Few have been the matches down the years that did not offer supporters of the world's most idiosyncratic club the opportunity to tut quietly, shake their heads and say "that's just bloody typical, that is".
Brentford away in the 1989 FA Cup 4th round was just another of those occasions.
City, enjoying another of their brief and unhappy sojourns in the Second Division, had lost top scorer Paul Stewart and replaced him with Wayne Biggins.
Just let that sink in.
The inimitable Nigel Gleghorn had arrived to shore up the midfield and Brian Gayle to do something similar at the back. A handful of years after cheering on Trevor Francis and Asa Hartford, this is where we were. The Ginger Zico Gary Megson had just made his debut, scoring a scruffy winner on Oldham Athletic's remarkable plastic pitch. City were high-rolling just behind Chelsea at the top of the league.
In a desperate attempt to rejoin the big boys, City had dispensed with the twin distractions of the League Cup and the Guiness Soccer Sixes to, as the saying goes, "concentrate on the league". Although Leicester had been dispatched from the FA Cup 3rd round, a needless foray deeper into the competition also seemed pretty pointless. I mean, why put everything at risk?
Nevertheless, an urgent and optimistic bunch of fans gathered for the trip to Brentford, a team seldom encountered in those days, with City mostly lording it in the top flight and the Londoners far from it, in the foggy environs of the third tier.
To be sure City had plenty of excuses - just in case you understand - there was a downpour of improbable dimensions in the hours before kickoff, leaving the pitch, according to master tactician Mel Machin "practically unplayable" and City needing to simply "kick it as long as possible and hope it sticks up front". Swales may have claimed that Machin had "no repartee" with the fans, but that was the least of his problems.
With these sharp tactics buried in the players' minds, City played out a less than heroic 1-3 defeat, but the pain didn't end there. Scorer of two of Brentford's goals was none other than Gary Blissett, ex-City apprentice. Twas ever thus.
City's first act was to put 'keeper Andy Dibble in trouble with a miscued backpass within 30 seconds of the kick-off. Those packed on the open Ealing Road End felt that familiar feeling. Like wet sand trickling through your intestines. Ten minutes in, Blissett had netted his first and, by half time, it was two, ex-Chelsea man Keith Jones scoring in the quagmire that was the City penalty area after an air shot for a first attempt. Despite City starting the second period in lively fashion, Morley going close and substitute Gleghorn notching a lifeline goal, Brentford were quickly back in control with Blissett scoring his second.
Distracted by their side's sudden and inexplicable ineptitude, City fans began "agitating" in true 80s fashion, some on the pitch, others swiping locals with their inflatable bananas, of which there were thousands. An overspill of City fans were being housed on the New Road side of the ground, as well as the packed away end, and some of these managed an excursion onto the glistening mud of Griffin Park.
I was stood in truncheon corner that day and half the lads in our mini bus got hammered by the Police. It was an awful day and I’ve hated Brentford ever since.
— Phil (@Duggers422) September 13, 2024
In another lovely quirk of fate, Brentford were managed by the easily recognisable figure of ex-Tottenham Cup Final captain Steve Perryman. It was only 7 years since he had lifted the Cup at Wembley after Ricky Vila had danced a light tango through City's skittles-like rearguard. It was all falling nicely into place for another City Day Out That You Wish You Hadn't Bothered Getting Excited About.
Brentford would go out to Liverpool at Anfield in the 6th round, having beaten Blackburn at Ewood park in the 5th round with another brace from Blissett.
The damage for City had been done and yet another painful cup exit had been signed, sealed and delivered, with Peter Gardner in the Evening News even daring to say the conditions and outcome had made him think of Halifax.
Meanwhile, the MEN reported that United's Shawn (sic) Goater was sweating on a work permit in order to carry on playing at Old Trafford. The promising Bermudan had scored twice in United reserves' 7-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, ironically matching the brace of Gary Blissett at rain-spattered Griffin Park. Happily the lanky striker would net 103 for the Blues after being released from his Old Trafford purgatory.
