1990–91 Manchester City F.C. season

The 1990–91 season was Manchester City's second consecutive season in the top tier of English football, the Football League First Division.

Manchester City

1990–91 season
Manager	Howard Kendall (until 7 November) Peter Reid (player-manager; from 7 November)[1]
Stadium	Maine Road
First Division	5th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Third round
Full Members Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: All: Niall Quinn (21)
Highest home attendance	39,194 vs Sunderland 10 May 1991
Lowest home attendance	12,204 vs Torquay United 10 October 1990
Average home league attendance	27,769 (6th highest in league)
Home colours
← 1989–90 1991–92 →

Season summary

Howard Kendall built a strong Manchester City side that spent the first few months of the season near the top of the table, but left in November, with City in fifth, to return to Everton, justifying his move by claiming that Manchester City was his affair but Everton was his marriage.^[2] Midfielder Peter Reid was named as caretaker before being appointed permanent City manager; he led the Mancunians to fifth place. Andy Hill became Peter Reid's first major signing as a manager paying Bury £200,000 for his capture.

Irish striker Niall Quinn was City's top scorer with 21 goals in all competitions. He was named the club's Player of the Year.

Football League First Division

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Crystal Palace	38	20	9	9	50	41	+9	69
4	Leeds United	38	19	7	12	65	47	+18	64
5	Manchester City	38	17	11	10	64	53	+11	62
6	Manchester United	38	16	12	10	58	45	+13	59[a]	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Wimbledon	38	14	14	10	53	46	+7	56

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

1. Arsenal deducted two points; Manchester United deducted one point due to a brawl in a game between both teams.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	17	11	10	64	53	+11	62	12	3	4	35	25	+10	5	8	6	29	28	+1

Source:

Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24 August 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–3	33,501	Quinn
31 August 1990	Everton	H	1–0	31,456	Heath
4 September 1990	Aston Villa	H	2–1	30,199	Ward, Pointon
7 September 1990	Sheffield United	A	1–1	21,895	White
14 September 1990	Norwich City	H	2–1	26,247	Quinn, Brennan
21 September 1990	Chelsea	A	1–1	20,924	Ward (pen)
28 September 1990	Wimbledon	A	1–1	6,158	Allen
6 October 1990	Coventry City	H	2–1	26,198	Harper, Quinn
10 October 1990	Derby County	A	1–1	17,884	Ward
27 October 1990	Manchester United	H	3–3	36,427	White (2), Hendry
2 November 1990	Sunderland	A	1–1	23,137	White
10 November 1990	Leeds United	H	2–3	27,782	Ward (pen), White
16 November 1990	Luton Town	A	2–2	9,564	White, Redmond
23 November 1990	Liverpool	A	2–2	37,849	Ward, Quinn
30 November 1990	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–1	25,080	Quinn (2)
14 December 1990	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	31,263	Redmond, Ward
21 December 1990	Crystal Palace	H	0–2	25,321
25 December 1990	Southampton	A	1–2	16,029	Quinn
28 December 1990	Nottingham Forest	A	3–1	24,937	Quinn (2), Clarke
31 December 1990	Arsenal	H	0–1	30,579
12 January 1991	Everton	A	0–2	22,774
18 January 1991	Sheffield United	H	2–0	25,741	Ward (2)
1 February 1991	Norwich City	A	2–1	15,194	Quinn, White
8 February 1991	Chelsea	H	2–1	25,116	Megson, White
1 March 1991	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–1	12,376
4 March 1991	Luton Town	H	3–0	20,404	Quinn (2), Allen
8 March 1991	Liverpool	H	0–3	33,150
15 March 1991	Wimbledon	H	1–1	21,089	Ward
22 March 1991	Coventry City	A	1–3	13,198	Allen
29 March 1991	Southampton	H	3–3	23,163	Brennan, White, Allen
1 April 1991	Crystal Palace	A	3–1	18,001	Quinn (3)
5 April 1991	Nottingham Forest	H	3–1	25,169	Ward (pen), Quinn, Redmond
9 April 1991	Leeds United	A	2–1	28,757	Hill
16 April 1991	Arsenal	A	2–2	38,412	Ward (pen), White
19 April 1991	Derby County	H	2–1	24,037	Quinn, White
22 April 1991	Aston Villa	A	5–1	24,168	White (4), Brennan
3 May 1991	Manchester United	A	0–1	45,286
10 May 1991	Sunderland	H	3–2	39,194	Quinn (2), White

FA Cup

Main article: 1990–91 FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result
R3	4 January 1991	Burnley	A	0–1
R4	25 January 1991	Port Vale	A	1–2
R5	15 February 1991	Notts County	A	1–0

League Cup

Main article: 1990–91 Football League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result
R2 1st leg	25 September 1990	Torquay United	A	0–4
R2 2nd leg	10 October 1990	Torquay United	H	0–0
R3	29 October 1990	Arsenal	H	2–1

Full Members' Cup

Main article: 1990–91 Full Members' Cup

Manchester City v Middlesbrough

19 December 1990 Second round, Northern Section	Manchester City	2-1	Middlesbrough	Manchester
				Stadium: Maine Road

Sheffield United v Manchester City

22 January 1991 Third round, Northern Section	Sheffield United	0-2	Manchester City	Sheffield
				Stadium: Bramall Lane

Leeds United v Manchester City

20 February 1991 Semi-finals, Northern Section	Leeds United	2-0	Manchester City	Leeds
				Stadium: Elland Road

Kit

City's kit was manufactured by English company Umbro and sponsored by Japanese electronics manufacturer Brother.

Squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Tony Coton — GK  WAL Martyn Margetson — GK  WAL Andy Dibble — DF  ENG Alan Harper — DF  ENG Neil Pointon — DF  ENG Steve Redmond — DF  ENG David Brightwell — DF  ENG Ian Brightwell — DF  SCO Colin Hendry — DF  ENG Andy Hill — MF  ENG Mark Brennan — MF  ENG Adrian Heath

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Steve McMahon — MF  ENG Paul Lake — MF  ENG Gary Megson — MF  ENG Mike Quigley — MF  ENG Peter Reid (player-manager) — MF  ENG Mark Ward — MF  ENG David White — FW  ENG Clive Allen — FW  ENG Jason Beckford — FW  ENG Wayne Clarke — FW  ENG Ashley Ward — FW  IRL Niall Quinn

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ENG Mark Seagraves (to Bolton Wanderers)

Transfers

Out

• Andy Hinchcliffe - Everton
• Mark Seagraves - Bolton Wanderers

In

• Andy Hill - Bury

References

1. Reid was appointed as caretaker manager on 7 November and named full-time manager eight days later.
2. "New Straits Times - Google News Archive Search".
3. "Manchester City Squad 1990-91". Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2012.