Bernstein had become chairman just over a year earlier and despite taking over a club on the fast-track to a first-ever season at this level, he saw only opportunity. The club he took over was in a “terrible state”, as he recalled, but the extent of the problems created possibilities as well. They would have become impossibilities had City become stuck in a division they should never have been in in the first place.
As Bernstein looked across Wembley and saw the Gillingham fans waving their dark blue flags, his mind was whirring. ‘What are we going to do now?,” he thought. ‘This is going to be really hard next season, much tougher than this year we’ve just been through’.
The rest, as they say, is history, recounted by Bernstein himself in his book We Were Really There, looking back on his stewardship of City between 1998 and 2003. That promotion set the wheels in motion for a period that is key to where the club now finds itself, at the pinnacle of European football, with Pep Guardiola in charge and a team of world-class players dazzling in a stunning stadium.
“It was the most tense, nerve-wracking sporting experience I’ve ever had, or ever will have. The scale of the importance of the result was huge,” Bernstein told the Manchester Evening News.
“Had we not gone up, it is possible that we could never have done the new stadium deal and if we hadn’t done the stadium deal then I don’t think the Abu Dhabi people would ever have come in and history would be totally different.
“So that much was vital, then of course to be two goals down with one minute to go and then to win the match was just quite extraordinary, I’ve never quite recovered from it. I think that is without question the most important match in the club’s history.”
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 29, 2024-Ausgabe von Manchester Evening News.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 29, 2024-Ausgabe von Manchester Evening News.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
16 years for Spain swoop drugs boss
A COCAINE kingpin dragged back from Spain to face justice is serving a lengthy prison sentence.
Police in 'relentless pursuit of gun gangs
THE spectre of gun crime rose again in Manchester this week.
Council chief quits £185k job amid child service fiasco
TOWN HALL TURMOIL AS DEPARTMENT JUDGED INADEQUATE’ AGAIN
Hope rail can get on track
TRANSPORT Secretary Louise Haigh is looking 'very seriously' at how to increase rail investment in the north, according to Greater Manchester MP Lisa Nandy.
The moment I met Sarah I knew we had a bond
DUCHESS JOINS CORRIE STAR TO BECOME PATRON OF PREVENT BREAST CANCER
Ten Hag future remains in doubt as state-of-play meet comes to end
INEOS GATHERING IN LONDON CONCLUDES WITHOUT ANY STATEMENT
'The tribunal found that it was wrong. This is a big deal in competition law'
THE Premier League came unstuck against City in their opening submission of the hearing into Associated Party Transaction Rules.
Godfather of AI wins Nobel Prize for Physics
A BRITISH-CANADIAN computer scientist who has been dubbed the \"godfather of artificial intelligence\" has won this year's Nobel Prize for Physics.
Chancellor urged to quash ‘damaging' pension rumours
FTSE 250 savings and investment platform AJ Bell has joined the growing chorus urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to back down from a proposed tax hit on UK pensioners, warning that rumours of the government's tax intentions are \"hugely damaging\" and are causing widespread concern long-term savings.
Red paint attack on office block
A PRO-PALESTINE group says it targeted an office block in Manchester city centre housing insurance firm Allianz.