2000–01 Manchester City F.C. season

The 2000–01 season was Manchester City Football Club's 109th season playing in a division of English football, most of which have been spent in the top flight. The club spent this season playing in the Premier League after winning promotion from the First Division in the previous season. This was the club's fifth season playing in the Premier League since its initial formation as the top tier of English football eight years earlier, with Manchester City as one of its original 22 founding member clubs.

Season review
Manchester City's return to the Premiership after a four-year exile was the result of back-to-back promotions from the Second Division. But perhaps the team's two-tier climb back to the top flight again had been a little too rapid because it became apparent after just a few games into the new season that Joe Royle's men would be struggling to hang on to their newly acquired top flight status. After their first ten games though, they were enjoying reasonably stable mid-table form with four wins and defeats each; however, after a 5–0 humbling at Arsenal, it all went wrong and only four wins were achieved during the remainder of the season.

The team's relegation was confirmed by a defeat in the penultimate game of the season, and manager Royle, who had been the guiding hand that had brought the team so quickly back to the Premiership from the Second Division, was dismissed within days. Former England coach Kevin Keegan was appointed to replace Royle on a three-year contract and fans were given renewed hope of an immediate return to the elite.

Team kit
The team kit was produced by Le Coq Sportif and the shirt sponsor was Eidos Interactive.

Historical league performance
Prior to this season, the history of Manchester City's performance in the English football league hierarchy since the creation of the Premier League in 1992 is summarised by the following timeline chart – which commences with the last season (1991–92) of the old Football League First Division (from which the Premier League was formed).

Final league table

 * Results summary


 * Results by round

Results
Manchester City's score comes first

First-team squad

 * Squad at end of season

Appearances and goals
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards

! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season

Starting 11

 * Considering starts in all competitions

In

 * 🇳🇴 Alfie Haaland – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds United, 12 June, £2,500,000
 * 🇱🇷 George Weah – 🇮🇹 Milan, 1 August, free
 * Paulo Wanchope – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 West Ham United, 8 August, £3,650,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steve Howey – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle United, 11 August, £2,000,000 (rising to £3,000,000 depending on appearances)
 * Paul Ritchie – Rangers, 21 August, £500,000
 * 🇮🇪 Richard Dunne – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Everton, 16 October, £3,000,000
 * 🇫🇷 Laurent Charvet – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle United, 25 October, £1,000,000 (rising to £1,500,000 depending on appearances)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Darren Huckerby – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Leeds United, 29 December, £2,500,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Carlo Nash – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stockport County, 11 January, £100,000
 * 🇷🇺 Andrei Kanchelskis – Rangers, 25 January, three-month loan
 * 🇳🇴 Egil Østenstad – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Blackburn Rovers, 5 February, two-month loan

Out

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Russell – St Johnstone, 11 July, free
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Peacock – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bristol City, 9 August, £600,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jamie Pollock – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Crystal Palace, 11 August, £75,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Robert Taylor – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wolverhampton Wanderers, 15 August, £1,550,000
 * 🇱🇷 George Weah – released, 16 October (later joined 🇫🇷 Marseille on 18 October )
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Fenton – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Notts County, 9 November, £150,000
 * Gary Mason – Dunfermline Athletic, 15 December, free
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ian Bishop – 🇺🇸 Miami Fusion, 28 February, undisclosed
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Crooks – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barnsley, 2 March, undisclosed
 * Tommy Wright – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bolton Wanderers, 22 March, free
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gareth Taylor – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Burnley, 22 March, loan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Shuker – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Macclesfield Town, 22 March, loan
 * Andy Morrison – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sheffield United, 22 March, loan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lee Crooks – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Northampton Town, December, loan
 * 🇦🇺 Daniel Allsopp – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Notts County, December, £300,000
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Richard Jobson – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tranmere Rovers
 * 🇮🇪 Shaun Holmes – released
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Laycock – released
 * 🇳🇿 Chris Killen – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wrexham, loan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Danny Granville – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norwich City, October, loan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Terry Cooke – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sheffield Wednesday, loan