Admittedly, Manchester City have had a fairly poor season by the standards they’ve set in recent years.

However, Manchester City are still on course to finish in the Premier League’s top five and they’re also favourites to win the FA Cup after reaching the final.

City fans who were supporting the club in the late 1990s will remember what the real bad times were like.

City were relegated from the Premier League in 1995/96 before then slipping into the third tier in 1998, where they suffered that infamous defeat at York City.

However, City would slowly rise up from that lowly position of 12th in the third tier, getting out of the old Second Division at the first attempt and then sealing back-to-back promotions.

Paul Dickov, who was there during the club’s fall and subsequent rise, recently named the individual he feels doesn’t get the credit he deserves from the back-to-back promotions.

Dickov, speaking on the Seaman Says podcast in April, singled then City manager Joe Royle out for praise for his role in turning things round at Maine Road.

The Manchester City TV pundit explained how the Citizens were in dire straits at the time, with a bloated playing squad and a “horrible” atmosphere.

And yet, Royle managed to pull City out of the Second Division and then go one better in returning the club to the top flight.

“I still say it to this day about the back-to-backs, Joe Royle – I still don’t believe he gets the credit he deserves,” said Dickov.

“Talking about all the manager changes in a short space of time and Joe came into the club, he had 57 pros 0 and you think Premier League clubs have 25, don’t they?

“Each manager that had come in was allowed to bring in their own players in… there was three dressing rooms! We all couldn’t train at the same time.

“You had a dressing room that didn’t want to be there, we had a dressing room that wanted to stay because they were on good money, and you had a dressing room – which was few and far between – who actually wanted to be at the club.

“And how Joe came in, managed that situation, got the players out he wanted to get out, kept the players he wanted to but still managed to get the wage bill back down…

“Because the club was struggling massively and the whole place, honestly, on and off the pitch the atmosphere was horrible.

“How Joe Royle managed that situation and then allowed us to go on and get back to back promotions without changing a lot was genius.”

How Manchester City escaped the third tier

For City fans, 19 December 1998 is a dark day for the club as they plunged to 12th place in the old Second Division after a humiliating 2-1 loss away at York City.

The City board kept faith in Royle despite calls from some fans for his sacking, and the club only lost two more games all season as they finished third in the table and made the playoffs.

City took on Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals, drawing 1-1 in the last competitive fixture at Springfield Park before winning 1-0 at Maine Road and reaching the final.

Gillingham stood between City and a return to the old First Division and, after a goalless 80 minutes, the game exploded into drama.

Carl Asaba’s 81st-minute goal and Robert Taylor’s 87th-minute effort saw Gillingham lead 2-0 with just injury time looming.

However, Kevin Horlock struck in the 90th minute before Dickov netted a dramatic 95th-minute equaliser to send the game into extra time.

The match went to penalties and, while Dickov missed in the shootout, Kevin Horlock, Terry Cooke and Richard Edghill all netted.

Meanwhile, Gillingham only converted one of their four penalties, and Guy Butters’ miss meant City would be back in the second tier at the first time of asking.