Barry Gough

Why Blue?

I am from Hartlepool in the north east and I have supported City from the age of six. The reason I chose to support City when everybody else was following Newcastle, Sunderland or even Hartlepool, is because an older boy who lived in my street was a City fan and I suppose I wanted to impress him. I don’t see that lad now and I sometimes wonder if he still follows City as I still do now’ twenty-nine years later.

In the early days it was difficult to get hold of any City merchandise in Hartlepool, but at least I got to see them on match of the day quite a lot and I was a member of the Junior Blues. My first game at Maine Road was a few years ago when we were still in the Premiership. I will never forget that feeling as I took my seat in the North Stand and looked out across the beautiful pitch and the magnificent Kippax and Umbro stands, the hairs on the back of neck stood up and I had this tremendous feeling of warmth – I felt totally at home. I get to about ten home games a season now and love every minute of it. I was talking to an Everton fan recently and we were discussing Liverpool and the Rags and he said to me “it’s not that we are jealous of them it’s just we know that we are better than them.” I know what he meant.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #462 on