Stoke City on 24 August, a 2–1 defeat which was Ball's final match. Dickov made his first Manchester City start in the next match, in a 2–1 win over Charlton Athletic. Dickov joined the club in a period of turmoil; in his first season at Manchester City he played under five different managers (three full-time appointments and two caretakers). A regular starter under Asa Hartford, Steve Coppell and Phil Neal, he played less frequently under Frank Clark, and finished the season with five goals from 25 League starts. At the start of the 1997–98 season, Dickov did not feature in the first team, but was restored to the starting line-up following injuries to Uwe Rösler and Lee Bradbury. Dickov finished the season as the City's top scorer with nine goals, but the club were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history after finishing in 22nd place. Dickov, wearing the number 9 shirt, played a supporting role in a striking partnership with Shaun Goater in the 1998–99 season, scoring 16 goals in all competitions, including a hat-trick against Lincoln City. After a slow start, his form improved in the later part of the season, leading to City manager Joe Royle nicknaming him "the crocus" due to him coming to life in the spring months. He scored an important equaliser against Wigan Athletic in the play off semi final first leg (which was also the last goal to be scored at Springfield Park). The sixteenth goal was particularly crucial, a 15-yard, top corner injury time equaliser in the final of the promotion playoffs against Gillingham. Dickov's 95th-minute goal took the game to extra time, and the Manchester team ultimately won to earn promotion to the First Division. This goal, scored past Vince Bartram, the best man at Dickov's wedding, was voted City's Greatest Ever Goal in a 2005 poll conducted by Manchester City. Dickov retained his place in the first team at the start of the 1999–2000 season. He started each of the first fifteen League games, despite suffering a facial injury on 26 September 1999 in which he lost a tooth. The run of starting appearances came to an end on 27 October, when he damaged knee ligaments in a match against Ipswich Town. During the subsequent absence, Manchester City signed Robert Taylor, and most of Dickov's appearances in the second half of