Man City history would read different if Notts County had seized FA Cup chance | OneFootball

Man City's recent history could look very different if Notts had hung on to beat them in 2011.

With the FA Cup first round this weekend, fans up and down the country will be buzzing with excitement as their team sit just two wins away from a potential date with one of the big boys.

The oldest football competition in the world is still going strong as we prepare to enter its 144th season, and this weekend sees the League One and Two sides thrown in alongside the final remaining non-league hopefuls.

For Notts County, their cup campaign begins with the Friday night visit of National League North side Alfreton Town, from just over the Derbyshire border. While not one of the glamour ties that the tournament is famed for (from Notts’ perspective at least), it provides a good opportunity for the Magpies to book their place in the second round and get one step closer to that potential money-spinning game, before the weekend even properly begins.

Winners of the cup in 1894, Notts have had several years starved of the FA Cup limelight. They haven’t progressed beyond the second round in six years, but just like everyone still in the competition, they’ll be dreaming of a huge tie.

Back in 2011, Notts were lucky enough to earn that huge tie, as they took on the powerhouses of Manchester City, and came within ten minutes of changing the course of City’s history.

Notts almost changed the course of Manchester City’s history

Notts’ FA Cup journey that year began with a routine 2-0 victory over Gateshead in Round One and at that point, few would’ve foreseen what was to come.

The Magpies, then of League One, beat fellow third-tier side Bournemouth 3-1 in the second round, before goals from Craig Westcarr and Lee Hughes sealed a famous win at Premier League Sunderland in round three, setting up a mouth-watering tie with the billionaires of Manchester City.

Roberto Mancini’s side eventually saw off Notts comfortably in a replay at the Etihad, but not before they were handed a huge scare at Meadow Lane.

City named a team packed full of stars for the fourth round clash, with the likes of Patrick Vieira, Jerome Boateng, and Yaya Toure all starting.

However, they found themselves behind in the 59th minute, when Neil Bishop glanced home Alan Gow’s corner to send the Meadow Lane crowd of over 16,000 into raptures.

Bishop’s header provided one of the great Kop end memories for Notts fans, and it looked like being the goal that secured one of the biggest cup upsets in recent years, until Micah Richards set up Edin Dzeko just ten minutes from full-time, for his first goal in English football.

Paul Ince’s men fought hard in the replay and almost took the lead when Karl Hawley’s shot struck the post but ended up succumbing 5-0 to their Premier League opponents.

City went on to win the FA Cup that year, as victories over Aston Villa, Reading, Manchester United, and Stoke City (all without conceding a goal), brought an end to a 35-year spell without winning a single major trophy.

That seems almost inconceivable given the club that City have gone on to become, but who knows how long that drought would have gone on for, had Notts been able to hang and dump them out of the cup on that day.

Notts are badly in need of another magical FA Cup moment

Almost 13 years on from Neil Bishop’s header in front of the Kop, Notts are badly in need of another magical FA Cup moment.

Magpies’ fans have been badly starved of success in recent seasons and particularly since they first fell into the National League.

2017-18 was the last time a Notts team progressed beyond the Second Round and also the last time they faced a team from the Premier League or Championship.

A 25-yard Jon Stead strike clinched a 1-0 win away at Brentford in round three before Stead again found the net in a 1-1 home draw with Swansea City of the top flight.

However, even that ended with bitter-sweet memories, as a ruthless Swans side demolished Notts 8-1 in the replay.

Since then, cup success of any note has been few and far between for the Magpies.

Defeats to Rochdale and Northampton came during their National League years and Notts were even forced to withdraw from the competition due to a Covid-19 outbreak within the squad in 2020, the first time ever that they hadn’t featured in the competition’s first round.

With that considered, there’s a whole generation of young fans who are yet to see any special FA Cup moments of their own supporting their club, could this be the year when Notts finally earn themselves another shot at one of the big guns?