Roger Spruce

Why Blue?

My first recollections of a sporting event is of being taken to Station Road to watch Swinton RLFC play and I was definitely not hooked. My father has been a Swinton fan all his life and I suppose naturally wanted me to follow the Lions.

When I was about six, I can remenber seeing my cousins, all with blue and white scarves waiting for a bus in the Langworthy Road area of Salford to take them to Maine Road. When I asked my mother what they were doing, and where they were going dressed like that; I got the reply “We are all City fans in this family.” And that was that.

I must admit at that time in my life I was not too interested in football (more interested in steam trains and submarines etc.) but those words were engraved in my mind for all time.

The first opportunity I had of declaring my loyalty for the Blues was after the Munich air crash, after chanting “City” around the school playground for half an hour I was given a black eye for my allegiance (was this a taste of things to come in later life? – Yes). As nearly all my friends were Reds I started to go to OT with them. We used to go to a place called the Paddock, and it was totally boring. So 1966 arrived and I finally made it to Maine Road for my first game; it was a second division match against Preston N.E. and it was a draw. I was not very impressed but at least I could say that I had been to Maine Road. It was not until the end of the 1968 season when City won the championship that I decided to start taking the Blues seriously. For the following three or four years I went to every match, even getting Wembley tickets through the token system, and life was good.

It was around this time that football violence began and after a few scary moments and getting knocked out at Anfield I began to have second thoughts about being an active supporter, but what really put me off was the sight of Colin Bell driving around in a Jaguar, or Watson in his big house in Hale. This because I was spending nearly all my cash on beer and the Blues and not getting anywhere in life. While our heroes were rolling in it (some things do not change). Two years later I married and moved abroad and I changed to passive Blue. I got back to the UK In 78-79 for a couple of matches but I was preoccupied with other things in life and the Blues took a back seat in my life.

So, I had not been to Maine Road for about fifteen years when I found myself in Manchester, it was the last match of the season and City at home to Derby County. I went to watch the match (Quinn saved a penalty) and I was hooked once more; to this day I still do not know why. Since then my life has revolved around MCFC, I manage to get to at least two matches a year, and get all my info through Sky, King of the Kippax, the Pink, and of course the Internet.

The only downside to being a new born Blue is that when things are not going right for the Blues (i.e. Coppell, relegation etc.) a big black depression overcomes me, something that never used to happen in the seventies. I wonder why?

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #304 on