MCFC 2023/24 Season Review Part 2 of 2: Alternative moments, disappointments and Season in a Song

Dan Burke and friends look back at the best and worst bits 2023/24 campaign

In the second and final part of our season review, we’ll be reminiscing about some of the wackier moments of 2023/24, and also raking over our biggest disappointments.

ICYMI here is part one…

Alternative Moments of the Season

Ciaran Murray

Easy one for me, this. Bomits. 

I think an alternative moment has to mix comedy with the unexpected and surreal and this does all of those things. Why did he pronounce “vomits” with a B? Why did he just say “bomits” then stare at the interviewer? Why did he have such a mischievous glint in his eye? Why did he use the present tense and just give one word instead of explaining it properly? 

So many questions but just so fucking funny. It was like he just felt like being coy and odd for complete comedic effect. For all the complaints about Pep’s City being boring and robotic on the pitch, you have to expect the unexpected in his interviews - it’s one of the things I’ll miss most about him when he eventually does leave. I don’t want to think about that just yet though. Bomits. 

Dan Burke

Pep Guardiola blaming Kevin De Bruyne’s absence against Real Madrid on “bomits” felt like a pretty valuable contribution to the culture.

It’s nearly eight years Pep has been living in England and I’m almost certain he knows it’s not pronounced like that, but he said it anyway because he’s a comedy character.

See also his reaction to being asked whether City are liked by the general public towards the end of the season. He’s a weirdo, sure, but he’s our weirdo and I’ll love him for all-time.

Alex Timperley

Nothing this season to match Elton John's airport cameo last year unfortunately (will there ever be?), but my answer for 2023/24 is probably Haaland appearing in Clash of Clans. I'm a fan of surrealist art. 

Richard Burns

A personal one if that's OK? For me it's my son sitting to watch a game with me for the first time. We'd got back from holiday the day of the home derby so I'd given my ticket away and watched it at home on a definitely completely legal TV channel. My son is three and has always loosely known he was a City fan, but he's been properly obsessed ever since that game, and that makes me happy. 'Maybe in another generation, when other lads have come to take our place...'

David Mooney

I didn’t find out about it until we did the alternative highlights of the season for the podcast, but the song that those Spanish commentators did for Kevin De Bruyne’s equaliser at Palace has been an earworm ever since Ciaran told me about it. Also, Pep telling Sam Lee he has a better life than him and the internet losing its mind over it.

Bob Toole

I missed the first home game of the season against Newcastle because it was my mum’s 70th. The mates that I go with sent an audio message from the concourse just before the game singing the “Johnny, Johnny Stones” song but had replaced it with my mum’s name “Jenny, Jenny Toole”. The highlight was when it got to the “she fucking hates United” bit. My mum absolutely loved it and thought it was very sweet. 

Disappointments of the Season

Alex Timperley

Two answers for this one. The first is the same answer as always: that City once again raised ticket prices for no reason and put their open contempt for the fans on full display. Removing banners, reaching into our pockets further after announcing record profits, giving huge away allocations to the wrong people... the list goes on.

Other than that, the second answer is that we finally got to see Ederson take a penalty but lost the tie (but not the game). 

Ciaran Murray

The Cup final defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. Losing in any final is obviously shite and you never ever want to lose a derby. So both happening at once to miss out on a historic double double hurt like hell. 

I’ve also been disappointed with just how much these 115 charges have underpinned everything City do, all the coverage and even the behaviour of other fans. When we won the league I couldn’t even be arsed listening to any podcasts (apart from Blue Moon and Let Me Talk, obviously) or reading any articles; a rational discussion or appreciation can’t be held anymore. People find out I’m a City fan and 115 is the first thing they say. It’s just everywhere and poisonous tribal patter from online is bleeding into real life interactions and it’s the pits. What good is happiness to me if I’ve to wield it carefully?

Maybe it’s because teams like Everton and Forest are being punished and City aren’t as yet and are still winning silverware so it seems we’re above the law. I dunno. I hope there’s a resolution soon as it’s very fucking boring and undervalues the current side’s incredible achievements. So to answer your question, I’m most disappointed in Everton and Forest for resorting to cheating and ruining our beautiful game. Sad. 

Richard Burns

I think there’s probably only one correct answer and that correct answer is the FA Cup final. Any team can lose and we've got a good enough trophy record for me to not be a baby about losing a cup final, even to them. But that first half was a shocker. The second half was better and to be honest, mitigated how bad I felt because at least we rallied. To make such a mess of the first half and shoot ourselves in the foot obviously sticks in the craw somewhat. 

David Mooney

Losing the FA Cup final after such a good season was a bit of a sour way for it to go, but having won four-in-a-row the season after the Treble, it’s been quite easy to shrug off. The same with losing on penalties to Real Madrid. 

Gonna get all serious for a minute and write about something that I’ve learnt about myself over the course of the season. After the 4-4 draw with Chelsea, I realised - for the sake of my mental health - I have to not take football so seriously. I was angry after that game. Very angry. Too angry. Several things came to a head that weekend and, for the sake of my head, my boyfriend took me to the cinema to do something that wasn’t think about the football. No podcasts. No writing. No doom-scrolling on X, formerly Twitter.

That isn’t to say I don’t get nervous or anxious - again my boyfriend will attest to how I was on edge during the run-in game with Spurs. But I have learnt to relax more. The FA Cup isn’t important. The Chelsea game isn’t important. I’ve had a privileged life as a football fan. Whatever City do, I’ll still be there - so fuck whatever anyone else thinks and fuck letting a bad day get into my head like it used to.

Bob Toole

Incredibly hard to be disappointed with a team that has won four league titles in a row for the first time ever in this country. I’d probably say the Champions League exit against Madrid. Unlike the FA Cup final we played really well against Madrid and deserved to go through so it was pretty galling to go out on penalties. That being said, I don’t think we would have gone on to win the league had we continued in Europe. So whilst it was disappointing, it’s fine. You can’t win them all and losing is part of sport. 

Dan Burke

Bernardo’s penalty in the shoot-out against Madrid. I forgave him instantly but come on Bernie, you’re better than that man, for fuck’s sake.

Sum up the Season in a Song

Bob Toole

Common Blue - Warpaint

David Mooney

One More Time - Daft Punk

We’re gonna celebrate and dance so free.

Richard Burns

I'm going to be melodramatic after a disappointing end to a good season with a record breaking title win, and say Bones by Editors. And only for one lyric. 

'In the end, all you can hope for is the love you felt to equal the pain you've gone through.'

It did City. It did.

Alex Timperley

I've decided to use this opportunity to send a message to everyone who reacted to our fourth consecutive title win with such composure, dignity and good humour.

Cry, Cry - Mazzy Star 

Ciaran Murray

We tied a fair few pundits, journalists and rival fans up in complete knots this season so I’ll go for Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan. Also recently discovered he had a song called Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream so that would work too for a laugh. 

Dan Burke

Blues Run The Game by Jackson C. Frank.

This song came on shuffle when I was on the way to Istanbul for the Champions League final almost a year ago, and it’s been a regular feature of my pre-match listening ever since, because the Blues do fucking run the game.

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And that concludes our season review.

Thank you so much to everyone who read, shared and supported Totally Wired throughout the season.

Have a great summer! We’ll be back next season.