Sean Tisdall

Why Blue?

Well I have to make mention of two contrasting “Why Blues” in the last MCIVTA. One full of anecdotes and warmth, and the other primarily about Manchester United! As a ManU fan I’m always pleased to see us get a mention on this wonderful McVittee site but at what cost to you Blues out there? It’s great to see City doing so well this season and I hope it continues. Good luck.

Why Blue?

The Why Blue from Phil Lines last week made me even more pleased after a weekend of fantastic results. I too grew up in South Manchester but I enjoyed my primary school St. Vincents as most of the teachers there were Blues. I was football team captain too – and we beat St. Hughes! However, St. Ambrose was cr*p and only played rugby so I agree with him on this point.

I’m now a primary headteacher in Malaysia where I am one in a great many plastic Reds. I enjoy reading MCIVTA each week and as I will be home for Christmas wonder if there are any gatherings of MCIVTA’s from round the world at any of the games?

Why Blue?

I feel sorry for Phil Lines for the tough times he had as a child. I have been a City fan since the early 50’s, and if I thought that I had to be a certain religion to follow City, I would have been long gone.

I don’t know Phil Lines’ age, but we are going into a new Millennium let’s hope we go into it without religion separating us. Let us all go to the Church, Chapel or Synagogue to praise our God. But when we go and support our Football Team let it be for City, not a religion.

I do hope Manchester City represents a football team, not a religion.

Why Blue?

Reading the latest story for “Why Blue” kick started my memory into thinking how I got started on the Blue road; after trying to remember the facts to near hypnotic regression, I have put the pieces together to why I was pointed in the direction of the Maine Road men and to a life of good humour, great memories and hopefully a wonderful future.

In 1968 I was born to a Dubliner father and Yorkshire mother, in Crumpsall Hospital (now North Manchester General I believe) and lived briefly in a restaurant we owned for 4 years, the “Silver Grille” on Ashton Old Road. The restaurant was demolished for development and we moved to a flat in Wythenshawe. I was about 4 years old. This was where I was to meet a couple of lads I believe had a lot to do with my future allegiance. Being from Dublin, my dad had an affinity towards United, and to be honest, my first team apparently were the Reds (before my brain had fully developed of course). My first memory of a match was of all places at Old T. My dad, me and two friends (coincidentally the Whitley brothers) went to a First Division game with Derby County in an old Morris Oxford. I can’t totally remember but I think they lost 1-3 and we, as 9, 8, and 7-year-olds started shouting Derby! Derby! in the old scoreboard end, much to the non-amusement of my dad and about 15,000 other Reds!

Back to the flats, I remember my first “football top”; it was a red tee shirt with white collar. I used to play football using the “No ball games” concrete sign and a coat as posts, along with Gary and Andrew. Gary came from a true Blue family, Andy at the time, like me was a Red! There’s a photo of us at about 9, Andy and me in red, Gaz in Blue! At the time we thought Gaz was the idiot (yes I am squirming as a write this)!

Moving on, I started to get really into football, playing every spare minute! We started playing in a junior Sunday league team, my dad taking us to matches in another Morris Oxford! I still remember him in his beige car coat shouting “Come on Sean” on the sidelines. Dad took ill and died in 1980, I was 11 going on twelve and of course devastated. My mum refused to give in and got involved with friends into the Wythenshawe Junior Blues, my transformation had begun. I remember going to a presentation at Belle Vue where it seems like thousands of kids were chanting City! City! I remember to this day the feeling that I would never look at anything red again and just “knowing” it felt right. That was it, my brain had fully developed.

We started to go to every home game at this time, sitting in the Platt lane end, with Dot, Gary and any other lads that cared to come along! I was a ball boy for a few months, I remember being nominated to take the bag of footballs into the players’ dressing room where I was met by the late, great Kazi Deyna who gave me his autograph which I still have today. During another game (on MOTD) in the depths of winter, the ball came rolling towards me, I took three strides backwards to collect it and went A over T over a snow bank at the side of the pitch, much to the amusement of 10,000 Kippax Blues (I seem to think it was filmed and mentioned on MOTD). My 15 seconds of fame no doubt. We had to do the mid-week reserve games too! My mum would take me by bus and sit with her flask of coffee with brandy (or should that be brandy with coffee!) and shout at the players not to swear in front of her son. Gerry Gow was the worst, she remembers. Oh yes, if you ever see those football funnies on TV, I was the one who ran up all the Kippax steps to get a ball which, as I get to the top, starts to bounce back down the steps and kicks off the wall to land in Tommy Hutchison’s arms, as I try to keep my feet on my descent to the howls of laughter from the crowd of 35!

At somebody’s testimonial game (memorable hey!), I lowered my head to take a drink out of my Tip Top (remember them?!) just as a typical Franny Lee thunderbolt flew at me knocking my bobble hat five rows up the Platt Lane stand! It’s funny how a brush with certain death fully cements your allegiance! Another Blue memory is the relegation Luton game. I was sat on the wall of the Kippax and vividly remember the Bobby MacDonald header that nearly went in to give us an equalizer late on, the rest is history. I remember it was the first time I had seen big people cry, so I joined in. It was the journey home which I also think cemented the love for the club. I remember my mum and Dot standing up on the top floor of the 106 bus, giving the V sign and a tirade of profanities to Luton fans (she’s a Leeds fan, remember!). This was the time that her brain started to fully develop too! The Junior Blues came to be a way of life; we travelled to Arsenal, Forest, playing football, getting beat, watching City getting beat but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I remember coming home from South Manchester High school and noticing a big posh car outside our house. I went in and Paul Power was having a cup of tea, sitting in my front room discussing Junior Blues business! I bored everyone senseless at school for the next week I think! Since those formative years it’s been City for me. I have met some wonderful people during this time. You will all know what I say when all the Blues have the same attitude, the sense of humour and a never ending spirit! It is totally uplifting to be part of it!

Since those early years, the feeling has grown stronger. There have been more lows than highs admittedly, notably, the Liverpool game that sent us out of the Prem, the 5-2 Stoke game, the 5-0 to that lot. No doubt there will have been a few 10-year-olds seeing me cry and thinking, if this club means this much to him, it’s the one for me! I will always do my bit in ensuring we increase our fan base! On the other hand, we`ve witnessed the Kinkladze years, that small game at Wembley, we have Weaver, Morrison Wiekens and Kennedy to build on and a real chance of getting back the Premiership where our massive club deserves to be!

I was a season ticket holder until about the age of 22; other commitments stopped this. Over the passed five or so years I have been lucky enough to go to home games thanks to a friend, who’s brother (Andy Turnbull are you reading this?) now lives darn sarf and can only get to a few games when visiting his roots, anyway I get the ticket and enjoy a few beers in the Albert before each game (this is probably a long winded way of thanking Bob, the cynical old git!). My wife is a Red, that won’t change, my mum is now a Blue with Leeds as second team. I will be a father in June next year (after promotion I hope) and I have received my MCFC merchandise catalogue and will be ordering baby grows asap! I will not let my child go through the limbo years like I did. He/she`ll be a Blue from day one!

Thanks for letting me share this with you.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #548 on