Marc Stein

Why Blue?

That very question was put to me by a City fan I met recently: “Are you from Manchester?” he asked, somewhat stunned to meet a fellow Blues supporter in this anti-footy nation, where, thanks to bloody Sky TV, the Rags are televised almost as often as the Dallas Cowboys. When I replied in the negative, with a clearly Yank twang, he shrugged and said: “Well, I feel sorry for you then. I had no choice. My dad was a City man. I was born that way.”

My excuse? Well, if I wanted to fabricate some justification, I could tell you that it was fate, being born in 1969 to coincide with City’s last F.A. Cup triumph. Or that I fell in love with Rodney Marsh when he played in our ill-fated North American Soccer League. Or that I live mere minutes from Manchester Avenue in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood (which is the truth, but not the reason I’m a true Blue).

Since we’re obliged to be brutally honest in the MCIVTA — as evidenced by those contributors who feel obliged to say we’re relegation-bound no matter how well the side plays — I must confess. It was, it was, it was .. the uniform. That’s it. The beautiful blue of City. Why Blue, indeed.

The first time I saw it was in 1980, the days when the whole kit, from head to toe, was light blue. I was in Israel visiting family, as I did every other summer of my youth, and starving for sports. Back then, without CNN International, there was no way to follow baseball or other American pursuits in a country like Israel, which showed maybe two hours of local and European sport per week on its state-run channels. So I begged my grandparents to find me something — anything — written in English for me to read. All they could locate was Shoot, which quickly became my bible. I was 11 and a youth soccer player, so I quickly got interested in the English League. So what if I’d never heard of any of these teams or the players or the British terminology? It became an obsession, waiting for the Thursday delivery of a new Shoot to the local newsagent.

One problem, though. I had to pick a team. How? Who? I had no allegiance to any sector of the land. Liverpool was an obvious choice, since they were employing an Israeli full back named Avi Cohen at the time. Right off, I knew I hated United. But, for some reason, I was drawn to the strip on the back cover of that first issue. I don’t even remember who was pictured, maybe Kidd or Hartford. All I know is that I loved that light blue.

And there you have it. I came home a City fan — for life. Of course, there wasn’t much City info waiting for me. Internet access, cable TV or even a newstand that would import magainzes from the UK were all years away. For a good decade, Shoot was all I knew, the copies that my relatives mailed me from Israel and, ultimately, an expensive subscription my uncle arranged during my senior year of high school.

Thankfully, though technology, I’ve been able to follow City much closer the last five years. Various sports channels have been running the Premiership’s one-hour highlight show since about 1990 (as far as I know). Cyberspace provides more reading material than I could want. And Los Angeles, with so many transplanted Brits, features several pubs that show matches live on satellite for $5-10 — albeit Newcastle and the Rags every damn week.

In September, with the captain of my adult-league side — yes, we wear a light-blue shirt, and, amazingly, I had nothing to do with it — I’ll be making my Maine Road début. Don’t know the dates yet, but we plan to spend three weeks touring the country, hopefully watching a match of some sort every day. It’ll be my first trip to England, but I should be easy to spot. Just look for the guy dropping 500 quid at the Manchester City Souvenir Shop.

Until then, I await the April 6 derby and the season finale with Liverpool more than any other matches, since those are the only two I’ll get to see — to go with our two previous satellite appearances, a 1-nil loss to Tottenham and the Frontzeck Affair vs. United. I urge the naysayers in the group to remember how lucky they are. If by some misfortune City fail to avoid the drop, at least you’ll get to watch them next season. Footy might be ready to boom in this country with Major League Soccer about to début but I don’t expect to see local stations carrying an Endsleigh League highlight show anytime soon.

P.S. — It’s a damn good thing Kinky is playing so well, and he better keep it up. I can’t believe Lee passed up the chance to bring in Hagi on a transfer from Barcelona earlier this year (Ronnie Ekelund !?! Thanks so much). That’s a move City should have made at any cost; why didn’t Lee call Oasis for a loan? Hagi is lost at Barcelona because they have too many good players and he can’t get the ball enough. With us? He’d absolutely dominate. How great would it be to see him keep possession for hours and then pick out the heads of Quinn and Uwe at will? Dare I say it — forgive me, I won’t see Kinky’s goal for another few days — Hagi is better than Boy Georgiou. When (if?) Oasis comes in, Hagi and Rush would be my buys.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #179 on