Before Sheikh Mansour's billions tempted the likes of Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and David Silva to the Etihad Stadium, top-class players were few and far between at Manchester City, particularly before the club moved to their state of the art facility.
However, many City supporters will argue that they would find a place in Manuel Pellegrini's current side for Georgi Kinkladze, who spent three years with the Citizens up until 1998 when he moved to Ajax.
The pint-sized Georgian playmaker produced many moments of magic during his stint at Maine Road, the most memorable of which occurred 18 years ago today in a home encounter against fellow strugglers Southampton.
Having earlier hit the crossbar with a strike from distance, Kinkladze broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when he turned the ball into the Southampton net from close range.
However, what happened just four minutes later had the City faithful drooling. Steve Lomas picked out his influential teammate wide out on the right flank. From there, he jinked inside Simon Charlton, who failed in his attempt to out-muscle Kinkladze. Then, as he reached the edge of the area, two sliding tackles, including one from Ken Monkou, missed, which left City's attacking midfielder with just goalkeeper Dave Beasant to beat.
A little jink fooled the Saints goalkeeper and that allowed Kinkladze to loft the ball into the opposite corner of the net for what is one of the best goals in Premier League history.
Paul Tisdale halved the deficit midway through the second half, but City held out to claim all three points. It ultimately wasn't enough to keep the club in the Premier League, though, as they were relegated on goal difference.
Despite speculation linking him with the likes of Inter Milan and Barcelona, Kinkladze opted to remain with City in Division One, which only went to add to his cult-hero status.
MAN CITY: Immel; Frontzeck, Brightwell, Curle, Symons; Summerbee, Clough, Flitcroft, Lomas; Kinkladze; Rosler
SOUTHAMPTON: Beasant; Dodd, Monkou, Neilson, Hall, Charlton; Hughes, Oakley, Tisdale; Le Tissier, Shipperley
Liam Apicella
