Stewart Lucas

Why Blue?

This is actually a rather different ‘Why Blue?’, coming not from a long time supporter but from a fairly new convert. I have only really followed City since the start of the 93/94 season but suffice it to say that I have become totally hooked. In fact, next season will see me as a season ticket holder for the first time. But anyway, what is strange is that my conversion to City also marked my conversion to Football as a whole. As a child and a teenager the game never really interested me at all. Maybe it was because I was crap at it at school or maybe it was because my group of friends were also all football-agnostics, I don’t really know.

Anyway I moved to Manchester in August 1991 to become a community worker in Moss Side and began to take a slight interest in the fortunes of City, as I lived just down the road from Maine Road. However, it wasn’t until April ’93 that I got to go to my first match (note my first ever football match). What happened was that a friend of mine who I had met while doing voluntary work was a Liverpool fan. He came up to to visit me during the Easter weekend and decided to drag me along to the City vs. Liverpool match on Easter Monday. It is quite embarrassing to say now but my first experience of seeing City play was in the away end which was packed with Liverpool supporters. I though, instantly got a taste for the tension and excitement of ‘live’ football and swore that I would definitely try to get to some more matches. I managed two more that season, thankfully both were in the City end, and by the start of the next season I had become a Blue. I managed to get to about half the home matches during that season and began to dismay myself about how fanatical I was getting about finding out the scores for the other matches. I think what attracted me to City was the whole atmosphere around the club and also the commitment of the fans. I found City really exciting to watch because of the wole unpredictabilty of the team. Sometimes they would be boring and sometimes well they would just blow my mind.

The 94/95 season saw me attend the majority of home matches as well as a handful of away ones, including the historic victory at Ewood Park this April and, as I have already mentioned, next season I will be taking up by regular seat in row 23 of Block AA of the lower tier of the New Kippax Town.

For the record the best City game I have seen would have to be the Blackburn game where we beat them 3-2. The worst was against Sheffield Utd. at Maine Road in April ’94. I find it quite hard to envisage how I have become so committed to one club in such a short space of time. I think it pays tribute to the easy-going nature of the fans and the flamboyance of City’s game.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #87 on