In the last 25 years, the Cityzens have risen from a laughing stock to become the top club in England – but who have been their best performers?
Manchester City began the 21st century in the old Division Two, playing in the ramshackle Maine Road. Many foreign football fans did not know who they were, to the extent that their hated rivals United were simply known as 'Manchester' outside of England. What a difference 25 years can make.
City are now the undisputed top club in the country, amassing a joint-best eight Premier League titles since 2000, including each of the last four, plus three FA Cups, six League Cups, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. They call one of the finest stadiums in the country their home and will soon be playing in front of 60,000 people each week.
In Pep Guardiola, they have undoubtedly the greatest coach of the modern era, if not all time. And for the last 15 years, they have been able to count on an incredible squad, including numerous World Cup winners and the very latest holder of the Ballon d'Or.
So as we mark the first quarter of the current century, GOAL ranks the players who have been responsible for City's sustained success, from their current global stars to those who represented the club in a darker era and helped lift them skywards…
Getty 25Richard Dunne
The Irishman is the definition of a true club servant, and he was one of City's most beloved and respected players before the Abu Dhabi takeover. Dunne, who joined City from Everton for £3.5m ($4.5m) in 2000, stayed for nine seasons and lived through it all.
City were relegated in his first season, but he stayed and helped the team return to the Premier League. He remained their most consistent player back in the top-flight, demonstrated by the fact he won the club's Player of the Season award for four years in a row between 2005 and 2008.
The reverence felt by supporters towards the centre-back was not necessarily shared by the club's hierarchy, however. Then-CEO Garry Cooke infamously remarked "with respect, Richard Dunne doesn't roll off the tongue in Beijing" shortly after the Abu Dhabi takeover. Dunne survived one year of City's new era, joining Aston Villa in the summer of 2009, but his service has not been forgotten by fans of a certain age.
AdvertisementGetty 24Shaun Goater
In a most unlikely turn of events, Goater moved from Bermuda to England to sign for Manchester United, but ended up becoming a cult hero for City.
The striker joined City in 1998 in their darkest moment, when they were in Division Two, and fired them to successive promotions back to the Premier League. He was the club's top scorer for four consecutive seasons, scoring more than 30 in the 2001-02 campaign to ensure a speedy return to the top-flight following relegation.
Goater was already adored by City fans for his goal feats, but he cemented his place in club folklore in the last Manchester Derby at Maine Road, scoring twice in a 3-1 win and humiliating Gary Neville in the process.
Getty 23Edin Dzeko
Sergio Aguero may have scored the goal that delivered City their first Premier League title, but it was only possible because Dzeko had equalised against Queens Park Rangers two minutes earlier. That game summed up the Bosnian's City career as he was always in Aguero's shadow, but his contribution to City's first two titles cannot be underestimated.
Dzeko made the best scoring start of any Premier League player by scoring six times in the opening four games of 2011-12, a record that stood for 13 years until Erling Haaland broke it. He also struck twice in the 6-1 demolition of Manchester United which proved crucial to City pipping the Red Devils to the title on goal difference. Dzeko was City's second-top scorer when they won the title back in 2014, with just one goal fewer than Aguero.
The club ultimately concluded that they could not accommodate two out-and-out strikers, selling Dzeko to Roma in 2015. He reinvented himself in Italy and is now with Fenerbahce, still plundering goals for fun at the age of 38.
Getty22Gareth Barry
Rodri's Ballon d'Or triumph was a rare moment of recognition for holding midfielders, who play perhaps the most important role on the pitch while rarely getting noticed. And long before Rodri graced the Etihad Stadium, Barry performed the role to perfection.
Joining City from Aston Villa in 2009, he offered the protection and stability the team needed to begin their eventual dominance of English football, being one of their most consistent performers when they won the FA Cup and their first Premier League title. "He was a baller. Baller. He’s ridiculous. He’s like, in Nandos.. He’s like the perinnaise," said team-mate Micah Richards.
Barry went on to become the Premier League's all-time top appearance maker after leaving City and underlined his undying passion for football earlier this year by turning out for village amateur side Hurstpierpoint in the 12th tier of the English football pyramid.