It is late May 1999 and the last match of a long and arduous season. A team from Manchester score two improbable goals to rescue a final that had seemed lost. Having been behind with only a few minutes remaining, the goals spark wild celebrations, elevating the scorers to iconic status among the supporters.
Twenty-four years later this final is still considered a watershed moment in the club’s history. But the match did not take place in Barcelona but at Wembley – and the opponents were not Bayern Munich, but a club from Kent that had never been above the third level of English football. This was the playoff final between Manchester City and Gillingham that would decide which team would be promoted from the third tier.