DECEMBER 30
1996: City announced the appointment of former Leyton Orient and Nottingham Forrest manager, Frank Clark.
Clark would go onto manage the Club for 15 months before being replaced by Joe Royle in February 1998.
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2000: After joining from Leeds United, Darren Huckerby made his City debut, and marked it with a goal as he scored a 90th minute penalty against Charlton Athletic in a 4-1 defeat.
The forward would go on to be a superb signing for City, scoring 31 goals in 82 appearances during his time at Maine Road.
2010: A first City hat-trick from Mario Balotelli, and a strike from Joleon Lescott steered Roberto Mancini’s side to a superb 4-0 victory over Aston Villa.
City opened the scoring inside 10 minutes as Balotelli was fouled in the penalty area. The Italian then brushed himself down before converting the spot kick himself to give Mancini’s men the lead.
Five minutes later we had our second as Lescott headed in to put City two goals to the good with just 15 minutes played.
Balotelli added his second and City’s third just before the half hour mark to put Mancini’s side in the driving seat going into the break.
Into the second half and it did not take Balotelli long to complete his hat-trick as he once again found the net from the penalty spot to secure an emphatic 4-0 victory, and in doing so put City level on points with Manchester United at the top of the table.
