M 21 August 2008 DF Vincent Kompany Hamburger SV £6M 28 August 2008 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips Chelsea £8.5M 31 August 2008 DF Pablo Zabaleta Espanyol £6.45M 31 August 2008 DF Gláuber 1. FC Nürnberg Undisc. 1 September 2008 FW Robinho Real Madrid £32.5M 3 January 2009 DF Wayne Bridge Chelsea £10M 19 January 2009 FW Craig Bellamy West Ham United £14M 21 January 2009 MF Nigel de Jong Hamburger SV £16M 1 February 2009 GK Shay Given Newcastle United £5.9M
Reserves & Academy Date Pos. Player From club Transfer fee Sep. 2008 FW Marcello Trotta Napoli £750,000 [x] 12 October 2008 DF Oliver Nicholas Arsenal Free 20 October 2008 MF Alex Pla UD Cornellà Undisc. 20 October 2008 MF Jorge Guinovart UD Cornellà Undisc. 17 February 2009 DF Jérémy Hélan Rennes Undisc. 25 February 2009 GK Gunnar Nielsen Blackburn Rovers Free [x] =
Transfers out
First team Exit Date Pos. Player To club Transfer fee 2 July 2008 GK Andreas Isaksson PSV Undisc. 2 July 2008 DF Sun Jihai Sheffield United Free 4 July 2008 MF Geovanni Hull City Free 14 July 2008 FW Georgios Samaras Celtic Undisc. 30 July 2008 FW Bernardo Corradi Reggina Free 7 August 2008 FW Paul Dickov Leicester City Free 23 August 2008 FW Rolando Bianchi Torino Undisc. 1 September 2008 DF Vedran Ćorluka Tottenham Hotspur £8.5M 2 September 2008 FW Émile Mpenza Plymouth Argyle Released
Reserves & Academy Exit Date Pos. Player To club Transfer fee 1 July 2008 DF Garry Breen Hereford United Free 1 July 2008 DF Michael Daly Released 1 July 2008 GK Andrea Giombetti Released 1 July 2008 MF Ashley Grimes Millwall Free 1 July 2008 FW Christian Mouritsen Released 30 July 2008 DF Matthew Mills Doncaster Rovers £300,000 16 October 2008 FW Teerasil Dangda Released 16 October 2008 DF Kiatprawut Saiwaeo Released 16 October 2008 DF Suree Sukha Released 2 January 2009 DF Sam Williamson Wrexham Free
Loans in
First team Start date End date Pos. Player From club
Reserves & Academy Start date End date Pos. Player From club
Loans out
First team