Karl Florczak

Why Blue?

Don’t worry, it’s not “that lot” from Stretford! As well as attending Maine Road since the age of six, for the past seven years or so I’ve also been eagerly following the fortunes of my red-and-white shirted heroes, Ajax Amsterdam. How I became a Blue can be explained in four simple words: “My dad said so”, but “why Ajax as well?” you may ask. It may sound trivial, but someone got me their away shirt of that current time (a blue effort with a hideous red and white pattern on it), and for some reason I’ve adopted them as my European team, keeping up with the shirt changes every year like any other committed supporter (a task not made any easier by Umbro, who saw fit to change both home and away shirts last summer after just one year – thanks a bloody bunch, Umbro), and trying to get my hands on any other Ajax regalia. During my “time” with them, I’ve seen them win the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987 (beating Lokomotive Leipzig 1-0 thanks to a Marco Van Basten header), the UEFA Cup in 1992 (just managing to beat Torino on away goals) and numerous decent players leaving for greener pastures (Bergkamp, Winter, Roy, Van Basten are only a few names on a gargantuan list). That’s the trouble with Ajax: they can’t hold on to the immense wealth of talent they have, and I can only hope that they can clinch the European Cup this year before the young magicians Kluivert, Seedorf and Reiziger along with the talents of the “Flying Finn” Jari Litmanen start looking elsewhere (come on Franny, make a bold bid! – why should the Italian clubs grab all the glory??)

I was just wondering, then, does anybody else have an adopted European team as well as our love for the boys in pale blue, or is it just me, who is mad enough to travel down to White Hart Lane for the Makita Tournament (Summer ’93 was Ajax, Chelsea, Spurs and Lazio – I’ll never go anywhere again where Chelsea are involved) to go and see his “other team”??

Oh, by the way, whilst I’m on the subject of Umbro and shirts and all of that, does anybody think that it would be too much to ask of Umbro and City to, before a shirt change is due, publish three “choices” in the match programme, so that the fans can vote for the one they like the most?? Consider the fact that Umbro now decide to charge 37 quid for adult sizes (yes, they’ve gone up – get your wallets out) plus the mess they made of our “classic” red and black stripes…

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #58 on