Manchester City on this day: Niall Quinn joins City
It was on this day in 1990 when Republic of Ireland International signed for Manchester City. Maybe with one eye on Italia ’90 the 6ft 4 striker took the four hour trip up the M40 to Manchester where he made an instant impact.
Making his debut less than a week later against Chelsea, where he scored. He would go on to score four goals in the final nine games of that season, which made him the third highest striker at the club.
As that World Cup came around, and in the same group as England and the Netherlands, Quinn stepped onto a bigger stage. He didn’t start the first game, a draw, against England, and came on for a few minutes in a 0-0 against Egypt.
Quinn would start in the final game, where a victory was needed in order to secure progression. In the end, England beat Egypt and so a draw would see both sides progress. Going into the final twenty minutes, Ireland were down to a Ruud Guillet strike before the mighty Quinn came through.
He would start again in the round of 16 defeat of Romania before his World Cup ended of 54 minutes against hosts Italy. Being signed from Arsenal only a few months earlier for £800,000 was now looking a very shrewd signing for Howard Kendall and the blues.
He would spend six whole seasons at City and score 76 goals in all competitions. That includes the twenty League goals he scored the following season as City got to see what it was like in the upper part of the table.
The most memorable part of that season was with Quinn at the other end of the field. After Tony Coton had been shown a red card, and with no goalkeeping substitutes, Quinn put on the gloves. His first job, was to face the resulting penalty, which he saved. Scoring at the other end prior to going in nets, this was a game Quinn won single-handedly.
He was eventually sold to Sunderland for £1.3 million, where he became a legend for another set of supporters. Inducted into the Manchester City hall of fame in 2004, he was rumored to be looking to take over Sunderland, but that looks unlikely.
He did go on to manage them, while being Chairman, unsuccessfully in 2006. However, one win from six led him to concentrate on boardroom duties and appointing Roy Keane to the hot seat. His fellow Irishman did a little better, winning 42 from his 100 games in charge.