This
was a relatively successful season compared with the previous two, the
Tigers finishing in fourteenth position, although at no point in the season
did they get into the top half of the table. The season started badly
with just one point from the first five games and from then on it was
a struggle to mount any challenge for a play-off or promotion place.
Highlights of the season were probably the two ties against Premiership
sides. In the third round of the Worthington Cup City entertained Liverpool.
In the first leg a 1 - 5 defeat at Boothferry Park showed the difference
in class of the players. But in the second leg at Anfield a 2 - 2 half
time score showed the fighting spirit of the Tigers. After being down
to ten men, though, City eventually went down 2 - 4. The match against
Chelsea in the F.A. Cup third round was a little more straightforward,
with the Premier League side winning 1 - 6 although a David Brown goal
let the Tigers hold on to some pride.
The
low point of the season was the sacking of manager Warren Joyce with just
four games to go. There is no doubt that Joyce did an excellent job of
keeping the Tigers in the football league during the previous season.
However, the failure to obtain at least a play-off place cost him and
his assistant John McGovern their jobs. Former Aston Villa manager Brian
Little took over as City's aspirations to move through the league tables
begins anew.
