Why Man City still can't get enough of their lowest point in 1999

There's a chant that inevitably comes up at Manchester City games home or away, and Blues are always waiting for it.

As soon as they are asked where they were when they were s***, they fire straight back. Beating you, they say.

You would think that a club that can currently call themselves champions of world football would not particularly enjoy the reminder of the one year in their 134-year history that they were in the third division - not least because of the insinuation. As Luton Town fans sang this year: "You bought it all."

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City fans have no need for such insecurities though because so many of them who were there to see them at their worst are now seeing them at their best. Faces that were in Istanbul last summer were there for Wrexham, York, and Gillingham 24 years earlier.

The ascent for City has been so high that for the company they now keep rival fans feel like they have been through the mill finishing 8th in the Premier League, yet City averaged nearly 30,000 in Division Two during the 1998/99 season as supporters stayed loyal to the team down the divisions. Chants of "Are you watching, Macclesfield" arrived as Blues adopted gallows humour to see them through the worst period of their football club.

From a marketing point of view, contrasting Gillingham and Istanbul is irresistible, the idea that City went from being so bad to so good. It also helps the ownership, who have eased into the anniversary as more success has come along.

That doesn't sit well with all fans, with some feeling the club should make more of its rich history that included domestic and European