Nick Booth

Why Blue?

This is my first submission to this illustrious newsletter but hopefully not my last.

I was born in Denton and lived there until the ripe old age of three, when my parents who are both from Manchester brought me to South Africa. Growing up with a strange accent to local ears meant having to explain my place of origin. The average South African had only ever heard of Manchester United and thus this was my choice of team to support when asked by my peers which English club I supported.

In 1970 my grandad from my mum’s side of the family came to visit and within hours had asked me what side I supported. I proudly (for the first and last time) replied ‘United’. The rage and language that fell on a 10-year-old’s ears were too awful to describe. My father, who arrived home a few days later (he was away on contracts a lot) was taken to task and I was initiated into the Blue brotherhood.

The next two years were great, with a regular supply of home programmes, a player’s badge, tracksuit etc. from my grandfather who was a season ticket holder. Unfortunately he became ill and his attendance started to taper off and so I was left with little information about my team. In 1973 I went off to boarding school which played football instead of rugby (unusual in South Africa). We were all keen followers of the First Division and would listen to the BBC world service every Saturday night with great anticipation. I was the only City supporter in the whole school. I remember my sorrow at the loss of the League Cup Final to Wolves. Yes, there were more Wolves supporters in South Africa than City supporters.

The biggest support was for United and I took constant harassment from their supporters who had no idea where Manchester even was or perhaps even where England was. A lot of the support drifted away when Liverpool started winning and especially when relegation hit United. My grandad unfortunately had passed on before this happened but I know he would have enjoyed the comments I made to the remaining United supporters.

After school and during my National Service we finally got a television service but I had little time to watch and coverage of English soccer was limited. Then came the big day in 1981 when we played the final and it was live on our local television service. The replay was on live as well, but once again I watched the game totally outnumbered and when we lost totally alone.

The advent of subscription television meant a bigger exposure but City were now very rarely featured in favour of the ‘big’ clubs. I did manage to convert one of my mates from my National Service days who saw City at Maine Road the day we scored from the kick off. I forget the year and the opposition, perhaps someone will remind me?

The day I got onto the Internet I found MCIVTA and Blue View and have renewed my passion and belief in a team that has given me many lows and few highs but has had support from my family for four generations. I don’t care how any other team performs and I like to watch a good game no matter who is playing, but I am a City supporter and I always will be. As far as I am concerned there is only one team in Manchester and we all know who they are.

I am however a South African and support our national teams no matter what the sport and will be avidly following our cricket and rugby teams in the world cups. I believe one day our football team will be up there with Germany, England and Brazil and I hope we feature well in the next world cup.

See you all at Maine Road hopefully.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #502 on